[Coco] SuperBoard Update, was Status, anyone?

[Mark Marlette]

Paul,

I have renamed the thread a bit. Beware long post.....

Not sure which Paul H. this is or if this is either one of the 
two Paul H.'s that has made a SuperBoard down payment. In either 
case I will give an update.

First I would like to say thanks for the kind words of understanding
from Bruce Calkins, james Daggett and Brian Blake. No one wants 
this to go away more than I do, OK, maybe Sandy, my significant other.
She knows more than anyone else how much time I dedicate to the Cloud-9
effort. She has indicated that I need to simplify my life and that means, to 
her, reduction of time to the business. For those of you that do run 
a business, you well know, you just don't turn it on and off like you 
walk out of the office at night.

Life is still very busy, I was away from the list to fight another 
snow storm in MN this year and then this. Working a 4am -2pm 
shift this week and was outside till 8pm last night. Putting the final 
fixes in my 3pt 54" snow blower which blew the gear box out in a 
big drift.... :( Over $400 later, a shaft, gear, bearings replaced and an 
improved design, we are back on track. Most wouldn't consider this a 
big deal but each time the wind blows or snows. I have just under two miles
to blow out my drive way. Multiple passes on a very long drive. Over 2hrs 
last night and dual stage blower tosses it ~60', but it still piles and 
keeps coming. Global warming is appreciated in MN....but where is it? :)

As some of my updates have had a ton of excuses, which all have been real, 
all too real. This will not have any. My health is back, losing weight, still 
have a job, barely, doing the work of three people now and our lab is scaled 
back from 21 to 5 employees and I am one of the lucky ones working. Sometimes I wonder.
Bad environment, but it does pay the bills and I am grateful. Did I mention I have 
two WONDERFUL grandchildren, which do take of some of my former free time. My daughter, 
son-in-law and grandson live with me while she is attending nursing school and 
getting her degree. Those two are precious and someday hope to be CoCo users.

Now to the meat and potatoes.

People have asked that I delegate, ask for help, etc. I have tried that within the company. I
have spent consider amounts of time trying to setup and off load, only to have that
time really become a not effective use of my time. Ultimately I get sucked back into the
branch of the project and overall I should have just done it. I can not fault them for
being guilty of what I am. They are stuck in the reality of life as well. It happens, 
besides, the pay is terrible

The AT keyboard project which was originally designed by Dana Peters has been replaced
with my own design. Created my own cross point switch in a CPLD and is 100% operational
on the hardware level. Boisy was tasked to produce the firmware but for 
various reasons, the project was returned to me. So currently I am writing the firmware
for the PS2 Interface board, which will reside in the standalone board and the SuperBoard. 
This portion of the task was not planned, but something that I must finish now, again
another delay. This is the ONLY area at Cloud-9 that there are outstanding orders.
SuperIDEs went from 8+week lead times to the current less than a few days delivery times.
Trust me, this is HUGE task to enhance.

As this project forever drags on and being an Engineer. I am forever surrounded by 
technology. These new technologies ALWAYS look attractive. So rather than produce 
a board with outdated resources, I investigate. More later on this. So I am at a point
of what to do. Move forward with the old design and finish it with knowing all good 
and well that I will be adding an expansion board for my new goodies or finish the 
replacement add ons an incorporate in the SuperBoard. These investigations all require
development time, some more than others.

The areas of exploration have been :
  1. SD, easy to implement. This would replace the CF.
  2. USB serial, this has been a time magnet and yes I do have a USB serial interface working
     on a test development platform. Thanks Aaron for the awesome host side development 
     test tool! This could be an add on card, Super Expansion Card for the paks
     and the SuperBoard. Currently we are doing sustained serial transfers of +100KB, over 
     1M baud. That is not 115.2Kb, but BYTES. Just as fast as the Compact Flash(CF) or 
     hard drive interface.
  3. Was looking at replacing the PS2 with USB, but am leaning towards PS2 just due to the 
     fact of development time. I have not finished my investigation in to the development 
     of such a device but I am 90%+ complete. There is an issue with my interface / development
     software as far as up/down key code detection for the CoCo's matrix. For those that say 
     USB serial is working,  USB keyboard, why not? All USB devices are not created equally, there 
     are different device classes and how they are handled. The CoCo's matrix keyboard is
     a PIA and I don't mean Peripheral Interface Adapter. It must remain as many applications
     and or games, peek the hardware. There are such better ways and less burden on 
     the uP, but....... :(
  4. Ethernet, same as USB. Just haven't had the time to play in this area. I have the
     development tools and hardware in place, just haven't went down this road as a test
     case yet. I viewed this as an after effect product anyway. Again this is not beyond
     what USB is doing right now. Just a different transport method. I did spend an large 
     amount of time researching this area though.

In closing I can say that the CoCo is still very much of my everyday doings. The 
past several years have taught me one big simple lesson. I can't do anymore than
I already am, but I can do less. I still work on this project, I can't say daily as I
do still have other aspects of the company to run. I have been busy, hopefully this update
proves that I have. Those critical of me and my time it has taken. I ask you this. What 
have you done in the past year for the CoCo or even the past 10-15? My point is simply this.
It is easy to sit on the fence and judge others. Everyday I am doing something with 
the CoCo, building, testing, designing. shipping product, accounting, tax prep, 
etc, I do it all. Along with ALL other aspects of life. It is a hobby business.

So I am asking you, the people that have placed a down payment. 

 1. Should I quit the project and refund a portion of the down payment as there were 
    development costs and parts procured with the project? This would be the easiest.
    Many people have grand plans and then cancel / terminate a project. What I am guilty
    of is taking people's money upfront. This will NEVER happen again. What I am not 
    guilty of is quitting. I am not a quitter, I will finish this, it will be just a fact
    or not if I produce it as a product.
	
 2. Allow some to cancel their down payments and get a partial return? This could, effect
    the project as a whole depending on the actual number of cancellations. Portion 
    of the refund would be based upon costs in the project. Since I am over, well over 80%
    completed with the design, this number as a guess is 50% return or less. Most will 
    take offense to this but there is risk with bringing a product to market.
	
 3. Finalize the board as it was conceived(legacy devices), work out some details(board layout),
    test and complete project? Apply 100% of the down payment to the cost of the
    product.

 4. Take more time and drop the legacy serial port? Leave this to already existing product
    lines. Possibly add USB keyboard?

Finally, I am always here. Might be gone a few days over the weekend, on vacation, etc, but 
I still actively read the list. I post less because I can either talk/type or actually DO 
something. Well, I am the latter.

Regards,

Mark
Cloud-9

Regarding the soon to be forgotten, apparently, what is the status
of the Superboard, into which many have already invested $100 or more?


-ph