Lack Of Faith

Helge Kvalheim, Norway

It's the first time i am writing a new, personal blog after more than a year. Most of my blogs recently have been purely Amiga-related, but this one differs to be more than just something about Amiga.

As you must understand, i have been a loyal Amiga fan and user since 1987. I have owned and used an Amiga 500, 600, 1200, 1200T with BlizzardPPC and BVisionPPC running AmigaOS 3.9 with updates, AmigaOne G3 and G4-XE running up to Pre-AmigaOS 4.0 Update 4, to my very latest AmigaOne 500 aka SAM460ex with AmigaOS 4.1 Update 6, which has had enormous updates recently!

However, not everything has been easy, especially during this year of 2013. I'm not sure where to begin from here, so let me try.

Breaking wows with a lying father

Many of you may already know my origins of my birth and life. To you who don't know, i come from a big family with 4 brothers and one sister. I'm the only hard of hearing in the family. Not deaf, not fully hearing, but in the middle of these two things. That's what hard of hearing means. My mother and father were divorced when i was 3 years old, as i recall.

Instead of going through my whole childhood, i will rather try to get more to the point. My father was never there for either me or my entire family. In 1997, 1998 and 1999, 3 of my brothers died, while in 2000 and 2009, i lost 2 very close friends of mine to death. Shortly put, life has been very hard and my life experiences have made me into what i am today.

In addition, in these 10 present years, my sister chose to aband the family. To aband us, in favour of a man who only cares about money and getting in her pants. Probably a nasty thing to say, but it's true. The 3 of us who are left never did anything wrong against her, but her hate toward us is so strong that she fully blames us for everything bad that has happened to her.

As a consequence, we have no contact with her or her grown-up children, but that's another story. So where does my father fit into all this? Let me try to explain carefully...

In the summer 2013 that has been, the 3 of us as a remaining family came to know that my father was to die of a cancer in the stomach within 4 to 7 months. A close friend of my father called my mother and delivered the shocking news to all of us, or so to think.

We visited him 2 times during his stay in a hospital this summer, listening to what he told us. He sounded very convincing, claiming that he was dying and that he cared about us. So what am i trying to say? It was true that he had cancer, but it was later revealed that he was not going to die at all. That he was recovering very nicely to all the threatments he got.

Even more surprising was the fact that he didn't valued us as his close family to take care of him if something happened. That "job" was assigned to his friend who told my mother of my father's condition. Apparently, it was also revealed that even his friend was lied to, by my father. My father was playing a sick game with all of us, trying to pretend that he was caring about us, but in reality, he only cared about himself, as he always did all the years, as my father has been an alcoholic junkie for more than 40 years! What an ASSHOLE, eh!

It wasn't my father who told the truth at last, but people who knew him very well, came to tell my mother the truth about my father's condition, and that he was playing a sick game.

Now, moving close to christmas, we have decided to fully break ALL wows to my father. My father has never been there for any of us through our lives, and never will, so even that he is still alive, the person he was SUPPOSED to be, has NEVER existed! That simply means my father is long dead and gone. A huge, bad part of the past that should be buried for good!

Personally, i was very tempted to write my father a letter and to tell him that i am aware of the truth and the fact that he lied to us, but then again, what is the point in trying to write him a letter when he only cares about himself? Therefore, better not to have anything to do with him ever again. He was never there and never will. He is a sick man, and i am not talking about his cancer, but that he is rather SICK in the HEAD instead. No surprise when an alcoholic has his fridge completely filled with alcohol and NO food at all! That's totally crazy!

But enough about my alco-dad. It makes me want to PUKE just to talk about the likes of him.

Lack Of Faith In The Amiga

My AmigaOS 4.1.6 Grand Canyon picture

It's special to be in a situation where the belief in the Amiga is somehow CRUSED.

Don't get me wrong, i'm very happy with my AmigaOne 500 aka SAM460ex system in many ways. It has a 1.15Ghz AMCC PPC CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a powerful Sapphire RadeonHD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCIe GPU card and an excellent 24 bit/192Khz ESI@Juli XTe PCIe audio card.

Since August 2012 when i got my Amiga up and running for the first time, my system has up to now had enormous numbers of important updates through the wonderful AmiUpdate, including a couple of useful updates to the kernel of AmigaOS 4.1, which i am happy about!

Still, there are some very important elements that are missing in AmigaOS 4.1. The most obvious elements missing are a proper 3D hardware and fullscreen video acceleration.

