Lo stato del progetto riassunto in questo aggiornamento.
Ancora qualche piccolo passo, il traguardo piano piano si avvicina.
Complimenti comunque ai promotori dell’iniziativa per il lavoro, la pazienza,
il perfezionismo e la comunicazione sempre puntuale.
Carlo
Inviato da iPhone
Inizio messaggio inoltrato:
Da: Kickstarter <no-reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Data: 18 novembre 2018 18:59:22 CET
A: carlo.malantrucco@xxxxxxxx
Oggetto: Project Update #40: ZX Spectrum Next by Henrique Olifiers
Rispondi a: No Reply <no-reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Project status: an X-ray (and the latest)
Posted by Henrique Olifiers (Creator)
In this update, aside from the latest on the keyboard progress, we’ll make a
deep dive into the general status of the project listing all the tasks that
are done and the ones pending between now and shipping.
The reasons for this are quite straightforward: first, we’re ten months late
with the shipping of the complete Spectrum Next (thankfully at least the
board pledges didn’t suffer this much delay) and a retrospective is in order
to recap and inform you what has been done so far; and some backers are
understandably disappointed with the length of the delay, and requested a
detailed account of what’s missing before the completion of the project.
Lastly, we’ll wrap with the rationale underlying the delay -- why it is
taking place. While this is no excuse, it helps understand the reason behind
our woes in this final stretch.
Let’s go!
Keyboard latest
There are good news here: the issues identified by Phil Candy (and shared in
the previous update) on the injection of the keys and the small depression it
was causing have been fixed, the keys now meet our expectations and look
exactly as they should, including the polished finish around the key surface.
The shiny bits worked out just fine, and gone are the depressions
They are now being printed with the labels (characters, commands etc.) and in
parallel a test keyboard is being assembled with all the keys (including
special keys such as Space, Enter and the like) in order to fit-test in the
case. Once this is done, we should be ready for mass injection of the
keyboard plastics, mass printing and keyboard assembly pre-shipping to SMS
for full computer assembly.
They belong together
Boards production & Assembly stations
While we have reported in the past that the boards were in production at SMS
facilities, there’s a small update: a picture of all the boards done, stored
in racks, and the assembly stations where the Spectrum Next is going to be
put together, boxed and shipped worldwide. It’s a heart-warming photo for the
team, finally seeing where the last step of the project will take place
before it goes into the wild and to you, the backers who made the project
happen.
Note the purpose of each station, and the daugherboards rack with the 2,976
boards
Project summary
Below is a list of all the major steps of the Spectrum Next production. This
list is not meant to be exhaustive: some smaller and repeated steps are
absent as they don’t help to understand the current progress status. Should
you want to learn more about any particular step, or a breakdown of a
particular part of the project, drop an email to info@xxxxxxxxxxxx and we’ll
get back to you.
Hardware design
Testing proto board v0 (DONE)
Production board v1 (DONE)
Final board v2 & v2A (DONE)
Board update v2B (DONE)
Testing proto Daughterboard v0 (DONE)
Production Daughterboard v1 (DONE)
Final Daughterboard v2 (DONE)
Software design
Firmware v0 (DONE)
Firmware v1 (DONE)
Anti-brick (DONE)
NextOS v1 (DONE)
First Time Install software (DONE)
Manual
Manual design v0 (DONE)
Manual design v1 (DONE)
Manual revision v1,001+ (DONE)
Final manual (DONE - but still updating!)
