The X500 Plus is live on Kickstarter!

[Omolungo]

Directly from Loriano:

"Hi everyone,

These seven-eight years have been fun and very costly.

All the latest modifications to make it cheaper have been added and paid for, I've cut and removed stuff but it'd still retain its identity.

I've managed to cut the cost from £259 to £235, it still means that I'll have to find the rest of the money somewhere else and, as before, making them at a loss for a while...

So the X500 Plus is now live on kickstarter.

Just go to the kickstarter page for the "X500 Plus computer case" and choose yours or think about supporting it by pledging some cash.

I've created some rewards from £1 to £255 or more, it's up to you really.

No money will be collected unless the project is funded successfully by the 31st March! So no risk there...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-computer-case

£235
THE WHITE ONE. Get one of the very first white X500 Plus computer cases. The complete, FULLY ASSEMBLED X500 Plus computer case with white POWDER COATED aluminium base and rear, white machined sides and cover. White low profile USB, chiclet keyboard with shortened cable and internal USB header, slim SATA DVD-RW drive with SATA cable, 3.5" internal USB card reader (limited availability of white bezels for slim DVD drive and Card Reader), 1x40mm silent fans, 1x50mm fan and your choice of LED colour (white, amber, red, green, blue) for Power and Drive Activity. The keyboard will be supplied with the U.K. language layout and FREE, high quality set of adhesives for your preferred language layout (if required) and Amiga layout.

£235
THE BLACK EDITION. Get one of the very first black X500 Plus computer cases. The complete, FULLY ASSEMBLED X500 Plus computer case with black POWDER COATED aluminium base and rear, machined sides and cover. Black, low profile, USB, chiclet keyboard with shortened cable and internal USB header, spare keyboard, slim SATA DVD-RW drive with SATA cable, 3.5" internal USB card reader, 1x40mm silent fans, 1x50mm fan and your choice of LED colour (white, amber, red, green, blue) for Power and Drive Activity. The keyboard will be supplied with the U.K. language layout and FREE, high quality set of adhesives for your preferred language layout and Amiga layout (if required).

£255
POWER USER. All of the above plus a PCI-Express x16 riser card (for your graphics card) and extra fans. Get one of the very first X500 Plus computer cases. The complete, FULLY ASSEMBLED X500 Plus computer case with black or white POWDER COATED aluminium base and rear, black or white machined sides and cover. Black or white low profile USB, chiclet keyboard with shortened cable and internal USB header, slim SATA DVD-RW drive with SATA cable, 3.5" internal USB card reader, 2x40mm silent fans, 2x50mm silent fans and your choice of LED colour (white, amber, red, green, blue) for Power and Drive Activity, PCI-Express x16 riser card (for your graphics card). Signed and dedicated to you (bottom of the case). The keyboard will be provided with the U.K. language layout and FREE, high quality set of adhesives for your preferred language layout (if required) and Amiga layout.

We need to reach or smash through £10,000.

This is where the community comes in!

This will be one of the very first Amiga related kickstarter projects and its success will depend on us.

Even if you don't want one please think about supporting it.

1) It'll make the community look good
2) It'll publicise the whole community to a massive audience
3) It'll publicise AmigaOS, AROS, MOS etc...etc... to a massive audience
4) Names such as AmigaOS, AROS, MOS, ACube, Hyperion, amigaworld.net,
amiga.org, amigakit.co.uk, Vesalia, amigans.net, natami.net, amiganews.it etc... will appear several times in videos and project descriptions on my behalf.

5) It'll make people who want one happy.
6) Failing is not an option! So no pressure then!

One more request...please refrain from trolling or asking questions regarding its price (we all know that they'll be sold at a loss so you've got your answer already), questions regarding the keyboard, the colour of the case etc...etc...have been answered already. Please keep this thread on topic.

But ideas about the kickstarter project itself, ideas about new rewards and how to improve the project are very welcome.

Please spread the word!

Thank you very much! "

[Omolungo]

Finally, the countdown has begun

Even if you do not want to or cannot buy the case you can always participate actively in its realization with a small donation

We can demonstrate together that the Amiga community is still alive and compact!

[moijk]

Pity he chose a keyboard which is impossible to find in anything than us/uk/jp layout.

Oh well, his decision - his loss.

[Omolungo]

Loriano tried a lot of keyboards before he found the right one which fitted perfectly in his case (you can see several keyboards in the video on Kickstarter).
For the keyboard that he chose Loriano has tried to ask different layouts to the factory house, but they wanted a minimum of 25 keyboards ordered for each different language

So Loriano decided to buy professional stickers to offer for free to buyers of his case: in this mode he had the opportunity to satisfy a customer who wanted russian layout
Also Loriano offers for free a complete set of classic Amiga Keyboard layout
See the pics of the stickers in his page:

http://www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co...uageLayout.htm

[Retrofan]

This is a wonderful. Right now I'm using to write this an ITX inside a C=64 case. What I only would change of your project is the keyboard. I would use an slim bluetooth one, so it could be just over the case or anywhere else, while you are seated away, watching it on the Tv.

