[Coco] Re: [Color Computer] Is this a discussion about a new Coco?

[Ron Delvaux]

well said Boisy!
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Boisy G. Pitre 
  To: ColorComputer at yahoogroups.com ; CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts 
  Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 7:28 PM
  Subject: Re: [Coco] Re: [Color Computer] Is this a discussion about a new Coco?



  On Apr 18, 2005, at 5:45 PM, James Diffendaffer wrote:
  >
  > Oh please... $65?  What chip are you using?  There are pleanty of
  > controller chips for under $15 in single quantity... not my fault if
  > you chose an expensive one.  Geeze... a Coldfire CPU with built in
  > ethernet, USB and PCI is less than $40 in small quantity!  I could
  > build a board based on a coldfire and a couple PCI chips, a PLD and
  > emulate the $%#& thing cheaper and faster.

  Hi James,

  This is Boisy Pitre, the other half of Cloud-9. I think I can speak to 
  some of your questions.

  We chose the ConnectOne chip as our ethernet and TCP/IP stack solution 
  because it uses a simple serial interface to allow us to do some very 
  high level work, like sending/receiving mail and doing things like 
  serving web pages.  The idea here was to push the TCP/IP stack into 
  hardware and focus on alleviating myself the burden of writing a TCP/IP 
  stack on the CoCo under NitrOS-9 (which itself would be a project).  
  It's not just the ethernet chip that we are talking about, but also the 
  intelligence behind doing all of the protocols that this thing does.  
  See http://www.connectone.com/ for more details.

  If you know of something cheaper with the same functionality, we're all 
  ears.

  > Cloud-9 is charging over $100 for an IDE board! IDE!!!!  And we're not
  > talking about UDMA here either.  All that requires is to adjust some
  > buss logic and decode the address!  It requires around 4 TTL chips (if
  > you don't overdesign the thing) for under $10 at Radio Shack!

  Mark is in a better position to defend his hardware pricing, but I 
  don't see it as out of line.  Supply and demand in this market seems to 
  support the prices we set.

  >
  >> It is easier for you to sit back and do
  >> nothing but critique other peoples work and say it is too expensive.
  >>
  >> I can tell by your previous posts that you have done VERY little with
  >> developing products.
  >
  > I used to own a company that built hardware for the Amiga, some of
  > which I designed, I know what I'm talking about.  We were selling more
  > hardware in a week that Cloud-9 has sold since it was started.
  > A.I.R. sold over $750,000 worth of product (1 product) in the first 6
  > months and it took us over half of that time just to build up
  > manufacturing ability and a dealer network.  At the time I sold out we
  > were doing about $90,000 per month and had 4(?) products.

  That's great.  Why exactly then are you on the attack here?  If you 
  want to design your own product, then by all means go ahead.  Live and 
  let live.  I think Mark took issue with how you worded your original 
  post.  "$350 - $450 for something that should cost less than $100 in 
  parts is why I won't be interested."  The implication here is that 
  Cloud-9 is overcharging for its product.  I believe that not to be the 
  case.

  >
  >> With the given facts, you are WAY off base on your price and 
  >> statement.
  >
  > According to you... a guy that will spend $65 on an ethernet
  > controller and who sells an IDE board for $100.

  Surely you aren't suggesting that just because this is a hobby for a 
  small market, that we give away our time and effort?

  You don't have to buy our products or agree with our pricing structure. 
     At the same time, respect the intelligence of the people who are our 
  customers and who do support us by buying our product.  The market is 
  bearing the price just fine, and both Cloud-9 and its customers are 
  satisfied.
  --
  Boisy G. Pitre
  E-Mail: boisy at boisypitre.com
  Mobile: (337) 781-3997
  Web: www.boisypitre.com



  Brought to you by the 6809, the 6803 and their cousins! 



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