Hi,
good news: The new SYMBiFACE II batch is finished, and it's new "firmware" is also working now! This time, the whole process took a little bit longer as originally planned, but now it's done :)
Price for one card is 120€ + shipping
Everyone who is interested, please write me directly to
jmika [a t] prodatron [d o t] net
CU,
Prodatron
Hallo Jörn!
Could you tell us what features does the new firmware have?
And, it's possible to update an older Symbiface II board to the new firmware?
Not that my board doesn't work just dandy, but the more juice we can get, the better! ;)
Hi Robcfg,
sorry, please don't mix it up :) Of course the functions and features of the new batch stay exactly the same. There are no differences to the old cards.
It was necessary to modify internal stuff a little bit, as some of the chips had to be replaced with more actual ones (the old ones aren't available anymore - but the new ones also don't do anything more then the old ones).
That was the reason for the delay.
CU,
Prodatron
It's a great news. Sure, I'm interested. ;)
How much will these devices be selling for? I'm rather tempted if I can lay my hands on enough cash, to put it another way, if the price is right I will take one! :D
Sorry for not mentioning the price before. It's still the same as usual: 120€ + shipping
CU,
Prodatron
Cool ! ;D I'll take one!!!
Short question - was the RTC changed in the new board? IIRC, the one that's used will run out of batter in a few years' time and there's no way to replace it...? So it kind of becomes useless after that period.
Quote from: Gryzor on 15:30, 11 December 12
Short question - was the RTC changed in the new board? IIRC, the one that's used will run out of batter in a few years' time and there's no way to replace it...? So it kind of becomes useless after that period.
The RTC is still the same Dallas chip with integrated batterie. This chip is socketed, so if the batterie will ever be empty, you can replace the whole chip in a very simple way.
The batterie with the blue frame, which you can see on the board, is responsible for the ROMs. Dr.Zed calculated, that it would suffice for more than 10 years. So even the very first SF2 cards from 2006 would have working ROMs until 2016 or longer. If it will ever be empty (in the far future ;) ), you have to un-solder the batterie and replace it with another one.
We were discussing this, when the new batch was planned at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to make changes to the layout (e.g. for the batterie) without re-creating the whole board.
CU,
Prodatron
Hi Prodatron. I take one too. I'll send you an email. Thanks!
Oh, I didn't realise the RTC is socketed. Do you have any in stock?
But why solder the other battery instead of placing a battery socket?
The battery socket has a different footprint than the soldered battery, so they would have had to re-do the entire layout to make that change.
Bryce.
Nah, I meant why not do it socketed from the beginning... soldering batteries sounds a bit strange.
Soldering in the battery was standard practice back then. Most PCs and as most of us here know, many Amigas had the battery soldered in too.
Bryce.
Huh? :D But we're talking about the SF here, not the CPC!
Well its already 8 years ago when this project started ;D
CU,
Prodatron
No battery sockets in 2004? :D
I mean that its senseless to discuss it after 8 years
A new batch is being made; people are buying it. I'd say it makes quite a bit of sense to discuss it ;)
Quote from: Prodatron on 20:10, 11 December 12We were discussing this, when the new batch was planned at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to make changes to the layout (e.g. for the batterie) without re-creating the whole board.
Quote from: Bryce on 12:06, 14 December 12The battery socket has a different footprint than the soldered battery, so they would have had to re-do the entire layout to make that change.
Quote from: Gryzor on 12:08, 14 December 12Nah, I meant why not do it socketed from the beginning...
Quote from: Gryzor on 12:54, 14 December 12A new batch is being made; people are buying it. I'd say it makes quite a bit of sense to discuss it ;)
I don't get your point. Bryce and I described the problem quite well I think. Do you want to discuss it for a successor of the SF2 or what is your intention?
Quote from: ProdatronI don't get your point. Bryce and I described the problem quite well I think. Do you want to discuss it for a successor of the SF2 or what is your intention?
You know how people sometimes talk about stuff that can't be changed any more, just because they're interesting and all? Like, "Why didn't Sugar put a 3.5" drive in the CPC"?
Same here: "why did they go with a soldered battery in the first place?"... the more so since this is a project alive and well! Bryce didn't describe the problem, he was referring to something else, as far as I understand.
Ok, I got it! ;D
If there will ever be a successor of the SF2 we will use a easy-to-replace battery ;)
So the SFIII is alive?
There is this working SF3-prototype from 2008, which is plugged on top of the SF2.
But I don't know if Dr.Zed will make a batch, as there was still some work left making it ready for serial production.
These look great, and I'm very tempted to buy one, but I don't know when I'll be able to; do you think they'll be available for a good amount of time still?
That's really difficult to say. Currently they sell quite quick. If it would go on like this, they are out of stock in two weeks, but of course it will slow down now, I guess.
It depends on the amount of time I think...
CU,
Prodatron
Today I switched to another harddisc. It was amusing to read these numbers:
(http://www.symbos.de/files/symbos-100gb.jpg)
I remember when I bought my first 1GB harddisc for my PC in the mid-90ies. Everyone told me, that this size is just stupid crazy.
Now it's really funny to have 100GB on my 8bit CPC :D ...
It's not my project, so I don't really want to get involved here, but I'd like to give my hardware opinion on the SF2 second batch so that others understand what's involved in designing and producing something like this.
The current batch seems to be a re-run of the SF2, so obviously it will be 99.9% identical to the old batch. As soon as you make any change to a layout or schematic, you can more or less start from scratch regarding checking, testing, prototypes etc. So I can fully understand that the guys are reluctant to make any changes. If they do decide to make an SF3, then anything's possible, and there are quite a few things that would make more sense today due to new technology (and associated costs) that weren't possible back then. But don't expect the guys to suddenly make changes to a design to make it fit todays expectations. That just isn't realistic.
Bryce.
.
@Bryce: Thanks for the explanation! You are more into this than myself (I am only the programmer, I can only dream about great hardware, but others have to create it like you or Dr.Zed ;) ).
@Phi2x: The other funny thing is, even a FAT32 100GB partition doesn't slow down anything. For such a simple (compared to modern) filesystem it's quite well organized. Unfortunately all this space currently can only be used for very LONG videos. But this was also only something like a demo, to show that it's possible on the CPC :)
CU,
Prodatron
Videos, ... Snapshots... Music files.... and I guess more :)
symbiface 2 ordered
Me too (a while ago). Can't wait to get mine. And I'm really glad, that the new SF2 batch was not changed! (There were some discussions...). It's still the most comprehensive expansion card for the CPC. And from a software side point of view it's good if a computer has a kind of 'standard expansion card'. Saves coding time ;-)
what is the best power supply to run it ?
Quote from: Prodatron on 20:26, 14 December 12switched to another harddisc. It was amusing to read these numbers:
I remember when I bought my first 1GB harddisc for my PC in the mid-90ies. Everyone told me, that this size is just stupid crazy.
Just like "640k ought to be enough for everybody" when Yarek sells 4M RAMs even for 8-bits.
QuoteNow it's really funny to have 100GB on my 8bit CPC :D ...
So now you know what Depeche Mode meant by "Everything counts on larger mounts" released just before the 464. :D (To quote a tape ad from the era, "I think that's about what they say, but I need to hear it on a TDK.")