A600GS Updates

[dreadnought]

If there's one thing I find worrying about this project it's being tied to mandatory account & updates delivered only this way. Or am I getting this wrong?

[Marcio D.]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

If there's one thing I find worrying about this project it's being tied to mandatory account & updates delivered only this way. Or am I getting this wrong?

Good point, as they haven't mentioned being able to update the system by plugging in a USB stick like you can with the A500 Mini.


Wouldn't be surprised if updates were restricted to account-based online only, if they're looking to vigorously protect from hacking / modding, etc.

[aeberbach]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

If there's one thing I find worrying about this project it's being tied to mandatory account & updates delivered only this way. Or am I getting this wrong?

If they deny it on the next little advertising bump posted to this thread then maybe it isn't true. If it's skipped over then you know you are absolutely correct in your fears.

[FOL]

Sorry, lost here.


Im forced to use my Steam account, just to update and play my games I have bought. Like millions of others. How is this any different, simple its not.
Lots of other platforms work this way. Another example, XBOX.

Mini, has to use downloadable file updates as it lacks internet. If it had internet, bet they would be doing same thing.
I don't think they are interested in it anyway, as they have not made any decent improvments and have moved on to their next device.

If you want to get really stupid. Im forced to login to this site just to read my PM's, . So an account is mandatory to read your pm's.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by FOL

Im forced to use my Steam account, just to update and play my games I have bought. Like millions of others. How is this any different, simple its not.
Lots of other platforms work this way. Another example, XBOX.

Well, one could hope that a hobby device won't follow in the path of giant corporations which shove down forced DRM down people's throats just to exert total control and lack of true ownership. And the "they do it too" and "millions of others" were never good excuses, just look at history big or small.

Originally Posted by FOL

If you want to get really stupid. Im forced to login to this site just to read my PM's, . So an account is mandatory to read your pm's.

Yeah, that one's really silly

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by FOL

Im forced to use my Steam account, just to update and play my games I have bought. Like millions of others. How is this any different, simple its not. Lots of other platforms work this way. Another example, XBOX.

Hardly forced, you can just avoid these DRM-laden platforms entirely like I do. Of course these companies they will do whatever they can get away with if consumers just go along with it and governments allow it.

[aeberbach]

If you want one... https://www.amibay.com/threads/a600gs.2446873/

[TCD]

Originally Posted by aeberbach

If you want one... https://www.amibay.com/threads/a600gs.2446873/

Ah, the first raging review is in. Good to know.

[amigakit.com]

The A600GS Manual is available to download as a PDF file:

A600GS Product Manual

[utri007]

Originally Posted by TCD

Ah, the first raging review is in. Good to know.

From Guide.

HDMI Audio: this enables audio output through the HDMI connection to
the television or monitor. Not all displays are compatible with HDMI
audio or have the capability for playing audio.

[aeberbach]

"A600, the A600 logo, AmiBench, Release V46 and Amiga Kit are
registered trademarks of AmigaKit Ltd in the United Kingdom and other
countries."

The bullshit never stops. Where does AmigaKit get off claiming "A600" is anything but what we have always known it as?

And more offensively that it owns "A600" as a trademark!

[aeberbach]

No, appropriating "A600", "A1200" and others is slimy as hell. So are other "legal" activities like registering domain names to mislead people to your own site and away from your competitors.

No lawyer or long discussion is required to know this.

[dreadnought]

IMO trying to copyright these historical names is plain silly (but of course silly is normal in the Amiga world).

A500 Mini at least had a shout in with the "500" because their product looks like that model. But there's no need to use these numbers for an oblong box. You could call it A800/1400/5000 and it'd actually make more sense (ok, maybe bar the 1st one coz it looks like Atari 800).

[amigakit.com]

Some years ago there were compelling reasons to trademark the IP we have been using for 20 years. Newcomers started to assert ownership over the marks we had been using over two decades. If they were successful, this could potentially result in us have to pay licence fees to use those marks in future or worst case scenario, we were prevented from doing so. We even received threatening correspondance from these parties claiming their ownership of the marks. We had to defend our position.

