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A new model of the Mediator has now been produced.
Anyone interested in towering an A1200 should take a look.
Currently for the OS3xx to get the full benefit but can be used in a limited capacity for OS4.
Full support is supposed to be on the way.
Price EUR 195.95.
http://www.elbox.com/news_08_02_22.html
Very nice and interesting.
195 euros.... :unsure:
It is nice to see that they are continuing to develop and release new products in their mediator line. But that is quite expensive. However that is what you have to expect as something like this is aimed at quite a small market, so the number of expected sales is going to keep the manufacturing price high.
However something just struck me. What do people use these PCI boards for? To add PC cards to add more modern functionality to their ageing Amiga. Correct?
Now consider this. Only specific sound cards, TV tuners and Ethernet network cards , and graphics cards will work with this setup based on the drivers provided and these supported cards and these are all getting older and older all the time and harder and harder to source, with most being second hand. Right?
Now here is a better solution in my view. Instead of continuing to create an expansion board to provide PCI slots to support a limited number of PC based PCI cards from the past, why not instead build and expansion board with all of the features of these PCI cards already built in? This would mean a single specific set of drivers to support the features of the integrated components would be all that is needed and everything would be ready to go out of the box.
These days nearly every motherboard for the PC comes with integrated ethernet, sound, and many with graphics. A lot of chip manufacturers make integrated chips for motherboards that provide all of these from a single chip solution.
Therefore for me, instead of continuing to make and support PCI slot expansions, I want an integrated expansion board solution. A board I can connect up to an A1200 motherboard in a tower conversion and it instantly gives me the ports on the back of the system for ethernet, sound, graphics and maybe even TV if the right graphics chips were used. The drivers would be one single install that directly supports the components on the board. No messing around with lots of PCI cards, trying to get them all to work together. Just one single integrated solution that provides everything out of the box.
Or for the ultimate solution an expansion board that contains all of these features, plus an accelerator built in too. Now that would be the perfect solution. And for OS4 you could have a PPC based expansion board that contains everything needed to run OS4, including modern graphics and sound capabilities and ethernet networking.
The thing that always made the Amiga was that everything came out of the box to use the system without the need to add anything more. No extra drivers and no variations in configuration meaning software was guaranteed to work. If we had an expansion that gave the Amiga all the modern features the standard A1200 is now missing every upgraded machine would be the same and easy for OS and software developers to code for and guarantee everyone could run.
That is an excellent idea.
Would be able to fit that into a small case so it would be convenient as well as easy to install.
There are several projects ongoing to replicate the minimig for AGA.
The boards are much smaller than the original A500 and A1200 motherboards.
Combining the two ideas would make a very neat solution.
Would love to see that happen.