New products for C64 and Amiga from Individual Computers

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Faerytale

Jens! Any chance for new production of ACA-630?

No chance, sorry. The ACA630 sold extremely slowly, and that was most likely due to the high price.

The ACA620 sells a lot better, which is why I will continue to make that.

I see the same effect on A1200 accelerators: The ACA1233-40 sells slowly, much slower than the lower-end ACA1220 and ACA1232 cards (which are sold out now). Resellers and customers are telling me that they are waiting for the ACA1221(ec) to be released, because they are going to be a lot cheaper.

Jens

[Mr B]

You shouldn't be so dismissive. ;- ) Make it a pre-order item. If you can get x pre-orders, then your willing to make a small batch.
BTW, my ACA-1230/56 is probably the least used ACA-card from it's generation. I really need to finish my projects so i get time for some retro gaming again. I imagine thats what most people do with their ACA-cards, game, and with the new sexy hooks making WHDLoad work as it "should" with lowend CPU's, there is no need for something faster really.
You built it, now the people come for it, so to speak.

Cheers, from Sweden.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Mr B

You shouldn't be so dismissive. ;- ) Make it a pre-order item. If you can get x pre-orders, then your willing to make a small batch.

That would be a legal problem: If I'm taking an order and request a payment from the customer, I must ship - at least according to my terms and conditions as they are right now. Note that it involves substantial money to have the terms and conditions checked for compliance with German laws and EU directives.

I can get around this by not requesting a payment, but then I don't have a "signature" from the customer, so we don't have a contract. It would then be uncertain if the customer will buy it at the price and at the time when it'll be available. This would go back to me taking all the risk.

We're working on the PayPal module of the shop site right now. Appears like there are a number of different APIs, and at least one of them allows authorizing, but not actually executing a payment. This may be a way to implement something like "crowd funding" without paying huge amounts of money to the crowd funding platform. If anyone has experience with that PayPal function - hints are very welcome.

Jens

Edit: Just called PayPal, and they told me that the idea is not viable: Authorizations aren't guaranteed, and they last for 30 days only.

[spudje]

Would crowdfunding be a solution then?
Not that I'm interested in a ACA630.

I'm a happy Indivision AGA MKIIcr customer. Except for still waiting for an update of the config tool with v-sync support (is this still planned??) and me doubting whether or not to short E127R to run HighGFX in 1024x768 without artefacts.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

That would be a legal problem:

There is always the red tape. Trust the government to make things as hard as possible.
But yeah, as i turns out, your not actually that dismissive of the idea, it's just the matter of finding a viable way of actually making it happen. And since you need at least a couple of 100 orders to run a batch, lead-time to track down the hardware, and so on, it seams there is a bit of tape to cut through. There has to be a way to make a binding agreement without paying "now" but then there also has to be a way to hold the "other part" in this case you, accountable. Something like a latest date of delivery, or at the very least a "point of no return" at which point buyers pay, and know when to expect the hardware. Anyway, as i said, i to am not a potential buyer, i fully expect to have my A1200 for the rest of my active "Amiga" life. You did good, the ACA-1230/56 is rock solid, and the Indivision MKII, even if i have my grievances with it, does what it said on the box. I just need to figure out the video-modes, but... It's a working piece of art.

[Zippy Zapp]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Resellers and customers are telling me that they are waiting for the ACA1221(ec) to be released, because they are going to be a lot cheaper.

Jens

Wow, I guess I missed something. Is there info on the 1221? I have 2 stock 1200's that are begging for expansions. I went to retroami to get a 1220 but I guess I was too late. I am going to order the A500 model soon. Thanks for the Commodore support!

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Zippy Zapp

Wow, I guess I missed something. Is there info on the 1221? I have 2 stock 1200's that are begging for expansions. I went to retroami to get a 1220 but I guess I was too late. I am going to order the A500 model soon. Thanks for the Commodore support!

It's over in the ACA500 thread, starting at post #519:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=71495&page=26

No release date yet. The bare circuit boards are made in China, and they won't be finished before Chinese New Year. Same problem with the memory chips, which I am importing from Taiwan where they also have these holidays. I hope to be able to give a firm release date by the end of February. *Maybe* I'll make it this quarter.

I published pics of the prototype on a1k.org if I remember right. Or maybe here - too lazy to search now :-)

Jens

[dJOS]

Jens, how hard is it to get 040's these days?

[Nibbler]

Thank you guy´s so much

Hmm, maybe something for the Amiga Cd32 ?
Turbocard +RAM + Compact Flash + RGB SCART ?

That would be to awesome

[Adrian Browne]

Yup, paypal do not like pre-orders, as it bears similarities to scams.
The gcw zero console used paypal for pre-orders intially. Paypal froze the account and the money was tied up for a very long time.

Michael Mrozeck' the creator of the soon to be released 'Pyra console plans to do either pre-orders or crowdfunding. I'm not sure which method of pre-orders he might use but he lives in Germany and is subject to German laws.
As far as I know its similar situation with google wallet. They may freeze your account.

[Zippy Zapp]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

No release date yet. The bare circuit boards are made in China, and they won't be finished before Chinese New Year. Same problem with the memory chips, which I am importing from Taiwan where they also have these holidays. I hope to be able to give a firm release date by the end of February. *Maybe* I'll make it this quarter.

I published pics of the prototype on a1k.org if I remember right. Or maybe here - too lazy to search now :-)

Jens

Cool! Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I will keep my eye out for these ones, exactly what I need. Thank You!

[antiriad76]

Any chance we might see the release of a new version of the Catweasel in PCIe or any other form?

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by antiriad76

Any chance we might see the release of a new version of the Catweasel in PCIe or any other form?

Not PCIe, as that would - again - require 64-bit drivers, which are almost impossible to get into Win7/Win8. I'm thinking of an OS-independent solution, for which I will hopefully have the time sometime later this year.

Jens

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Not PCIe, as that would - again - require 64-bit drivers, which are almost impossible to get into Win7/Win8. I'm thinking of an OS-independent solution, for which I will hopefully have the time sometime later this year.

OS-independant = USB? Ok, you will still need some kind of driver/software, but it is much simpler to support.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

OS-independant = USB? Ok, you will still need some kind of driver/software, but it is much simpler to support.

Sounds more like integrated SD card so the image is written direct bypassing the need for a PC completely to me.

It's a rather great idea imo!

[Schoenfeld]

The solution is even simpler, but while this is still in planning phase, I don't want to talk about any unverified ideas.

Jens

[AmiDog]

Speaking of the C64 reloaded. It looks like one will be able to get a neat new case for it.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by AmiDog

Speaking of the C64 reloaded. It looks like one will be able to get a neat new case for it.

Very cool, just a bad choice of colors imo.. Original beige or black would be nice. Even if find my whitest keyboard, it will look horribly yellowed when put into a bright white case. If only he'd have also found the moulds for the keycaps.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by AmiDog

Speaking of the C64 reloaded. It looks like one will be able to get a neat new case for it.

Nice, I just backed for a white one!

[chiark]

shoenfeld, I'd message you if I could as I work for someone who might be able to help getting drivers in windows... failing that, publish a non signed driver with instructions on how to install them.