What else can I do to help make a new Phoenix Motherboard a Reality?

[techie]

Greetings All,
As some of you may already be aware I have recently developed an online database where users can register their interest in a new production run of Phoenix Replacement Motherboards for the Amiga 1000 (seen here). This website has been my own small way of trying to encourage the development of a new motherboard but now that it is complete and users are slowly starting to register I can’t help but wonder what can I do to help next?

 So I ask you all, what else can I do to help make this project a reality? (and no I’m not rich so please don’t ask me to fund it :-P)
Are there any other users out there interested in working to get a new production run going? If so what can I do to help?


Thanks for your time,
Techie

[techie]

Hi KThunder,
Sorry but I see two problems with your suggestion.

1 - While the Minimig is in incredible bit of technology it has not been specifically designed to fit inside the case of an Amiga 1000 and as such would need a great deal of preproduction time to redesign it for that, not to mention make it ready for mass production.
Now that’s not to say it wouldn’t be a VERY cool project but I just don’t see it happening right now.

2- The boXer doesn’t exist :-P not outside of a non functional prototype. (at least to my limited knowledge)

The Phoenix board is a proven, working, available design that just needs a little support to get it out on the market again.  Is it a perfect solution, probably not, but the way I see it it’s the best solution for people who want to upgrade their A1000’s.

[techie]

Hi recidivist,
Yes I agree the Minimig is a very interesting/promising project but seeing as Dennis has already stated that he isn’t very interested in making a commercial product (which is a shame really) for that reason I just don’t see it as being much of an alternative to the Phoenix board, not for the moment anyway. Should Dennis (or someone with his approval) decide to develop a commercial product in the future based on the Minimig then it might just be worth looking into.

As for the cost, again I agree that it would be nice if it only cost $50 but let’s be realistic here. This type of item is aimed at a very (very) small segment of an already Niche market, namely people who want to upgrade their Amiga 1000’s (This is a VERY small market and I’d really be surprised if we get more than 50 registrations on the Phoenix Revival 2 site) for that reason alone the developer simply can not produced a board for anything less than the price indicated. When you also take into consideration the difficulty of finding necessary parts, assembly time, testing time and at least a SMALL profit margin I think the price is actually quite reasonable.  

[techie]

Hi LoadWB
Err…sort of; essentially it’s a third party replacement motherboard that adds a great deal of expandability to the Amiga 1000 computer system. Allowing users to upgrade their systems considerably more than a stock 1000 ever could. Unfortunately it does require the addition of custom chips from a real Amiga in order to function. However seeing as Amiga 500’s are, relatively, plentiful it shouldn’t be much of a problem to find a donor system.

Yes a new design of the board using more modern technology would be nice but really at this point I'd just be happy seeing the orginal production board for sale again  :-)

[techie]

@recidivist
Ah…okay now I understand, sorry about the misinterpretation :-)

I’m not going to speculate on what Dennis has planned for the future (plenty of people doing that already :-) ) but just like you I hope that something comes of his work. It would be a pity to lose such  a wonderful piece of technology.

[techie]

Hi Elwood,
The previous batch of Phoenix Boards were put together for a group of users at the a1k.org (see original thread )

I guess I should clarify that this was NOT an entirely new batch of boards created solely for the people who bought them. These were leftover boards from the original manufacturing of the Phoenix replacement motherboard that the developer had kept and thanks to the efforts of the a1k.org group managed to put together to sell to their members.  

Unfortunately this means that the only boards left now are boards that did not work well enough to sell in the previous batch. However thanks to an email from bigmac we have learned that these boards should be repairable IF there is enough interest from the community to make going to the effort of repairing them worth while (see the original post here)    

I apologize if my use of “new run” has misled anyone to believe I was referring to the manufacture of new blank boards as that was not my intention.


@iamaboringperson

While I would be all for a new production of A1000 cases I highly doubt that such a production could be made financially viable as the number of people interested in purchasing such a product would not likely exceed a few hundred people.

[techie]

Hi AJCopland,
The trouble with starting up a project like that would be that it would essentially be like starting from scratch again (less of course Dennis were involved in some way).  Yes there would probably be some significant advantages in moving away from needing the old hardware but again it just doesn’t seem realistic at this time (to me at least) to start working on a whole new project when we already have one that would accomplish pretty much the same thing sitting in front of us.

I hate to be the bad guy here but what it really all boils down to is this:
We have a project within our grasp; is it everything everyone could ever want? Probably not…but it’s REAL and more importantly it’s something that has been proven can be accomplished. Once it’s done then let’s start talking about taking the next step but for now what we really need to do is show our support for what we have.

Wow, if that didn’t just come off like a PBS sponsorship speech :Razz:  

@amigadave
Yeah I agree it would be cool but I think you hit the nail on the head when you said

“ don’t think it is feasible from a cost point of view”



@JimS
It might be cool little project for some people but personally it sounds like a lot more hassle then finding a broken old 1000 off eBay and using it (Like I’ve already done :-) )

[techie]

Hi amiga_3k
Actually that sounds like an interesting idea is anyone pursuing this?


@amigadave
> Techie, please add a column to the database for people to check if they would be willing to prepay for a Phoenix mb.

Okay I'll whip that up asap and have it online by no later than tomorrow. If there is anything else I can do just let me know :-)

[techie]

@all
Just a quick update to let you all know that the requested change to the database has been made. You may now update your accounts to reflect whether or not you would prepay for a Phoenix Motherboard.

Note: I have also taken this opportunity to add some additional protection against spam bots. If you experience any problems with your account (or with activating a new account) please let me know immediately.  


@Evillord68

Good point. Has anyone checked with aPex at this point?

[techie]

@all

Hey everyone,
Just a small update to let you know that a new news/forum section has been added to the phoenix revival 2 website; it isn’t much at the moment but I can expand on should the need arise.  

Also, I have sent a small note to aPex through his A1K.org email asking if he is willing to be involved in this project, just waiting on a response.

Thanks,
Techie

[techie]

Hi stopthegop,

Thank you for your interest  :-)
Be sure to sign on the Phoenix Revival 2 website to show your support.

Edit: Please Note you must activate your account after registering.  

[techie]

Hi McTrinsic,
Great! Thank you very much for the links, it’s much appreciated :-)

Thanks again,
Techie