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Originally Posted by d4rk3lf
I am a complete hardware noob...
Would it be possible for Commodore at that time to develop custom chip that would help 3D stuff run much faster on (slower) Motorola processors? Something better then Akkiko. Maybe something like PS 1 had.
Amiga always had that multitask multiprocessor advantage, and some custom stuff that could push 3D, could be at that time something revolutionary.
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The Hombre chipset was supposed to tackle the arrival of 3D acceleration in consoles, but it would have been a clean break from the traditional Amiga architecture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Hombre_chipset
Different CPU, no Planar support, Windows NT, legacy compatibility only via emulation, developed in collaboration with HP...
For just running Doom however, a faster bus, faster RAM, a faster CPU as standard, and chunky mode would probably have been enough. Pretty major changes, but not impossible. The PC went through such an evolution between the mid 80's and early 90's (while the Amiga remained fairly stagnant).
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Originally Posted by zardoz
Apple had a pretty tough time of it in the mid 90s too, no idea if they were on the brink. Was it the iMac and the iPod that turned it round for them?
It's probably useful to compare Apple's and Commodore's fates - niche computer makers squashed by the PC juggernaut on one side and Japanese consoles on the other. Is it that Apple cultivated a brand? It's not tech. or engineering that got Apple through but marketing.
An earlier suggestion for the A500 / A600 to go downmarket is the only way I can see C surviving that, if they had carved themselves out a niche market as the cheap / first / bedroom computer.
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Ironically, it was Microsoft who saved Apple. They invested $150 million in Apple months before they were about to go bankrupt (around '97). They also developed Microsoft Office for MacOS, which was a huge deal that made the Mac more accepted in offices and schools, as Office had become completely dominant by that time. Internet Explorer was also made available for MacOS. It wasn't an act of kindness (though Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were friends), Microsoft also saw it as a way to expand their market to new platforms. Microsoft was a software company after all, and they had more software products than just Windows.
The iPod didn't come out until 2001, so this (combined with clever marketing like the colorful iMac) kept Apple afloat for those difficult years.
Could something similar have happened with the Amiga and Commodore? Sadly, yes. Had Commodore allowed Sun Microsystems to produce the A3000UX under license, they could have gained a foothold in the Unix Workstation market, leading to some much needed infusion of cash...