Though I rely on the storefront for sales management, I have not tried out some of the features of the system. I’ve noticed for quite some time that the storefront offers coupon management, and I’ve wanted to put on a sale during the Holiday season. Thus, I’m trying out the coupon system by offering a sale from now until the end of December 25th, 2010 (or until specific stock runs out) on 64NIC+ cartridges. Use coupon ‘NICSALE” during checkout to receive $10.00 off each 64NIC+ purchase. Buy 2 or more and see if it correctly applies a $10.00 reduction for each NIC purchased.
Author: go4retro
ZoomFloppy Production
After a couple rounds of final tweaks by myself and Nate Lawson, I’ve released the ZoomFloppy PCB to production. The board has been designed to fit inside a standard Hammond 1591XX Black ‘S’ or Translucent ‘TBU’ case. In addition to the normal IEC connector and the Mini USB Type ‘B’ connector, you’ll find a number of additional connection options:
- A DB-15 “Parallel” socket. This uses the defacto standard pin mappings
- A 2×8 Header. This uses RapiDOS/ProfessionalDOS pin mappings
- 2×20 Debug Header. This provides access to each pin of the interface and was designed to allow use of industry standard IDE cables
- 2×12 IEEE-488 Header. Since the IEEE-488 Centronics connector can be hard to source and expensive, this connector offers a much cheaper alternative.
- IEEE-488 24 pin Centronics connector. The industry standard GPIB/HPIB/IEEE-488 connector.
- User Port Edge Connector. This allows the use of older parallel drive cables that assume a connection to the C64 user port.
Only the Mini USB, IEC, and DB-15 connectors will be populated standard. The IEEE-488 connectors will be stocked when ZoomFloppy adds IEEE drive support, though they will be optional.
uIEC/SD Reorder
Sales at the recent ECCC show depleted stock of the uIEC/SD units. Normally, I order more stock when quantities get below 20 or so units, but I was not paying as much attention to the stock level while relocating. Sadly, I ran out, but I have ordered 100 more units and they should be here in a few weeks.
Announcing ZoomFloppy
It’s a sad fact that, as technology marches forward, it affects even retro enthusiasts. For years, Commodore users have archived their personal disk collections using the ubiquitous “Star Commander” and some variant of the venerable “X-1541” adapter to connect IEC-based disk drives to the PC. As parallel ports have changed through the years, designers have adapted the X-1541 design to keep up. But, with the advent of the USB port, parallel ports have all but disappeared from the marketplace. The inherent design of the X1541-style cables cannot overcome the loss of a connection to the computer!
A few years ago, Till Harbaum created the XU1541 project, designed to connect via a USB port on newer machines. However, the project was eventually cancelled, with development efforts stalled.
Nate Lawson decided to do something about that. Taking a cue from the XU1541 design and identifying its shortcomings, Nate started working on a new implementation using a hardware USB-based Atmel AVR microcontroller via a Bumble B Mini USB Development Board. I got involved in March, when Nate asked if I would be interested in helping with the PCB design. Though initial ideas were to simply build a base for the Bumble-B, cost analysis led us to simply design the Bumble B functionality into a specific-use board.
Though my recent relocation hindered the timeline, I am excited to now announce the upcoming sales of the ZoomFloppy Commodore Drive USB Adapter. The schematic is finalized, board design is nearly complete. Nate presented details on the device at the recent Chicago ECCC show, outlining the many features of the new device on his web site, including his ECCC presentation.
ECCC Show 2010
Brain Innovations attended the now legendary ECCC EXPO in Chicago on September 18, 2010. Given our new location, logistics became the largest area of concern for attendance.
Due to the relocation, I needed to find a new place to live (and, as previously noted, somewhere to build a proper facility for the company. As with previous career changes, the hiring company offers temporary housing of some type for a certain time period, typically 1 to 4 months. Complication matters this time was the inability to find suitable temporary housing for 2 adults, 2 children, and a dog. Pets are evidently not as welcome in Sioux Falls, SD temporary housing. Thus, our temporary home became the Residence Inn in Sioux Falls (highly recommended, BTW). This is important to the logistics, I promise.
As I prepared for the ECCC show, I asked if the family wanted to attend. In years past, the children came, not so much for the show itself, but mainly for a chance to stay in a hotel room for a few days. This time, though, they had stayed in a hotel for over a month, which diminished the uniqueness. On the other hand, our previous location, Cedar Rapids, IA, was on the way to Chicago, and staying there would allow them to visit with friends recently left behind. Thus, a decision was made to drop the family in CR, and travel onto Chicago alone. Because of the delay in making a decision on lodging needs, the hotel booked up, but a request for room sharing was fulfilled.
