Amiga Plus Leser 15/Amiga Plus Leser CD 15.iso/Scene/Crypt22/TEXT/MatayInterview/MatayInterview

Text File | 2002-03-12 | 7KB | 168 lines

@2{An interview with Filip Dab-Mirowski (Matay)
@4}Courtesy of Obligement E-Zine


@1
      1)@5 Could you introduce yourself ?  (answers are in general name, age,
      work,  place  you're living in...  Everything which is not related to
      computer, in fact)
@3
      My  name  is  Filip Dab-Mirowski, I`m 21 years old.  I`m the owner of
      Matay.   I`ve  born and I live in Warsaw, Poland.  Except the work in
      Matay I`m studying law, on one of the Warsaw`s universities.
@1
      2)@5  Could you tell us how did you discovered Amiga computer, and what
      is your history with this computer ?
@3
      My  father  bought me my first Amiga in 1991, it was A500+ with 1084S
      monitor.   My  previous  computer was C64, so you can imagine how the
      colorful  gfx  and  great  sound of Amiga astonished me.  Next was an
      A600 with 2Mb ram and 120Mb hard disk, CD32, A1200 and finally A4000.
      In 1996 I began my cooperation with polish "Magazyn Amiga" (sister of
      the  German one) and stayed with it as a (mainly) games editor to the
      downfall of this great paper in the end of 1999.
@3
      I`ve always wanted to create something for this computer, I`ve been a
      part  of  few  development  teams from which the last one was LCS.  I
      gave  the  ideas, wrote a lot of scripts, stories, worked out details
      and  tried  to  coordinate  the  work of the group, but as it happens
      usually,  it  didn`t work.  Meanwhile I`ve been betatester of several
      programs  and  games,  like  for example Wipeout2097.  On spring 2000
      I`ve  decided  the  time  is  up  to make something serious and early
      summer Matay is born...  ;-)
@1
      3)@5 What is your current configuration ?
@3
      Oh it`s a PC, Celeron ... ermm... @1*@3grins@1*@3

      Well  that  too  but  except  this  I  have  an Amiga 4000 tower with
      Prometheus  (Voodoo3, Fast Ethernet/Ethernet cards and tuner tv card)
      with CyberstormPPC 060/50 233mhz card and 96 Mb RAM.
@1
      4)@5 Why are you still using Amiga computers ?
@3
      Because  it  suits  my needs.  Further more, AmigaOS is the most user
      friendly  system  I`ve  ever seen, it`s a lot more pleasant to use an
      Amiga  than  PC.  So I don`t use it, if I don`t have to and there are
      not many reasons left to use a PC if I have an Amiga with Prometheus,
      right?
@1
      5)@5 Let's talk about Matay...  Where does the name "Matay" come from ?
@3
      That`s how my 3 years old brother called my father, instead of Maciej
      (Matthew)  he  kept saying "Mataj".  We lacked the ideas for name and
      this one sounded pretty original ;-)
@1
      6)@5 Could you talk about the (short) story of Matay ?
@3
      Matay history is pretty short, it`s offically running from 01.09.2000
      It   was  started  earlier  to  give  a  legal  base  for  Prometheus
      development.  For the first few months Matay was known to public only
      as  an  internet  shop.  Prometheus was developed in a full secret so
      not  many  people invloved in Amiga community had any knowledge about
      it.
@1
      7)@5 How many people are currently working at Matay ?
@3
      We have 6 contract workers and people who cooperate closely.
@1
      8)@5 What are the current Matay products ?
@3
      Prometheus PCI bridge and Boing`em! PDA game.
@1
      9)@5 Could you tell us genesis of Prometheus card ?
@3
      Grzegorz Kraszewski worked on a project called AmiPCI since the early
      1999.   He was not moving further because of lack of funds, technical
      equipment  and  because  that was only his hobby.  After talking with
      him  on  an  IRC channel (we knew eachother earlier) I`ve decided the
      experience  he  had  with  AmiPCI  and  his education (Grzegorz is an
      engineer)  plus  the money I gathered to start up the company will be
      enough to construct a decent PCI resolution for Amiga computers.

      Zorro3 seemed the most flexible way of connecting the device so we`ve
      decided  to  go  for it.  Some people gave us a lot of help for which
      I`m truly thankful, we wouldn`t make it without their help.
@1
      10)@5  Which  are  the  main  advantages of Prometheus Card compared to
      Other Amiga/PCI cards ?
@3
      Price,  open  sdk,  high quality design, real customers support, free
      drivers.
@1
      11)@5 And compared to future Computers ?  (AmigaOne or Pegasos) ?
@3
      The  only  way  to  bring  your old Amiga into the future is to buy a
      Prometheus and add a PPC card later.

@1
      12)@5 What are current drivers available for Prometheus ?
@3
      2D/3D  S3Virge,  Voodoo  3  2000/3000,  Voodoo4  4500 (no official 3D
      driver), NE2000 compatible ethernet cards.

      Working  developer  versions  of  Fast  Ethernet and Tuner TV drivers
      (note  to  editor:   it`s  possible that before when you will publish
      this  article  such  drivers  and some other software will be already
      avaliable).
@1
      13)@5 What is planned for the future of Prometheus ?
@3
      AmigaOS 4.0 support, which means a PPC board.  That`s for sure.  What
      else?  More and more drivers for different types of PCI cards.
@1
      14)@5  Are  you satisfied with the number of Prometheus sold ?  Does it
      cope with planned figures ?
@3
      We`ve  sold over half of our stock.  Planned figures are when we will
      sell the last board ;-)


@1
      15)@5 What are your other projects at Matay ?  Will we see hardware for
      next generation Amiga, from Matay ?
@3
      As  for  now we will focus on Prometheus and games for AmigaDE (PDA).
      It`s  a  bit  too early to talk about next generation Amiga.  We will
      see what will the market need.  We will suit the needs :-)
@1
      16)@5 Are you still developping for AmigaDE ?
@3
      Yes.
@1
      17)@5  What  are  you thinking of Amiga Inc (project, strategy, current
      situation) ?
@3
      The  idea  is  great, still, it needs a lot of effort.  The operating
      system  is  the  most important thing in Amiga, that`s its soul.  The
      body  -  hardware  -  is too old, we have to search for a new host...
      hm, I sound like an alien ;-)
@1
      18)@5 Are you working with Hyperion for AmigaOS 4.0 compatibility ?
@3
      Yes.
@1
      19)@5 And what about MorphOS/Pegasos ?
@3
      If Prometheus could be compatible with MorphOS, it would be great.
@1
      20)@5 Could you talk about the Amiga market in Poland ?
@3
      It  shrinked  rapidly during last few years.  Once, it was one of the
      biggest markets in Europe.  In 1998 there were at least 40.000 users,
      now,  I  don`t  think  there`s  more than 3000-4000 active users.  We
      still try to support the remaining group by giving them a possibility
      to buy Amiga software.
@1
      21) @5 Is  there is a question I didn't asked you, and that you want to
      answer to ?
@3
      Erm... not really ;-)
@1
      22)@5 Do you have a message for our readers ?
@3
      Stay with Amiga, support Amiga companies and stay tuned for more news
      from Matay.
@5
      Lionel Menou@7
      Obligement E-Zine -@6 http://obligement.free.fr