Hey Guys,
Sorry for the delayed input to this thread ... been busy getting ready
for my China trip on Friday.
If we were going to do another run of NADSBoxes (and possibly REX) via
"group funding", I would want to set it up as an official project with a
schedule, milestones, etc. Particularly expectations on
return-on-investment for anyone contributing to the fund. When it was
just me spening my own money (and even more than that, time), it didn't
matter when or even if I ever got it done. But that changes
considerably when other start to have real money involved.
When I did the original run of NADSBox, I was effectively single with no
kids (they had moved to a different state). So I had an abundance of
time on my hands. Now I am re-married with two kids ages 5 and 3 and I
have a building full of ASIC engineers who report to me. To me, my time
has become more valuable than money (never thought I would say somthing
like that! :) Deveoping the original NADSBox took 2,200 hours. A
second run wouldn't be *nearly* as much time, but it would take on the
order of 300-400 hours. This is because I no longer have a PADS PCB
license and must re-do the layout in Cadence Allegro. A project
schedule would look something like:
1. Check for parts availablity (I know the PIC is obsolete but still
available).
2. Select a new SD card socket
3. Redo the PCB layout (this would be identical layout, just in a new
CAD package). When I tried to import to Allegro, it sorta got there,
but all of the net names were lost and it shows thousands of design rule
check (DRC) errors. DRC count should be zero.
4. Do a small test run of 5-6 PCBs to validate the "new" layout.
5. Program and test the new boards. Validate they fit in the existing
NADSBox enclosure.
6. Make any necnessary changes to the PCB if it doesn't work.
7. If needed, do a second run of 5-6 PCBs to validate the potential
changes from #6
8. Make any necessary changes to the enclosure diagrams and have new
enclosures built. These were done by Serpack in the LA area and have a
3-4 week lead-time. This is largest expense of the project in terms of
cash. The setup fee for pad printing and machining is on the order of
$2,500 alone. That doesn't include actual price of the enclosures or
the per-unit cost of performing the machining (these two together
probably add up to $23). The setup fee is amortized over the number of
enclosures you purchase.
9. Generate instructions, software and tools so a PCB house can perform
programming and testing of the boards.
10. Get a PCB house to manufacture, assemble, program, test the PCBs
11. Provide enclosures to PCB house along with mounting screws, etc.
and get them to assemble the final units.
With a bit of Steve's assistance I could manage getting the board house
to do assembly and programming of REX also. We would probably want to
change the Gerbers such that the PCB edges are true castellated edges
instead of needing to be hand grinded. There are PCB houses that can do
these cleanly with the proper copper clearance from the edge of the PCB
and liquid solder mask rules.
Ken
On 7/30/17 12:13 AM, Gary Weber wrote:
With a Woolly, the REX would be obsolete, no? But if there's indeed
a need for all three products, then indeed I would stand beside you on
the sharing of all three.
On Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 11:42 PM, ray gordon <ray...@hotmail.com
<mailto:ray...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Gary;
I'd be happy to have someone share putting up the money for
everything. If you don't think rex is as an attractive an idea,
I'm willing to bear that burden alone, and we could split nads and
woolly costs between us.
Glad to have you aboard!
ray
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*From:* M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com
<mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com>> on behalf of Gary
Weber <m100l...@gweber.org <mailto:m100l...@gweber.org>>
*Sent:* Saturday, July 29, 2017 3:41 PM
*To:* m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com>
*Subject:* Re: [M100] Model T upgrades
Ray,
If you feel compelled to contribute to another production run
effort, I guarantee you that you are not the only one interested
in sharing in that contribution.
Here's my take on things:
NADSBox -- I think there probably is quite a bit of interest in
this product even today. I'm willing to bet there would be at
least 10-15 immediate pending sales on this given the interest
I've seen on this list alone.
REX -- This might be interesting as well, however it sounds like
WOOLLY would likely be a better place to put engineering effort &
dollars.
