[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [N8VEM-S100:2324] Re: accepting pre-orders for the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board
Hi Andrew (and group,)
I've been thinking for a long time about how I can give back to this
awesome community and this seems like an appropriate time to make an
offer.
I am willing accept payment and order and distribute boards. When
ordering boards I would be also try to order enough to keep spares on
hand so that people who arrive between "large" orders would be able to
get boards.
So I may order boards with limited interest and keep the remaining from
a minimum order on hand to fulfill later orders.
I'm a hobbyist and have a full time job as others do so it would
continue "at cost" as you've been doing it.
I am not bothered by PayPal reporting as I will file appropriately and
not see any actual income from it.
I'm also happy to help out in any other way or to do only part of the
above (like only collect PayPal funds to forward to Andrew, etc.)
I hope we can all find a solution so we can minimize your hassles and
you're able to spend your time productively (designing and revising
boards.)
I've also been considering performing bulk component buys to get reduced
pricing. I have some ECB connectors and S-100 backplane connectors
available now (and more backordered and due to arrive in April.) More
details on this in another email.
I welcome public or private email with regards to any of this.
Thanks for everything you've done for the N8VEM and N8VEM-S100 groups!
It's an excellent group of people and super group of board designers!
Thanks,
Todd
* Andrew Lynch <LYN...@YAHOO.COM> [140205 20:48]:
> Hi Jack
>
>
>
> The problem with PayPal is once the number of transactions passes a threshold they treat it as “income” and declare it. Now I have to deal with it like I had a business which of course I don’t have. It is not an unsolvable problem but is a huge PITA I was not planning on dealing with. This is like I invited my friends over to watch a football game and we decided to order pizza. Everyone tossed in their $5 and now PayPal is treating it like I was running a business. No, everyone bought their slice of pizza and ate it. I did not “sell” any pizza to anyone. It is the same analogy with group orders of boards. The builders paid for their boards before they even were ordered. The boards were theirs the entire time. I organized and did administrative tasks for the “club” (for lack of a better term).
>
>
>
> The way the N8VEM ECB hobbyists are doing it is some builders designed and distribute their own boards. For example Sergey has all the Xi8088 and Zeta boards. I don’t get involved and it is completely separate from me. John is doing similar with the ECB 12 slot backplane and the new super-duper Z180 SBC mark IV board. We could do this with the S-100 boards just as easily.
>
>
>
> If we were to get builders to “adopt” boards as their own we could spread this out so everyone gets a chance to order and distribute boards. For example you want an S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board. I send you the file set which you now are in charge of so that you make the orders and distribute to the other builders. Paul is responsible for the S-100 regular prototyping board, etc. Basically every builder who wants to gets a board or boards they are in charge of. Spread it out over the whole group and let everyone participate.
>
>
>
> While this adds some complexity it basically preserves the structure we have now. The difference being is anyone who wants a board looks up who the board “minder” (for lack of a better term) is and contacts them directly rather than me for that particular board. They could be in the US or internationally and even have regional builders to handle boards locally without the global shipping we do now. The advantage is more builders get “skin in the game” and also John and I can concentrate more of our time on developing new boards and updating the existing ones. Please see the N8VEM wiki PCB inventory sheet to illustrate the concept
>
>
>
> http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/page/35044530/PCB%20Inventory
>
>
>
> I really against starting a business and any sort of organized club or non-profit makes me cringe. I really like the totally ad hoc peer-to-peer approach of “by hobbyists for hobbyists”. Basically the self-organized semi-chaotic state we find ourselves in now. If the N8VEM home brew computing project were run like a business it would collapse in seconds. It has basically been sponsored and maintained by some “patrons” (for lack of a better term) and the builders themselves. Without them none of this would be possible. That’s the facts.
>
>
>
> Thanks and have a nice day!
>
> Andrew Lynch
>
>
>
> From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jack Rubin
> Sent: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 8:02 PM
> To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:2323] Re: accepting pre-orders for the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board
>
>
>
> Andrew,
>
>
>
> Could we back up a little bit to clearer definition of the problems with PayPal? What kind of account do you have now and what demands have they made of you? Is it something like a limit on volume of transactions or dollars/month? I ask because I think that, all things being equal, PayPal is still the best way to handle payment, especially when you consider the number of international buyers involved.
>
>
>
> If it is a matter of additional fees, I don’t think there would be any objection to increasing the cost of the boards to include whatever administrative overhead is involved. For that matter, you should also be compensated for your time, shipping and mailing supplies, transportation costs, etc. Of course this is a volunteer effort but it shouldn’t be an expense for you.
>
>
>
> If there are additional personal, business or regulatory issues involved, then that is surely your call. I just don’t want to walk away from PayPal if we can find a comfortable accommodation for you and all concerned.
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, following on the lead of several other N8VEM members, I’m happy to volunteer to help in whatever way you see fit.
