We've seen many attempts to bring the Amiga and PC together, from simple networking to Siamese RTG. But surely the big one would be to port the AmigaOS to the Pentium processor, so it can be run on standard PCs?
A very controversial point, and indeed, some Amiga users will hate Intel processors as much as Microsoft and their Windows. If you reduce the Amiga to a PC running AmigaOS, the next step may be to just not bother, and have a PC running Windows...
But there are many reasons why being able to run the AmigaOS on a PC would be a very good thing. I know someone with an old Mac who is considering buying a PC for his next computer - he likes Macs better, but PCs are cheaper. He said if you could run MacOS on a PC, he would do it without hesitation. I feel the same, with AmigaOS.
I dislike PCs, but that doesn't mean I have anything against PC graphics cards. I would much rather have one of them that AGA (and to any Amiga user who says he prefers AGA, I would like to see him turn down a free Cybervision PPC card). As for the Pentium, well at the end of the day, it is as just a good choice as PowerPC; both have their advantages and disadvantages - and both are way better than 680x0. It isn't the hardware I hate so much about PCs, more the Windows which sits on top of it all.
To run AmigaOS on a PC, we would want backwards compatibility, and initially most programs (and most of the OS) would run via emulation. Remember that this is true whether you are porting to PowerPC or another processor such as the Pentium. The framework already exists in the form of UAE, of course. It would have to be able to run independantly of Windows, so the Amiga could boot up as an OS in its own right. Old programs would run via emulation, where as new ones would be written in Intel x86 code, and be much faster.
As for graphics, UAE can already use the PC's graphics card for the Amiga's. There is still the problem of AGA emulation; UAE shows how even ECS emulation is very slow. On the other hand, most Amiga software written in the last few years will work happily using a graphics card, and games are starting to do this, also, so lack of a real AGA chipset should not be too much of a problem.
I can imagine what many of you are thinking: There's more to the Amiga than its operating system. The AGA chipset, although inferior to any PCI card, does have advantages in certain applications, in particular being able to output directly to video. Machines like the Access will be better of with the AGA chipset.
But the point is, for most people, a PCI card will be far preferable to using AGA. I believe the Amiga will be better off if the operating system is separated from Amiga specific hardware, eg, being able to run on any PC. But AGA doesn't have to be ditched, rather, it could be made so that other operating systems could make use of it. Imagine; AGA on a PCI card.
So you have your new 'PC' running AmigaOS. Old software can be run by 680x0 emulation, and if necessary, AGA emulation, where as new software will take advantage of your 300MHz PentiumII and latest 64bit 3D graphics card (not to mention sound card, etc). If you wanted, you could buy an AGA card. This would take over from the AGA emulation, so older software that requires it will run a lot faster. If you were using your Amiga for video work, then such an AGA card would be useful also.
This way, you only end up paying for the AGA chipset if you need it. It is silly to enforce it as standard when most people would be happier with the latest graphics card.
There are other reasons why a Pentium based Amiga would be favourable to, eg, a PowerPC based Amiga. Consider this: At the moment, most people consider that any computer worth buying must have an Intel processor, and run Windows. By producing a PowerPC Amiga machine, you are going against both these ideas; attempting to challenge two monopolies in one go. Sure, you can run MacOS as an alternative OS, but far more people would want Windows (or at least, believe that they wanted it...) and although a PC can be emulated, it will of course run a lot slower.
With a Pentium based Amiga, you aren't expecting people to buy a machine without an Intel processor. As for running Windows, you could of course run it as an alternative OS, a dual OS machine, if you like.
I realise that there are problems with the Pentium processor, and that some of the problems associated with the PC will come to plague the Amiga. But even so, I think that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Mark