Happy new year and an advice from ACube - Hardware News - News

Hardware News : Happy new year and an advice from ACube

Posted by Elwood on 2026/1/3 20:04:25 (657 reads) News by the same author

Dear customers,
We would like to extend our warmest wishes for a joyful and prosperous New Year to everyone. May this 2026 bring peace and happiness to you, and also exciting news and developments for our beloved Amiga community.

It’s been over 19 years since the introduction of our first board, the Sam440ep. Throughout these years, this little board has proven to be one of the most stable platforms for running AmigaOS 4, and it’s still performing exceptionally well! However, some of its components are starting to show signs of age. In particular, the onboard M9 Graphic Chip may require some additional care due to its age. We strongly advise all our customers who still use the Sam440ep Mini ITX to add a fan to the M9 Graphic Chip as soon as possible. This will help the chip manage the high temperatures and ensure it continues to work without any issues.

We’ve found the perfect fan for this purpose. It’s a 30x30 fan that you can screw directly onto the M9 heatsink. As you can see in the picture below, connect the fan to connector J17. You’ll need to connect the red wire to pin 1 and the black wire to pin 4 (pins 2 and 3 should remain empty).

We all want this wonderful old board to continue to function well until the arrival of our new motherboard.

See the picture on our web page

The ACube Systems Team

The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.

Author	Thread
AmigaOldskooler	Published: 2026/1/4 6:58 Updated: 2026/1/4 6:58
Quite a regular Joined: 08/25/2017 From: Norway Comments: 643	Sam440 rules! Hi ACube, Thanks for the info about this! I have a Sam440EP setup which I hope to keep for many years to come. :-) By the way, you write "until the arrival of our new motherboard"... what do you mean by this? A new motherboard for AmigaOS 4 from ACube? :-D

Elwood	Published: 2026/1/4 11:01 Updated: 2026/1/4 11:01
Just can't stay away Joined: 12/09/2006 From: Lyon, France Comments: 1412	Re: Sam440 rules! > A new motherboard for AmigaOS 4 from ACube? The contrary would be weird It will be the fastest PowerPC based motherboard.

xe1huku	Published: 2026/1/4 13:29 Updated: 2026/1/4 13:29
Just popping in Joined: 12/17/2022 From: Sweden Comments: 14	Re: Sam440 rules! Thanks, my 440ep is still performing fine! Will the new motherboard be ITX too? :)

Tuvok	Published: 2026/1/4 14:20 Updated: 2026/1/4 14:20
Just popping in Joined: 12/21/2022 From: Richmond Vancouver Comments: 163	Sam440 flex Even though I have a flex which does not need it, thank you for the support! Wow! Last year an update for U-Boot and now recommendations for the hardware! Wish my AmigaONE X's would receive such love! Thank you! And happy new Years and all the best for 2026!

amije	Published: 2026/1/4 23:54 Updated: 2026/1/4 23:54
Just popping in Joined: 12/14/2006 From: Thessaloniki - Greece Comments: 114	sam440ep i have two of these babies, thanks! I wonder what Commodore would suggest for the A1200 if it still existed!

pjs	Published: 2026/1/5 0:09 Updated: 2026/1/5 0:09
Not too shy to talk Joined: 12/02/2006 From: VA, USA Comments: 416	Re: Sam440 rules! @Elwood Hi! This new board wouldn't happen to be running a T2080 and have a nickname of a lucky goddess? I didn't see what fan you had for the 440ep graphics chip. You guys wanna put it up for sale on your website? I'd certainly like to keep my little ole 440 running. It's been a great machine! ...and I really appreciate your continued support of all your products! Thanks! PJS

328gts	Published: 2026/1/5 3:28 Updated: 2026/1/5 3:28
Home away from home Joined: 07/07/2009 From: Man Cave, Canada Comments: 3416	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube thanks ACube always top quality hardware and support from you guys! and cough...'new' motherboard?! can 2026 bring us TWO 'affordable' motherboards both running OS4 and MorphOS

