NEC usb hack for mediator

[mechy]

Why? Because they don't like being ripped off?

They aren't being ripped off. i am just playing their game,except releasing the cards for a price they should cost.They simply don't like getting their own medicine back.
they have ripped amiga users off since the spider was released.
for the record i like the mediator,even if it does not do DMA it does work and is reliable.
Do you forget the years they sold spider cards with no available updated stack?
The overpriced piece of s*** excuse for a $30 chinese mediator pro tower for a4000 they sold me which cost a fortune and the rip off NEC usb card are a different story. bad business is bad business.Its things like this that drive amiga users away.
The whole point of the mediator was cheap pci cards was it not?

mech

[mechy]

Did you pay for the driver development cost? Do you offer support? Do you handle warranty repairs? Do you have a business with employees to pay?

Lets see here, some simple math. Elbox has been selling the overpriced spider cards for $91 for at least what?..10 years? we can safely assume they sold maybe 200 in that time.. so, 200 cards X $91 is approx $18200. hmm i'd say they made their dev cost back and then some and thats ONLY the spider.Even if its only 100 cards, that would be $9100. fair price for a driver? If anyone has trouble with my card,i will replace it free as long as i am alive.How can i do that you ask? Easy,the cost of the cards i put out start around $4-5.
Oh,and yes i have a business.

What do you think the price they should cost is? $20? Should Elbox be operating a charity?

They wouldn't be in this market if they couldn't make money now would they. Charging $91 for a usb card thats under $10 in even small quantity is certainly not charity.

Why do people complain about a $70 markup on the Spider, but have no problem with the Subway selling for $120? Or $200 for the DENEB? How much do you think they cost to make?

Who says we have no problem with it,the deneb probabaly was over priced(we don't know since we have no baseline on mfg cost. The subway/Deneb is custom hardware built in small quantity,not a generic off the shelf pci card which millions were made.
 Don't you understand this?. On the other hand we know on the nec card..People bought the deneb because they were all that was available with a proper updated usb stack i suspect-and they too are a damn fine card. I guess you don't mind paying a 700% markup for a spider? if not then boy, do i have a deal on a bridge for you!.. normal markup is maybe 300% at most in business but thats not a hard fast rule..

Nobody was forcing anyone to buy them. If the card didn't work as advertised, then people should return them for a refund.

erm,yea sounds normal. Was there a point here?

What? Overpriced Amiga hardware? What an outrage!

More drivel ignored..

Driving developers away doesn't attract users.

I don't drive them anywhere,but always happy to if they need a lift somewhere.  Developers are driven away because the amiga people are split a half a dozen ways,so they don't want to gamble on any of the 6 tangents probabaly.  

Feel free to write your own drivers, and charge whatever you want for them or give them away for free.

Golly gee, Having your permission makes it all worth while THANKS!:rofl:

Does the elbox lawyer have anymore questions or are you just a employee there?

Oh and if you need a usb card just let me know,it will cost you 91 though, i don't want to put you in a position that might make you feel you underpaid me since you prefer the 700% markup.

Mech

[mechy]

@mboehmer_e3b : excellent post, you hit on the stuff my simple/quick message left out. The deneb is a incredible feat and outclasses the spider ( i know,i own both).
Its a excellent card. i also own a algor pro and it has been a great card.
Would you care to give us a rough estimate of cost on everything involved to make the deneb?

mech

[mechy]

I still have about 12 of these usb cards left and ready to work in mediators if anyone needs any. Please PM me here if you want one.

thanks,

Mech

[mechy]

BUMP!  Still have more cards left if anyone needs them! $20 shipped USA,$25 shipped Overseas.5 port USB card with NEC chipset.
Just PM me If you would like one

NEC_USBcard.jpg

Just reprogrammed the eproms on a few different pci USB cards last night with the NEC chipsets. Thanks goes out to the guy who posted about how to do this.
My process goes something like this- Desolder the eprom,stick it in a  soic adapter and that goes into my eprom burner,load some edited eprom  code, shoot it to the eprom,remove it,solder it back on the  board.Nothing too hard just takes time.
 Seem to work fine in my A4000 with 5v Mediator. i did a 3 port and 5  port.Tested keyboards,memsticks,transcend card reader,some windows usb  cam(unrecognized)and the sony camera.
The green usb card has a 3.3/5v jumper onboard(seems to run in either  position in my 5v mediator with no bad effects). the black card has no  voltage jumper.I tested these about 1 hour.
all ports seem to work fine. This was under workbench 3.9 with poseidon  4.4 (thanks chris!) ,spider.device v3.21.My config is  csppc,radeon,sb128,100Mbit ethernet.

