Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?

[phoenixdownita]

CR@@K!

[Gentlegamer]

Mike said Lee is Sean Robinson of California, who is best known for the Commodore Computer Club USA and going to jail for fraud and was 100% responsible for the prototype and his name being slandered globally

 

 

But also remember "Lee" is retro talk for attempting to get away

 

How them Duke boys gonna get outta this one?

[toiletunes]

For the upcoming "Tips & Tricks" issue of Retro Magazine, I hereby submit one of my favorite all-time cheats:

 

Stuff a SNES in a Jag and charge $350.

[godslabrat]

"Press 'B' rapidly to throw the hardware guy under the bus."

[toiletunes]

RVGS demo tip- moving the mouse/joystick (don't remember which) will move the large square thing on the screen. Neat!

[Flojomojo]

DON'T reveal too much about your plans, suppliers, licensing agreements!

DON'T allow updates to your code or firmware, get it right the first time, simple as that!

DON'T show anyone what's inside your clear box!

DON'T hire a hardware engineer you can trust!

 

DO obtain the services of one of the best IP lawyers in Silicon Valley!

DO get the plastic molds first, then you're halfway there!

DO make lots of promises you can't possibly deliver!

DO get the marketing team together before you have a business plan!

[enoofu]

Analogue NT mini apparently will run with with FGPA hardware and cost 449 US dollars

[Flojomojo]

But not Kickstarter. They're just going to straight up offer their thing for sale. It's expensive, but presumably exists.

[Newsdee]

Analog is in a completely different league than a random hardware startup with a 3D rendering.

 

They've already shipped two batches of the previous NT, and before that they sold batches of Neogeo MVS conversions.

 

If the gripe is about the price, at least it can't be said that you don't know what you're getting in the box.

[Professor Gull]

So I have this great idea.

 

I came across a box of 8 inch floppy disks and I remember fond times of backing up a IBM Mainframe from the 70's which was used to make direct mail lists.

 

So starting today I am going to begin the process of piecing together a modern day old school mainframe for the general household.

 

You will need about 40 sq ft of temperature and climate controlled space and a bunch of old school terminals but I think we can pull off a home mainframe from the old days with 80 pound hard drives holding up to 20 GIGABYTES of materials.

 

Then we will ad on the tape to tape reel to the first 1000 who fund us. Refurbished from right out of Daryl the movie.

 

 

I am in talks now for manufacturing the first unit which will looks exactly as below.

 

 

So lets make this happen and go back to the "Reel days of computers." ( hey that's trademarked...or should be)

[toiletunes]

[Inky]

P@@P!!!

[godslabrat]

Looking at some failed kick starters, it seems there are some common weak points across all of them.

 

WHAT NOT TO DO:

 

1. Be a solution looking for a problem. Technical achievement isn't enough... your product has to actually do something.
2. Me-Too-ing. Trying to re-create a successful product that already exists. This is feasible if your version can be substantially better. Unfortunately, a lot of inventors think that their version is better by virtue of the fact that they made it.
3. Over-Technologizing. Finding a super-high-tech solution to an extremely mundane problem. Chances are, if your problem is keeping the door open, you're never going to do better than a wedge-shaped slice of wood.
4. Over-Widgeting. On the other end of the spectrum, making devices that are so incredibly single-purposed that you wonder why anyone would put that much thought into them. These actually can succeed if the end product is incredibly cheap.
5. Funding Your Dream. These are the greedy bastards. Theones who aren't content just to pay for a product to come to market, they want to fund an entire empire. Their crowdfunding details how you'll be paying for not just merchandise, but advertising, employee salaries, warehouses, company cars, business trips, booze, and whores. These are easiest to spot because they're very vague on the product specs themselves, and the company they describe seems more like GM in the 50s than anything from the internet era.
6. Be the idea man. You have a plan... let's go to kickstarter! Yeah, no, that's not how this works. Everyone has an idea, most of them suck. Until you actually roll up your sleeves and try to make it happen, you have no idea what challenges are ahead of you. The easiest way to fail at crowdfunding is to talk about the movie you WANT to make, or the band you WANT to start. If you haven't even started your project before asking for money, then you have nothing to offer anyone.

