519 replies to this topic

[lucifershalo]

I have pre ordered more than one homebrew projects
that took a lot more time, many delays than planned
never abused, scammed
the trick is communication
everybody can (or SHOULD) understand that it is a hobby
as long as the author of the project keeps the people informed
of what is happening
nobody has the right to be angry or even more RUDE
frustrated, yes but thats all

[revolutionika]

I think that anyone who preordered the Aquaricart understood that It was basicly being made in Jay's extra time. And im sure it will be worth the wait!

[psquare75]

I am one of the 'pre order' people. I cannot speak for everyone, but I'm personally not really worried about a delay like this. I dabble with old cars in my spare time. I've noticed the general rule is take your budget and timeframe, mutiply it by two, and you're close to reality. Having said that, code away!

[the-topdog]

I'm still leaning toward the free chocolate donut with each multicart... just sayin'

[Chuck D. Head]

the-topdog, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:22 AM, said:

I'm still leaning toward the free chocolate donut with each multicart... just sayin'

Just keep it away from that nasty orange Jello, OK??

[swlovinist]

One of the "preorder people" here, and am looking forward to seeing this project completed.  It has been neat seeing the project move along, and will be patient to its release.  These type of projects are like this.  There is always a tentative window of time for release, and then there is the actual release.  Rarely do they match up.  Communication on this project has been awesome.  I have never been worried.  It is the awesome dedication to projects such as this one that make me love this site.

[revolutionika]

swlovinist, on Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:00 AM, said:

One of the "preorder people" here, and am looking forward to seeing this project completed.  It has been neat seeing the project move along, and will be patient to its release.  These type of projects are like this.  There is always a tentative window of time for release, and then there is the actual release.  Rarely do they match up.  Communication on this project has been awesome.  I have never been worried.  It is the awesome dedication to projects such as this one that make me love this site.

Yes, Jay's communication has been great. And that goes a long way with any project like this.

Now about that free donut...........

[Jay Silverheels]

I am a disgruntled Aquaricart pre-order person who demands Jay immediately continue to refine the product until it meets with his full satisfaction!  Furthermore, I will not tolerate his policy of putting his career ahead of this hobby project, unless he needs his day job to pay the bills and put food on the table!  

I will not be placated with regular updates and screenshots of continuing product improvement, during this completely reasonable and understandable wait, simply because the Aquaricart is going to be so great I can't stand it!

Damn it! I want my Aquaricart when it's ready, and not a moment before!

Jaybird3rd owes us all a huge metric shi^ ton of unapologetic enjoyment of his project, and not letting the experience get sullied by over-anxious hobbyists.



We demand it!

[the-topdog]

Jay Silverheels, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:37 AM, said:

I am a disgruntled Aquaricart pre-order person who demands Jay immediately continue to refine the product until it meets with his full satisfaction!  Furthermore, I will not tolerate his policy of putting his career ahead of this hobby project, unless he needs his day job to pay the bills and put food on the table!  

I will not be placated with regular updates and screenshots of continuing product improvement, during this completely reasonable and understandable wait, simply because the Aquaricart is going to be so great I can't stand it!

Damn it! I want my Aquaricart when it's ready, and not a moment before!

Jaybird3rd owes us all a huge metric shi^ ton of unapologetic enjoyment of his project, and not letting the experience get sullied by over-anxious hobbyists.



We demand it!

Soooo... what are you trying to say here?  

[Chuck D. Head]

Guys, I am just sitting patiently by the pool, waiting for my multi-cart.....

[Jay Silverheels]

the-topdog, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:49 AM, said:

Soooo... what are you trying to say here?  

LOL.  The last line doesn't quite read as I intended.  I meant for Jaybird to have the unapologetic enjoyment, not us.  Still, I tried to lay on the sarcasm thick enough to not be misunderstood.

[jaybird3rd]

Once again, I must thank all of you for your encouragement.  I just finished editing the "retrospective" that I wrote for the Aquaricart manual, and as I look back over the trajectory of this project, I'm amazed at how much of a learning experience it has been for me.  My main motivation was to finally jumpstart my long-deferred ambition to undertake a homebrew project of my own, and to gain some experience with hardware design and electronics, while at the same time filling an important niche for an underappreciated platform.  It's very rewarding to have met all of these goals, especially with such wonderful support along the way from my friends and fellow hobbyists.

[jaybird3rd]

Chuck D. Head, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:30 AM, said:

the-topdog, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:22 AM, said:

I'm still leaning toward the free chocolate donut with each multicart... just sayin'

Just keep it away from that nasty orange Jello, OK??

See, here's the problem with including food products with the Aquaricart: I'm fully aware that some collectors out there are going to buy it and stick it on a shelf until they can flip it for a profit on eBay or elsewhere.  Having food in the box is just going to make long-term storage more difficult.

[GroovyBee]

jaybird3rd, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:07 PM, said:

I'm fully aware that some collectors out there are going to buy it and stick it on a shelf until they can flip it for a profit on eBay or elsewhere

Nah! Just put an RTC in it. So if doesn't get used on a weekly basis it stops working.

[revolutionika]

Did you guys just realize like i did, that this thread has over 17,000 views?




Now if you could translate half of the views into a sale...

