New Amiga motherboards from Jens

[spudje]

I guess I have to agree with Akira. Main reason I bought the 1233 is for the reloaded. If anyone here has a blizzard 1260 with enough ram for my classic a1200 for a decent price I'm surely interested. But they're pretty rare and way more expensive.

[eXeler0]

@Akira basically I agree, I have a pretty good idea how Jens wants to do business and I dont blame him. (And Ill try to give up hopes of a higher end accelerator from him and simply wait for the Vampire).
But there was a post here from @Gulliver that raised a valid point. It was a response to why Jens' expensive boards sell so slowly compared to his low end ones.
Jens arrived at the conclusion that it must be the price alone. But Guliver tried to point out that his low end stuff had no real competition so its a good deal even compared to Amibay offers while his high end stuff competes in price with second hand 040 boards. And my guess is that most ppl who want a 040 or 060 will rather buy a used 040 instead of a new 030.
(Also, ppl have found NOS 040's and 060's while Jens' 020s are used? (My 060 is a rev 6 New Old Stock). Lots of skilled ppl here on forums can do upgrades and repairs to old accelerators.
Anyhoo.. for me personally, the Reloaded mobo will only be of interest if either an Apollo 1260 or Vampire will work on it. Both seem to be long shots at the moment.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

The ACA1221 sells like hot cakes, and the ACA1232-50/ACA1233-55 is an extremely slow seller (similar to the ACA630 back when it was blocking lots of my money and lots of space in my stock).

That is because of high price and lack of FPU, Sherlock.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

But Guliver tried to point out that his low end stuff had no real competition so its a good deal even compared to Amibay offers while his high end stuff competes in price with second hand 040 boards.

I'm still not totally sure about that. I feel people wanting an 060 in their machines are still very much outnumbered by people who are fine with a slightly faster 020. So yeah it isn't just the price, but actually number of people interested in a more "powerful" option.

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by Akira

I'm still not totally sure about that. I feel people wanting an 060 in their machines are still very much outnumbered by people who are fine with a slightly faster 020. So yeah it isn't just the price, but actually number of people interested in a more "powerful" option.

I would agree with this.

Sure, some people want the fastest classic Amiga they can get their hands on so they can say they surf the web, play quake, or listen to music. I can drop a 400HP V8 engine in a Yugo, but in the end it's still a Yugo.

Is it cool? Sure

Is it practical? IMO no

Personally, I want moderately accelerated hardware to play classic Amiga games and fool around in workbench. I'm still hoping that Jens rethinks the whole idea of requiring a wedge case and an A500/A1200 keyboard.

Right now there are multiple kickstarters for new A1200 form factor cases and new A1200 keyboards. Both ideas which I find absurd. Why is the wedge any more Amiga than an A2000/A3000/A4000 ? The wedge was made for cheapness, no other reason.

1) Make the Amiga reloaded board ATX or mATX form factor.
2) Dump the laptop power supply, and use a PC power supply in a proper case.
3) Build in a small interface for a PS2 Keyboard. It's fine to leave the old 9 pin mouse alone since you can still get those new.

[Tyball]

I think it has to do with nostalgia. I want a wedge case, because that is what I used to have. Another form factor is for me almost the same as emulation.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Tyball

I think it has to do with nostalgia. I want a wedge case, because that is what I used to have. Another form factor is for me almost the same as emulation.

Same here... besides, nothing wrong with that form factor for retro stuff... Resisting the urge to transform everything to faceless PC "Boxes" since 1993... ;-)

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Olecranon

Right now there are multiple kickstarters for new A1200 form factor cases and new A1200 keyboards. Both ideas which I find absurd.

Please show me one active Kickstarter for Amiga keyboards? Id like to pledge...

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Please show me one active Kickstarter for Amiga keyboards? Id like to pledge...

It looks like the keyboard kickstarter is not available yet. It's supposedly coming soon from the same people who did the case.

http://www.a1200.net/

After seeing how much people are paying for a few pieces of plastic, I'm sure the keyboards are going to be a steal .

I have no doubts what these guys are doing is not cheap nor easy. It has to be incredibly expensive to design and create the molds, and then have someone manufacture the pieces.

IMO It's just incredibly unnecessary.

I'd wager that the keyboards are going to be an order of magnitude more difficult to create than a few pieces of plastic. If it were cheap and easy, someone like Jens or amigakit would have already made a run or two?

I'm probably in the minority here, but I would rather spend my money on performance and functionality than nostalgia.

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by Tyball

I think it has to do with nostalgia. I want a wedge case, because that is what I used to have. Another form factor is for me almost the same as emulation.

My favorites were always the A1000 and A3000 cases. I hated my A500 with the hard drive dangling off the side. I dumped it as soon as I could afford an A2000. The A2000 wasn't much to look at, but you had some serious expandability and room inside to work with.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Olecranon

My favorites were always the A1000 and A3000 cases. I hated my A500 with the hard drive dangling off the side. I dumped it as soon as I could afford an A2000. The A2000 wasn't much to look at, but you had some serious expandability and room inside to work with.

Although not a bad form factor per se, the "pizza box" made sense when you put a CRT monitor on top of it. With LCD screens it's just a waste of desktop space.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Although not a bad form factor per se, the "pizza box" made sense when you put a CRT monitor on top of it. With LCD screens it's just a waste of desktop space.

Indeed - I'm itching to repair a Multisync monitor I have at home just to be able to put something square and huge on top of my A4000. Otherwise it just doesn't feel right

[eXeler0]

Any signs of life? It's been quiet around this topic for a while. It would be interesting to hear if it's moving forward at all or put on ice..
I'm interested in pre-ordering it ;-)

[Zapotek]

yes, any news regarding this would be much appreciated. I'm also interested in pre-ordering it.

[Olecranon]

Maybe Jens is searching for a source of broken A500's to mount the boards in :P

[1time]

Or looking into what the hell happened with all this FPGA competition

[eXeler0]

Until a standalone Natami 2 computer comes along he actually has a nice window of opportunity IMO to sell Amiga motherboards... with Phil 's new case kickstarter underway and upcoming A1200 Vampire 2 boards I'd guess a new mobo would fit in there just fine.

so less focus on overpriced version of 030 accelerators and more focus on reloaded mobo is on my wishlist 😊

[kolla]

What happened to that other A1200 case kickstarter that was "Jens approved"?

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by kolla

What happened to that other A1200 case kickstarter that was "Jens approved"?

Well the guy behind it is still sorting things out.. so still no campaign..
Otoh I hijacked his thread and planted some new ideas there so... idk 😆

[kolla]

Yeah I saw that just now, nice case! lol