A1200 Replica PCB Progress

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Predseda

Already available.
http://imgbox.com/eK8J6jXz

Yeah, I got one of those and it is great.

Nice to see more motherboards being remade, and when this is finished hopefully someone will pick up the drawings and have some PCBs manufactured.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by Predseda

Already available.
http://imgbox.com/eK8J6jXz

Available is stretching it a bit, try getting one today.

Anyway, a revision 6 board might be better as a new project as the 1MB Agnus's are way easier to get and it's not like a stock A500 really needs 2MB chip. It'd be good for the new cases.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Mick

Available is stretching it a bit, try getting one today.

Anyway, a revision 6 board might be better as a new project as the 1MB Agnus's are way easier to get and it's not like a stock A500 really needs 2MB chip. It'd be good for the new cases.

True, those A1k A500+ boards are not available any longer, but that's how it is with all these projects. If someone decides to manufacture new A1200 boards, they will probably also only be available for a short period.

Regarding Rev 6/8 I beg to differ since there are many dead A500+'s out there due to leaking batteries which are in need of a fresh PCB to be brought back to life. This was also the case for me as I had one badly corroded Rev 8A which ended up becoming a donor for the A1k A500+ PCB.

[solidcore]

Originally Posted by Predseda

Already available.
http://imgbox.com/eK8J6jXz

Where to buy and how much atm?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by solidcore

Where to buy and how much atm?

You need to look for a 2nd hand one if you want one now. Like with many other retro projects they are built to order/preorder only. Perhaps they will make another batch in the future, although it will probably be a PCB only and not a full kit since it is getting hard to source everything (particularly the DB23 and PSU connectors). They originate from a thread on a1k.org although I was lucky enough to get my hands on a kit despite not having a user profile there.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by demolition

True, those A1k A500+ boards are not available any longer, but that's how it is with all these projects. If someone decides to manufacture new A1200 boards, they will probably also only be available for a short period.

There is a little nuance here, that Chucky will release all the files needed to have new boards made in the future.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Jope

There is a little nuance here, that Chucky will release all the files needed to have new boards made in the future.

That may be, but that does not mean you can just send off the gerber files to dirtypcbs to have them make you a cheap motherboard.

It takes a more serious manufacturer to make a board of this size in the proper quality and making a single board will probably be ridiculously expensive so it will have to be done as a group buy. But having the files public obviously means that there is a decent chance that someone will decide to make a run as it won't have to rely on the author(s) (they probably have all the boards they need for themselves now).

[solidcore]

Originally Posted by demolition

That may be, but that does not mean you can just send off the gerber files to dirtypcbs to have them make you a cheap motherboard.

It takes a more serious manufacturer to make a board of this size in the proper quality and making a single board will probably be ridiculously expensive so it will have to be done as a group buy. But having the files public obviously means that there is a decent chance that someone will decide to make a run as it won't have to rely on the author(s) (they probably have all the boards they need for themselves now).

I disagree with using dirtypcb.

JLCPCB offer 10 x 4 layer boards at ( 354mm x 194mm - A1200 dimensions? ) for $136.74 at a 4-5 day build time, without taking into account shipping costs that works out about 13.6$ a board. I'm happy with that.

To have some perspective on price change lower/higher than 10 units...
5x = 89.86$ ( 17.97$ board)
20x = 231$ (11.55$ board)

[Marlon_]

Yeah, it’s not too horribly expensive. You can get 5 for about $80 elsewhere as well. Having the gerbers available is far better than having none.

[solidcore]

Originally Posted by Marlon_

Yeah, it’s not too horribly expensive. You can get 5 for about $80 elsewhere as well. Having the gerbers available is far better than having none.

I second the a1200 gerbers.

I also would like to see the a500+ gerbers being released since it's sitting around collecting dust, nobody is selling any , rather just get them made myself.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by solidcore

I disagree with using dirtypcb.

JLCPCB offer 10 x 4 layer boards at ( 354mm x 194mm - A1200 dimensions? ) for $136.74 at a 4-5 day build time, without taking into account shipping costs that works out about 13.6$ a board. I'm happy with that.

As I expect you do not need 10+ boards yourself, that would also need to be a group buy. The price is not too bad, but how many of the boards can you realistically expect to be working at that price? Usually you should expect various errors when you choose the cheaper options.

[solidcore]

Originally Posted by demolition

As I expect you do not need 10+ boards yourself, that would also need to be a group buy. The price is not too bad, but how many of the boards can you realistically expect to be working at that price? Usually you should expect various errors when you choose the cheaper options.

It wouldn't make a difference to me, I know enough people who would take them off me at cost... to recoupe most of the money back, it's when people are selling these 13$ boards for 100$ that gripes me, rather pay that price myself for 5/10 boards and sell at cost the remaining, gerbers out in the wild would be the best for everyone, and then it all comes down to where they got done, quality of pcb, and cost price, and shipping the boards over to people to add to the price a little, but not 100$ a board...

Dirtypcb would give you one of the higher error rates anyway. So don't bother with that.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by solidcore

I also would like to see the a500+ gerbers being released since it's sitting around collecting dust, nobody is selling any , rather just get them made myself.

