Tecnobytes V9990 New Batch

[HigashiJun]

I will be not surprised they can't source the VDP.

No worries then and I would completely understand.

But the fact is they seem to ignore e-mails from us and I personally do not like that kind of bad faith.

It would be really easier to say: "Ok guys, we cannot do it and we refund you right now !".

[XeNoMoRPH]

I bought a V9990 light MSX version at tecnobytes, I have relived the dates and this is how long it took since I sent the order email:

mail with order sended:  05-05-2020
V9990 Light MSX received: 13-07-2020

but of course, I suppose that it is not the same to manufacture one than 30 units.

[HigashiJun]

I bought a V9990 light MSX version at tecnobytes, I have relived the dates and this is how long it took since I sent the order email:

mail with order sended:  05-05-2020
V9990 Light MSX received: 13-07-2020

but of course, I suppose that it is not the same to manufacture one than 30 units.

And under worldwide chip shortage due to COVID-19...

[TotO]

And under worldwide chip shortage due to COVID-19...

That is not related. The V9990 is obsolete since 20 years ago now. All the expansions was based upon old stock.

[pelrun]

Which would be fine if the board only had a V9990 on it, but they have to get *other* parts too. Good luck finding an Altera CPLD in the right package for a reasonable price...

[TotO]

Definitively, the main problem is to source obsolete IC, not modern one that can be replaced by updating the design if required... Or just wait for the availability. In any case, it is easy to answer to peoples waiting since...

[craem]

I have sent an email and have not received an answer. does anyone have news?

[HigashiJun]

I have sent an email and have not received an answer. does anyone have news?

I guess the answer is 'no'...

[franck2]

I have sent an email and have not received an answer. does anyone have news?

I have sent an email on july 6th and they answer me quickly :
"We apologize for the delay in response, we are having problems purchasing the Yamaha chip (V9990) main chip on the board"

[megatronuk]

Oh dear. They commenced the start of a new batch  without having a ready stock of V9990s?

[HigashiJun]

Oh dear. They commenced the start of a new batch  without having a ready stock of V9990s?

[zhulien]

That is the norm I guess with small volume hardwares.  I have faith in them...

[TotO]

When the material to be produced depends on rare/obsolete circuits, the first thing to do is to secure them. Even before opening (pre)orders, to avoid long delays, anticipate price increases and above all not to cancel the project.

Examples of projects and components that I bought to start:
- X-MASS = 100x IDE Disk On Module
- PlayCity = 200x soundchips
- Play2CPC = 300x soundchips

It is not serious to offer an extension based on V9990 when it has close to no stock to manufacture them since 2019.

Of course, no one can know if a very common component (cpld, fpga, ram, flash, ..) is delayed with the current international situation. But in this case, it only requires redesigning the PCB or waiting some weeks for a restock.

[megatronuk]

When the material to be produced depends on rare/obsolete circuits, the first thing to do is to secure them. Even before opening (pre)orders, to avoid long delays, anticipate price increases and above all not to cancel the project.

Examples of projects and components that I bought to start:
- X-MASS = 100x IDE Disk On Module
- PlayCity = 200x soundchips
- Play2CPC = 300x soundchips

It is not serious to offer an extension based on V9990 when it has close to no stock to manufacture them since 2019.

Of course, no one can know if a very common component (cpld, fpga, ram, flash, ..) is delayed with the current international situation. But in this case, it only requires redesigning the PCB or waiting some weeks for a restock.

I agree, it is one thing to unexpectedly not be able to source a modern, off-the-shelf component... But to presumably spin up an entire production run of boards and supporting material without knowing whether you have a supply of an out of production part? That doesn't seem sensible.

I do wonder what is going to happen to all our money now? I would have thought production of a low volume product like this to take several months if all the parts were available... To find out so many months later that a fundamental component could not be sourced??? 

[GUNHED]

Right guys! For the CPC it would be probably way more easy to get an old VGA card. Who to connect it? Use CPCISA project. Still more realistic.