If anyone who doesn't have the capability to do these themselves needs  one i can probabaly offer the 5 port for $15-20 ready to go if anyone is  interested but alot of you can do it cheaper i'm sure.I haven't tried  these in the newer 1200 3.3v mediators,but no reason for them not to  work work.
Don't be surprised if elbox pulls some change in the next drivers update though.
-Mech-

EDIT:
Mediator Driver install: -how i did it-
BACKUP YOUR INSTALL FIRST! you have been warned.
Simply make a drawer called usbhardware in devs: if you don't have this from a previous mediator install.

Copy the spider.device to the above drawer - it must be 3.21 (using anything earlier might have bad effects!?!?!)

Get Poseidon 4.4 (thank chris and your lucky stars for this-maybe buy him something on his wish list).

install Poseidon 4.4 as normal,but don't select ANY of the hardware driver devices(no deneb,no subway etc -deselect all)

go thru the rest of poseidon as normal installing classes and such.

Reboot

Start trident (it should be in sys:Prefs) and goto the "devices" window (it will be empty)

open a cli and enter:
AddUSBHardware Devs:USBHardware/spider.device 2
AddUSBHardware Devs:USBHardware/spider.device 0
AddUSBHardware Devs:USBHardware/spider.device 1

you should see stuff pop up in the trident devices window as you enter and hit return on each of the above in cli.

hit the save at the bottom of the trident window and you should be ready to go!

[mechy]

Good idea darrin

[mechy]

Necro defense!  Sorry, I hadn't seen this reply.  Yeah, I was making a total tongue in cheek reference.  I would most likely agree with all the American Jokes (not entirely fond of the United States lately, or for that matter many years.  The people here are pretty retarded, and the fact that I live in Utah, they're even worse here.)  Any generalization is bad though.  There are always exceptions to the rule, especially since the USA is such a huge place, it's better to make jokes about specific states the same way you would about countries in the EU.  For example, I'd make incest cracks about those in Arkansas or Alabama, Polygamist jokes about people in Utah, and of course the Steers and Queers jokes about Texas.



Back on topic and more modern things... you still have any more of these cards?  

I would like one (wanting to replace the ol' two button ball mouse with an optical USB one.)

slaapliedje
slaapliedje

Sorry all, these cards have long been sold out.

I was wondering why i was getting so many Pm's and such all of a sudden.
if i keep getting so much interest i may have to run off another batch.
Mech

[mechy]

I notice it was a while since last activity on this thread.

I can report that new cards with the suitable chip, D720101F1, are flourishing on eBay for just a few USD including shipping.
I also noticed a new card being sold with no eprom, wonder where it would keep the ID..

As for the programming of the chip, what kit did you use? I suppose it is as easy as reading the contents, searching current device ID with an hex-editor, and replace it with the "Elbox Device ID", then write back?
(Would be neat writing a piece of software that would update the flash, if physically reachable through the PCI-bus).

Has the opposite been tried, searching through pci.library / spider.device, replacing the elbox ID with that of the card (NEC ID..?). If success, no modification to the card would be needed..

Thanks!

I used a BPmicrosystems BP-1600 eprom burner with soic adapter. Read out the serial eprom, edit it, and shoot it back. if course it means desoldering the chip to do this.  yes i guess the driver itself could be hacked,assuming that is the only thing that looks for the ID.
There is prob. a way to jtag it while on the board,but i dont know of one.

[mechy]

Im interested in one. Depending on price and how idiot proof it is for myself

see post #89, these have been sold out long ago