>
>
>
> Thanks to you and John for keeping this great project alive.
>
>
>
> Best,
> Jack
>
>
>
> From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrew Lynch
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 1:06 PM
> To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:2308] Re: accepting pre-orders for the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board
>
>
>
> Hi
>
>
>
> Honestly I have not figured this out yet. I am thinking that some analog of how we would do this were we all in the same small town. Think of a ham radio club that wanted to raise funds for a new repeater antenna. All the club members contribute to the fund, they buy it, install it, and they all use it. Part of the problem though is the N8VEM home brew computer project is definitely not a business and it more like a hobby club but just not well organized. There is no official leadership or treasurer and is basically an ad hoc group of random hobbyists that are globally dispersed.
>
>
>
> What I am thinking about is basically every interested builder puts their money into a “kitty” and we use that to order the boards. The closest thing I can think of is to just mail a check, money order, or cash which I or some other builder then uses to order the PCBs. It is more hassle for everyone than PayPal but it avoids all of their problems too. I think any sort of electronic funds transfer service (Amazon, etc) has this problem. PayPal is just following the law to report when they see the number of transactions exceed some limit.
>
>
>
> I am not sure of how WU or Money Gram works but if it involves posting bank account information that is a non-starter due to internet privacy concerns (really the total lack thereof). However there are some banks/credit unions that allow a sort of electronic paper check to be sent. The builder tells the bank to send the check and the bank/credit union literally mails a physical check to the specified address. It appears automatic and fully electronic from the senders end but the receiver gets an actual check. Sort of the best of both worlds if it is available.
>
>
>
> Thanks and have a nice day!
>
> Andrew Lynch
>
>
>
> From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Joe Herdler
> Sent: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 11:27 AM
> To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [N8VEM-S100:2304] Re: accepting pre-orders for the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board
>
>
>
> Hi Andrew,
>
>
>
> Would it just be easier to have those of us who want a board to wire you the money via WU or Money Gram?
>
>
>
> Just a thought.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Consciousness affects the medium. Think happy, be happy, and happiness will follow you.
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 9:07 PM, nbreeden <nbre...@me.com> wrote:
>
> Andrew,
>
> Please put me down for one.
>
> -Neil
>
> On Sunday, January 5, 2014 12:39:03 PM UTC-8, lynchaj wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
>
>
> We are about to do another run of our popular S-100 Bus Z80 CPU V2 board. This board can run in systems (with bus termination etc.) at up to 10MHz. Apart from all the then common features found on many older S100 Z80 boards (and being completely S-100 IEEE-696 compliant), it had an extremely clever and powerful ability to allow the Z80 to address up to 1 MG of RAM in 16K "windows" within the Z80's address space. This is described here:-
>
>
>
> http://www.s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/Z80%20Board/Z80%20CPU%20Board.htm
>
>
>
> Its primary importance is that it can be used to address greater than 64K of RAM for CPM3 and that it can be used to load/examine 8086 code at the top of the 1MG address space.
>
>
>
> The new “V2” version of the board now has the ability to (under software control) dynamically switch between two 4K blocks of code in its onboard 28C64 EEPROM (or EPROM) yet still only occupy 4K in the Z80’s 64K memory space. This in effect almost doubles the size of a possible Z80 monitor. The extra code (currently being written) will include things like directly downloading binary files from a PC into the Z80’s 64K (or 8086’s 1M) address space.
>
>
>
> In addition, the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 has the ability to use an external CPU clock from an external source (S-100 bus pin 66 aka NDEF3). This is essential for CPU to video synchronization for MSX compatibility particularly in games. There will be a corresponding ability to export a CPU clock signal on the next version of the S-100 VDP board although this could come from any S-100 board.
>
>
>
> Current owners of the V1 board can just switch the IC’s to this new bare board.
>
>
>
> The S-100 Z80 CPU V2 PCBs will be $20 each as per the usual arrangement. Shipping in the US is $3 for a single PCB and $2 for each additional PCB. Shipping internationally is $12.75 for a single PCB and $3 for each additional PCB. This is for the bare basics USPS first class postage with no tracking or insurance. The builder assumes all risk of delivery as per usual arrangement.
>
>
>
> My preference is to sell these PCBs to vintage computer/home brew computer/classic computer hobbyists first but if there are any remaining boards I will put them on eBay.
>
>
>
> Please send a PayPal to LYN...@YAHOO.COM with the subject “S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board” and I will reserve your board(s). I need about 20 pre-orders to warrant a manufacturing run. I will post more information as it becomes available.
>
>
>
> Thanks and have a nice day!
>
>
>
> Andrew Lynch
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group.
> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/n8vem-s100/kykzZvgxMYk/unsubscribe.
> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to n8vem-s100+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to n8vem-s100+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
> _____
>
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3684/7064 - Release Date: 02/05/14
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to n8vem-s100+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to n8vem-s100+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to n8vem-s100+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.