134 replies to this topic

[zammykoo]

TEASER:

The first of my cable orders arrived today. Very apple-esque
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And revised design is almost ready to be tested
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[dolan]

Wow, this sounds very promising! When will production start?

[zammykoo]

dolan, on May 20 2011, 09:46 AM, said:

Wow, this sounds very promising! When will production start?

Very soon my friend. I am waiting for the remaining cable shipments to come, which will be somewhere between the end of May to early June. But in the mean time I will be building the boards while I wait.

I'll keep you guys posted, thanks for being patient!

[zammykoo]

Alright fellas, my cable shipments are in, I have been putting some kits together.

All is well, however I ran into a bit of a setback... the audio cables don't have typical insulated wires, but rather they are magnet wires, which are not made to be crimped. I have been trying to figure out the best way to use these... and I think I may have to just solder them directly to the board.

If anyone can think of a better solution to use the header pins for the audio, feel free to let me know. I'd much rather do this because it will speed up the process.

This is the complete kit (with the audio wires attached)
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 P5242999.jpg   276.77K   98 downloads

[okolowicz]

I'm looking forward to receiving it. Please PM me your Paypal info when you are ready to accept payment and ship.

[zammykoo]

okolowicz, on May 24 2011, 11:01 PM, said:

I'm looking forward to receiving it. Please PM me your Paypal info when you are ready to accept payment and ship.

okolowicz, I am now ready to take pre-orders! Please see post #1 for info/rules. Thanks!

[zammykoo]

Hey guys,

Quick update, I've been behind the scenes doing some troubleshooting. I figured out a solution to the audio cable issue and also fine tuning the circuit design.

Here's the beginnings of the production models. Hopefully if all goes smoothly I'll be shipping the first couple units by this weekend (June 4th). Remember, first come first serve!

Stay tuned.
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[eelhead]

Like a production stamp
really nice zammy!

[zammykoo]

okolowicz, your item has been shipped. Check your PM for tracking information.

For those who are from outside the US, I will be shipping your orders soon. Please bare with me as I make sure I have the necessary customs paperwork.

Thanks!

[dolan]

zammykoo, on Jun 4 2011, 07:08 PM, said:

okolowicz, your item has been shipped. Check your PM for tracking information.

For those who are from outside the US, I will be shipping your orders soon. Please bare with me as I make sure I have the necessary customs paperwork.

Thanks!

No probs! From the pics and videos, its looking really good!

[zammykoo]

dolan, on Jun 4 2011, 09:33 PM, said:

No probs! From the pics and videos, its looking really good!

dolan, I've shipped your order. Check your PM for tracking info. Thanks for your patience!

[zammykoo]

Hey guys,

I have two more (x1 ethernet model) available, ready to ship!

Just check original post for payment information.

 P6103019.jpg   393.03K   98 downloads

[zammykoo]

A couple still available! Anyone else interested?

[okolowicz]

After receiving mine and trying to get it to work for me I have a couple of questions/comments.

Overall, it is a nice piece of kit but there are a couple of things which, depending on one's intended layout, make it difficult to fit. First, the dual ethernet model I bought is too long to be used if you're mounting your PSU in the stock location at the bottom of the case. That said, the second ethernet port wasn't a requirement for me so, I merely cut the board just above the bottom ethernet port. All in all an easy feat. At this point I thought it would be smooth sailing but...

Once I got the board to a good length I ran into a second problem which I am unable to solve. The board is about 2mm too wide to fit between my motherboard and the back of the case. I'm using an mATX mobo and mounted it in a way that enables the use of the existing PCI-E slots on the back of the case. And, while there is some room between the mobo's I/O ports and the back of the case there is just a hair to little room to use this board as currently designed.

Please don't take this as a knock on the product. Granted, it did not work for me but I'm looking at it as a 1st generation model

This of course leads to a suggestion for you Zammykoo. If you could make the board narrower it would be a near perfect solution. Additionally, the USB ports and pins would ideally be moved further toward the back of the case. This would entail them extending beyond the board a little bit but that's OK because they'd still fit through the case holes.

My 2 cents

~B

PS I'll post some pictures a little bit later to better illustrate what I'm rambling about.

[zammykoo]

okolowicz, sorry it didn't fit your application but thanks for your feedback. I will definitely keep these comments in mind for future builds.

I actually struggled with the width of the board, and spent quite a bit of time on its trace design. There is really not a lot of options because there are so many pins.

Would you say that the board's width should be about the size of the USB jack? I actually wanted have it that slim because of issues like this.

If you are handy with tools I can see one solution that can work for you. If you want to, carefully grind the board to the desired width and solder jumper wires where the traces have been broken. You will only need to solder three small jumper wires.

[okolowicz]

I'm fairly handy but I have yet to try my hand at soldering. That said, I don't think it needs to be cut so much that I'll break the connections.

At this point I have nothing to lose so, my plan IS to try and whittle the board down on each side to see if I can get it to work. However, even if successful getting the board narrow enough, I am not that confident the pins will clear the mobo's ports in their current position. If successful, I'll certainly update this post as it might help somebody else.

[zammykoo]

For those who need additional help figuring out which cables go where, refer to these diagrams.

 g5zammykoo_diagram1.jpg   392.6K   136 downloads
 g5zammykoo_diagram2.jpg   297.51K   114 downloads

[Pilad]

zammykoo
  Can you tell us dimensions of your board?
  Coz i dont think it'll fit into 20.5mm between MB and case.
  See example:
  

Attached Files

•  ert.jpg   325.25K   189 downloads

[zammykoo]

Pilad, on Jul 3 2011, 09:25 AM, said:

zammykoo
  Can you tell us dimensions of your board?
  Coz i dont think it'll fit into 20.5mm between MB and case.
  See example:
  

Sure, here it is. It looks like it is one millimeter thicker than your measurement.

Although if you are still interested, you can shave the end of the board down since there is about 1.5mm clearance between the metal trace and the edge of the board.

Attached Files

•  P7033134.jpg   464.89K   38 downloads

[hakan gulenc]

is't there firewire port ?