[revolutionika]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:10 PM, said:

jaybird3rd, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:07 PM, said:

I'm fully aware that some collectors out there are going to buy it and stick it on a shelf until they can flip it for a profit on eBay or elsewhere

Nah! Just put an RTC in it. So if doesn't get used on a weekly basis it stops working.

Groovy, if you spent as much time programming as you do trolling AA, you would have about 30 homebrews under your belt!!





j/k

[GroovyBee]

revolutionika, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:23 PM, said:

Groovy, if you spent as much time programming as you do trolling AA, you would have about 30 homebrews under your belt!!

You been looking on my hard drive again rev?

[jaybird3rd]

revolutionika, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:22 PM, said:

Did you guys just realize like i did, that this thread has over 17,000 views?



Now if you could translate half of the views into a sale...

I wouldn't read too much into that; a lot of those views are probably from me (I'm one of those people who are always going back and editing/tweaking their posts).

I still don't have a firm idea of how much demand there really is for the Aquaricart, and I didn't go into it with high commercial aspirations anyway.  Given the small population of Aquarius owners, I'll be really astonished if I get even a hundred orders.

[revolutionika]

jaybird3rd, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:36 PM, said:

revolutionika, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:22 PM, said:

Did you guys just realize like i did, that this thread has over 17,000 views?



Now if you could translate half of the views into a sale...

I wouldn't read too much into that; a lot of those views are probably from me (I'm one of those people who are always going back and editing/tweaking their posts).

I still don't have a firm idea of how much demand there really is for the Aquaricart, and I didn't go into it with high commercial aspirations anyway.  Given the small population of Aquarius owners, I'll be really astonished if I get even a hundred orders.

Well, given the obscurity of the Aquarius. I would say close to 100 orders is doing pretty good!

No?

[jaybird3rd]

revolutionika, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:12 PM, said:

Well, given the obscurity of the Aquarius. I would say close to 100 orders is doing pretty good!  No?

Oh, absolutely.  I'm not implying that Aquarius owners wouldn't be supportive of the project.  They're a very dedicated group, but there simply aren't very many of them, especially compared to the number of people who own systems like the Atari 2600.  Even that crowd is only a very small percentage of the general population, so viewed in that context, the "market" for the Aquaricart is vanishingly small.  I've tried to keep that in perspective, although the project has been living in my head for so long that this isn't always easy!  

Who knows ... I might be pleasantly surprised by the level of interest in the Aquaricart once it finally gets out there.  I guess we'll see.

[coyo5050]

jaybird3rd, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:07 PM, said:

Chuck D. Head, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:30 AM, said:

the-topdog, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:22 AM, said:

I'm still leaning toward the free chocolate donut with each multicart... just sayin'

Just keep it away from that nasty orange Jello, OK??

See, here's the problem with including food products with the Aquaricart: I'm fully aware that some collectors out there are going to buy it and stick it on a shelf until they can flip it for a profit on eBay or elsewhere.  Having food in the box is just going to make long-term storage more difficult.

Um..twinkies would solve the problem! They would outlast the multicart I bet lol

[jaybird3rd]

coyo5050, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:30 PM, said:

Um..twinkies would solve the problem! They would outlast the multicart I bet lol

How true!  But there's also the issue of international shipping: Twinkies might be considered "cruel and unusual punishment" in some countries.

[jaybird3rd]

Just a short update today: I've finally finished the writing and layout for the instruction manual.  It is now with the printers, so I should be getting the printed manuals in about a week.  I decided that the "project retrospective" I wrote for the manual was too long for printing, so I took it out.  I'll put it inside the cartridge for on-screen viewing instead, in case anyone is interested.

I also made some last-minute tweaks to the user interface.  Here is the final Main Menu design:



I'm down to smoothing out a few rough edges in the software and hardware.  Still on target for completion by 8/20.

[jaybird3rd]

Well, folks ... I sometimes thought I'd never get here, but the programming/proofreading/debugging phase of this project is finally FINISHED.  I've put the last of the final touches on the software and the extra content, so by the end of the day, I'll be ready to lock in the contents of the cartridge ROM.

The print shop was a little late getting the manuals finished--they were busy folding and stapling a stack of them when I was there on Friday--but they should be done by tomorrow afternoon.  I'll post a picture when I get them in.

With those two things out of the way, the only remaining task (beyond actually building the cartridges) is working out the final hardware revisions.  That will be my main focus over the next week.  In the meantime, I'll begin burning the ROMs for the first shipment of completed cartridges!

[cmart604]

jaybird3rd, on Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:56 PM, said:

Well, folks ... I sometimes thought I'd never get here, but the programming/proofreading/debugging phase of this project is finally FINISHED.  I've put the last of the final touches on the software and the extra content, so by the end of the day, I'll be ready to lock in the contents of the cartridge ROM.

The print shop was a little late getting the manuals finished--they were busy folding and stapling a stack of them when I was there on Friday--but they should be done by tomorrow afternoon.  I'll post a picture when I get them in.

With those two things out of the way, the only remaining task (beyond actually building the cartridges) is working out the final hardware revisions.  That will be my main focus over the next week.  In the meantime, I'll begin burning the ROMs for the first shipment of completed cartridges!

Yay! Looking forward to this Jay! This has to be the most thorough homebrew product ever made.