Re: Carte Blanche arrives!

[joltenjoe <joltenjoe@gmail.com>]

On Sep 19, 12:23 pm, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The post office just dropped off two shiny, new Carte Blanche kits :-).
> Christmas in September!
>
> Thanks to Steve and Alex for all the work that went into these.  They look...
> gorgeous.
>
> In light of a very unpleasant experience earlier this summer (in a different
> classic computer domain), I am particularly impressed that they were
> professional enough not to request or accept pre-payments or to make any hard
> commitments on ship dates.
>
> Steve

I have been remiss in not saying that CB is simply amazing.  Yes, for
purists it isn't quite what they might want but let's face a few
facts.  1. There are very few new hardware vendors left and those that
are making anything aren't doing it purely for profit motive.  Most
are creating something out of a need they saw and wanted to fill.  Due
to economies of scale in reverse, they have to make very limited
production runs or very labor intensive custom builds. 2. The last few
vendors can't make a full living off our small group of fellow
enthusiasts left.  3. It is getting harder and more expensive to find
some devices plus those capacitors are getting really old.

 I personally don't have the electronic skills to dream up these new
projects and am thankful that there are some EE's left who still do.
I don't view Alex and Steve as pure capitalist pigs who are only in it
for the cash.  They have created something only a few can or want to.
I don't think this project was created to be the next get rich
device.  They are providing all of us a new way to work with our old
machines.  The development and implementation have been first class
and very open.  Also, when the platform first started we all worked
with very local groups.  The new world is global with everyone working
with people in all corners of the world.  I am in the US but have
talked to Apple II users in Europe (Germany, France, Bulgaria), the
UK, Australia, Canada and many other places I am ignorantly not
listing.

Thanks to the efforts or a few talented dire hard hobbyists we have
some simply amazing new hardware for a 30 year old platform.  I also
find it interesting that the very genesis of creating the Apple II is
continuing on by the exact type of people who started the whole
revolution of personal computing.  As time goes on, there are less and
less platforms that can accommodate the pure hobbyist.  Gone are the
days of awaiting that new Nibble issue for the program listings to
type in.  Even automobiles have gone beyond the days when a few
wrenches and some elbow grease were all it took to rebuild an engine.
I don't even try doing much work on my auto because there are too many
complicated systems in place.

 The CB is a little like a controlled environment where new and
unthought of hardware projects can be made by those without hardware
skills.  If nothing else,  my ROM 3 GS can now easily display 80
column text on an LCD monitor.   There aren't many options for adding
VGA video to a IIGS.

Thank you to Alex and Steve for all the hard work.