We are grateful for our long established customer base and product range. We want to continue to innovate new products for the community, grow the user base and invest in community developers. The A600GS at a low price point will hopefully encourage more users, development in classic Amiga software such as OctaMED, PPaint, ImageFX, Aladdin 4D, Candy Factory and many other titles we have planned for release. The AmiStore App Store will be an outlet to give small independent developers a central place to market and earn some money for their Amiga games and utilities.

If you take a look at the A600GS User Guide, in the credits section there are 17 Amiga community members who contributed to the A600GS project. Without them the product would not be possible. Only Amiga!

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

The A600GS Manual is available to download as a PDF file:

A600GS Product Manual

Very cool.

If I may suggest, after the initial launch, you should create several short youtube videos showcasing the basic usage of the device.
For example, how to install game from ADF into device. And how to connect device to the internet, and getting patches, how to install applications... how to keep everything organized... etc.

Today users are spoiled (including me ), and would rather look at quick youtube video, then read the manual.

Maybe even few promotional videos, running classic games, and showcasing the speed of 3D games (Doom, Alien Breed 3D 2, Wipeout (if possible at all)).. etc.

Cheers

[TCD]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

IMO trying to copyright these historical names is plain silly (but of course silly is normal in the Amiga world).

Just google 'A600' and you'll see how big the chance of that copyright idea is. The whole point of naming it 'A500 mini' was that you can't copyright 'A500'.

[Marcio D.]

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

If you take a look at the A600GS User Guide, in the credits section there are 17 Amiga community members who contributed to the A600GS project. Without them the product would not be possible. Only Amiga!

Somebody who purchased the A600GS has already posted a negative review of it on AmiBay, in the Want To Sell section. They list these bad points:

• No audio over HDMI, but says so in GUI you can
• No full size HDMI port
• Slow to boot
• Slow to launch stuff
• Cheap stickers already bubbling making buttons stick on joypad
• Cannot run WHDLoad
• Cannot mount hdfs
• No manuals not that you need them
• UI is pants
• Have to register for updates

They also wrote the following and included a short video to show this problem, "Was rattling out the box - turned out to be a loose antenna inside not secured down.... a bit of Kapton tape fixed that issue, but at first I thought it may be audio related..."


I'm sure you're already aware of that review, but just letting you know in case it has slipped your attention. I'm not one of the haters who are jealous of your trademarks and your business. I really want the A600GS to succeed, and I"m hoping you can address some of these deficiencies.


Thanks for all that you do in the Amiga community, Matthew.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by TCD

you can't copyright 'A500'.

Copyright No. Trademark Yes.

A500 trademark in the UK is owned by "Amiga Corporation"

https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tm.../UK00003341497

There are different classes of trademark and AmigaKit owns A600, A1200 and A4000 trademarks (at least in the UK) under classes 9 (computers), 16 (Packaging), 25 (clothing), 28 (toys), 35 (Advertising), 42 (software)

UK 3361854, 3298029, 3347268

They have tried to prevent others from registering similar trademarks (e.g. TheA500) and failed. Slightly anti-competitive but we don't know who they were defending against or what the history was.

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by Marcio D.

I'm not one of the haters who are jealous of your trademarks and your business. I really want the A600GS to succeed, and I"m hoping you can address some of these deficiencies.

On the last page there was a link to thread about this.

You will always find some customers behave like this, and trying to convince other people not to buy specific product. Why? I have no idea. I am not fan of many products, and the biggest waste of time for me to be to go to the forums, and talk trash about these products.

The fact that guy sell the product right away (on the same thread) speaks to me that he wanted to trash talk almost for free (buy, then sell it), not because he was unhappy with product.

...who knows...

[pixie]

Originally Posted by Marcio D.

Somebody who purchased the A600GS has already posted a negative review of it on AmiBay, in the Want To Sell section. They list these bad points:
[...]
Thanks for all that you do in the Amiga community, Matthew.

Strange way to sell your piece of hardware I would say...