FPGAARCADE minimig compatible board, comments?

[itix]

What a shame, it looks like the end for the Minimig. :-(

Unless development continues obviously.

Strange logic.

(Added in an edit:)
AFAIK Minimig is open sourced and anyone can continue improving Minimig. If nobody does that Acube can start selling FPGAARCADE instead... or someone else can continue to sell Minimig.

But really, if Minimig is not sold anymore, so what? There is FPGAARCADE.

[TheDaddy]

>>Second guessing what TheDaddy was referring to, I think he means the end of the Minimig v1.1 hardware (TheDaddy is making a case for this device so this would matter to him).

That too. Personally it would be a bit of a disaster if the Minimig board were to be dropped and not produced anymore. I have spent and spending hundreds and hundreds of £ (GBP) on a custom case for the Minimig.

I would love if people bought it. At least to recover my money, to see that one of my designs has finally managed to come to life and offer something to the community since not being a programmer I can only offer design stuff. I think of the dozens of Minimigs out there without a case and they need one.  

I have also got the Natami case in the pipeline and maybe one for the FPGAARCADE but it will depend on the success of the Minimig case, the more I sell the more money I can invest in future designs for Amiga compatible platforms.

>>The biggest drawback with the Minimig v1.1 design is its lack of expandability, which meant that it was never going to serve our needs on a long term basis.

I think the Minimig has to be seen as good replacement for the A500 (and other machines, if it happens, C64, Vic20 etc.) like a console, that is what I bought it for really, to have a ready to go console with my favourite Amiga games.

 :-)

[TheDaddy]

@itix

>>What a shame, it looks like the end for the Minimig.
Unless development continues obviously.

Strange logic.


I have already explained myself about that. Read above.

[TheDaddy]

>>Strange logic.

(Added in an edit:)
AFAIK Minimig is open sourced and anyone can continue improving Minimig. If nobody does that Acube can start selling FPGAARCADE instead... or someone else can continue to sell Minimig.
But really, if Minimig is not sold anymore, so what? There is FPGAARCADE

Read post by HeanryCAse:
Second guessing what TheDaddy was referring to, I think he means the end of the Minimig v1.1 hardware (TheDaddy is making a case for this device so this would matter to him).

and what I say here:
That too. Personally it would be a bit of a disaster if the Minimig board were to be dropped and not produced anymore. I have spent and spending hundreds and hundreds of £ (GBP) on a custom case for the Minimig.

I would love if people bought it. At least to recover my money, to see that one of my designs has finally managed to come to life and offer something to the community since not being a programmer I can only offer design stuff. I think of the dozens of Minimigs out there without a case and they need one.

I have also got the Natami case in the pipeline and maybe one for the FPGAARCADE but it will depend on the success of the Minimig case, the more I sell the more money I can invest in future designs for Amiga compatible platforms

[itix]

That too. Personally it would be a bit of a disaster if the Minimig board were to be dropped and not produced anymore. I have spent and spending hundreds and hundreds of £ (GBP) on a custom case for the Minimig.

Ok, that explains your concern very well But that is also part of the business.

However nothing stops you from producing new Minimigs. It is going to take a while until replacement boards are available. Act quickly and collect money from the market when you still can.

[TheDaddy]

@itix

Thank you for understanding.

My plan was to offer a Minimig case for the following reasons:

1) I think the Minimig deserves a complete enclosure, to keep it safe and make it look good and a bit more complete

2) To make one of my designs into reality

3) To invest the money from the Minimig into a new design for; Minimig v2, FPGAARCADE, Natami.
This will depend on how well the sales of the Minimig v1.1 go of course
4) Offer something to the community. I am not a programmer, but I massive Commodore/Amiga fan, since....1982.
 :-)

[boing4000]

I think the minimig (original one) will never die. It already has its spirit and many users like this little clean and neat board. Some debugging is still necessary and I belief Dennis and other fans will keep doing that.

Clearly due to open source and free minds the minimig will spread out and get new "home" and forms with differend components. This should be OK but dont let us start any fight or competition in "my minimig is better then others"... that would be sad!
Right now we have enough of this kind of fighting arround the globe. Just live and let live ;-)

We should be happy that our Amiga is now able to work inside an FPGA and no longer depend on original (old) chips that can fail any minute. So I think its time to celebrate :-)

[Darrin]

Just look at the Minimig as the original A1000.  I always expected an A2000 or A500 to follow close behind, but without people showing support for the original and being prepared to pay for it then I don't think there would be the same enthusiasm for future models.

