@tfh: everybody who signed up to the OCM newsletter was informed about the state of affairs whenever there was a change in that. The news is not published on the website, because we didn't find it relevant for people who didn't have any interest in the OCM anyway (interested people signed up for the newsletter and got the news through that).

Snouts private life (as well as mine, by the way, though I never posted about it anywhere as it is private life and some people happen to feel the urge to abuse information about one's private life publicly) has indeed not been very helpful in improving Bazix things, but in this case, it was not that what caused the lack of newsflow. Fact is that the link between Bazix and the Japanese partners is mainly (only) me, because I'm the only one who can communicate in Japanese (this is where my private life comes into the picture), which is not the most ideal situation, but can't be helped. But what's more, is that things in Japan haven't been going the way they should have. Of course we tried to do everything we could in order to change this, but the fact that I'm the only communicator and I haven't been in shape very much either, has of course also had its consequences. However, the efforts we took should have been enough, weren't it for the fact that things aren't solved that easily.

To answer your final question: probably we will open up a new sign-in indeed, but before doing so, things have to be really clear. And as we wrote in our last news letter, considering the circumstances, cancelling pre-orders has become a possibility. I can inform you that indeed there are a few people who have used this possibility, but most of them still seem to be supporting us. Which is a good thing, because without any support, we wouldn't be doing all this anyway.

manuel: thanks for your input, I guess it's something we could try to improve. We'll certainly consider it

tfh: Communication via forum and communication via e-mail are two seperate things. Many customers have contacted us via e-mail and we have answered all those mails as quickly as possible - mostly within a (working )day.

As for the OCM: as Rikusu stated elsewhere on the forum we expect to have news on the matter in January. If the information on this gets a little more concrete we will most certainly send out a newsletter, but currently - to prevent dissapointment for us and our customers - the information is just a bit too vague to issue a newsletter. When the new OCM becomes available for (pre)order, people who placed a pre-order in the past will get priority treatment. There are indeed those who canceled their pre-orders, but there is a long line of people who'd like to get their hands on a Western OCM as well.

With prices dropping all the time in the world of computers, one would expect the OCM price to have dropped somewhat by now. The pre-order price was based on what it cost back then. Or perhaps the same price could result in a more powerful Altera?

These kinds of things may become clear in the near future. At this moment, we can't say much about it. If the Altera chips for use with the European OCM have already been bought (which seems to be the case), the price may not be affected. On the other hand, the fact that the chips are already there does not necessarily mean that these will be the chips that eventually end up in the European OCM. But we can only speculate about this at this moment. We hope to be able to clear things like this up around January, when I have returned from Japan.

mm that would've been rather silly if those Alteras have been bought already.. whenever I was to construct a computer, I'd buy the components that fluctuate -downwards- the most only as the very last component. Considering what MSX'ers want to do with it or want the OCM to become (tR, 9958, 9990, opl4 etc.), one might expect that a newer Altera with more gates would be the more logical solution anno today.

That's true and we will surely try to see if it's possible to incorporate a newer version. We can't give any guarantees on that yet, though.

@Wolf,
You can also say that the price increases a bit, due to new devopment of RoHS version. Just changing components will not suffice most of the time. Even the production process gets changed to the different temperatures used for lead-free soldering, etc...
On the other hand, some parts will be bought in dollars, and that has some effect on the prices as well, looking at the value of it lately. But it's impossible to name a 100% fixed price untill you are pretty sure of all those factors and you are close to production.

I never received any Bazix info on the postponed 1chipMSX. I talked with snout about it back then. He thinks it might have ended up in some spambox. Maybe (on the other hand, he knows Latok and spamboxes aren't a good combination ). I do hope though I'm still on the pre order list, I really would like to have a western 1chipMSX!!

Furthermore, I also like it a lot to read some relevant info here from Bazix associates. Thank you for that!

Quote:

I never received any Bazix info on the postponed 1chipMSX

I did! IIRC, there were two newsletters in total and I got a very nice reply from snout when I mailed Bazix a "whazzup?"

Nevertheless, I would also have liked to receive a bit more information on the status of the OCM. I don't need to have a confirmation every week or every month that nothing happened, but a simple mail with just the things Rikusu and snout pointed out above would have sufficed.

Really: forget about "no news is good news". Please...

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The point is those rohs things. When an OCM goes through the shredder at the customs, the buyer lost his money?

My unit has being delivered, excellent condition. No "shredding" by customs. All good fun

Could very well be, I'm not saying that the 1CM *will* go through the shredder, but if does: the customer lost his money. If the person who imports 'em en-mass is certain enough the 1CM's will make their way through the customs then it'd be more safe for the end-user to pay upon receiving (e.g. paying the postman). Whether or not there is service missing or not is something else.

I think its going a bit off topic as we speak i have 2 units here in the netherlands and i want to ask
who wants to buy??

anyone notice the OCM-related section in the amusement center news mail?

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「わんちっぷMSXハ、ココデ買エマスカ?」 　……とある秋晴れの日、われらがスタッフルームに、突然謎のオランダ人が来襲。 EGG MUSICのタコ部屋……もとい制作室は、なぜかD4エンタープライズの玄関口か らもっとも訪ねやすい位置にあるので、よく受付と間違えてお客様が訪ねてくるん ですが、直接1chipMSXをお買い求めにやってきたのは、後にも先にもこの方が初め てです。日本人も含めて。 　このロナルドさん(仮名)は、長期休暇を利用して日本を周遊中で、その間にヨ ーロッパでは入手できない1chipMSXをぜひ入手したいと思ったそうなんですが、売 っている店舗が見当たらないので、直接D4に赴くことにしたとのこと。近くのTRAD ERさん(秋葉原)に置かせていただいているので、ふだん直販は受け付けてないんで すが、今回はその情熱に打たれました。お売りいたしましたとも。なぜか私が(笑)。 　……常勤スタッフで、英語らしきものを一応話すことのできる唯一の人間が私な ので、D4に海外の方からお問い合わせがあると、真っ先に矢面に立たされることに なるんですね。ぜんぜん音楽と関係ないお仕事ですが、実はそういう部分でもEGG MUSICスタッフは頑張っておりますという、今日はそんなお話でした。 　ちなみにロナルドさん(仮名)は、動作テスト用に持ってきた『リターンオブジ ェルダ』に、「オランダでは大変珍しいカートリッジだ!」と大喜び。ひととおり プレイしたあと、社長からのお土産(『MSXマガジン永久保存版』)を携えて、満 足げに帰ってゆかれました。

An English translation of the manual would be very helpful. Any ideas?

LOL.. That's also one other advantage of a Western version... An understandable manual