Thank you for you comprehensive answer.. We all very much appreciate your input to this subject and all of the forum!
I posed my question in the hope to draw out some others thoughts... My background for this is a simple one and I am sure I am not the only one in this position!
The best and most diplomatic way of putting this is that "my hobby" is a "tolerated one" no negative inference is meant here! As a modest family we have a limited budget and time! Mostly it has to be "cost neutral" ie; sell off or trade up one thing for another. The most that can ever be scraped together for expansion or repair is in the $200 - $300 range... So $1000 AUD and up is a major project!
X5000 is just never going to happen!
With this is mind... How to embark on a more modern "Amiga" experience!
To put things simply... and I hope I am not misinterpreting here! I see 2 main paths (not discounting others on the way) - New Amiga (NG) OS4 or to Vampire or the like!
Doing my best to balance these 2 ideas in my head.. Would really love to gather other opinions in the process which I would hope would also helps same along the way!
So... in which basket does one similar to myself place their eggs! (Heart wants both!
I hope everyone understand s my question here?
With regard to the reply below, a couple of specific questions that come to mind!
1. Will it have full AmigaOS 4 support at launch, I remember the early blogs mentioning limited driver support at the stage?
2. Will classic (emulation) be a viable option under OS4 or will multi-boot to Linux or AROS be the go?
Very pleased to hear everyones thoughts!
I saw that. I am a they would have to make the discount on the board very good. £99 for some software and a mouse I would probably never use is a bit steep to me. I dunno, perhaps I am looking at it wrong? Do you have the insight or inside track?
No.. wish I did... would love to get some real feedback from the beta testers etc! Is it going to worth it at all? Vampire 4 was not even thought of when they started it and now look at the progress on that front!
Hope we can spark some input from others!
I am an official A1222 AmigaOS 4 Beta Tester. What do you want to know? Well, within my power to answer considering I am under a strict NDA...
I covered the system in some detail on my blog a while back now if you want to see more details before asking away:
https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-a1222-has-arrived.html
https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2016/01/debian-linux-on-amigaone-a1222.html
https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2016/02/new-case-for-amigaone-a1222.html
https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2016/02/classic-amiga-emulation-on-amigaone.html
Is it worth the money to buy it? I think if you can't afford to buy an AmigaOne X5000 system, then the A1222 was made especially for you. Essentially picture the A1222 as like an Amiga 500/1200 compared to an Amiga 4000. It is to be priced accordingly.
Keep in mind that it is never going to be as fast as an X5000, but for the things most users will do with it, the A1222 should be a nice little AmigaOS 4 system.
The A1222 is faster than my Sam 460, which is probably it's only real comparison in terms of AmigaOS4 systems.
We need to support NG Amiga systems if we want the AmigaOS to continue to move forward with new features and functions. I showed some of these enhancements in my presentation at ARB meeting on Dec 30 in Brisbane.
Remember that a Vampire system is not as fast as an A1222, let alone the X5000...if running some classic software slightly faster than before floats your boat then knock yourself out and buy one. It is impressive hardware, but still constrained by the Classic OS running on it.
Catcha,
Epsilon