Is there a place other than here and the FB group where official information may be announced? I try to follow both and didn't think the FB group was any better.
I am not aware of any, which goes to my final point that not a lot of info is being presented anywhere at the moment. Just that on occasion David has answered a direct question, and it will be nice if that information can be shared here in a more or less official capacity (realizing we're only "official" admins and moderators of the forums and do not speak directly for the project; just that we can hopefully do a better job of mirroring information when it is available).
I see here a great community and demonstration of leadership with this management initiative. It was initially this site that attracted me to the CX16. Although facebook is a great tool for marketing purposes and analytics, it are forums like this that build the core competence and knowledge sharing.
Running a forum is a separate skill and requires indeed a good management team. It are the people behind the acronyms that make retro computing on the CX16 a living thing.
@Perifractic did a fantastic job with this site and it is very kind of him to fund yet another year of license and operation cost from his own pockets, and nice to see that other voluntary members will take over and not let it die (which I think is what would have happend otherwise as 8-Bit Productions LLC has zero interest in it).
This is the best 8-bit retro computer forum. Thanks for keeping it a live and giving it an extented future! ?
Sites like this offer features and functionality that just aren't possible / reasonable on sites like Facebook. Social media is all in the here and now. Sites like this have more permanence. If someone announces a game on the FB group, for instance, it will get focus for a little while and then fade into the past, whereas a thread about it is much more searchable and focused.
To me, the number 1 feature is the software area. Once a project is uploaded there, it remains visible and accessible where on FB it would quickly fade into the past as new posts push it out of view. I totally get why Dave et al would consider it an extra workload to have yet another inbox to check, and why they may not be interested in participating directly, but the site is very important to me and many others. Having team members who run the community is just as important as team members who crunch kernal code or test HW designs. In fact, this is the one job that will continue to exist once the HW and Kernal are finally done and "in production."
We now own the CommanderX16.com domain and the forum hosting. By "We", I mean I am the primary account holder, and responsibility will be shared between me, @JimmyDansbo and @Cyber.
The domain name actually expires in March, so before that, we will work out a donation system to allow everyone to contribute to the system's ongoing maintenance. We'll discuss the specific financial situation, too, and let everyone weigh in on the best course for the future.
The domain name actually expires in March, so before that, we will work out a donation system to allow everyone to contribute to the system's ongoing maintenance. We'll discuss the specific financial situation, too, and let everyone weigh in on the best course for the future.
Until then, have fun!
I am very happy for your commitment and will be glad to contribute! It is incredible that the community survives the long wait so well. ?
I'm somewhat frustrated with this whole deal, basically I've been on old for further youtube updates on this project as personally I'd be pretty interested in a fully working Phase 1 system and may I add, preferably in a DIY version (I have some special plans aside that this would help with in such a version).
So the lack of "live" updates and/or demonstrations of this are somewhat a big disapointment. I would honestly hoped you would have set up a shop with at least two versions of this device (the X16, no other mumbo jumbo) basically a DIY at a lower cost and a fully assembled version with added cost. I'm inclined to believe you could in fact almost double the fully assembled version cost with the clear notice that this would have to be hand-built on your end and as such would have to cost whatever you ended up deciding to be the cost, after all a minum half days work should be rewarded accordingly.
As such I'd be pretty much interested in having updates on the progress of this project and if/when would we have at least the mainboards available for purchase and it's respective BOM as well as firmware downloads together with instructions on how to get them going and what firmware upload tools may be needed (yes I'm looking at you FPGA).
On a second note, if you need someone in Europe(Ireland to be specific) to help with assembly and shipping locally I may be able to help, although not in large numbers (a few boards per week as I do have a full time job and a couple side projects). That said, it would be my pleasure and honor to help with such a bespoke project!
Also, I just noticed the issues with the domain and hosting.
I have a VPS running in Canada with a few IPs on it, I am willing to create an account on it which you can have your domain pointed at etc, you'll be able to have email addresses on this on top of the website.
Reach me directly over email if you need such a help with this, I'll be keeping the thing running one way or another, the cost impact for me is of no importance, keeping this thing alive on the other hand is important.
