Keatah Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 From a business sense it could be better for Dreher to sell exclusively through auctions on ebay. These boards have consistently pulled in $260-$320 on average every single time. Last sales were: 336 357 331 280 255 248 ..and if he switched to ebay it wouldn't affect the amount he sells. It might change the demographics somewhat. But then all "Apple" is high price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimakis Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Again, it really depends. Cards on eBay go for a lot now, because the supply is incredibly limited. What happens when you put 300 of them on eBay? Once the 50 or so people who are willing to pay $300 get theirs, it'll go down to $250, then $200, $150. And since eBay auctions don't last forever, you might end up with some going for less than $150. He would have to put a minimum price of $160 and then very very slowly release the cards. If all of them go on eBay at once, there's no way that they will be selling at $300 a piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimakis Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Again, it really depends. Cards on eBay go for a lot now, because the supply is incredibly limited. What happens when you put 300 of them on eBay? Once the 50 or so people who are willing to pay $300 get theirs, it'll go down to $250, then $200, $150. And since eBay auctions don't last forever, you might end up with some going for less than $150. He would have to put a minimum price of $160 and then very very slowly release the cards. If all of them go on eBay at once, there's no way that they will be selling at $300 a piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Just release them on an irregular schedule, you never know, this could be the last card. Better bid now. Heh.. Maybe. Maybe not.. But yes it could take a long time In any case, these cards are underpriced. I wonder if the first run cards have any collector value? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 I put myself on his list for interest in the next run even though I own one already. I got lucky and scored one for much less than the ebay prices (around $30 more than the actual cost) and I have to say that this at least for me is a MUST HAVE card. I parted with my floppy drives and use it exclusively. This is one fine device. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 I wonder what improvements could/should be done? The current design has been around for a long time now. And surely technology and development tools would enable new features and capabilities? Yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 << SNIP >> Only funny thing I have to add is that the last 3 (not the original ones I listed in my post) that have been sold on eBay were all sold by Richard Dreher the designer and guy that runs the page that makes/sells/distributes them. I Hope what is happening is that a new run is coming up and he is just selling off the left overs (that he keeps for warranty work) to fund the next round of boards. All of those also sold for more than 300$. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=cffa%203000%20apple&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684 WOW!! "What the Market will Bear....." MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I wonder what improvements could/should be done? The current design has been around for a long time now. And surely technology and development tools would enable new features and capabilities? Yes? The hardware is rock solid and the dual CF and USB interfaces are great. I think if any improvements need to be done is to improve compatibility with software. It is quite compatible now but I have run into hiccups. Lemmings running at abnormally slow speed, joystick not functioning in the one TDII image I could find that actually works with it..etc. But on the flip side a lot of stuff works great. I played Arkanoid I and II, crystla quest and zany golf with my daughter tonight and had a blast. When I spoke with Richard he admitted that not a whole lot of testing had been done on various games as it is really only him and one other guy. Not many people bug reporting and probably because not many people have one or are giving it the run I am They need to get into more hands, bug reports need to happen, issues need to be resolved and firmware needs to be updated. More documentation, user tips and FAQs are needed as well. When I received mine it had an old firmware that couldn't enter directories. When I downloaded the update it would just cycle and would not let the firmware update. I took a chance and moved a jumper on the board and it updated "blindly" (I couldn't see it happening). It worked and I reported it to him...I was the first person to do so. That tells me many people that own them aren't using them to their full potential. I would have imagined someone else running into that issue (first or second run...pre-firmware 3.1) and maybe they did and didn't report it...or maybe they never updated it at all. But it is undocumented stuff like this that needs to be documented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 I think there should be SD or MicroSD support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 They never got DMA working did they? That would be an obvious improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) I think there should be SD or MicroSD support. That I don't care about as much. CF can be used (or not) as well as USB. I use USB almost exclusively. While I do have a smallish CF installed (160GB with some stuff on it) I run a USB extension cable out of the machine and can swap USB drives on the fly. USB is the way to go imho for these devices. Cheap, sturdy, and just works. If the port on my extension cable ever breaks it is an extension cable that can be replaced. SD slots are sort of versatile I guess, but I *hate* microSD slots. I have had many of those break (mostly the spring load type) or be broken from the get go. I think about endurance when it comes to these devices a lot. USB is by far the most durable. My USB drive is an old 1GB memorex with a light. More than enough space and I can see drive access Edited March 28, 2017 by eightbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 I use USB almost exclusively. I