Amiga User International magazine reported in their February 1997 issue that a new prospective owner for the Amiga had appeared on the scene. Quikpak, the Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of Amiga Technologies' A4000T was reported to be in the bidding for the Amiga. VISCorp are apparently no longer in the running!

Perhaps an even bigger surprise resolved itself when Quikpak displayed several new machines, based around the Amiga, at the Computer Fest in Toronto, Canada. They also revealed plans for Amiga super-workstations, built around DEC's "Alpha" processor. This chip, the powerplant of the computer system was, up until recently, the fastest micro-processor available! So it's extremely good news for all in the Amiga community.

Amiga User International also reported that Quikpak had shown an interest in the products of a British Amiga developer. Enter HiQ, staunch supporters of the Amiga platform since 1987, developers of the highly-respected PowerStation and the critically-acclaimed Siamese System. Quikpak want to integrate the Siamese System into their new work-stations, a massive and well-deserved boost for our friends at HiQ.

I wanted to get the low-down on these interesting developments, so I contacted Stephen Jones - the man behind HiQ, for the details. For obvious reasons, Stephen is unable to reveal too much while negotiations are still underway, but here's what he had to say ...

Q. Why have you chosen to support the Amiga?

Because it is the best user machine available at a sensible price, although it is suffering against the PC now.

Q. What, in your opinion, is the reason for the Amiga's incredible resilience in the face of overwhelming odds?

WorkBench and Video-genlocking, mostly the Toaster though.

Q. HiQ have had a long-time involvement in the Amiga scene, and have really hit the bullseye recently with two products: The PowerStation and the Siamese System. What prompted the development of these units in a time when the Amiga's future was so uncertain?

The Powerstation was purely to pay the bills and feed the family, but the Siamese is a way of extending the Amiga's life and further developments will take the Amiga back into the mainstream, hopefully.

Q. The PowerStation series has been very successful, almost every Amiga-user I speak to has one. Are you surprised at its success?

Yes and No, Yes because it is basically just a box and power-supply. No, because the machine is more powerful because of what is put in it and it looks cool!

(I have to agree with that! - Ed.)

Q. At one time, HiQ were asking Amiga-users for the cables from their old PSU's. Is this still the case or, if not, how has this shortage been resolved?

We have lots of the square power-connectors at present, when they run out we may need leads again.

Q. What plans, if any, do you have for further additions/improvements to the PowerStation units?

Fit in the guts of the PC to make it into a Siamese, maybe a version that can hold the Amiga's motherboard one day if we can solve the keyboard problem cheaply.

Q. Your most stunning product to date is the remarkable Siamese System. Other methods for access to PC systems via the Amiga have been offered by other manufacturers, such as emulators and bridgeboards. So where did the idea originate to actually integrate an entire PC to the Amiga?

I had started using the PC to create corporate CD-ROMs and I found it not very efficient working with two machines, so firstly I tried the basic SCSI networking concept and this worked. Then I had an electronic monitor-switcher made and the keyboard re-mapping written. Finally Paul [Nolan, also creator of the acclaimed Photogenics] came along because he thought the idea was cool and then took over the coding. The rest is history as they say.

Q. The Siamese System works remarkably well. How difficult was it to create such a seamless environment between the Amiga and PC?

Very difficult for v1.5 but v2 and RTG needed most of the graphics system being translated to the Win95/NT environment which is close to the original Amiga software complexity if not more, Paul is probably in the same league as Carl Sassenrath [the man behind the Amiga's Operating System] and deserves much respect for this.

Q. What plans, if any, do you have for further additions/improvements to the Siamese System?

We have masses of improvements over what is already advertised but we must keep these to ourselves until close to shipping. Expect a big announcement in April.

Q. A possible new owner for Amiga Technologies has emerged in the form of Pennsylvania-based Quikpak and you are reportedly having talks with them regarding the inclusion of the Siamese System in their proposal for a new Amiga model, the 5050. You must be delighted at the possibilities arising from such a union and the benefits to HiQ would be enormous if such a machine were successful. Is there anything you can tell us about these negotiations?

Only that I have verbally agreed the deal with QuikPak and if they finally get the Amiga then all future big box Amigas will have the Siamese System built in. As for the benefits to HiQ, apart from the money injection we will also have a say in the direction of the OS.

Q. What sort of timescale are we looking at for such a machine?

Can't comment until buyout is confirmed.

Q. Do you believe that Quikpak can save the Amiga and bring new product onto the market which will return some competitiveness to the platform?

Yes, but only with the support of Amiga users and magazines. They (QuikPak) are being very supportive to developers and not just us so I am confident of their intentions being good. However, certain Amiga developers are letting there egos get in the way of the Amiga's future. Finally, remember that PowerPC is not the only answer just one of them, I prefer Alpha because I know what is happening in the background and it is a better chip. There is room for both chips in the Amiga market as long as development is open.

Q. There are also plans for a new Amiga from phase 5 in Germany (the A\Box), the proposed spec's of which have been highly publicised. This proposal has generated an awful lot of excitement and speculation on the Internet. How do you think the A\Box and the 5050 will compare, (a) against each other, (b) within the industry as a whole?

They are totally different machines, the 5050T for one thing does exist, the A\Box does not. We have plans which will make the A\Box obsolete before it ships so I am not particularly interested in it. However there is room in the market and people vote with their wallets so we will have to see when it finally ships.

Q. Both companies (phase 5 and Quikpak) apparently have prototypes of their machines at this time. I believe that having two Amiga variants, each with different processors and sub-systems, will cause an awful lot of confusion and obvious incompatibilities. It is likely that only one of these machines will survive! Obviously, HiQ has an interest in the final victor being Quikpak, and with it being the "official" machine and thus the supported one, this seems likely. But what about the investment made by phase 5 in the developement of the A\Box? Has it all been wasted?

If phase5 are clever then they will not suffer should QuikPak end up with the Amiga, but if egos get in the way then they could definitely have problems. As for the us, if Quickpac do not get the Amiga, we still have our own plans with the Alpha but it will be more dificult for us.

Q. Quikpak have chosen to build around the DEC Alpha processor, which is a far better choice than the PowerPC chips which phase 5 have adopted. How easy is it going to be to port the Amiga's OS to the Alpha? Is it likely that current applications will run without problems on the 5050 as existing users are going to want to be able to continue to use such programs as Lightwave, Scala, Pagestream, etc.?

Yes, Quikpak chose Alpha mainly for two reasons. Firstly, Newtek want that route and secondly we have a way to take all Amiga software over to Alpha while we port the OS gradually. The user will just carry on as before and get benefits over the months as new software is written or updated for the new machine's features whilst retaining Amiga 060 compatibilty.

Q. Do you have anything new in the pipeline, anything which will have anywhere near the impact of the Siamese System and the PowerStation?

Oh YES! You better believe it.

Q. How long will you continue to support the Amiga platform (including the forthcoming variants)?

While it pays the bills, I am not greedy but I need to feed the family.

Q. Are you optimistic about the Amiga's future, or not? Why?

Yes, if the bloody liquidator's will get their finger out and settle the buy-out.

Q. What would you say to users who would migrate to another platform in these troubled times? How would you change their mind?

Siamese version 3.

And finally,

Q. The root of our current problems lay with Commodore, where mis-management and an absence of effective advertising brought the Amiga to its knees. What would you have done differently, if you had been Commodore's CEO when the decline in profits first became apparent?

This is unfortunately a question that I will not answer because what is done is done, I have my theories but they will do no good now, but you can believe me that if I am involved the Amiga will be pushed as a serious machine.

And that's what we all want Steve!

Thanks to Stephen Jones and all at HiQ.