VisorCentral.com - FlashAdapter CF Springboard instructions online!

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- FlashAdapter CF Springboard instructions online! (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=8399)

Posted by dkessler on 10-02-2000 05:08 PM:

I appologize in advance if this little bit of self promotion offends anyone.

As I've mentioned in some of the threads on this board before, I've been working on the design of a CompactFlash adapter Springboard module that would be simple enough that virtually anyone could build one themselves for under $25.

My company (Kopsis, Inc.) has finally posted the details of the design on the web. The article includes all the information you need to be able to build this Springboard module yourself. And for those of you who hyperventilate at the very thought of building your own hardware, here's a photo that shows how simple this really is

Go to http://kopsisengineering.netfirms.com/flashadapter.html for all the details.

I'm turning the VisorCentral community loose on this first Feel free to post questions/comments here and I'll do what I can to field them.

[Edited by dkessler on 10-02-2000 at 12:11 PM]

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by airship on 10-02-2000 06:21 PM:

The obvious response to this is:
When will you be offering pre-built models complete with software and a warranty?

Posted by dkessler on 10-02-2000 06:48 PM:

Unfortunately Kopsis, Inc. is an engineering consulting business and there is no way we could produce these at anything even resembling a reasonable price. We would very much like to form a partnership with a company that is better suited to this kind of work, but until then you're pretty much on your own.

Kopsis has produced several working modules in the course of developing this design and we may decide to sell them through the VisorCentral classifieds or Ebay in the near future. They would come with software but no warranty (other than guaranteed not to be DOA).

You are strongly encouraged to try building one of these modules yourself as it is a highly rewarding (and much more cost effective) experience. But if you must have one and money is no object, you may be able to contract Kopsis, Inc. to produce one for you. Keep in mind that the fee for such a contract will depend on our current workload and your need date and is likely to be at least $100. Email [email protected] for more info.

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by Winchell on 10-02-2000 06:52 PM:

I can only speak for myself, but I think that Mr. DKessler deserves a standing ovation from the Visor community for public service above and beyond the call of duty.

__________________
<pre> ^ /_\ WINCHELL CHUNG Nyrath the nearly wise at the Praeternatural Tower <(*)> [email protected] http://www.ProjectRho.com/home.html /_/|\_\ ABSIT INVIDIA VERBO IDEM SONANS //|\\ ------------------------------------------------------------------- SURREAL SAGE SEZ: I'm nobody. Nobody at all. But the secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves to nobodies who care. </pre>

Posted by argent on 10-02-2000 06:55 PM:

quote:
Once upon a time, the World Wide Web was about delivering content. It was the task of the web browser on the client to format the pages
in a way that made sense for the client system....

Bravo!

You will let us know when you get this all sorted out with a distributor and everything. I'm sure someone could fit everything, including the flash ROM with the CF apps, in a small enough module that nothing stuck out of the Visor.

__________________
Rev. Peter da Silva, ULC 
<a href=http://www.taronga.com/~peter/>Ar rug t� barr�g ar do mhact�re inniu?</a>

Posted by dkessler on 10-02-2000 07:20 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Winchell
I can only speak for myself, but I think that Mr. DKessler deserves a standing ovation from the Visor community for public service above and beyond the call of duty.

Thanks, but before you start pinning that "humanitarian" label on me, don't forget that I'm hoping a bunch of folks will build these things so that I can sell some apps for them

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by Bane on 10-02-2000 08:44 PM:

Saint maybe-not but still cool.

There are no laws or rules that say humanitarians cant make a buck. Even the Popes gotta eat. I have got to say that this is an interesting distribution model. Like distributing blueprints for a playstation to sell games. Well maybe that analogy is a little off but still .... however the catch is that it is something that visorcentral and visor owners have wanted for a while so there is a definite niche. The bonus of course is that wingnut hardware hackers like me will have something ready to try out your software on by the time you have the software ready. You could not have designed this simpler. I have all but the plastic casing already. Maybe if somemore people are interested in going in on some springboard cases we could simplify things even more.

Posted by MIKE STH on 10-02-2000 09:38 PM:

*sigh* If I didn't have 10 thumbs, I could make one of these with your excellent instruction.

Bane has a good idea about going in on the cases.

DKESSLER, thanks again...Heck of a good idea and gotta hand it to you about the marketing, great idea!

__________________
"Stupid Handspring."

Posted by MPM on 10-02-2000 09:53 PM:

Way to go!

Way to go Dave!

I've already got all the parts for this project except the CF card itself. Good idea in the instructions for buying a small 4B or 8MB carf off of eBay for testing. I'll start looking tonight.

Now I just need the time to assemble it!

Can't wait for the FAFileMover software.

Posted by dkessler on 10-02-2000 10:05 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by MIKE STH
...gotta hand it to you about the marketing, great idea!

Credit where credit is due .. it was King Gillette who history remembers for the "give away the razor - sell the blades" idea. I'm just taking the next logical step by teaching folks to make the razor themselves

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by MarkEagle on 10-02-2000 11:14 PM:

Cheers and Jeers, dk... (I hope TV Guide isn't listening )

Cheers to the design and detailed instructions. Gonna start my own tonight!

Jeers to making me tolerate that darn punch the monkey!!! I thought when VisorCentral got rid of the original banner ads, I'd seen the last of him! But, alas, he's like a bad penny: always turns up.

