MiniMig V 2.0 - PCB's available now!

[Firedawg]

PM sent.....

The Dawg

[Firedawg]

I did a quick eBay search and the Minimig is selling for $240 w/ $29.68 shipping. Is this a fair estimate for what people are willing to pay? Any ideas, polls, suggestions?

I just finished my 4th Minimig, and waiting for Yaqube's ARM board controller to be completed.  I think the pricing of $240US with a $29US shipping and handling charge is fair.  I think my cost of each of my Migs ran me on average $167US (board , components, pwr supply) + $36US (Case - From Wizard66), so I had a total of $203US.  Assuming the eBay seller is including a case and power supply it should be comparable.  Soldering time and chip programming was around 6 hours per board.  So, that would workout to be close to $12 per hour for my labor based on me selling for $270US.  

Not sure what the current availability is on the Minimig from Amigakit, Vesalia, or any other vendor of the Acube retail board.  If they are out and no current/future production planned then these Minimigs on eBay could fetch a good bit.

The Dawg

[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

[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:

[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

[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