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jlanier

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About jlanier

  • Birthday 12/20/1967

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    Woodland Hills, CA

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  1. This could help. Unfortunately he uses bus notation for all the power rails in his schematics so it makes tracing definitive connections impossible; you have to look around for all the possible references and they're easy to miss. But I appreciate it for sure, thanks!
  2. If you have genuine Atari 1400 schematics, that would be great - I would love to get a copy of those.
  3. Yes to the first question; second question I can't answer yet. The unit definitely has a 1400 motherboard (rather than a 1450XL combo board), and as such has a 7-pin DIN instead of the 8-pin DIN used on the 1450XLD (less current draw meant the extra ground line wasn't necessary). Plugging an 800XL supply into this would leave the -5V line open or shunted to ground (depending on whether the shield line was open or not), and the 12V line would get 5V instead. Seems unlikely that would cause any damage, but I don't have schematics for the 1400 board so I'm only guessing. If anything, I'd think it would possibly stress the modem, since I'm guessing that's the only thing that actually needs the 12V/-5V. It will be some time before I have a chance to construct a proper power supply and test and repair the 1400XL, if necessary. If anyone's curious I can post the results but it will be awhile. Many moons will pass before I have time to get back to this...
  4. Wow - Eduardo emailed me an hour ago, asking for shipping address confirmation. Was beginning to think I'd really been forgotten, but it looks like he really might be near the end of the first run. Fingers crossed...
  5. You shouldn't assume XavierGames planned on selling the second unit. For example, I ordered 3 and intended to use all 3 of them; two were intended as gifts for people I know who are also into retro gaming. I too have no games and am concerned that by the time I get the units they will be pointless.
  6. Well, please allow me to clarify it for you then! The big deal, for me, is that I ordered 3 units in the first run in Sept. 2012, and on page 37 of this thread, on May 10, 2013, Eduardo personally said all SGMs from the first run would be shipped out by Monday, May 13, 2013. That was clearly a misstatement, because a few posts down he mentions that the nameplate issue was still not resolved, and he had no timeframe for resolving it. So when he said "I will be shipping all remaining SGMs this Monday" he could not have possibly meant that he was completing the first run because any of us who opted to wait for the final nameplate would not be getting theirs because the issue was still open. The end result was that I never received my units. Eduardo never communicated with me directly after that date, so I have no way of knowing if the units were shipped or not. If they got lost in shipping (which happens way more often than I like), I'd never know, because Eduardo won't return emails and won't confirm which units were shipped. The nameplate excuse has been used often to explain why those of us who remain without our units from the first run never got them, but that doesn't explain the existence of a second run or the Opcode eBay auctions. I can't believe we would be expected to wait another year or more just because of nameplates; at some point it wouldn't make any sense to keep those previously paid customers waiting. And if you were a perfectionist and wanted to get the labels perfect, would you really start a second run without resolving the label problem first, knowing full well you had outstanding prepaid orders that were unfulfilled? Does that really actually make sense to anyone? Regarding prepayment; that's perfectly OK for something like this. Eduardo could not have made a profit off of such a small production run; these units were basically sold at cost. In my mind this is sort of like a kickstarter situation; I was investing in the SGM in the hopes it would see the light of day. If the project failed and I lost my money, well - it's a lot of money but I'd actually not be bothered by that too much. The big deal - the part that hurts - is most of them DID ship, but I didn't get mine, and to make matters worse I have no way of figuring out why, or whether or not they were lost in shipping. It's like being invited to a party but then being given the wrong address. It's just not cool. It also puts other new customers off, which isn't good for Eduardo, or the future of the SGM. I hope Eduardo is OK - he's always been nice to me (back when he returned my emails) and I wish him well just like you do. But please don't post things like "this isn't a big deal" or "there's no problem here". There may not be a problem for you, and if so, well then good for you! But this is the Opcode forum and so it's the only place most of us will ever have a chance to get our issues resolved, so please have some consideration for those of us who are currently locked out of the SGM party.
