MiniMig V 2.0 - PCB's available now!

[Illuwatar]

€270 may look much compared to these US prices, but You have to count for that my costs are much higher too (buy in € + the high taxes in Sweden). And as the board is larger and contains more parts compared with the original one, there are more than 6 hours per board. But I prefer to sell just bare PCBs as these hours could be spent on other, more fun ways. A €20 is rather cheap for a pro-made dual layer board in Mini-itx size.

And to everyone that wants a PCB now (before my vacation), please send me PM's so I could wrap it up and send them all during the weekend to come. I don't have that much time now so I can run with each individual package over several days. An estimated cost for shipping (actual will be calculated when I have the packing material) is €5 for Europe and €7 for the rest or the World.

[quarkx]

How much are you willing to spend?

Please, don't take it the wrong way, your time means a lot (i know, everyone wants it for cheap.) and it is  worth every penny, to make a small run. It's like the Samm 440, I think a reasonable selling price would be about $100 US, to make it feasible for a guy like me (and a lot of people). I can't see the point, when I can get (I hate to use the term "Real") Amiga's in for less then $100. I see the Samm as 3 times over priced- It should be $200 US tops for the bare board.
It would be a whole different ball game if A500's were not given away here, or A600's could not be had for less for less than $100. But when you weigh the pros and con's of a Minimig over a classic Amiga,(and i am not just talking about prices here, but everything- availability, programing, etc), I can't justify a $400 hit for something I can get for less then $100 Complete and plug and play.

And I understand- $100 or even 100 Euros is just not worth you time or effort to produce these. I totally understand that.

[Firedawg]

€270 may look much compared to these US prices, but You have to count for that my costs are much higher too (buy in € + the high taxes in Sweden). And as the board is larger and contains more parts compared with the original one, there are more than 6 hours per board. But I prefer to sell just bare PCBs as these hours could be spent on other, more fun ways. A €20 is rather cheap for a pro-made dual layer board in Mini-itx size.

And to everyone that wants a PCB now (before my vacation), please send me PM's so I could wrap it up and send them all during the weekend to come. I don't have that much time now so I can run with each individual package over several days. An estimated cost for shipping (actual will be calculated when I have the packing material) is €5 for Europe and €7 for the rest or the World.

PM sent

Thanks,
The Dawg

[jkonstan]

So, a new batch of Mini-itx MiniMig 2.0 boards has arrived (24 available):



They will go for €20 each + shipping & packing.

@Illuwatar
I would be interested in 1 blank pcb.
I will send you a PMAIL.

[amigadave]

Please, don't take it the wrong way, your time means a lot (i know, everyone wants it for cheap.) and it is  worth every penny, to make a small run. It's like the Samm 440, I think a reasonable selling price would be about $100 US, to make it feasible for a guy like me (and a lot of people). I can't see the point, when I can get (I hate to use the term "Real") Amiga's in for less then $100. I see the Samm as 3 times over priced- It should be $200 US tops for the bare board.
It would be a whole different ball game if A500's were not given away here, or A600's could not be had for less for less than $100. But when you weigh the pros and con's of a Minimig over a classic Amiga,(and i am not just talking about prices here, but everything- availability, programing, etc), I can't justify a $400 hit for something I can get for less then $100 Complete and plug and play.

And I understand- $100 or even 100 Euros is just not worth you time or effort to produce these. I totally understand that.

Have you any idea what the parts alone cost to assemble a MiniMig?  The price Illuwatar is charging is very reasonable for the time he has to invest to produce one and the price of the parts he has to buy to complete the assembly of one v2.0 MiniMig board.

I understand that most Amiga users want something for nothing, but you should also consider that the MiniMig also has a built-in scan-doubler so it can use any modern display monitor.  What are you going to pay for a scan-doubler to use with your cheap A500, or A600.  IIRC, the MiniMig also uses a standard PS2 mouse port and has 2 joystick ports, so in effect, it has an automatic mouse/2nd joystick port switcher that would cost you more extra money on your A500, or A600.  It uses standard PS2 keyboards, so you don't have to worry about a 20 year old keyboard failure and lastly you have the small form factor and the "COOL" factor of having new Amiga hardware that will likely also be able to run different cores and emulate other retro computers, or arcade machines.

When you look at the "Big Picture", the MiniMig is a great invention for a reasonable cost, IF you are into retro computing that is?

[Illuwatar]

I did once in a time a calculation of the part cost (the BOM is in Excel format so it was rather easy) and ended up at €160 without adding any taxes or custom fees. The bad exchange rate today for the SEK (Swedish Krona) will make it higher today. The PCB itself is the single cheapest part regarding it's size and complexity as long as it stays 2-layer. Regarding the work, I basically do this for free.

PM's are slowly dropping in and boards are being wrapped up...


By the way, the MiniMig is a FPGA-based piece of kit. What you run on the thing is decided by the code in that chip. I does not have to be Amiga (even if it is the initial intention of the board). Try that trick on your old A500...

[Firedawg]

By the way, the MiniMig is a FPGA-based piece of kit. What you run on the thing is decided by the code in that chip. I does not have to be Amiga (even if it is the initial intention of the board). Try that trick on your old A500...

Yeah, that would be one heck of a A500 mod!:roflmao:

[scrappysph]

Hey Guys, I don't have much knowledge on the subject but would to under take the challenge. For future reference is a full list of hardware required included and can all the parts required be purchased in the UK or do you have to purchase them from specialist retailers? Also do you have to program any of the chips with a programmer or is it a case of it comes pre-programmed?
I really cannot afford it right now but if more are fabricated and i can afford it i would to attempt to construct one myself.

Thanks

Mike

[Firedawg]

Hey Guys, I don't have much knowledge on the subject but would to under take the challenge. For future reference is a full list of hardware required included and can all the parts required be purchased in the UK or do you have to purchase them from specialist retailers? Also do you have to program any of the chips with a programmer or is it a case of it comes pre-programmed?
I really cannot afford it right now but if more are fabricated and i can afford it i would to attempt to construct one myself.

Thanks

Mike

Hey Mike,

Here is the site that will give you most of the information you requested including a bill of materials to complete the board a long with component vendors.  As for programming, the PIC chip must be programmed.  I use a PICkit2 to accomplish the PIC programming.  

The most challenging aspect to any electronic build is the soldering.  If you do not have a good skill set in that area, then this project will be quite challenging if not  frustrating at times.  Some of these components are really small like the 0805's and a magnifing glass is necessary.  The SPARTAN-3 FPGA is the hardest solder job on the board as the spacing between the pads are very very small and solder bridges are very common and hard to detect to the naked eye and can create issues if not detected.

I think Illuwatar can advise you further on this project.  I do not want to scare you off from attempting it, just prepare yourself for the challenge.

The Dawg

[Illuwatar]

Last call if you want a board shipped before July 11. Then I will be away a week, not being able to send something until July 20.

[Firedawg]

Last call if you want a board shipped before July 11. Then I will be away a week, not being able to send something until July 20.

Just received my boards yesterday, and I must say they are beautiful.  I completed my 4th Minimig last week for a friend, so now I'm concentrating on completing some miscellaneous soldering work on my GB1000.  Hopefully, I will have the BOM finalized  next month for the Minimig-itx and I can start on it.  

Thanks again,
The Dawg