[moijk]

Originally Posted by Omolungo

So Loriano decided to buy professional stickers to offer for free to buyers of his case

I'm not going to buy anything that requires stickers, professional or not.

He could have opted for a keyboard that was available in any language, but he didn't. There are so many options that get world wide distribution that is slimline. And as typical over the years - keyboards don't get the value they deserve. Why save money on what essentially is the most important thing when interacting with the computer?

While it is called a x500 plus, i find it quite ironic that the wedge computer in my eyes it closest resemble - is the Apple II.

[Omolungo]

Here the explanation of Loriano about the keyboard:

"The reason I chose this keyboard and 'that has more' or less the same finish of the case and also 'cause it's cheap, it is £ 9-13.
In addition, I can easily remove and place on houses without keys fall and then secure it from behind, so the case absorbs the impact when the keys are pressed.

You'll understand the solution when you'll receive it".

However people already complain about the high cost of the case, adding a more expensive keyboard would have been lowered the request of buying

[chocolate_boy]

Originally Posted by moijk

While it is called a x500 plus, i find it quite ironic that the wedge computer in my eyes it closest resemble - is the Apple II.

More like an Acorn Archimedes to me, instantly made me think of it

http://lasham-web.com/acorn001s.JPG

Might be an idea to hawk this out on other retro forums too as it's not uniquely anything Amiga about it IMHO.

[moijk]

Originally Posted by Omolungo

"The reason I chose this keyboard and 'that has more' or less the same finish of the case and also 'cause it's cheap, it is £ 9-13.
...
However people already complain about the high cost of the case, adding a more expensive keyboard would have been lowered the request of buying

Just what I said. One of the most important part of a computer is once again done cheap as it has almost always been. Now people even seem to be happy with cloth with printed keys or even worse - touchscreen keyboards. *shrug*

Oh yea, the a3000 has to be an even better comparison than the apple ii. I got the a3020 so I didn't make the connection since that one is a lot less boxy.

[SS454]

I don't understand the appeal. It doesn't look like a retro computer, but it shares the biggest design flaw with them. It's actually a little worse than say, an A500 - the keyboard is rubber dome junk.

[moijk]

Originally Posted by SS454

I don't understand the appeal. It doesn't look like a retro computer, but it shares the biggest design flaw with them. It's actually a little worse than say, an A500 - the keyboard is rubber dome junk.

Isn't the chiclet keys sciccor switches?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboar...witch_keyboard

They are quite good to write on, but i rather take a good mechanical set. But in any case, i want the right keymap on the keys, not as stickers.

[Omolungo]

1/3 of the amount requested has been reached, but the goal is still far...

[TCD]

What's up with all the ? It's still 40 days to go and he already has 1/3...

[BippyM]

Not to sound too negative but i don't really like it.. Personal taste and all that!

I also think it is ridiculously expensive for what it is!

[TCD]

I mean it's an individual case and those are surely more expensive than the standard cases, but it really doesn't resemble an A500 that much. Also just my 2 cent. It's a case and it's quite nice to have the option to buy it for sure, so all the best he can gather enough people to get a few cases done

[mfilos]

I guess the UBER china thin aluminum tower by Elbox @ 212 euro resembles more the A500 or A1200's design...
http://shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?in...2&sid=269a0f58

Guess what... it also existed in a larger scale of quantities than Loriano's custom quality design.

I don't have to gain anything by supporting Loriano... but it's just that Loriano has spend a lot of money and time for this project and hasn't forced anyone to buy it or to support it. He's also isn't making these for big bucks. Custom stuff at minimal quantities are expensive enough. Take some examples of the X1000.
Whoever doesn't like it is ok, as it's ok for whoever likes it.

[Omolungo]

Does it now resembles more the A500 design?

However it's only inspired to the old good Amiga 500, it doesn't want to be its modern replica

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Omolungo

Does it now resembles more the A500 design?

No it does not



It's okay as a custom case, but leave the whole 'It's almost an A500 and that's why I call it X500 Plus!' out of it... It doesn't look like an A500 just because it's an all-in-one-PC... fullstop.

[Omolungo]

Originally Posted by Omolungo

However it's only inspired to the old good Amiga 500, it doesn't want to be its modern replica

About the name chosen, the Amiga 500 Plus has been the first Loriano's Amiga; it's just a tribute to the computer he loved so much

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Omolungo

Does it now resembles more the A500 design?

That's your statement there which I posted a picture of the A500 to and it simply doesn't resemble that. I've been doing a lot of clearing up on what I'm actually replying to recentely and I'm not sure it's really needed... just stop trying to make it look better than it actually is and we're all fine with what it actually is here I'd say