After looking at all the options, we decided to take the RV to IA and park it as temporary housing for the family during the Chicago trip. I would trailer another vehicle behind and then drive that vehicle to the show. Obviously, I decided to trailer “Smartie”. The combination was an interesting combination of machinery:
Given our relocation efforts, the business had been temporarily reduced to a few cubic feet of product, my trusty Commodore SX64 (for testing), and a ‘scope. Thus, the small cargo area of the ForTwo easily accommodated all of the equipment needed for my table at the show. Thankfully, the drive to Chicago in the ForTwo from IA was uneventful. Filling up but twice with gasoline during the trip and paying not more than $35.00 in total for fuel, coupled with the shared hotel room, certainly made for an inexpensive trip.
Given the circumstances, I was behind on project work and did not plan to show anything. I did bring what stock I had to sell, and I enjoyed the other presentations and impromptu discussions at the show.
Earlier in the year, I started working Nate Lawson to bring his USB-to-IEC drive adapter to market. Though I was not able to have PCBs done for the ECCC show, I did get to meet Nate at the show, at least to apologize. A subsequent post will detail more information about the “ZoomFloppy” project, as it is now called.
I also touched base with Leif Bloomquist, who is trying to bring a VIC-MIDI cartridge to fruition. I suggested at the WoC 2009 show that the design would be easier to manufacture if the now-obsolete and hard-to-source 6850 could be replaced with a newer 16X50 UART part. I had wired a 16450 to his prototype cart during the CCCC EXPO in May, but there were still issues. Nate and I debugged the design while at the show, though more needs to be done.
This year, the afterparty did not include a very-drunk set of wedding guests and a fire alarm with water cascading down the hotel stairs. Honestly, as in years other than 2009, which included the aforementioned festivities, the event was very low key. Attendance looked to be healthy, no doubt influenced by the Vintage Computer Festival – Midwest event that shared space with ECCC. I’ll be back in 2011, hopefully with more to show and present.
New Company Car :-)
I remember attending the World of Commodore 2004 and falling in love with a small commuter vehicle seen while going out to eat one night in Canada. At the time, there was no need for a commuter vehicle, and the idea passed on.
Fast forward to 2010. With this new position and our new location in the country, I will be commuting 30 minutes to work each day. Since the Ford F350 truck is not known for great gas mileage (and, diesel tends to be more expensive than gasoline), I once again thought of that commuter vehicle.
After some research (including a test drive of one in Omaha while enroute to Sioux Falls), I was able to purchase a used model with all of the options I desired.
The vehicle? It’s a Red 2009 Smart ForTwo Cabriolet:
The photo shows it with our RV in the background. It gets ~41MPG, weighs less than 2000 pounds, will indeed fit in the bed of the pickup, and can go at least 80MPH (Interstates in SD are 75). The convertible option is truly non-essential, but some would say the entire car fits that description. My 6’2″ frame fits comfortably in the vehicle, with plenty of legroom. The kids fight over who gets to ride in the passenger seat, and it has been nicknamed “Smartie” already. It does seem fitting that the Brain family would own a “Smart” car.
Obviously, it’s no match for the worst of Winter in Sioux Falls, but those are days when the truck will justify itself as a commuter vehicle.
New Business Location
Brain Innovations has moved to a new location outside of Sioux Falls, SD. Though much work remains to be done, the new location will allow siting of a better design facility. Plans include offices, design area, and climate controlled space to set up multiple retro computer configurations for testing purposes. Above all, area will be devoted to parts stock and product assembly, as well as tooling for milling cases for products.
Construction must wait until Spring, but design work can continue through the Winter.
With the selection of a new location complete, I now turn attention to filling the backlog of orders placed over the past month. I appreciate the patience of all our customers.
Potential Interruptions
I have recently accepted a new position out of state, which necessitates a relocation and all of the changes associated with a move and new position. Design will continue, but I may be unable to fill orders during the transition period. Thus, if you’ve been putting off a purchase, note that it is likely I will not be able to fill orders from July 16th to August 16th.
X-Pander 3/VIC Under Development
64NIC+ and X-Pander 3 Now Available!
I thought I’d compose a quick note to let folks know that 64NIC+ Ethernet cartridges are in stock once again and the new X-Pander 3 3/4 slot cartridge port expander is finally in stock. I’m working to add 24/28 pin headers and cartridge cases to the store inventory.