Warp3D for RadeonHD - A false dream?

People You Don't Know

Known to most Amiga fans around, i have had regular contacts with both Mr.Dickinson from A-EON Technology, the company behind the top-flag AmigaOne X1000 hardware, with the upcoming Cyrus+, and both Friedens brothers, especially with the author of what was supposed to be Warp3D for RadeonHD.

During a year, there have been many heated emails exchanges between us. Actually, the somewhat heat came from me in term of frustrations of a concept that is not yet in place.

In December 31th of 2012, it was promised by A-EON Technology that Warp3D driver for RadeonHD would be released, as it was announced earlier in 2012, but unfortunately as a consequence, the author got some serious health problems and appeared in hospital more than 2 times through a whole year, until now. His condition has been so serious and so risky that he could have DIED, just because he devoted almost his whole life and health into doing several important Amiga projects ALL BY HIMSELF, and nobody seemed to react at once, simply because there was money involved, for the companies who signed him to do certain Amiga projects, most of them related to the upcoming AmigaOS 4.2, of course.

Another shocking fact is that the old trial case between Amiga Inc and Hyperion Entertainment had a very negative effect. A trial case that started by Amiga Inc in 2007 and ended September 2009. The case was about the rights to everything related to Amiga, the brand name, the OS and compatible hardwares with the AmigaOne brand. 

Even that Hyperion Entertainment won the trial case against Amiga Inc, now owning the AmigaOS, the Amiga Boing Ball logo and AmigaOne brand, Hyperion Entertainment had to pay as much as around 2-300.000 (!) EUR for laywers and other things that made them win the case, which we all are very happy about, but the cost of the victory was a great one.

The 2-300.000 EUR could have helped several important developments rise to completion, and we wouldn't be talking about AmigaOS 4 these days, but rather AmigaOS 5 already! This is a very important fact that wasn't wanted for the public to know, but i feel it's important to be completely honest to the community. It's because of the community's love, passion, belief and support of the Amiga that Amiga has survived for nearly 29 years! You don't see such love, passion and belief in other platforms as strongly as for the Amiga! That's very special!

Making The Difficult Choice

Because of the many heated email exchanges with Mr.Dickinson and the Frieden brothers in hope to realize that things like 3D support should have been in place several months ago, I was warned with a 7 days ban from Hyperion Entertainment Support Forum. Unfortunately, i made the mistake of taking it to be another blog site, so i realized myself that such blogs as here are better left to where they belong - at blog sites like this one, and only focus on getting help with anything Amiga on the support forums. That situation now with Hyperion Entertainment is at least solved, and it has made me be much more careful than earlier.

As for the 2 other contacts, having them as friends don't feel right anymore. I never knew them personally. Only very little about them, as they know very little about me in person. 

While there is surely nothing wrong with them in person, calling people you don't know as friends don't feel right. Not even when you only talk about the Amiga. The Frieden brothers also had me realize that they didn't believe much in the Amiga anymore. It feels for me that they have given up, but because one of them almost died on a hospital, their perspective has changed to focus on what are the most important things in life. Family and health, which is only logical and right to do. It would now be time for other developers to take over.

We only had much contact regarding Amiga, but as i like so many others became frustrated about "broken promises", too many delays and struggling with some people who don't really believe much in the Amiga anymore, removing them as contact is probably for the best. It was however clear that we didn't have much of the same view for the Amiga. Hopefully, a common goal is there for all of us: To see the Amiga arise again as the unique darling it is.

I simply don't want to spend more time being frustrated and wait endlessly on what might or might NOT happen in term of Amiga. We know that AmigaOS 4.2 is on the way, but we don't know how long that will be. As for Warp3D for RadeonHD, i value it now as vaporware. That has appeared to be a broken promise, and it's fate is therefore very uncertain as it stands.

My belief and patience in the Amiga has been tested to the very limit too many times, and i feel this limitation has closely reached an end, as i am about to consider making what would probably be my most difficult choice ever - To continue staying with the Amiga or leaving it.

Hope is a very dangerous thing to loose!

In The Hands Of AmiWest 2013

The only hope now is for me to watch the AmiWest 2013 show, taking place in Sacramento this year, and try to learn what news there is to tell the Amiga community. Hopefully there will be great news, or everything we have fought for the Amiga would be lost to us. It remains to be seen what will happen.