  7. Like I said before, I don't mind the waiting, and I have a lot of patience, but when I miss out on buying the games than use the unit, that makes me unhappy. It's also a bit of a kick in the head to see a second run happen when the first one was never finished, and then to see more units up on eBay when the first and second runs were not finished. Any of those eBay units could have been used to fill the outstanding prepaid orders. If an eBay sale was necessary to raise funds, I would have backed it 100%, if only there had been some communication and feedback regarding the status of my orders. For all I know, Eduardo has lost my order and is ignoring my emails because he doesn't remember that I already sent him $270 back in 2012. I've tried emailing him many times with no response. I've done business with Opcode before the SGM and up until the SGM, I've always received my orders in what I would consider a reasonable amount of time. I don't think Eduardo would have shipped as many as he did if he wasn't serious about it, so I don't think this is a take-the-money-and-run situation. However, the long absence is at this point difficult to rationalize, and there are apparently enough people like myself who prepaid and didn't receive anything who would appreciate some response. It's also a bit alarming to see that some people who received their SGMs as they trickle out, had them show up unannounced, no tracking #, no shipping information. If Eduardo is not tracking these shipments and not telling anyone when they are mailed out, for all I know mine could have been sent a year ago and lost by UPS or USPS and I'd never know, because Eduardo won't reply to my emails and won't confirm whether or not my order was actually processed. This is made more alarming by earlier comments in the thread where it was implied that all the first-run orders had been shipped out. Clearly, they weren't, or if they were, they did not all make it to the recipients. Without communication from Opcode, it would be impossible at this point to claim insurance on any lost shipments this far gone. My main point here, is that communication is key. People need to know when their orders shipped, when to expect them, and they need to be trackable and insured. Without communication it is impossible to verify shipment or delivery. Like atarilovesyou said, people here are very forgiving and patient, and a little communication will go a long way towards reconciling any problems. Going dark is not good; it will really scare off future buyers which is why, like I said earlier, the future of the SGM is really at stake here even for those who received them already. If we want to see more games on the SGM, then we need to see regular communication from Opcode. I don't think that is asking too much; I'm not even asking for a firm date here, just a commitment to communicate and be responsible with shipping and tracking of some reasonably expensive items.
  8. Yes, prepayment was a requirement to preorder. I would assume everyone who was on the list prepaid just like I did. I'm in the same position kneehighspy is in: I haven't ordered any SGM games because if I never get the unit, what's the point? I'm also afraid that 1) if I don't get the units soon, there will not be any SGM games left to purchase to use with it, 2) the enthusiasts making SGM games are likely to stop making them since the market is not big enough to make more (not that it was ever big to start with). I know how hobbies like this go - I've been behind on my own personal projects due to life, work, etc. - and I don't mind the waiting, but I'm just afraid the whole SGM project is not going to end well if we don't hear from Eduardo soon.
  9. Eduardo, if you are out there, please reply! I'd really like to know if my order is still being processed; I still have not received any of my 3 SGMs I ordered from the first run in 2012. Please just drop me a line to let me know what's going on; any reply would be appreciated. I'm really sad because I haven't ordered any SGM games, I wanted to wait to make sure I had the unit before buying the games. Thanks.
  10. I prepaid for 3 SGMs in the first run on September 28, 2012. I have not received any of them; also I have not received any emails directly from Eduardo since his confirmation of my order on October 1, 2012. Did receive one more email from Opcode on April 18, 2013, asking if I wanted to wait for the final nameplate, to which I replied "yes", and another email from Opcode on December 21, 2013 announcing the special limited edition of the second run. No further replies from Opcode or Eduardo since then, either in email or in the forums. Eduardo, if you are out there, please reply! I'm willing to wait - I understand this is a hobby, I'd like to just make sure I'm still on the list and didn't get lost. Hope all is well.
  11. Hi Eduardo, welcome back! When you get a moment, could you please comment on the status of the nameplate and the plan for those of us who opted to wait for the final nameplate? Also if you could confirm my order, that would also be great, thanks!
