Hello [D-Tail], hello Sonic_aka_T!


Designing a new casing by ourselves ...

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I thought of that too. I thought it would make a nice challenge Of course I don't know how ASCII/MSXa would feel about it. Maybe they already designed the casing, weren't planning on one or don't particularly care for our input. Who knows... I still think it's a nice idea tho...

I also don't know how ASCII or MSX association would feel about it, but I think it would help the revival to succeed. The more people think about such things, the more are interested in a new MSX computer to come true, maybe with some features of the casing they proposed or were proposed by other users they know.

Of course, it would be the cheepest to reuse some already existing casings, but for that, the new PCB must fit into it. Than, the users could buy the PCB and inserting it by themselves. That's only the solution for a few of us.

It would be the cheepest to rebuilt some classical casings. For that, MSX association must cooperate with the company which produced it more than ten years ago. If the new MSX should be a reissued classical MSX, than it's ok. But if there will be an new MSX, there should be a new casing, too!

But if some of us would come up with sketches, pictures, plans or technical designs for new casings, MSX association would see that we are interested in new MSX computers! They would see what we consider a new MSX and how it should look like. This proposals could be discussed before they are manufactured. So it would be more likely that the new MSX would be a success. It would minimize the risk that it won't be a success. And, I think, a new MSX must be a success, otherwise the revival will end up here.

Last year in Bussum, during the MSX marathon, I had some very interesting discussions with snout and, some hours later, with Latok, Rudi and his girlfriend. I showed them an issue of a Perry Rhodan novel with a technical drawing of a robot looking like one of the aliens in that series. There are lots of such drawings depicting spacecrafts, robots and other things of the world of PR, the most thrilling of them is a container for transporting a living brain!

There are people who are making that kind of drawings as a hobby. And they did it decades ago, since PR was introduced on the market in 1961! So they did that kind of drawings by hand, not by a paint program! But today, with such programs, designing a casing for MSX should be possible to many of us. But technical drawings are the last step. We should start with sketches for a new casing.

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Well, I guess it's the casing that'll depend on the PCB. Ofcourse it's really more a matter of design rather than having to move a particular swith or connector a couple of mm to the front or the back. Hey, who knows, maybe it's a good way to show ASCII/MSXa that we're really interrested!

No, thats the wrong way. You must first think about the field of application. If the computer should only be used at home, than it'll be ok if you can insert the cartridges on the top. If the computer should be mobile, it's maybe better to have the cartridges not on the top. Than, it should be robust and very small.

It's not about having to move a particular switch or connector a couple of mm to the front or the back, it's about if you insert the cartrige form the top or form the sides or the front or the back. It's about which and how many devices should be able to be connected to the computer and maybe many other things more.

And if the casing looks well, it'll be a success, otherwise, nobody will buy it.