End of all TF (Amiga) projects

[chucky]

Nah it still exists. but skipped anything amiga..

[katarakt]

Just found the thread here and i'm shocked reading all this about someone stole TF536 gerber . There are more and more strange things are going on in the amiga hardware community and i hope this will take a good end. Thanks Stephen for all your great work you're doing.

[Gorack]

That is devastating news! Can 2020 get even worse?
I sh!t you not, I came to post on this form about my success with building my first working TF board when I noticed this thread. My emotions went from one extreme to another.

I have watched Stephen's videos since the very first one and have enjoyed the journey. I was so inspired by Stephen and his work I started my own open source project with a similar philosophy, Pi1541 a cycle exact Commodore disk drive emulator running on the Raspberry Pi. In many ways I can relate to the sh!t Stephen has had to go through over the years. I didn't even bother making my own hardware interface because I knew it would have been so easy to copy. I try to think of the project as just my dumb hobby that I want to share with the community. Even though I try not to let it get to me, it does annoy me when others are making a lot of money from it without supporting me in anyway.

I actually have stacks of new features I have developed but not released. Come to think of it I haven't done a release in ages. I want to help and contribute to the community but but in doing so I will be aiding a handful of greedy a-holes, so I don't release updates. How f-ed up is that? Now I'm concerned that I'm developing a mental health problem. And now this news pisses me off even more.

Anyway, thanks Stephen, you have been a source of inspiration and I wish you the best in whatever you do next.

[Higgy]

@Gorack I love your pi1541 work and it is a shame new developments are not released but I understand.

Hervé Messinger developed the Cortex Gotek custom firmware (I believe the first person to do this) to allow use of Amiga .adf images, and as I understand when he found people making money off his work, he stopped development.
Thankfully FlashFloppy via Keir Fraser has picked up the mantle.

[arkadiusz.makarenko]

want to help and contribute to the community but but in doing so I will be aiding a handful of greedy a-holes, so I don't release updates. How f-ed up is that? Now I'm concerned that I'm developing a mental health problem. And now this news pisses me off even more.

I thought that C64 community is not that toxic than Amiga one.

On the other hand TF approach of delayed (about 1 year) Open Source seems to be theoretically best one, but still ... cloning PCB for project that should be opened sourced in few months FU**ING is very low ball.

Arek

[Gorack]

I thought that C64 community is not that toxic than Amiga one.

Unfortunately you will find it in every community. I don't mind not making anything from it. I don't even mind others adding value and making a little something for their efforts but there are always a few that are outright exploiting what they can for themselves. If they weren't so selfish everyone would benefit.

I was on such a high yesterday getting my TF330 to work. Now I'm so depressed.

[dalek]

...
I have watched Stephen's videos since the very first one and have enjoyed the journey. I was so inspired by Stephen and his work I started my own open source project with a similar philosophy, Pi1541 a cycle exact Commodore disk drive emulator running on the Raspberry Pi. In many ways I can relate to the sh!t Stephen has had to go through over the years...

Oh wow - that's cool! I built one of your Pi1541's from an opensourced pcb for myself, and since I had 4 PCBs spare I built them up and sold the rest for cost on ebay. Each of those 4 people contacted me saying how great it was and were very thankful to be able to play some games on their old hardware again without spending a fortune. It's sad I guess that these good news stories don't get back to you as easily as the bad news stories, because I'm sure you would both feel differently if you could really get a feel for the extent your contributions have made to retro enthusiasts

[Gorack]

Oh I feel it, from both sides. It's the f'ing a'holes that don't and understandably I can see why Stephen is taking the stand he has. Now, just maybe they might feel some of the backlash the damage they are doing. But I doubt it. There is a small proportion of society made up of people that are incapable of compassion, empathy and remorse. Psychology has names for them like anti society, narcissist, sociopath or psychopath.

IMHO Stephen's work has been the best retro project and gift to the community of all time. If he stops now, it's just tragic. But I hope he goes on to do other things. As I was trying to say before, the inspiration he gives is a far greater gift to the community. It would truly be a shame if that was extinguished also.

[PhilC]

@Gorack sorry to hear you've had the same happen to you. There's always someone who has to come along and spoil a good thing.

I for one would be interested in hearing more about your 1541 emulator. How about sharing it in a members blog on here?

[Higgy]

@Gorack please don't be too disheartened.
You and Stephen should think about the legacy of what you have done. Pi1541 has given a great lot of joy along with TF cards.
The 060 card market will be smashed with the TF360 and TF1260, a bit like the C64 and Ultimate II devices. Pi1541 is a fraction of the cost. There are similar parallels here.

Building an Airfix kit for a lot of us is more fun than buying a ready made model, but least you can get the model without having to scratch build. Same with TF360 and 1260, at least there will be an opportunity to own.
The 060 mafia might have won the Open Source battle, but they have NOT won the war
Viva la community!!