  12. Well, thanks for the info, ColecoDan. It helps tremendously just knowing that people who were waiting for labels didn't get theirs, so I'm obviously not alone in this, and Eduardo probably has us on a separate list. That was not obvious from reading the thread, at least not to me - maybe I missed something. I had read most of it up until April but I've been in crunch mode for the last 6 months and haven't kept up with the thread. Looks like it just might be unlucky timing for me trying to communicate with Eduardo; if he's been gone that long he might not have caught up on email yet. I think I'm going to consider just buying some SGM games on faith since I don't want to miss out. I'd still like to see Eduardo show up again in this thread though, just for some confirmation. I also want to make sure I get in on the orders for the Opcode-brand SGM games that I'm interested in as well, and I don't think he's even started accepting pre-orders for those yet, right?
  13. OK, I just read from page 37 on, and none of my questions are answered. * I never got any emails from OpCode after the one asking about the nameplate. * As Eduardo asked back in April on this very thread, I sent emails to opcode indicating I had not received my SGMs. * Eduardo said he'd contacted everyone on the list since then, and anyone who had already ordered but not received an email should contact him again. I did. * As I said above, I sent 3 emails: one in April, one in June, and one in July. I got no response to any of them. * I see lots of talk about problems with labels, but this contradicts the statement that all first-run preorders had been mailed out. I was in the first run, and I did opt to wait for a label. So where does that put the status of my order? I saw nothing in the thread that answers my question here. * My name was NOT in the list of people Eduardo posted that he had not been able to contact. So either he thought he HAD been able to contact me, even though he didn't, or somehow I got dropped off the list. To be clear, I'm not upset, just concerned. Eduardo is a nice guy, I know he's busy (I've been in crunch mode myself the last 6 months), life happens, and if I have to wait longer so be it. It's just really scary to see phrases like 'all first-run orders have been mailed out' when you know you paid for 3 of them and you don't have any confirmation that your order has been processed. I'd ideally like to get a response from Eduardo but in case email is not working for whatever reason, I'm asking here in the forums because I know he will eventually read this thread, and I don't know of any other way to contact him. I've followed his instructions to the letter but I've never gotten any response after April so I don't know what else to do.
  14. Sorry if this has already been answered elsewhere - I don't have time to read this entire thread - but I have been trying for some time to contact Eduardo with no success. I had ordered 3 SGMs quite some time ago, and should have been part of the first run, yet I have not received any of them. I know I'm in the OpCode database because I got all the emails including the one asking if I wanted to wait for the nameplate or not (which I said yes, I did). After seeing here that they were released, I sent an email to Eduardo asking how long I'd have to wait to get all 3 with nameplates. I got no reply. I've previously communicated with Eduardo before with no problem, but recently I've emailed him in April, June, and July - basically once a month - and have still got no response. If I still have to wait for the nameplates, then I guess I will just have to deal with that, but I'm really nervous that I am not getting any replies anymore from Eduardo. Also, I've been holding off on buying any SGM games because without the hardware, what's the point? I feel like I'm missing the opportunity to buy some of the limited run SGM games because of this. Now there is talk of another run but I was supposed to be in the first run and never got my units, so I'd really like to know what's happening. My questions are: Does anyone who knows Eduardo know what is going on, if he's just unavailable, sick, out of the country, on vacation, etc.? Do any of you who were in run 1 who opted to wait for nameplates actually receive your SGM yet? Have any others from the first run still not received their SGM units or am I alone in this? Does anyone know when Eduardo is planning to finish shipping all of the units from the first run order (which I was definitely in, I ordered these in Oct 2012)? Eduardo, if you're reading this, did you get my emails, and can you please comment on the status of my order? Any info would be helpful. Thanks.
  15. They're not failures at all. They also bear almost no resemblance to a PC architecture, i.e. they are not open hardware platforms. Put another way: the more randomly configurable a console is, the less support developers are willing to give to all possible combinations of the hardware. Having locked down memory size, cpu, and graphics is a good thing for console development, not a bad thing. Expandable features historically do nothing to help the platform, and ultimately dilute it. Simple example: Sega CD+32x = fail. Great hardware, amusing to stack them up on top of each other, not appealing in the least from a developer's standpoint.
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