Chris	Published: 2026/1/5 19:21 Updated: 2026/1/5 19:21
Amigans Defender Joined: 11/17/2006 From: England Comments: 3456	Re: Sam440 rules! The model number is LD3007MS. On eBay there appear to be two versions - you want the one with the two separate cables, not the single connector. The label is a little different from ACube's photo but appears to be the same item. It would have been nice if they'd given the model number in the blurb instead of needing us to zoom in on a photo, but I appreciate the concern and support for these boards.

tao	Published: 2026/1/5 23:25 Updated: 2026/1/5 23:25
Just popping in Joined: 09/10/2024 From: Pennsylvania, USA Comments: 52	Happy new year and an advice from ACube If the T2080 comment wasn't just wishful thinking, that SOC is in the X5000 range of available PCIe lanes. ACube makes good products and supports their products, but I'd classify all the SAM's as "budget" boards. Would love to see all those PCIe lanes put to good use!

Rob	Published: 2026/1/6 20:46 Updated: 2026/1/6 20:46
Not too shy to talk Joined: 11/27/2006 From: Comments: 397	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube @tao https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/en/ I'd prefer this over a Mirari with a T2081, if they can deliver it in a reasonable timeframe and at a reasonable price.

tao	Published: 2026/1/7 10:12 Updated: 2026/1/7 10:13
Just popping in Joined: 09/10/2024 From: Pennsylvania, USA Comments: 52	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube @Rob Thanks for the link. I agree the T2080 is a better choice than the T2081, but my faith in this project is shaky. Their laptop design has been kicking around for a looong time and (to the best of my knowledge) has never gone into mass production. The Mirari team had developer boards in hand in under a year. And hasn't ACube so far designed all their boards in-house? I don't see anything on that site linking them to ACube, besides both apparently being based in Italy. If ACube was involved, would they be asking for donations? Too many questions, but it is still better to see new hardware development vs. no development. Shrug.

benny	Published: 2026/1/7 14:33 Updated: 2026/1/7 14:37
Just popping in Joined: 12/08/2006 From: Netherlands Comments: 134	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube That notebook-team has still a lot of work to be done and when did they start 8 years ago ? The cpu on the first revision of the Mirari is problably weaker, but they delivered in much less time. Linux and MorphOS is running on that board for months now and release could be this year. Maybe that is why Acube wrote the announcement of the new motherboard in passing.

Rob	Published: 2026/1/8 0:20 Updated: 2026/1/8 0:20
Not too shy to talk Joined: 11/27/2006 From: Comments: 397	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube @tao The open hardware guys don't have a hardware designer as part of their team so the design work is contracted out to Acube. Acube is not involved in the funding of their hardware since the goal is to make final design open source. All funding is collected by crowd funding and the project can only proceed when funding is in place for each step. This is why progress has been slow. Mirari have a hardware designer on the team so they don't have to raise money to pay a third party to do the work for them. I think Trevor's financial support extends as far as paying parts, prototype boards and boards for OS developers. This has meant that the design and production of the first boards has happened much faster. The comment about a T2080 Tyche being better option than Mirari with a T2081 isn't to throw shade Mirari. The board is designed primarily for the T1042, the fact that the T2081 is pin compatible is more of a bonus. If Tyche desktop is completed in a timely fashion, the current expectation is that Acube will be able to start taking pre-orders in July 2026, then I'd expect Mirari will only ship with T1042.

tao	Published: 2026/1/8 5:56 Updated: 2026/1/8 5:56
Just popping in Joined: 09/10/2024 From: Pennsylvania, USA Comments: 52	Re: Happy new year and an advice from ACube @Rob All good answers. Thank you! The only puzzle left for me is why the powerpc-notebook group haven't publicized their workstation motherboard more. Why isn't this a front page news item on every relevant Amiga site? I'm thinking Amiga users will easily count for 50% of sales, and maybe they could have reached their next funding goal already? In its favor, ACube (and you) seem to have faith in the project. Still curious what they're doing with those PCIe lanes. Could the 16x slot have eight active lanes?