Quote:
Originally Posted by gimbal
... I would actually be really curious to see how a platform like the Amiga would have coped.
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I essentially just used my A1200 as a fast ECS machine, which was fine until the mid '90s. I think after that the Amiga could only have survived in spirit, i.e. peak multimedia capabilities, accessible for game/software development with a lively 'PD' community.
I suppose one of the more stable platforms during the mid to late '90s was the Playstation 1, though it was a pure gaming machine. It successfully fielded both hot must-haves: 3D and optical discs, and at an affordable price. It came out in (late) 1994 and survived at least 6 tough years. It very nearly supported 8 or even 16MB work RAM (had 2, +GPU, etc). Sony were also experimenting with 21MB floptical disks at the time. Original NA retail price was $300 but by 2000ish it was $100 (PSone).
As for development, Sony had the Net Yaroze initiative for hobbyists, and while the Playstation was apparently not hard to program for, the dev system was obscure and the process required an external PC. I think Sony's mindset was much more stale and corporate.
If the Playstation had been designed to be expanded/scaled into a full computer, perhaps via keyboard+floptical+memory add-ons, I think it would've been quite engaging to develop for (or rather, on) and it would've sufficed for doing light office/homework and early www browsing, though it would have needed a hires/monitor mode (max was 640x480 interlaced).