Manual cover art (DONE)
Plastics
Case design v0 (DONE)
Case design v1 (DONE)
Case CADs (DONE)
Case molds (DONE)
Case test injection T1 (DONE)
Case T1 adjustments (DONE)
Case test injection T2 (DONE)
Case T2 adjustments (DONE)
Final Case test injection (DONE)
Stripes and light column test injection (DONE)
Stripes and light column final test injection (DONE)
Keyboard design v0 (DONE)
Keyboard design v1 (DONE)
Keyboard CADs (DONE)
Keyboard molds (DONE)
Keyboard test injection T1 (DONE)
Keyboard T1 adjustments (DONE)
Keyboard test injection T2 (DONE)
Keyboard T2 adjustments (DONE)
Keyboard keys printing test (TO DO)
Final Keyboard backplate test injection (TO DO)
Final Keyboard assembly & Case fit test (TO DO)
Accessories
Box design v0 (DONE)
Box design v1 (DONE)
Box internals v0 (DONE)
Box internals v1 (DONE)
Final Box design (DONE)
Box materials testing, UV layer (DONE)
PSU procurement (DONE)
PSU black box replacement design (DONE)
SD card procurement (DONE)
SD card tests (DONE)
SD cards printing (DONE)
SD cards shipping to UK (DONE)
Production
Parts procurement v0 (DONE)
Parts procurement v1 (DONE)
Parts procurement v2 (DONE)
Parts procurement v2A (DONE)
Parts procurement v2B (DONE)
Parts procurement Daughterboard v0, 1 & 2 (DONE)
Main Box printing (DONE)
Main Box shipping to SMS (DONE)
Post Box shipping to SMS (DONE)
PSU Box printing (DONE)
PSU Bos shipping to SMS (DONE)
Manual printing (TO DO)
Manual shipping to SMS (TO DO)
SD cards content copy as SMS (TO DO)
Just the Board v2A (DONE)
Just the Board shipping to backers (DONE)
Burn-in tests 2A (DONE)
Burn-in tests 2B (DONE)
Spectrum Next v2B boards (DONE)
Spectrum Next v2 Daughterboards (DONE)
Case mass-plastic injection (TO DO)
Keyboard mass-plastic injection (TO DO)
Keyboard final assembly (TO DO)
Keyboard shipping to case production (TO DO)
Case & Keyboard shipping to SMS (TO DO)
Final Spectrum Next assembly (TO DO)
Shipping to backers (TO DO)
It’s important to note that each step has a completely unique timeline and
length, meaning each has its own ‘weight’ when calculating the total project
duration. Case in point, the keyboard was estimated to be a 3 months process,
but has taken 2x longer than predicted; meanwhile the Anti-brick, for
instance was done much quicker than expected at 2 days (rather than 2 weeks)
and so on.
Why the keyboard and case have been such a long process
Recapping: The major delays of the project were caused by the case and the
keyboard. First our plastics manufacturer in charge of the case dropped the
project unexpectedly following the departure of their manager handling the
Next, forcing a last-minute switch to a new partner earlier this year (which
thankfully turned out to be much cooler). The delay on the case affected the
keyboard, as these two were meant to be made in parallel due them needing to
fit together and their large storage size -- we need to start assembly as
soon as they arrive at SMS or we will accumulate large costs for storage,
thus they need to be injected at roughly the same time.
As it turned out, the keyboard was more complex and slower to produce than
predicted, and now remains the final hurdle to shipping.
At the core of the issue is a problem of scale. In order to manufacture 3,000
cases or keyboards, the partners have to undergo the same amount of work
required to manufacture 500,000 cases or keyboards: they have to be designed,
tested, molds produced in much the same way, and yet only a fraction will be
made and paid for, squeezing their margins if compared to larger projects
they regularly undertake.
Thus the partners for both the case and the keyboard are very special people
who agreed to undertake the project because they like what we’re building.
It’s not difficult at all to find a company ready to manufacture plastics and
keyboards at the small scale we require, this is not a challenge. What is
very hard and rare is to find a specialist company, whose standards are as
high as the project’s established quality goals, with large amount of
experience and ready to undertake a small order such as ours. This is so
because companies with these standards and expertise are very sought-after
particularly by large projects and big customers.
This is exactly what happened with the plastics provider who let us down
early on -- when the internal champion of the project left the company, their
replacement decided the project wasn’t worth the time and budget and dropped
it.
Water under the bridge, the case is ready thanks to our awesome plastics
partner, waiting for mass injection after we put the keyboard and case
together in a final fitting test.
The keyboard, though, originally expected to take three months for design and
testing, is nearing six months of production now. We’re getting there one
step at a time, but it’s taking a long time indeed and there isn’t much we
can do about it, as our partner is moving as quickly as they can afford to.
And the manual?
The keen eye might have spotted that we haven’t yet printed the manual or
copied the contents of the SD cards. This is so because Phoebus Dokus and the
collaborators are constantly revising the manual content, adding new
functionalities as soon as they are rolled out and added to both the firmware
and NextOS by Gary Lancaster and others. The plan is to lock the manual
content as soon as the plastics start injecting, thus printing and
dispatching to SMS in parallel to the case and keyboard. This will allow the
manual to be as up to date as possible.
And that’s the summary of the project in a nutshell. We’ve been accelerating
the keyboard production as of late, now that most adjustments to the keys
have been done. Myself, Mike and Phil are in daily contact with the keyboard
partner, pushing the production along as fast as we can. Now it’s getting the
keys printed, the T2 keyboard assembled and fitted in the case, and full
production.
Most people working on the project today are original backers who volunteered
their time to help out. We’re as frustrated as any backer with the delay, and
as eager to get our Nexts as everyone else. I, for one, can’t wait to have my
Next sitting on my desk playing Baggers in Space… We will continue to push
and get it out as soon as we can, rest assured.
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