Re: TransWarpGS Clone Preorders open!

[IUnknown <stevementzer@gmail.com>]

On Dec 30 2012, 5:35 pm, Conrad <conrad.ru...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi FX,
>
> I don't have any photos, as the entire process has been done by my contractor overseas. There is no "prototype" perse, as what has taken place is my contractor has delaminated a working TWGS card and copied the layers one at a time to make a perfect duplicate. The boards are produced, packed up, and waiting to be shipped from them as soon as I pay the second half of the cloning and production costs (I paid half at the beginning of the process). I have used them for other projects in the past, and they gave me a good deal on this by producing these boards in batch with another contract. This is how I am able to offer 6-layer boards for a relatively low cost with a short time to market. I didn't think of asking for them to take pictures of the process as no one requested it before and I thought it might slow down the process. If you don't feel comfortable preordering sight-unseen then that is fine and you are welcome to wait for the regular sale to open. Sorry for any inconvenience this might have created for you, I hope it isn't a problem.
>
> Best regards,
> Conrad


Conrad,

I am very interested in purchasing one of these, as (working) TWGS
cards are extremely rare and/or expensive these days.

That being said, I am a bit skeptical about the process. While a
number of the original components were bog standard (back in the day),
some of the IC's on the original TWGS boards were custom logic.

Delaminating PCB's and copying traces is one thing - copying custom
logic circuitry is something entirely different.

What process has your contractor used to guarantee that the custom
glue/logic IC's are perfectly duplicated? I can't imagine that any
contractor would be able to reverse engineer and duplicate these chips
and still reach your $180 price point.

Any info you can provide would be helpful. I know you mentioned that
you don't have a working prototype, but you are going to need to
provide clear high-rez photos of the clone if you expect folks to
spend $180

Sorry if I am sounding harsh, but if the TWGS were this easy (and
cheap) to clone, someone would have done it already.