Promote the Uzebox!

[uze6666]

There's a slowdown these days with the project and I'm looking at a way to crank that up. With Havok's hardware to come soon, I'm wondering how to attract more attention. For myself, I've got some talents in media productions like music/videos. Some of my friend are even real pros in the field. My best buddy, a video producer and loved the project, so sky 's the limit (we could get an awesome free HD vid on Vimeo)!

Considering projects like the Arduino doesn't provide all the gravy the Uzebox provides, I think the Uzebox (and the upcoming Core/stamp pcb) really gives hobbyist like you and me that extra cool features we've always wanted.

Let me know of ANY idea you have to promote the project, I'll do my best to make it happen !

Best Regards,

Uze

[nubie]

G4 TV?

They seem to love stunts, and they have a lot of time to fill. I know that a lot of kids watch that.

[havok1919]

There's a slowdown these days with the project and I'm looking at a way to crank that up. With Havok's hardware to come soon, I'm wondering how to attract more attention. For myself, I've got some talents in media productions like music/videos.

(I was meaning to ask you about that-- your demo videos are entirely un-homebrew.) Where's the flat lighting, whining camera motor sounds in the background, and tripod-only squared up framing?

Let me know of ANY idea you have to promote the project, I'll do my best to make it happen !

I was planning press releasing the 'stamp'/baseboards to Circuit Cellar and Nuts&Volts magazines here in the states-- but I'm thinking the 'big' win would be some articles for either magazine (or 'Make', etc.). I had planned on writing a piece or two from a platform perspective (here's this system, here's how to get started with it, etc.), but maybe the thing to do would be team up and take it from the ground up? I fear the low level stuff will be over the head of Nuts&Volts, but Circuit Cellar might work. (They're covering the Propeller...)

We're probably too late for Embedded Applications in January, but Embedded Programming in April has a January cutoff... Be good to have a bunch of "stuff" available online so when the article proposal goes in they'll be able to pop in online and see what all it can do. I can see the low-level generation of video/audio being interesting for Embedded Programming in particular. There's been some video generation articles in the past, but sound has been somewhat neglected except for a few special cases.

We should probably put an iPod Mini battery and the stamp board inside a SNES controller and play your Tetris game and get it up on Make or SlashDot, etc.

Maybe a contest with a few prizes? Best old-school demo, best game, best application. Offer up some stamps/baseboards as prizes, maybe some cash or something?

-Clay

[nubie]

Hackaday will probably be interested, that is how I found out about it.

Maybe an "instructables" write-up for the wire wrap version, or a veroboard version.

If you do a version inside a controller, maybe you could have it two player, either with a second wireless controller, or a dongle made from an extension.

Maybe a retro gaming magazine, I have a feeling they will like it. I don't read them, but they do get a bit of readership.

[uze6666]

Thanks for the tips, everything makes a lot of sense. Although I realize we really need some real, ready-made hardware before we can really go further. Waiting for you Clay . At that point let me know what would work best: articles, tutorials, advertising, video, or else. I'll crank some interesting stuff...guaranteed. In the mean time we need some of you guys making board and games and showing it on the site!

Cheers,

Uze

[havok1919]

Thanks for the tips, everything makes a lot of sense. Although I realize we really need some real, ready-made hardware before we can really go further. Waiting for you Clay

I got a FedEx tracking number today for the 'stamp' boards-- hopefully that means they arrive tomorrow and not 'ship' tomorrow. Be cool to have for the weekend. Also hoping my SNES multitap thing might show up tomorrow or Saturday so I can make a final determination on the suitability of those for connectors. Fingers crossed.

I took apart one on the 'new' SNES controllers I have too... There's a LOT of space in there. I might just have to try to make an all-in-a-joypad kit for something 'interesting'. I think I've come to the conclusion that an iPod Nano battery should be able to run it for about four hours, give or take.

-Clay

[uze6666]

I think I've come to the conclusion that an iPod Nano battery should be able to run it for about four hours, give or take.

Nice! I really start to like that idea .

I'm also ordering from ebay a snes multitap. BTW, is it the "tribal" adapter youre talking about. Cuz for 6 plugs and about 5$ (in 1 qty!) its damn cool and way too cheap!

Uze

[havok1919]

[quote="uze6666]Nice! I really start to like that idea .[/quote]

It has a kinda good "because you can" vibe to it.

I'm also ordering from ebay a snes multitap. BTW, is it the "tribal" adapter youre talking about. Cuz for 6 plugs and about 5$ (in 1 qty!) its damn cool and way too cheap!

Niko brand or something like that? Yeah, I think all the ones on eBay are that kind. Can't beat the price with a stick. I got a quote (granted, here in the US) for just the pins to go with the tooling/molding to roll our own-- $0.04/ea, but with a $2500 NRE. Getting into the ~$7500 range for connectors. Probably not wise to try without a known larger market.

I've seen varying claims on those multitaps-- some say they're 4:1, some say they're 6:1. It *looks* like 6:1 to me.

They're $4/ea wholesale from our distributor. A lot of the eBay sellers seem to be relying on the shipping to make their money. Not sure how much shipping adds from the distributor though. (Can't be more than $1/ea I wouldn't think.) I'll have to get a quote on 100 or something.

-Clay

[uze6666]

've seen varying claims on those multitaps-- some say they're 4:1, some say they're 6:1. It *looks* like 6:1 to me.

They're $4/ea wholesale from our distributor. A lot of the eBay sellers seem to be relying on the shipping to make their money. Not sure how much shipping adds from the distributor though. (Can't be more than $1/ea I wouldn't think.) I'll have to get a quote on 100 or something.

We'll see, from the pics they also appear 6 ports. Anyway, for my own little prototype, I just need 2 ports. Shipping on eBay is getting ridiculous and a total ripoff, seller clearly use this to lure buyers with low item prices. The port was 4$, but they charge 9$ for shipping! And it's shipped from here in Canada....

Uze

[ladyada]

ya getting promotion is easy, but until there is a 'finished and available' project it will not be effective.
im still kinda waiting for the 'standard' connector decision to be made. until that is resolved its hard to move forward