I bought my Minimig to see what was possible and I always intended to upgrade to a better design when one became available.  When that happens, I'll pass my Minimig v1.1 onto my kids.

@The Daddy:
This is why I was concerned by the amount of time and money you seemed to be putting into your case design.  To be honest, I could never see you selling more than a couple of cases judging by the costs of your limited production run.  Also, you're too late into the market and most Minimig users will have already put their boards into some sort of case.  Wizard sold his cases because he was ready and waiting for the first production run while I'm afraid you've missed the boat.
If you want to make a case then I'd recommend waiting for the final pre-production GAME/ARSE*/CLAP to be revealed and then jump in quickly and run a batch of 30-50 boards off as quickly as you can and have them ready for the first production orders.

* I'm also going to suggest:

FPGA Entertainment Computer Klassic (F.E.C.K)
Designer Retro Implemented Niche Komputer (D.R.I.N.K)
Grand Interactive Retro Leisure System (G.I.R.L.S)

and we can use father Jack Hacket on the posters:
http://a980.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/00288/97/94/288234979_l.jpg

[TheDaddy]

@Darrin

>>@The Daddy:
This is why I was concerned by the amount of time and money you seemed to be putting into your case design. To be honest, I could never see you selling more than a couple of cases judging by the costs of your limited production run. Also, you're too late into the market and most Minimig users will have already put their boards into some sort of case. Wizard sold his cases because he was ready and waiting for the first production run while I'm afraid you've missed the boat.

Well it's too late now to backtrack. There are lots of people out there with a Minimig and no case, hopefully they'll buy it and support another "Amiga" developer.

Wizard's case is two pieces of plexiglass/perspex and some spacers and screws for £20 (GBP) circa. I am offering an enclosed solution, sure it will be more expensive but then these are the costs in today's market.

[Darrin]

TheDaddy wrote:
Well it's too late now to backtrack. There are lots of people out there with a Minimig and no case, hopefully they'll buy it and support another "Amiga" developer.

A lot of people are happy to voice support, but when it comes to actually opening up their wallets then things change quite quickly.

Wizard's case is two pieces of plexiglass/perspex and some spacers and screws for £20 (GBP) circa. I am offering an enclosed solution, sure it will be more expensive but then these are the costs in today's market.

True, but it was "cheap" and did the job, plus it was available at a time when people were ordering the hardware.

I hope you sell what you make, but if I was you then I'd post a final price, shipping costs and then try and get some names first.

[TheDaddy]

@Darrin

>>A lot of people are happy to voice support, but when it comes to actually opening up their wallets then things change quite quickly.

I am with you on that, hopefully it won't be the case.

>>True, but it was "cheap" and did the job, plus it was available at a time when people were ordering the hardware.

That is true too, but Minimigs will be available for another 4-5 months I hope.

>>I hope you sell what you make, but if I was you then I'd post a final price, shipping costs and then try and get some names first.

Soon.
 :-)

[bloodline]

TheDaddy wrote:

Wizard's case is two pieces of plexiglass/perspex and some spacers and screws for £20 (GBP) circa.  

Ohhh... I didn't know you could buy those cases! I actually rather liked them... They seem to fit with the whole hobby thing!

[TheDaddy]

>>Ohhh... I didn't know you could buy those cases! I actually rather liked them... They seem to fit with the whole hobby thing!

I am not sure if you can still buy them but you could always contact Wizard.:-)

[bloodline]

TheDaddy wrote:
>>Ohhh... I didn't know you could buy those cases! I actually rather liked them... They seem to fit with the whole hobby thing!

I am not sure if you can still buy them but you could always contact Wizard.:-)

I'd need a MiniMig first.. otherwise it's a rather dull little perspex box... :-D

[TheDaddy]

@bloodline

>>They seem to fit with the whole hobby thing!

My case wil be a hobbistic thing too, I am not Apple you see
 :-D

[AJCopland]

@TheDaddy
They make a nice simple case for the first ones I'm building/built but I'd be interested in seeing what your case looks like.

The engineer I'm building them with has some interesting ideas for other things to add to them but we don't see any reason to go to a different form factor for now as most of the changes will actually save some space!

Andy