[Coco] Fest Chat Response/SuperBoard Update (WARNING: LONG POST)

[Mark Marlette]

All,

While away this past weekend in Chicago at the fest, there was a chat 
log produced which contained references to the SuperBoard and 
Cloud-9. I would like to take this opportunity to address the 
contents of that chat log and update the people that were not at the 
fest about the status of the SuperBoard.

The chat log has been edited here only to show conversations that 
pertain to the subject at hand.

[START]
{1618} Roger Taylor Rodder, the SuperBoard was due 10 years ago. I 
truly don't think this will happen. Luckily I didn't make a $100 
deposit like so many people did.

{1619} curtisboyle Roger - it's a pretty big undertaking (the 
Superboard). I have seen partially working prototypes at Mark's 
house, but there is a lot of drivers, etc. that have to be done to 
get everything fully functional.

{1620} Roger Taylor Anytime I was late on delivering, I got hate 
e-mails, but I guess since they have delivered work-up-to products 
that people think they will eventually deliver, but I dunno fellas.

{1623} Sock Joelav - Existing 2M upgrades work just like the 512K 
upgrade. The only difference is the MMU bits aren't readable registers.

{1622} Roger Taylor One guy reported me to PayPal 3 days after he 
ordered something because I didn't reply to his e-mail quick enough. 
I retaliated agressively so much that 2 days later he withdrew the 
dispute and apologized. How Mark has deals with this is beyond me.

{1622} Nick The Superboard sounds great but it does noting for me 
that I need for game development. It also doesn't fit a PAL CoCo3.
[END]


I would first like to say that this past year was a year of improving 
processes and making tasks at Cloud-9 more efficient.  For example:

1. Boisy and I changed the way our internal sales are handled and 
tracked in our accounting process.  This saves us time and allows us 
to focus on our respective products.

2. Most all of the Cloud-9 products are now tested on an Automated 
Test Equipment (ATE) system. There are hundreds of hours of code 
written and debugged with hardware that allow me to rapidly test and 
find the manufacturing problems. I had seven SuperIDEs that I were 
dead, and I couldn't identify the source of the problem.  On just one 
of them, I spent over 8 hours of troubleshooting and still couldn't 
find the problem. This being a hobby, I can't afford to throw away 
almost $800 of product.  Now with the ATE software, it takes 3 
minutes and 45 seconds to run approximately 4000 tests across the 
SuperIDE with only 6 nets that I can't test or get access to. EVERY 
board has been repaired in under 5 minutes after it came off this 
test system. This is true for all of our other products as well. I 
had piles of bad boards, and the pile is now empty.

These several hundred hours of hardware/software development did cut 
into my free time which is spent on SuperBoard development.

I also suspended sales so that I could work on the SuperBoard. This 
allowed me to do the above. As with any business, sales are what 
sustains the life of the business. I had to restart sales after most 
all of the stock was replenished. I still can't keep up with the 
SuperIDE sales. I have another board run going out soon and this will 
then be the final chapter on it's process improvement. The hand-wired 
modifications that are added to the board take longer to incorporate 
than building the whole board itself!

As Curtis stated above, he has seen various prototype while at Lab 
North. Don't kid yourself: this project is complex (it ain't no DVD). 
We are changing the way the CoCo 3 operates in a fundamental way 
(VROM and booting for example) along with many other details that I 
don't want to explain at this moment. EVERY product (both software 
and hardware) that we have made has paved the way for the SuperBoard.

Nick mentioned that the SuperBoard doesn't fit in a PAL form. This is 
true, but it reflects the reality that virtually all SuperBoard 
customers will have NTSC motherboards.  I have several Australian 
customers who have placed a SuperBoard down payment, having made the 
switch to NTSC CoCo 3s and realize it for what it is and why.  I can 
develop a PAL board but with selling only a handful of units, 
everyone would bear the cost of the development and the SuperBoard 
has a high enough cost as it stands now. I cannot justify raising the 
price of the NTSC version for the few PAL orders I would get.

When you do this as long as we have, you will realize that you can't 
please everyone.  That said, our customer base is GREAT and have 
shown immense patience.  Now, am I happy that the board is not done? 
No, it bothers me greatly; nobody wants it done more than I.  (Well, 
there is one other person... Boisy.  Do we feel good about what 
changes we have made to make our free time more efficient? YES 
INDEED... WE ARE VERY HAPPY.

Last year at this time I was at the end of my rope, ready return the 
down payments and pull the plug on Cloud-9. Boisy basically told me 
we needed to either wrap this up or throw in the towel and do a mass 
refund.  I was exhausted... but today I feel good about the company 
and the state it is in.  Stock is up and orders are being filled in 
an efficient manner. The road is CLEAR to develop the 
SuperBoard.  Currently, I have 14 orders on the floor, and not a 
problem with any of them.

I will also admit that the SuperBoard is holding us back from doing 
other things with the CoCo. There are so many projects that the entry 
level research has been performed on.. items that the community wants 
and needs. Don't ask me what they are, just trust me when I say most 
of you will fall over to know what they are.

Boisy hasn't been sitting on his laurels either.  Working with Tim 
Lindner, they have added SuperBoard extensions to the MESS emulator 
so that he can develop drivers on virtual hardware. This was 
discussed at the fest this year as well. Now, this will take you only 
so far and Boisy is currently waiting to debug his code on real hardware.

So in short, is the SuperBoard not going to happen? I'll let you guys 
(sorry Mary) and the CoCo community decide.  After being in business 
for years and making every fest since our inception, I can promise 
you that we aren't leaving, we aren't going anywhere, were aren't 
selling our domain name and stock. We are committed to the CoCo, the 
machine that made Boisy and I what we are today.

As Boisy stated once: Now is truly the best time to own a CoCo.

Regards,

Mark
Cloud-9 
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