That would be great. If the PCB's were being sold by the creator I could understand them not wanting to make the files public but it's not even possible to buy them. So frustrating.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Mick

That would be great. If the PCB's were being sold by the creator I could understand them not wanting to make the files public but it's not even possible to buy them. So frustrating.

Since Indivision is no longer making the ACA630, he should really just give away all the layout files for free so anybody can manufacture new ACA630 boards. And while he's at it, we also need the VHDL source code for any CPLDs/FPGAs (if applicable) on there so we can recreate those as well. Sounds fair to demand that? Not to me..

I don't get why people think that everything should be open-sourced and given away for free. I like the concept of open source, but I fully respect it when someone chooses not to since they have invested time (and thus money) into creating something.

Originally Posted by solidcore

it's when people are selling these 13$ boards for 100$ that gripes me

Why do you think that the production cost of the original boards is 13$? I don't know what it was, but the quality is more or less perfect so they surely did not pick the cheapest option out there. Also, they didn't charge 100$ for it. I don't remember the exact price but I think it was more in the line of 50-60$ just for the board which I think was quite reasonable.

[MigaTech]

Still impressive how complicated this early 90's tech was when you see the board in all its beauty! Nice work Chucky.

[Marlon_]

Originally Posted by demolition

I don't get why people think that everything should be open-sourced and given away for free. I like the concept of open source, but I fully respect it when someone chooses not to since they have invested time (and thus money) into creating something.

That's not at all what he said.

[solidcore]

Originally Posted by demolition

Why do you think that the production cost of the original boards is 13$? I don't know what it was, but the quality is more or less perfect so they surely did not pick the cheapest option out there. Also, they didn't charge 100$ for it. I don't remember the exact price but I think it was more in the line of 50-60$ just for the board which I think was quite reasonable.

Well it doesn't need to be gold plated you know? I'm saying the minimum cost per board if you were to sell 10 would be about 13 $ each, + postage , as for additional components and cost of what they sold for wasn't exactly what i was saying but rather simply saying i dont want to pay 100$ for a pcb which now it's gerbers are just sitting around collecting dust. btw i appreciate someone has put the hardwork of making it, but if their soul intention is to make a 10x markup on PCB's that's a little cheeky seeing as they are cloning intellectual property not making something from scratch here which is a different thing entirely, nobody forces the guy to put his time energy into it to begin with, and if that's the case we may as well make an open source one anyway so we're all free to buy as many as we like and share them out to those we care about in the community, at cost or for free.

Originally Posted by demolition

I don't get why people think that everything should be open-sourced and given away for free. I like the concept of open source, but I fully respect it when someone chooses not to since they have invested time (and thus money) into creating something.

Oh and _chucky_ told me he's against closed source so We can only assume its open source anyway unless he's changed his perspective on that.

[Marlon_]

Originally Posted by solidcore

Oh and _chucky_ told me he's against closed source so We can only assume its open source anyway unless he's changed his perspective on that.

He's already stated that it's going to be open source. He also said something like "if I wouldn't open source it, I wouldn't show it off either" (paraphrased)

[demolition]

Originally Posted by solidcore

Well it doesn't need to be gold plated you know?
..
btw i appreciate someone has put the hardwork of making it, but if their soul intention is to make a 10x markup on PCB's that's a little cheeky seeing as they are cloning intellectual property not making something from scratch

I would prefer the expansion connector to be gold-plated or it will not be very reliable in the long run.

Pretty much every new creation is based on some previous work. And they surely did not put a 10x markup on it, not even if you put a zero value on their time spent (which would not be fair). I doubt they paid much less then 20$ per board and selling them for 60$ is only 3x which is quite different from 10x..

[solidcore]

Yep can't wait for these boards then.

Originally Posted by demolition

I would prefer the expansion connector to be gold-plated or it will not be very reliable in the long run.

Pretty much every new creation is based on some previous work. And they surely did not put a 10x markup on it, not even if you put a zero value on their time spent (which would not be fair). I doubt they paid much less then 20$ per board and selling them for 60$ is only 3x which is quite different from 10x..

I wasn't saying the board itself was 100$ at the time, it was 40,00 Euro which is just shy of 50$ , what I mean is but try getting it for less than 100$ now , so far I've not had a price anywhere near 50$ offered to me, I suppose that's because the gerbers are not open source and nobody wants to let go of them, Perhaps when I say '10x' markup I'm on about buying one today vs the real cost of a PCB, gold plating does increase price and you can appreciate it would last longer but I was talking about 'minimal costs' (but not dirtypcb), not maximum costs which will be as high as you can find it . Sorry to confuse.

Edit: Saying that even 13$ each for a 2 layer gold pcb at them dimensions for 10 units.

I look forward to a Gerber a500+ if those behind that project are kind enough to change their minds about releasing the files since it's benefiting nobody right now being on a hard disk, however if there is no change soon I'll probably put some time into this and sell them at cost, yep no profits. I'll even release the schematic, as it wont just be a 1:1 board copy, it'll be a schematic, board and gerber release if I have anything to do with it. Legal matters would have to be considered however but disregarding that, yep the files would be free to download as well.