FPGA Replay Board

[honasvocas]

Thanks!, Merci!, Gracias!, Danke!, Diky!

[TheBilgeRat]

It's good to see people realizing AT LAST that the classic Amiga future lies in FPGAs and not in ridiculously expensive expansions for aging hardware.

The problem here lies not in the hardware implementation, but in the mindsets of the people building that ridiculously expensive hardware I think...

It boggles my mind that an awesome hand built all in one solution like this is cheaper in materials and labor than a zorro 3 ethernet card or AGA scandoubler...

[OlafS3]

The problem here lies not in the hardware implementation, but in the mindsets of the people building that ridiculously expensive hardware I think...

It boggles my mind that an awesome hand built all in one solution like this is cheaper in materials and labor than a zorro 3 ethernet card or AGA scandoubler...

if you have a low demand and a even lower supply you get high prices...

[psxphill]

It boggles my mind that an awesome hand built all in one solution like this is cheaper in materials and labor than a zorro 3 ethernet card or AGA scandoubler...

It's not going to be cheaper than those
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1085
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=250
 
You're lucky that mikej was able to afford the time and money to do this. But I expect he'll want to recover that when he starts selling them.

[mikej]

It's not going to be cheaper than those

You're lucky that mikej was able to afford the time and money to do this. But I expect he'll want to recover that when he starts selling them.

I will not recover the time or NRE costs - if I was to factor in my time as I would when I am consulting or doing my day job (ASIC/FPGA design), then there would be no way this would even cover costs, never mind any return on investment.

I wish it was finished a while ago too, but I have to squeeze it around all the stuff which does pay the bills
/MikeJ

[mikej]

I hope I've replied to all the emails I received - I may have missed a few, but I have a complete record of everything.
I will go though and update my order list, and send out details when stock arrives.
If you don't receive a mail then - and you mailed me before - mail me again then.

I'll work on the website and pop an order button on there soon.
Thanks,
MikeJ

[yssing]

Awesome, pure and total awesomenessss!

[mikej]

Update:
I've holding the shipment in Shenzhen as the inspection by my forwarder highlighted some potential problems, specifically a few boards with the wrong build options (some bits missing which shouldn't be).

They have been returned to the assembly plant on Friday for a full audit.

Depending on my confidence level,I will release them tomorrow - or they will have to wait another week until I arrive in China and inspect them.

The freight is very expensive (hundreds of USD) + import tax and VAT etc. I don't want to have to send them back again.

This first large-ish batch is to get the process in place for full production, so I need to be a little cautious otherwise there will not be enough funds to make the next batch

I'll update you as I find out more.
/MikeJ

[cunnpole]

Wait until next week and take a large empty suitcase with you

[mikej]

Wait until next week and take a large empty suitcase with you

I did consider that, but the excess baggage fee for ~60Kg would be not funny
actually, it's not bad. Something to thing about.

[freqmax]

Perhaps you could pay fellow passengers to carry them?

Suitcase = intelligence prothesis

[Darrin]

I did consider that, but the excess baggage fee for ~60Kg would be not funny
actually, it's not bad. Something to thing about.

You should have seen my bags the last time I made a trip from China to the USA.  I had 120 premier League football shirts & shorts sets, a set of knock-off golf clubs, more DVDs than Block Buster and a selection of software that would put Game Zone to shame and more trinkets than you would find on a typical pirate ship.  

I got stopped at customs too buy a US agent who wanted to know what I planned to do with all of those football strips.  I told him I was going to wear them.  

[psxphill]

I will not recover the time or NRE costs - if I was to factor in my time as I would when I am consulting or doing my day job (ASIC/FPGA design), then there would be no way this would even cover costs, never mind any return on investment.

Yeah I wasn't expecting you to recover your time at your normal rates, it would make this product unaffordable :-) But I would have thought you wouldn't want to make a monetary loss on the whole thing. If you don't mind then please send me my free replay board
 
Jens on the other hand doesn't make a product unless it puts food on the table, which I think is fair.

[mikej]

I did consider that, but the excess baggage fee for ~60Kg would be not funny
actually, it's not bad. Something to thing about.

Inspection shows they are all correct. An old picture was used by the shipping agent, not one they took of the actual boards!

As I am down there next week I will inspect/bring back what I can and ship the rest.
Exciting times
/MikeJ

[Johan Samuelsson]

That's nice to hear MikeJ!

Any progress on the softcore?

[OlafS3]

many thanks to you for your effort. I think FPGA Arcade is the only bigger 68k retro project that really get "buyable" (in opposite to Natami and many others that were just announced)