Dave, As I wrote to you after your presentation at the Italian QL meeting, I am very excited about your roadmap of products.
When I decided to dust off my QL 6 months ago after 25 years in the loft, it was really difficult and very expensive to source the necessary add-ons for my standard QL, for it to be of practical use in this age. The fact that you are producing a new batch of Aurora cards, have the backplane and embedded power supply available, and can provide Minerva is simply excellent for someone in my position that needs to catch up. As for your approach and rationale for SuperRAM -> UltimIDE -> UltraQ -> "QL2", it is thoroughly ambitious but it is also very well thought through as to how you are going to get there. In my humble opinion, this programme will future-proof QL interest for many years to come. If you have to make a priority decision then my vote would be to focus on the products that takes us forward and enhances the appeal of the QL. With that in mind, I think your grouping is about right and only you can decide where to draw the line. Kind regards, Kenn On 30 May 2014, at 20:14, Dave Park <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I have been struggling with some things here at Sandy recently, and I > decided I need to make some changes. > > One of the problems I have is that I have outlined a clear path of products > I know we can deliver over time, but I have also taken on a lot of side > projects. The side projects do take up a lot of my time, but they also are > consuming all the money. UltimIDE could have been produced twice as quickly > if I was sitting on the funds to do it, instead of spending those funds > also on many and varied side projects. > > Another aspect of this: > > I have very limited space, and about half of my space is taken up with side > projects. It has reached the point where I have no actual desk space to > prototype or test on any more. My wife has asked me to move the QL system > off the dining room table into my room and I just don't have the room to > move it in! > > Removing all these other projects would free up much needed space and give > me room to breathe and to be more organised with the remaining projects. > > For this reason, I am seriously considering slimming down operations to > focus entirely on just a limited few projects. All other projects could be > dropped, sold off at cost to recover the funds and pay to return samples > and etc. > > Here's what > could > stay: > Microdrive pads - until current batch runs out (I have just made a lifetime > batch of 10,000) > Minerva MK 1 > Aurora > SuperRAM, UltimIDE, UltraQ, "QL2" > Q-Regulator > > Here's what > would > get cut: > Gold Card battery replacements (I w > ould > sell off the remaining prototypes) > QL on a Disk (remaining stock w > ould > be sold off at lower prices) > "QL1.5" > Minerva MK II > ZX Printer belt > ZX80 case replacement > Software projects > > Here's what I > am > > un > decided on: > A backplane relevant to current case/PSU designs > Embedded p > ower supplies > - I have a batch. > > > I welcome feedback/discussion on the above. My mind isn't firmly made up. I > just think that I am not serving my customers very well and that I really > need to focus on only a few lines of products. Also, I do not like the > feeling of living paycheck to paycheck over the hardware projects because > of money being frittered away on side projects that don't add to the pool. > > What do you think? > > -- > Dave Park > Sandy Electronics, LLC > [email protected] > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