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

Posted by Visorholic on 10-02-2000 11:59 PM:

I am utterly shocked. This is exactly what I have been wanting. This is perfect timing. I've been looking for a memory upgrade for my Visor and this is the perfect solution. Not only that, but I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron and I've got a compact to PC card adapter waiting to be broken open.

Thanks for the hard work on this one. At least in my view, this could possible be the best Visor springboard yet.

The only thing I can't believe is that no one else is making this commercially. I mean, its 2 wires!!! Not to mention that if someone did this commercialy they could print their own boards and produce these things for practically nothing(plus it wouldn't stick out the top much if they made their own boards). I hope someone buys your software and starts mass producing these things.

Thanks for the hard work, you've made my day.

-Visorholic

Posted by miradu on 10-03-2000 12:30 AM:

Very Cool!

Thank you so much for doing this.. FOR FREE!! ( well not excatly but you get my point). I can't wait to get my hands on the parts.. I hope Ebay parts has enough to supply the demand! Icouldn't find many flash cards, or any PCMCIA to flash, by the e-- something company.. I do have one worry. How can Ibe assured that this will always remain online? What if one of your OEMS pressures you t otake it down? Or what about if you get bought out. Great Job though, easy instructions that anyone can follow. I hope that VC will build one and review it, and even better post your How-To directly on their site.. so it's forever accesible! .. back to homework

-miradu2000
The visor is finally what it should be

Posted by dkessler on 10-03-2000 01:17 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by miradu2000
I hope Ebay parts has enough to supply the demand! Icouldn't find many flash cards, or any PCMCIA to flash, by the e-- something company..

CF cards are usually abundant, though the large capacity cards do outnumber the small cards. However they list in a lot of different categories so you need to do a system wide search to dig them all up. The auction titles usually contain "CF", "Compact Flash", or "CompactFlash". The Dane-Elec PCMCIA cards are usually not listed by brand (since dealers want to be able to ship whatever they can get the best deal on at any given time). Read the fine print on the ads and if the vendor doesn't commit to a particular brand, drop them an email and ask if they have what you want. One of the reasons for releasing the hardware design a month ahead of when the real apps are expected is to give people plenty of time to scrounge parts and build the module

quote:
I do have one worry. How can I be assured that this will always remain online? What if one of your OEMS pressures you to take it down? Or what about if you get bought out.

Although the site may change hosts to escape the "punch monkey" (sorry gang, I had no idea the web host had that "virus"), I don't see much chance of it going down. Since potential OEMs don't license the hardware ... only the software, they don't get any control over it either. And the fact is, the only two ways an OEM could sell this product would be to market to people who can't build it themselves or by adding value in areas such as improved form factor or built in software. Neither business approach is threatened by having the instruction site online.

As for Kopsis being bought out ... not a chance. The company exists as an avenue for me to do cool stuff

quote:
Great Job though, easy instructions that anyone can follow. I hope that VC will build one and review it ...

When some app software is finally ready to roll, I'll be happy to make a review unit available to VC (if they haven't already built their own).

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by mnartker on 10-03-2000 01:38 AM:

Re: Saint maybe-not but still cool.

quote:
Originally posted by Bane
Maybe if somemore people are interested in going in on some springboard cases we could simplify things even more.

Count me in! This really sets off the gizmophile in me and I would love to make one. I'm too busy (and MUCH too lazy) to organize this, but if somebody had a couple of Springboard cases that they were willing to part with I would jump at the chance.

Posted by BEN on 10-03-2000 04:03 AM:

I've started looking on E-Bay already for the parts. I think that I might just bite the bullet and buy the cases, I want to get one of these so bad!
BEN

Posted by dkessler on 10-03-2000 04:19 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by BEN
I think that I might just bite the bullet and buy the cases, I want to get one of these so bad!

I'll bet if you picked up $65 worth of housings and posted a notice here or in the "Buy/Sell/Exchange" forum, you'd have no trouble selling all the extras. I'd probably even buy a few of them

I'd do this myself, but handling the individual orders would take too much time away from working on the software.

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by parb33 on 10-03-2000 04:36 AM:

Can someone send me a link to some wire that'll work w/ this (on Radioshack.com would be best, since I'm already ordering from there, but any other site is fine)?

How about http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...5Fid=278%2D1221?

[Edited by parb33 on 10-03-2000 at 12:18 AM]

__________________
Life's just a blast, just it's moving really fast, and you'd better stay on top or life'll kick you in the ass -Limp Bizkit

Posted by HostileJava on 10-03-2000 04:59 AM:

Is anybody willing to buy the $65 worth of housing and distribute it? I'd do it myself but my gf is watching every cent I spend since I bought the stowaway, thinmodem, the vibrating alert module from innogear and the trio stylus from pda panache when i went insane one night. J/K. I bought them because I needed them for back to school, really i did! Really!

Posted by rockdj on 10-03-2000 11:32 AM:

Beta Testing?

Sweet! I saw this post yesterday and immediately went out and built one. Very cool. Every couple of minutes I plug my CF card into my Visor and run all the tests again!

Are you going to beta test any of the software? I'm sure I'm not the only one itching to get this module into full time action!

Bravo!
dan

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