At the start of this journey, we posed the question 'what is X?' The answer is that X is many things. X is the Xena/XMOS chip, and the Xorro slot that accompanies it. X is the mystery CPU, and above all, X is the AmigaOne X1000, the new complete desktop computer system from A-EON.

It's almost 25 years since Commodore released the A1000 model that launched the line in the summer of 1985, and with the launch of the X1000 we will usher in a new beginning for the AmigaOS platform. Just as Commodore did with the A1000, we're aiming at the high-end first, with a powerful desktop computer aimed at the professional and serious hobbyist markets (although you won't have to wait until summer, and it should be a little cheaper!) The launch of the A1000 offered something new, and the X1000 will do the same. The world has moved on and custom chips no longer make much sense, but the X1000 offers a customisable chip as standard instead - 'Xena'.

Thanks to Xena and the Xorro interface, the X1000 offers extraordinary flexibility. We believe that with this easy gateway to the world of 'Software Defined Silicon' and a path to massive parallelism, the X1000 will once more make the AmigaOS platform the best choice for truly creative and unique applications. For custom hardware control from robotics to theatrical lighting, for hobbyist creativity, for hardware hacking and for a multitude of applications we haven't even imagined yet, the X1000 is a dream platform - and therein lies another meaning of 'X', the unknown. It is you, not us, who will define the future.

Of course that's far from all there is to the X1000. Even if you have no interest in the co-processor concept, the X1000 is by a large margin the most powerful and up-to-date platform for running AmigaOS. With a fast dual-core CPU and a full range of modern interfaces such as PCIe x16, SATA and USB 2.0, the already extremely responsive AmigaOS will at last have a truly high-end platform to run on. While AmigaOS has progressed massively over the last few years (and continues to develop more and more features at an impressive rate), the hardware to run it on has not kept pace. There was a time when we had great hardware as well as a great Operating System, and with the AmigaOne X1000, we can finally say that time is come again. While the entry level is currently well catered for by ACube's SAM motherboard, it is this return of AmigaOS to the high-end that truly ushers in a new beginning.