WOOLLY -- I'm betting the majority of folks on this list would
likely want one of these. If I had to pick only one product alone
to focus on and bring to market, I'd pick this one! REX
functionality, RAM expansion (for CP/M), and WiFi capability. All
of that would be amazing to have in one piece of hardware that can
fit into an Option ROM socket. We're talking about a potential
replacement for all of the ReMem and REX variations that existed
previously, and then some.
I'm willing to contribute significantly to the effort to bring any
and all of these products to life (for the second time for REX &
NADSBox of course). And when I say contribute, I don't just mean
encouragement & testing & labor. I'm talking about financial. :)
Probably the areas I can best help in would be fronting a good
chunk of the costs for sourcing of parts & production, and then
also on the eventual fulfillment. (Either hosted on Club100.org
or on Web8201.net or some other central hub, doesn't matter. I
can definitely assist on the eCommerce end.)
Gary
On Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 3:26 PM, ray gordon <ray...@hotmail.com
<mailto:ray...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Ken,
That's all fine by me. I would have to get a cashier's check
and mail it to you, because I can't pay that much by
paypal all at once. Maybe I could paypal it to you over the
course of a week.
Let me know when you're all set to move.
ray
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com
<mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com>> on behalf of Ken
Pettit <petti...@gmail.com <mailto:petti...@gmail.com>>
*Sent:* Friday, July 28, 2017 8:50 PM
*To:* m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com>
*Subject:* Re: [M100] Model T upgrades
Hi Ray,
When I did the first run of NADSBoxes in 2008 / 2009
timeframe, my up-front cash expenditure was $13K for 240
NADSBoxes. This is when I was having them built and assembled
in China. I probably still could have them built and
assembled there, though it is a bit more challenging since I
no longer live there.
Turns out I am traveling to China next week and will be
visiting Shenzhen for 5 days! YEA!!! Maybe I could visit my
old haunts while there (in fact I am looking forward to it).
One of the concerns with NADSBox is that I need to update the
layout a bit to select a different SD card socket ... the
socket used in the last round of NADSBoxes was acquired from a
Chinese source with no real part number or way to track it.
So the footprint is specific to that part which is no longer
available.
I am working actively on Woolly which would replace REX and in
a way, NADSBox, via TPDD access to a host via WiFi. But this
is still a big development effort, both in terms of hardware
and software.
If you still wanted to put up the cash after reading this, we
probably wouldn't need to build 240 NADSBoxes as demand isn't
what it was in 2009, but it would still be in the $8K - $9K
range I would guess for NADSBox alone. I don't know for REX.
Ken
On 7/28/17 7:05 PM, ray gordon wrote:
I'm willing to put up the cash necessary if Ken & Stephen
would be willing to do another run of NADS & REX.
Ray g
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com>
<mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com> on behalf of
Gregory McGill <arcadeshop...@gmail.com>
<mailto:arcadeshop...@gmail.com>
*Sent:* Friday, July 28, 2017 11:50 AM
*To:* m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com>
*Subject:* Re: [M100] Model T upgrades
nope.. it seems we go through this weekly, rex is open
source, you are welcome to make your own if you are up to
it,. i have two i am meaning to build but surface mount is
not my thing so they keep getting put off.. boards are on
oshpark and the instructions are googlable nadsbox is not
available.. you can use a pc and laddiealpha or other tools
there's one for android too with a togo cable
Greg
On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 11:06 AM, Robert Prather
<robert.s.prat...@gmail.com
<mailto:robert.s.prat...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi All,
Just got a Model 100 off of eBay. If I'd known of the
Club 100 site, I'd have purchased one there. There's some
yellow on this one, but the memory appears maxed out
(installed internally), so wasn't a bad find overall.
I've used a color computer 2 for years, and love it, and
decided to try out the Model 100. Love it so far.
From the Club 100 site, I saw that there used to be
NADSBox's available as well as REX modules.
I'm emailing to find out if it's still possible to
purchase these? I'm also trying to track down the little
legs that can prop up the Model 100.
I'd really appreciate any help anyone can provide. I
didn't want to try ordering from the Club 100 site,
because I wanted a confirmation before I did.
thanks,
Robert
