video ram access kit was mailed last saturday

[Brian D. Botton]

Hello fellow Unix-PC'ers.
  Well, the day finally came.  Friday night a good friend stayed up
to 2:45 AM helping me make up kits and stuff envelopes.  A few hours
later I was at the post office mailing out the kits.  They were mailed
out first class, so you should start to see them in a few days.  I also
made a trip to the bank so all those checks that I've been holding will
finally clear.  When your kit arrives, make sure you have all the parts.
If you don't, send me e-mail and I'll mail them out to you right away.
Also, I am very interested in any comments and improvements that I can
make, especially on the documentation.  If any errors are found I want
to know about them so I can get them fixed.
  I have shipped all 35 complete kits and will start to ship partial
kits from now on.  A number of people have expressed concern about
collecting the required parts.  I want to assure everyone that getting
parts will not be a problem.  In the instructions that I include there
is a table of part numbers along with a telephone number to call.  All
parts come from a single source, so you shouldn't have any problems
getting them.  Also, I'm pretty sure that the total cost shouldn't be a
whole lot different then what I charged.
  As I have stated before, I am committed to providing the circuit board
and pal as long as there is interest in the 3B1/7300.  When the X people
get X up and running I will be there to provide the hardware.  When that
day comes, and if there is enough interest, I am willing to consider
providing complete kits again.  But for now, I want to concentrate my
limited time on other things, such as helping Brad finish the Mgr port.
  For those who have sent me a check for the full kit, I will do one of
two things:
	1. If e-mail is sent to me asking for your check back, I will
	   return it to you.
	2. If I don't hear from you by Monday, I will ship the partial
	   kit along with a refund of $15/kit.
A couple of people have already sent word that the partial kit is okay,
so I will ship as soon as their check arrives.
  On a personal note, the response to my kit has been overwhelming.  I
never expected so many people to jump on the bandwagon so quickly.  For
those of you who have been thinking about doing something like this, by
all means give it a try.  I spent an awful lot of time on this, but I
think it was worth it.  I learned a lot about what it takes to build,
market, and sell a product.
  So, you may be asking, what's next?  Well, my expansion box and voice
power board just got here tonight, thanks to Lenny's efforts.  So I'm
itching to play with them, especially the voice power board.  I also plan
on catching up on my unanswered e-mail and questions asked by those who
bought my kit.
  When the dust clears I plan on doing the P5.1 upgrade that was posted a
couple of months ago by Jan Isley.  If that goes okay then I expect to
provide that pal as well.  With the number of people who want more than
8 heads, I feel there should be some way for people to easily get their
hands on the pal.  I also was one of the people who bought some of those
bus connectors from that group buy a few months back.  I really want a
tape drive but don't want to pay the going rate, so I'm thinking about
designing a floppy tape card. And there's Mgr, I really should give Brad
a hand.
  As always, if you have any questions and/or comments, . . .

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   _][_n_n___i_i ________ I       I		Brian D. Botton
  (____________I_I______I_I_______I		laidbak!botton  or
  /ooOOOO OOOOoo  oo oooo  oo   oo		laidbak!bilbo!brian