Perifractic

Sorry as I have stepped back from the project and no longer have Tapatalk I can’t assist with this.

Good points. The only point I’d politely pick a hole in is about the plastics colouring. Commodore were renowned for wildly varying colour mixes and had more than one factory. That’s why there has never been a defacto established commodore 64 bread bin colourcode. But you make some good points for all the rest of it. It seems like it could just be an expensive third party fail. Now if I could just find an advert from before it flopped…

Answered in the first post

Funny enough an HTPC case was one of my early ideas. <Digs into the archives…> Perifractic/Gaz Marshall

I've stepped back from active design work in the project and David has stated his position re not offering a case, but I've added an answer to the FAQ.

Good eye! I actually brought Arne on board early on as I love his style, and we worked together to make that image which is based on an existing case that I have sent to David now. I credited Arne under the pic above as Diglett (he goes by a few names) but have swapped that for Arne as that seems to be better known based on your post and the weblink you posted. I love that style and hope an X16E (or even X8) case may follow it. Again that's all up to the team now.

Moved to:

Hello fellow Commandos! In my exciting new role as a fan and forum member I've seen many requests directed at @The 8-Bit Guy asking for info about the Phase 1, X16P case, which he has decided to retire so as to simplify the project. Firstly although I was a fan of the case (pun intended) I respect David's decision. The X16 has always been his baby and we're just along for the ride. To be clear, he has stated the Phase 1 official case is now in the past. Having chatted with David about the questions about the case we agreed it's a good idea for me to present this thread as an unofficial FAQ of sorts, to answer those questions, so the community has access to the same info I had. I'd never want to feel I was withholding useful info as I continue my step back. So in no particular order: Will there be a "vendor badge" sticker / stick-on badge available? I shared all assets with the team as part of my handover, so everything is available to them including logos and badge designs. I think it would be wise to give the team at least a few days (or weeks) to adjust to the team member changes. I think if you can be patient, some well formed options will come to light. For any badges I recommend Marco van de Meulenhof aka BadgeMan. Can we have the case designs to 3D print? Sadly not, mainly as I don't have them. As stated from the start, the case was a modified existing design and I chose this path to cut the end user cost by a total of about $100,000 compared to designing and tooling our own case & keyboard. This means the X16 project does not have full ownership of the design which partly belongs to Sohoo. Standard copyright law applies. Also the X16 project signed a standard confidentiality agreement with them. They own the design starting point and will not license iterations. They also never released their own design files to us. The renders you’ve seen like the above were made by Mat Recardo & I, and are visuals only based on my own changes (see below). There's no internal structure for mounting and it's not exact size. Refining that for 3D printing would be a huge task, and that’s if the project had the rights to do so, which it does not. If providing 3D print plans for the case were an easy possibility I would have made sure that was done for you guys a few days ago. I thought long and hard about the options. Unfortunately I had to conclude that it’s a bit of a minefield. Well give us the model number and we'll model it for 3D printing anyway! The model number is public knowledge, available on Google, and this is the link to the manufacturer's case info page. However, again, the X16 project cannot legally condone or encourage recreating or cloning another party's intellectual property. To do so may jeopardise the X16 project. Other important points to keep in mind: Any price you see quoted on Chinese websites will always increase hugely, and excludes the PSU and modifications. The last unmodified single unit I ordered from the manufacturer as a testing sample cost me $139.75 landed - paid by wire only (keep in mind the factory have no PayPal, no store, etc.) despite what you may see online. Some of my mods included the plastic colour, plastic texture, steel texture, removing DVD tray, removing eject button, screen printing 8-Bit logo, butterfly logo badge engraving, 2nd badge creation, button changes, and more. Structural changes inside also. Oh and team autographs were to be embossed inside. Perifractic I actually replaced the front panel with a whole new design. The reason is the standard one is designed for modern vertical use and has a big hole (release handle) on one edge. You cannot remove holes in injection moulds, you can only add holes. The hole is largely hidden at the bottom in the vertical photos but looks ghastly on the left side when laid horizontally to suit retro aesthetics. You can see the wires and columns through it. I'd never have wanted to release a product like that. It’s only fair I warn you about that hole in the Sohoo case (don't fall into it!). But yes, the above linked case was the starting point 2 years ago. New front panel design: Perifractic To help with realistic expectations, if acquiring one unmodified unit at $140, the photo below is about best one could get it to appear without colour and texture mods, and all the other changes. Obviously the retail product would've looked hugely better: Would it be possible to get the case later as separate purchase? No. The only real way to get that case as depicted is for the team to follow the normal practice and order 1000 units at a price I negotiated down to about $32/unit inc. PSU & box, and I had to fight hard to stop that going up to 2000 units minimum with COVID. My plan was for that to be achieved via crowdfunding at this website. But again I certainly understand the appeal of simplifying the project in light of other complications and concerns re parts and order assembly etc. and fully respect the change of direction, as should we all. I believe this case is no longer an option. What about a different 3D printed case design? In my experience the case is too large for 3D printers and would need to be printed in 2 or 4 sections then clipped/glued together. A line could be factored into the design to make that less unattractive. David has said 3D printing of that size is cost prohibitive so I'm guessing it's unlikely that would be offered directly by the team as an option. How about making a case design available at Protocase or similar? This would be up to the team and community. I had liaised with similar companies before and they actually rejected the project due to some of its specific needs, which always surprised me. Anyone is free to upload their designs anywhere and make them available. What is the form factor? The case is a standard Micro ATX "Slim" model, and can house a Micro ATX or Mini ITX motherboard. At the time of writing the X16P motherboard is Micro ATX, and at the time of writing should fit in any Micro ATX case. The team will hopefully update this should that change (unlikely). What about cases for the other phases? The modified case designs for these are all on file with the team and they have my permission to use them. The same basic copyright situation applies as above re the manufacturer base designs. Rotate__[000-150].mp4 X16C/Mat Recardo/Perifractic X16E/X8/Arne/Perifractic As I conclude my one week handover, I truly hope this extra info and clarity is useful to the community going forward! Your friend in retro, Perifractic http://youtube.com/perifractic | http://patreon.com/perifractic