To be constructive: Everybody on the waiting list can help to search the desired chip in the net and then give to information to the V9990 producers. Help them - help yourself.   

[HigashiJun]

Right guys! For the CPC it would be probably way more easy to get an old VGA card. Who to connect it? Use CPCISA project. Still more realistic.

To be constructive: Everybody on the waiting list can help to search the desired chip in the net and then give to information to the V9990 producers. Help them - help yourself. 

That is what I was thinking, but sourcing V9990 is not that simple. I checked all resellers I could here in Japan and the last chip I saw was sold in 2020...

[HigashiJun]

When the material to be produced depends on rare/obsolete circuits, the first thing to do is to secure them. Even before opening (pre)orders, to avoid long delays, anticipate price increases and above all not to cancel the project.

Examples of projects and components that I bought to start:
- X-MASS = 100x IDE Disk On Module
- PlayCity = 200x soundchips
- Play2CPC = 300x soundchips

It is not serious to offer an extension based on V9990 when it has close to no stock to manufacture them since 2019.

Of course, no one can know if a very common component (cpld, fpga, ram, flash, ..) is delayed with the current international situation. But in this case, it only requires redesigning the PCB or waiting some weeks for a restock.

I agree, it is one thing to unexpectedly not be able to source a modern, off-the-shelf component... But to presumably spin up an entire production run of boards and supporting material without knowing whether you have a supply of an out of production part? That doesn't seem sensible.

I do wonder what is going to happen to all our money now? I would have thought production of a low volume product like this to take several months if all the parts were available... To find out so many months later that a fundamental component could not be sourced???

Tecnobytes seems still reliable to me, but I do agree they screwed the pooch in this case.

[pelrun]

Don't treat them too harshly; they weren't planning to do another run but were pushed to do so by us. It's not really fair to expect them to be able to fulfill the order in the same timeframe as if the parts were readily available. Literally all they can do is wait indefinitely until they can find enough chips.

[HigashiJun]

Don't treat them too harshly; they weren't planning to do another run but were pushed to do so by us. It's not really fair to expect them to be able to fulfill the order in the same timeframe as if the parts were readily available. Literally all they can do is wait indefinitely until they can find enough chips.

Yes , you're right.

But they could have told that the delivery forecast would be longer than 2 months and half.

[TotO]

I have nothing against Technobytes. As already said, I sold them 4x V9990 to allow to finish some MSX extensions (I have two left) in the past. I understand that was a request from guys here for a CPC batch and they've probably been trying to source the IC ever since. I have tried many places to get them for you since months without success.

[JayBlood]

@zhulien: In this case, can you contact Technobytes for a money refund for me? 

[Skunkfish]

I'm just really confused... They need to get 30 orders for a batch and then they don't have any IC's to fulfil them?

My first thought when I saw this thread was 'Wow, they've managed to source some more V9990's from somewhere'.

Sadly not....

If people drop out now and the number drops below their threshold, I guess the boards will never get made at all?

[megatronuk]

It's clearly not going to happen now, what with the difficulty that others have mentioned in terms of sourcing their own v9990 parts.

I still am amazed that they took the money without having a ready source of the chips on hand. Not being able to get the relevant FPGAs and other supporting parts like the ram I get - we are still only slowly coming out of the other side of all this chaos. But they should have known that if they didn't already have the v9990s, then it was unlikely that several new trays of them were going to mysteriously appear on the market.

Not one email to any buyers either. At least tell us and give the option of waiting indefinitely, or money back.

[Prodatron]

Maybe this guy grabbed all the remaining V9990 chips?

https://twitter.com/rafamsx/status/1532120163952254977

[TotO]

Some MSX peoples have probably old stock at home, bought years ago.
I can imagine the picture largest if he own more than 12 or 16 IC.

EDIT: Sadly, it is just one more reference design project for MSX.