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[sigma7]

There seems to be a little bit of interest in XLerators*, so this is some market research to see if there is enough interest/desire/value among the community to make it worthwhile proceeding to make something available:

• (A) If you are someone who could assemble (solder) your own XLerator from a supplied kit of pre-programmed parts, what fee would you feel it was reasonable to pay (beyond the cost of the parts themselves)?
  
  eg. would you pay $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $200 more than the cost of the raw parts as a premium to build an XLerator?
  
  
• (B) If you would prefer to purchase an assembled unit, the question is nearly the same: what fee would you feel reasonable to pay beyond the cost of parts + labour for assembly?
  

Feel free to specify other values or variables/conditions that would affect that number for you, we are hoping to get whatever information we can regarding the economics of a project of this nature.

Replies won't be considered commitments or orders of course.

Thanks for contributing!

*This discussion is focused on the 16 MHz XLerator accelerator board for the Apple Lisa. It operates only under MacWorks Plus and MacWorks Plus II, increases speed of operation about 2.5 times, increases available memory to 4MB or more, and has an optional SCSI port that is a bit faster than the expansion slot SCSI port. It is not compatible with the Lisa Office System nor the Lisa Programmer's Workshop.

edit: tried to clarify that the XLerator under consideration in this topic is primarily the 16 MHz variant.

[Kelly king]

      I would pay $ 200 USD or more + above parts labor on one . I would also like SCSI Quick Boot … prefer option B.
 Guess I’am asking for a lot.

[ried]

I would certainly buy another. Assembled would be ideal, but a full kit would also make for a fun project.

Parts + $200 premium for a full kit.
Parts + $500 premium for a fully assembled unit?

Just throwing some numbers out to start the discussion.

[jamesdenton]

*The 16 MHz XLerator is an accelerator board for the Apple Lisa. It operates only under MacWorks Plus and MacWorks Plus II, increases speed of operation about 2.5 times, increases available memory to 4MB or more, and has an optional SCSI port that is a bit faster than the expansion slot SCSI port. It is not compatible with Lisa Office System nor the Lisa Programmer's Workshop.

Would these be the 12, 16, or 18Mhz variety? Saw mention of the 16Mhz but don't want to assume.

[sigma7]

Would these be the 12, 16, or 18Mhz variety?

The current discussion is primarily regarding the 16 MHz variety (4 SIMM sockets) with SCSI port.

Also, please don't be deterred from adding to the discussion with a lower value than the first posts. I'm sure the value to each person varies a lot.

[Lisa_in_Paris]

I would certainly buy one assembled including SCSI option.

500 $ for a fully assembled unit would be OK for me.

[AlexTheCat123]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!


Two things to note:
1. I just don't have the time to assemble XLerators for people, so if we end up going through with this, then the 16MHz XLerator will be available in kit form only. So sorry to those of you who wanted to buy one fully-assembled!
2. Once again, due to time constraints, it wouldn't be practical for me to source all the parts for the XLerator and ship them as part of each kit. So the kit would just include the bare PCB and the 4 preprogrammed GALs that the XLerator uses, and you would source the other parts yourself. I've got a pretty detailed readme document with links to everything, so it shouldn't be too bad, it's just that I don't have time to do it for every order myself.


Feel free to revise your prices with this in mind!

[ried]

What's the BOM come out to for one with SCSI? Ballpark?

[ChiTownMike]

I'd be in for $250-300 fully assembled - that said @alexthecat - don't you use a 3 party to assemble you ESPROFILE - could not the same be done here?

[Brooklyn]

Interested in kit or assembled options.  I’d probably consider $400 assembled and tested, $100-200 partial kit?

[sigma7]

I'd be in.. use a 3 party to assemble?

Similar to numerous "group buy" projects; I expect there will be a few tech savvy people willing to assemble a few kits into complete units for a modest labour fee; all of the parts are through-hole so it is not a high-tech soldering job.

I think that is probably easier to arrange and less expensive than shipping a small volume of pre-programmed parts to a commercial assembly house, but that could be done too.

Please continue to offer considerations/restrictions/suggestions so we can work out what will be least work for Alex and most widely accepted.

[AlexTheCat123]

What's the BOM come out to for one with SCSI? Ballpark?

Before shipping/tax, the BOM comes out to about $215, including the SCSI chip. I calculated that about a year ago, so things might be slightly different now if certain suppliers have gone out of stock or something, but that should be pretty close to the right number!

I'd be in for $250-300 fully assembled - that said @alexthecat - don't you use a 3 party to assemble you ESPROFILE - could not the same be done here?

I do, but that's a bit of a different situation. ESProFile is made using nothing but modern components that are all readily available, and JLCPCB has them all stocked in their parts library, so they can easily build people boards whenever someone orders a few. The XLerator, on the other hand, contains hard-to-find parts that aren't stocked in their library (such as the FPU socket and the SIMM slots), which I would still have to procure and install manually. And besides, I'd still have to source and install all the chips because they would just install the sockets and not the ICs themselves, unless I opted to have them solder all the chips straight into the board, but I don't like doing that. And they almost certainly don't keep most of these chips in stock (at least in the through-hole form factor) anyway. So unfortunately that doesn't really work here!