 

The Coleco Chameleon was doomed if it failed in any one of these categories. In reality, it failed in most of them.

[StopDrop&Retro]

Analog is in a completely different league than a random hardware startup with a 3D rendering.

 

They've already shipped two batches of the previous NT, and before that they sold batches of Neogeo MVS conversions.

 

If the gripe is about the price, at least it can't be said that you don't know what you're getting in the box.

 

Analog is in a different league, but it's not that difficult to rise above Mike Kennedy's business practices so that's hardly an accomplishment.

 

Analog did have a bit of trouble with their NT, they didn't go to Kickstarter but they were accused of running a "stealth Kickstarter" by taking preorders in May of last year with the assurance that they would deliver in the summer. But they didn't ship until much later in the year and when they did the HDMI units were still in development so they could only deliver the RGB ones.

 

But I agree with the overall point, good on them for not using Kickstarter and being very transparent about what you should expect to get (and delivering on that). I still can't justify their price but I might get an AVS later.

[jaybird3rd]

The AVS looks like a nice machine! RetroUSB also had some fun at Mike's expense with their "prototype" AVS shell filled with a pile of PC cards, which makes me want one even more.

Pat and Ian did a #CUPodcast segment on the AVS, and they mentioned that the power and reset buttons are NOS parts that were originally made for the NES, which is interesting.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wZ5JCwKrF8

[PlaysWithWolves]

The AVS looks like a nice machine! RetroUSB also had some fun at Mike's expense with their "prototype" AVS shell filled with a pile of PC cards, which makes me want one even more.

 

 

[Welshworrier]

I take it people know that kevtris has been involved in the fpga part of the analogue mini nt project. It was mentioned in the ars technica piece on it http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/the-500-nes-remake-gets-a-bit-smaller-and-more-affordable/where it gets a good write up.

[Cernex]

 

 

Ok, that's fucking hilarious. Now I want one too even without knowing what the hell it is, xD

 

That's one hilarious picture, with or without the comments.

[carlsson]

Godslabrat's list of points should be a mandatory check list for any project seeking crowdfunding. As the initiator, you even should be required to prove through documentation that you will match the demands to even get listed. I'm sure e.g. Kickstarter already has some regulations on which projects will be added, but it seems those need to be extended with a bit of a sanity check like that list.

[Schizophretard]

I take it people know that kevtris has been involved in the fpga part of the analogue mini nt project. It was mentioned in the ars technica piece on it http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/the-500-nes-remake-gets-a-bit-smaller-and-more-affordable/where it gets a good write up.

 

It is kind of funny that Mike was looking everywhere for something to put in the Jag shell while this was right under his nose under the bus the whole time:

 

[Newsdee]

It is kind of funny that Mike was looking everywhere for something to put in the Jag shell while this was right under his nose under the bus the whole time

If I remember Kevtris' reply in thread a while back, the problem was that they wanted something so pie-in-the-sky that it was extemely expensive to build. I can also imagine MK's other lieutenants not wanting a second experienced hardware guy onboard, or they would have to cut the pie in more pieces. Unfortunately for them the pie never landed.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Newsdee

[Schizophretard]

If I remember Kevtris' reply in thread a while back, the problem was that they wanted something so pie-in-the-sky that it was extemely expensive to build. I can also imagine MK's other lieutenants not wanting a second experienced hardware guy onboard, or they would have to cut the pie in more pieces. Unfortunately for them the pie never landed.

 

My understanding was that and also that for some things they wanted he knew how to do it but knew how to do it cheaper than they wanted to.

[Flojomojo]

Yeah, remember all the "built in USA" talk, and working with local (unnamed) suppliers? As if this were fresh fruit and vegetables, and not an attempt at mass-market electronics?

[random_dave]

Yeah, remember all the "built in USA" talk, and working with local (unnamed) suppliers? As if this were fresh fruit and vegetables, and not an attempt at mass-market electronics?

I love a good organic, gluten-free, artisanal gaming machine

[phoenixdownita]

I love a good organic, gluten-free, artisanal gaming machine

Now you are being sarcastic but the cardboard prototype was likely all of that (plus it was also recycled most likely, for the "green" in all of us) ..... not sure about how much "gaming" per se it was once you exclude the "place random electronics component here and there" kind of a game.