Saturn Saturn Satiator Progress Thread

[Trimesh]

Maybe he should have asked someone that has experience of electronics manufacturing... Typically the reason people make things in the US there is that it has some special requirement (like being covered by ITAR) that means you can't do it anywhere else. Most of the US based CMs are good quality, but certainly aren't where you would want to go if you need either cheap or fast.

 

[Greg2600]

Given the amount of time he took to select that facility, I have a feeling he looked into Chinese sourcing. That said, very few of today's flash carts are totally sourced there. Krikzz, Cybdyn, RetroHQ-UK, Harmony, Atarimax all build the units themselves, with PCB's and chips from China usually. Not sure about Terra Onion. I'm glad his updates will be public now, and hopefully production can pick up, though the LA area is a mess right now. I'm not sure where he's sourcing these, you'd assume Northern CA but who knows.

PS: Ironically yesterday a bunch of us were going back and forth on another forum about the project, so idk if he read that or what.

 

[Trimesh]

Given the amount of time he took to select that facility, I have a feeling he looked into Chinese sourcing. That said, very few of today's flash carts are totally sourced there. Krikzz, Cybdyn, RetroHQ-UK, Harmony, Atarimax all build the units themselves, with PCB's and chips from China usually. Not sure about Terra Onion. I'm glad his updates will be public now, and hopefully production can pick up, though the LA area is a mess right now. I'm not sure where he's sourcing these, you'd assume Northern CA but who knows.

PS: Ironically yesterday a bunch of us were going back and forth on another forum about the project, so idk if he read that or what.

To a large extent it depends on what volumes you are making - but unless you are doing your whole design with parts you can get from Mouser or Digikey it's typically way quicker to fill a BOM in China than anywhere else, simply because the supply chain there is huge.

 

[Greg2600]

Well it's difficult to discuss the matter since his posts and comments are behind a paywall.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Most of the US based CMs are good quality, but certainly aren't where you would want to go if you need either cheap or fast.

I'm sure he didn't expect it to be cheaper, but he may have expected it to be faster to do test-runs, troubleshoot, iterate last two points until product converged to something satisfactory, and launch production, given the matching schedule and practicality of in person meetings (pre-pandemic).

 

[Greg2600]

Box prototype courtesy RetroRGB.

Satiator Prototype Update, Box Sample

Professor Abrasive has just made a public post on his Patreon page, updating everyone of the current Satiator status: "The first 100 PCBs are, finally, being populated in a Californian fabrication facility this week. Shells have arrived in the US and the production test system is ready to go; it's

www.retrorgb.com

 

[FamilyGuy]

Box prototype courtesy RetroRGB.

Satiator Prototype Update, Box Sample

Professor Abrasive has just made a public post on his Patreon page, updating everyone of the current Satiator status: "The first 100 PCBs are, finally, being populated in a Californian fabrication facility this week. Shells have arrived in the US and the production test system is ready to go; it's

www.retrorgb.com

Now I want to buy it as a candy snack...

 

[Trimesh]

Well it's difficult to discuss the matter since his posts and comments are behind a paywall.

Just another of the myriad of reasons I despise the whole "Patreon" / net.beggar "culture".

 

[Greg2600]

I'm working on a shopping cart now! The assembler tells me the boards are all soldered and I'm waiting for them to get to test and programming. I'll get a proper post up this weekend.

He replied on Patreon the other day with that, so I guess an update is forthcoming.

 

[Druid II]

Has anyone made any applications yet that take advantage of the USB connection, or run on the Saturn side to dump data onto the SD Card? I was hoping I could use the Satiator for backing up my memory cards.

 

[Greg2600]

Has anyone made any applications yet that take advantage of the USB connection, or run on the Saturn side to dump data onto the SD Card? I was hoping I could use the Satiator for backing up my memory cards.

I think he's the only one using the micro USB port, and that was for testing. Recall Prof mentioning he would probably have to write an app that would transfer saves. So that's a no on both questions.

 

[Druid II]

Yeah, and last time I asked him, he said the source is there, anyone can write a dumper.

Guess I'll have to wait a little while more until the device gets out in the wild.

 

[Tongara]

laughing_elf_man.jpg

And that is before import fees, etc... I expect we'll see *ahem* "Third Party" versions from a certain part of the world in quick succession.

 

[dannygranger]

That's a lot more than I was expecting. MODE comfortably undercuts it.

 

[Trimesh]

That's a lot more than I was expecting. MODE comfortably undercuts it.

I'm genuinely impressed - he's launching at a price that makes a product coming from a company with a reputation for piss-taking pricing look cheap by comparison.

 

[megavolt85]

to be honest, I'm surprised at the greed of commercial developers on the retro scene

 

[Tongara]

I had faith in it being a cheaper option for a while. It's quite sad. I thought it would go for around $150.

Someone calculated that he's made $20,000+ even before selling any units from his patreon alone over the last few years. Why in the HELL are top-tier backers not getting the product for free? A $15 discount... pfft~

 

[dannygranger]

I had this as a £120 product...

LOL at the top backers having to pony up! This is obscene. The whole point of being a top backer is usually a courtesy unit!!

 

[Tongara]

I had this as a £120 product...

LOL at the top backers having to pony up! This is obscene. The whole point of being a top backer is usually a courtesy unit!!

Yeah, I'm in the UK, too, so $150 USD right now is around £118, so we're thinking the same price, really.

And absolutely, it's shocking. haha

 

[Arcadia]

And that is before import fees, etc... I expect we'll see *ahem* "Third Party" versions from a certain part of the world in quick succession.

I hope so too, seeing as his r'n'd is pretty much paid for by patreons.