Does it mean i have lost faith in the Amiga? Despite everything that has happened to me this year and the promises that have been made, which felt broken and not yet in place, i would say my faith is not completely lost, but it also isn't what it used to be. My perspective has changed somehow, which i can't fully explain, but i will try my best anyway.

It's very hard to accept the fact that the Amiga, even as a modern system of today, is still very much a hobby system, and as you can see for yourself, some important elements are still missing, which would help AmigaOS become complete. 3D support is one of many important things that will complete an OS. Without such, AmigaOS doesn't appear much of a fun, and i think most of us can fully agree on that. That also leave us to another, important question.

What is the point of keep donating for different Amiga programs when AmigaOS is not yet fully completed? Then you loose the point, and i have decided to wait donating for more programs until the important, missing elements of AmigaOS4 are all in place.

Therefore, AmiWest 2013 will be very important in term of future plans for the Amiga. They can either turn out to be really good, or really bad. We will know the weekend 18-20th of October 2013. Personally, i will watch the news of the show carefully and make a decision.

When XBox Becomes More Fun Than The Amiga

When XBox becomes more fun than the Amiga

Never thought i was going to put it like this, but playing advanced 3D games on my XBox 360 Slim many times appear more of a fun than playing games on my Amiga system. It's kinda ironic, isn't it?

State-of-the-art technology as seen in XBox can hardly be compared with the Amiga. These are 2 very different architectures and technology. Still, the differences between them are very obvious.

Games i use to play on my XBox 360 Slim are mostly the Assassin's Creed series. The latest one i am playing most and already have completed, is Assassin's Creed 3, which have you to play a half Mohawk-indian and brite as an Assassin, fighting for justice in America around the timeframe of the later years of the 17th century, which i find very interesting.

Connor in a wintered Boston for missions

You play as Connor. A boy rose to destruction of his land and the death of his mother in a fire, svearing revenge to the people behind. The game is fantastic!

There is so much in the game to do! Not only the main story line with the main missions to assassinate certain persons and groups, but to get involved with several people to learn about them, helping them, hunting in the forests at different animals, running a pirate ship, finding hidden stories and treasures, recruiting new assassins, playing minor games like Fenora, doing things like fighting tournaments and more.

A very cool addition to the game was an alternative storyline to play, called "The Tyranny of George Washington" where you wake up in a dream where George Washington has become a king, paralyzed by the Apple of Eden, which was a powerful, deadly weapon that could control the mind of others. This alternative storyline has 3 episodes called Infamy, Beytrayal and Redemption. They are really exciting additions to the overall game! Even having the power of the bear, the wings of the eagle and the stealth speed of the wolf is pretty cool, really!

Overall, a very exciting and fantastic game worth the money! Graphic, audio and music, as well as animations are pretty close to real movies! The camera focus on close combats where you see Connor do different fighting technics against his enemies is very impressive!

Another Assassin's Creed is on the way, where you will play as Edward Kenway, the grandfather of Connor and father of Hathway Kenway, who was Connor's father. Edward Kenway is both a pirate and a true assassin. Playing as him in Assassin's Creed - Black Flag will be very interesting, setting place in Caribbian - the home of the pirates!

Looking Onto XBox One

XBox One - the successor of XBox 360

The new XBox One is coming early 2014. It's definitely a console i am waiting for! With blu ray, support for 4K 2160p and much improved graphic and sound, you are into movie-like excitement!

Playing new games as the new Assassin's Creed - Black Flag also will be released for XBox One, will be very exciting to play, with much better graphic and audio than on XBox 360! You have to see to believe!

Also playing blu-ray both in the normal 1080p and in a near future, in 4K 2160p will also be very cool! You will need a UHD-TV to make use of the new 4K resolution taking over.

It's therefore somehow ironic for me talking more about the new XBox than the Amiga, but that is actually the case, as things remain for now. As long as the already mentioned, missing elements in AmigaOS4 are not in place, i rather then spend more time playing on my XBox, until it will be great fun to use the Amiga again, playing advanced 3D games.

Well, this completes the blog, which appear to be a long, but excellent blog. I think this blog justifies itself, which i am very happy about. I completely speak out from my hart and i am not afraid to express my thoughts and feelings, as long as they remain polite, clean and straight.

Now, let us see what AmiWest 2013 will bring. Fingers crossed for the best. The fate of the Amiga is in the hands of Hyperion Entertainment, A-EON Technology and ACube. Let us hope they will bring up really great news, or everything Amiga may be lost...forever!

See you in the next blog, folks!

Written by:

Helge Kvalheim