LH>1) The SAM motherboards are not designed as an LH>Amiga desktop computer. Their target is an LH>embedded/kiosk type system.
In end progress yes, but I remember also SAM was announced as "board designed specificaly to run OS4"
LH>2) AmigaOS is not necessarily the primary operating LH>system. Depending on customer demand, it may be LH>linux, unix, or AmigaOS.
Linux and AmigaOS are only desktop sys for it. However, embedd designed is responsibile for SOCC choice, low power and no fan needed, but even UNix and Linux I suppose do not support some of the above mentioned unused parts of the board, or cannot improve e.g. the PCI flaw and is limiting to them, too.
In short: no excuse, but I hope better design next time
LH>If they did sell tens of thousands to Amiga users, they LH>would probably modify the hardware options to fill our LH>wish list.
3.3v PCI on 440flex is annoying, try finding a low-profile Radeon (other than bog standard 7000) to fit a low-profile case that's also 3.3v, I managed to find a low-profile 9250 in the end but had to ship in from Germany and was pricey, Also missing out on the 256MB cards (which all seem to be 5v) is a shame.
Errr.. where did you get this idea? You obviously don't know any Mediator owners. We have radeon 9200 drivers now, but as most Mediators are 5V only almost all radeons fail to work.
Why? The Radeon 9200 chip runs off of a 3.3v power supply, but is 5v tollerant. To work correctly in a 5v slot the card needs a 5v to 3.3v regulator, which most cards don't have.
- Strange PCI slots on 440 model which are limiting users (voltage thing). So its not even a full PCI compatibility
Strange? All modern PCI systems work at 3.3v. in fact PCI 2.3 and 3.0 are 3.3v ONLY, so the slot is fully PCI compliant, any PCI 2.2 card should work.
Having said that, I don't understand why the PCI slot doesn't support 5V. I have asked on forums once or twice but haven't had responses. You see, the 33Mhz slot(s) are on the downstream port of the pericom 8150B a chip which is 5V tollerant.
Quote:
460
- Integrated 2D chip only, 64MB only - PCI-E or SATA choice.
There may be some confusion here, there are two possible configurations you can run the board in:
Option 1:
1 x PCI-e 4x (16 x slot) 1 x PCI 2.3 1 x PCI-e 1x
Option 2:
1 x PCI-e 4x (16 x slot) 1 x PCI 2.3 1 x SATA2 slot.
To get extra SATA ports you seem to have 3 choices:
1 PCI SATA card 2 PCI-e SATA card 3 SATA2 port splitter.