Looks similar but one of the many complications I’ve been through is I had to design a new front to replace that. The reason is that one is designed for vertical use and has a huge hole (release handle) on the bottom edge. This is hidden in the main photos but looks ghastly when laid horizontally to suit retro aesthetics. It’s only fair I warn you about that. With the redesign I was also obviously able to remove the DVD tray, eject button, and engrave the butterfly logo and a few other such things. A few changes inside too. But yes, that was the starting point 2 years ago… Please heed the above polite request for patience. Cheers.

That isn’t quite right. It’s actually pretty simple: The X16 case design used an existing design as a basis to cut end user costs (as stated in the other thread and since the start). I then designed changes to that to customise it. We therefore cannot give out the full 3D files because we do not own 100% of them (we don’t own the basis / the original design). Analogy: Imagine you wrote a song, and someone else added a new verse and chorus, then they gave your song away for free. It also isn’t “legal issues”, just standard copyright law. More clarity is in the other thread as I don’t want to detract from David’s goal of this thread.

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P.S. Based on multiple comments asking for the case designs to 3D print, I should also briefly address that. Posting here so as not to distract from David’s main thread. As stated from the start, the case was a modified existing design. This means the X16 project does not have full ownership of the design which partly belongs to Sohoo. Knowing them quite well I think splitting out who owns what part would be insurmountable. Their interest was in us purchasing hardware rather than licensing 3D print files. One final issue is that over the course of our dealings they would never release 3D files to me prior to an order being placed. The renders you’ve seen were made by us and are visuals only; no internal structure for mounting. Refining that would be another task, and that’s if the project had the rights to, which it doesn’t. I believe the issue with their PSU was just very bad luck (it happens with any manufacturer), and they were willing to send us 5 units at cost for soak testing. To close, if providing 3D print plans for the case were an easy possibility I would have made sure that was done for you guys a few days ago. I thought long and hard about the options. Unfortunately I had to conclude that it’s a bit of a minefield. The only real way to get that case as depicted is for the team to order 1000 units (at $29), as @The 8-Bit Guy indicated and I had to fight hard to stop that going up to 2000 after Covid hit. My hope was that a crowdfund via this website would’ve enabled that with a copacker handling the literal heavy lifting. But I certainly understand the appeal of simplifying the project in light of other complications and concerns re parts and order assembly etc. and fully respect the change of direction. I hope this extra info and clarity is useful to the community going forward. Thank you.

I have shared all assets with the team as part of my handover a couple of days ago, so everything is available to them including badge designs and case model numbers, Pantone codes, and modifications. As I have stepped back this also means I’m the wrong person to tag regarding this now. I also think it would be wise to give the team at least a few days (or weeks) to adjust to the structural changes, though I completely understand and appreciate the excitement to get your hands on that stuff. I think if you can be patient, some well formed options will come to light. They can also properly address whatever demand there is for such things.

I’m happy to address that. With a change of active team lineup it felt like a good time for another refresh as we had before. I actually said to @MattGrandis (webmaster) I don’t know why we didn’t use the logo like that to start with! Looks so smart, especially on the desktop site. The various case renders remain happily live and present in several other places for your enjoyment. [emoji106] My taking a step back spurred by personal reasons should not itself directly cause any changes to the project that weren’t already afoot. Changes may of course happen to any project like this for other reasons as we all know, and I’m sure David will keep everyone up to speed as the project matures. I’ll respectfully close this thread so I can continue my step back. Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments. It’s wonderful there is so much care out there for the project and the people behind it.