run a USB extension cable out of the machine and can swap USB drives on the fly. USB is the way to go imho for these devices. Cheap, sturdy, and just works. If the port on my extension cable ever breaks it is an extension cable that can be replaced. I do too. And I use plenty of USB storage on many devices and PC's. I just like the look of a Pelican wallet full of SD cards. They never got DMA working did they? That would be an obvious improvement. I don't believe so. If they did I don't know about it. I have the first iteration of the CFFA from 14+ years ago. And of course this run. I would like to see a redesign of the card. Not that anything is wrong with what we have now or anything. But, you know, natural evolution, bug reports, feature requests, technological changes. A refresh incorporating all that is good about the previous models and new features of today would be a good thing. With an installed user base of thousands of these cards; someone is bound to have come up with novel suggestions. New thoughts. New ideas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimakis Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I wonder if there is a way to support both smartport and floppy emulation on the same slot? Like whenever a program goes to access the disk, it halt the current operation and injects it's own code in that prompts the selection of either Floppy or Smartport, you select, then it resumes the disk access. This feature would only work if you assigned smartport and floppy to the same logical slot. Just an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 FWIW, I thought the CFFA 3000 was supposedly designed so that DMA could be used in the future.It would need a new driver and probably an update to the CPLD, but it has the connections to the buss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamgroot Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I have the first iteration of the CFFA from 14+ years ago. And of course this run. I would like to see a redesign of the card. Not that anything is wrong with what we have now or anything. But, you know, natural evolution, bug reports, feature requests, technological changes. Then you would want the 2nd revision of that first card. I was able to do quite a bit with it. It had some tweaks as well as a way better firmware. I was able to tap into the firmware so I could access 256x 32Mb volumes all in the same slot. This makes an 8 Gb CFFA card. Although, this was only accessible through Prodos 8, and only the first 4 partitions were accessible on GSOS. By using IIGS code and used on a IIGS, I was able to max the Reads/Writes to 512 kb Read and 256 kb write. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 (edited) I'll have to check and see what version my "first run" card is.. Meantime, there's a standard Cffa3000 going for more than $450 USD shipped! 1 hour left. http://www.ebay.com/itm/R-D-Automation-CCFA3000-hard-disk-floppy-drive-emulator-Apple-II-IIe-IIgs-/262922477760 ..no docs, no accessory switch board, no CD. I'm inclined to believe the high price is because of the functionality it offers rather than anything "collector" related. Anyways, with an hour to go there has been a lull in incoming bids. The bidders have finally learned (never fails to go this far) that all they're doing is raising the final price through a biding war. One of them, or an outsider, will swoop in and snipe it. This is more fun than watching football! Edited April 10, 2017 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Datasheets for the main parts: Cffa 3000 datasheets.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibus Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Looks like Run #5 is on for November this year... (page updated 5/5) http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php And for those that can't wait - a new one is on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-CFFA3000-with-Remote-for-Apple-IIe-and-IIgs-/132183792043 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 Yes CFFA is coming to town! Everybody go on ebay and get your CFFA cards! Most compatible sizes can be had for $5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimakis Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Looks like the pricing will be as usual. Thank goodness. Looking forward to finally getting my hands on one. Last time it took me months to make up my mind and when I finally decided to get it, they had sold out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibus Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Looks like the pricing will be as usual. Thank goodness. Yep - I saw that and decided I was patient enough to wait - as opposed to the 100% markup of that auction. Someone else wasn't though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Looks like the pricing will be as usual. Thank goodness. Looking forward to finally getting my hands on one. Last time it took me months to make up my mind and when I finally decided to get it, they had sold out. Yep - I saw that and decided I was patient enough to wait - as opposed to the 100% markup of that auction. Someone else wasn't though So did you two ditherers actually get one now that the very last run is available, or will you be waiting until they are gone forever and your only option is eBay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimakis Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 So did you two ditherers actually get one now that the very last run is available, or will you be waiting until they are gone forever and your only option is eBay? As a matter of fact, I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 As a matter of fact, I did. Very good. I approve. Did you get the Limited Edition with gold traces and cosmic ray deflecting red PCB, or the disposable economy model with common green pcb and rapidly corroding tin traces? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Very good. I approve. Did you get the Limited Edition with gold traces and cosmic ray deflecting red PCB, or the disposable economy model with common green pcb and rapidly corroding tin traces? I guess there was an Advantage to waiting until the Last Run... You get the Option of a Limited Edition PCB... MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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