68kMLA Classic Interface

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Introducing (and interest check) AirTalk: Wireless plug-and-play LocalTalk dongles
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-10 10:25:52 I'd also like to express my intrest in getting one, if you have any unclaimed remaining. Don't worry 🙂 I'm not at the production stage yet—my first "productionish prototypes" are on the way at the moment. Keep an eye on this thread for development news, and I'll stick a post in the Trading Post when I'm happy with them and ready to sell some.
Posted by: max1zzz on 2022-01-10 10:35:34 and now mostly I'm sitting here grumpily waiting for them to arrive... I know that feeling! I'm sitting here refreshing JLCPCB's order page to see if my order has shipped yet.....
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-01-10 12:05:21 We are talking about finished product? I guess it depends: will these be totally finished or assemble yourself as you go?
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-10 12:06:28 We are talking about finished product? I guess it depends: will these be totally finished or assemble yourself as you go? The thing will come fully assembled and ready to go. The question is whether it comes in a case or not or whether people would prefer to have a choice. 🙂
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-01-10 12:28:31 I personally enjoy a finished product, especially if the case has "fit and finish"; maybe a cool logo on it or something. That is just my preference.
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2022-01-10 12:37:29 I would prefer a case I think. If you go that far, how would the cases be made? It would be neat to do a platinum design with the lines and everything. Make it looks late 80s Apple.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-10 12:53:16 If you go that far, how would the cases be made? It would be neat to do a platinum design with the lines and everything. Make it looks late 80s Apple. Unfortunately, they will almost certainly be prefabbed cases; I don't think the quantities I'm talking about would make custom manufacturing feasible. Perhaps 3D printing might help here but I know so little about that that I wouldn't know where to start... Let me have a think about that.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-01-10 13:35:14 an alternative: if you find a suitable case that would work out of the box, you could also offer to direct people to that if they really wanted one. Unless you are talking a lot of volume and can get a bulk buy, it probably wouldn't be cost-effective for you to buy them for the shipping etc...unless you have a local source.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-10 13:38:20 That's a good point also. Thanks for all the input. I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself here: I should check that the prototypes work before worrying about cases, really.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-13 07:35:58 Well, look what arrived this morning:
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-01-13 07:53:07 Sweet…finally getting close to trying this thing out!
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-13 09:05:13 aaand they mostly work! The only glitch is that they enter firmware download mode every time you power them up, instead of starting the application. That seems like it should be fairly straightforwardly fixable...
Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2022-01-13 09:12:50 Exciting stuff!
Posted by: ronan on 2022-01-13 11:51:45 Nice !
Posted by: rplacd on 2022-01-13 18:39:56 Literally everyone's cheering you on, but I might as well add myself to the list... it's time for Bolo!
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-14 11:23:57 The first handful of prototype boards will be going out to some testers this week!
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2022-01-14 12:03:15 Somewhat related question: What type of cable is a Localtalk cable? I foresee an uptick of demand of original cables once this starts shipping, and the originals are not super common or cheap on ebay. Is there a modern equivalent?
Posted by: micheledipaola on 2022-01-14 12:10:11 Fantastic, I would love to get one too!
Posted by: Scott Squires on 2022-01-14 12:26:58 Localtalk cables are male-to-male 8 pin mini-DIN. They're still available new.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-01-14 12:43:33 What type of cable is a Localtalk cable You can either use a standard Apple printer-type cable (8-pin male to 8-pin male mini-DIN with RX/TX swapped), which I think some people still make for some reason, or you can get a pair of LocalTalk boxes and a suitable cable, or a pair of PhoneNet boxes and a suitable cable. Anything you can use to connect two Macs over LocalTalk will work with this. (Note this means that straight wired 8-pin cables won't work, but they won't work to connect two Macs either) (Sorry, @Scott Squires, didn't mean to repeat you! that'll teach me not to read to the end before clicking 'reply'....)
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