Statement by Maurice Randall, of Click
Here Software:
The CMD staff is taking the 4th of July week off
and when they return from vacation, I will be making a trip to East Longmeadow,
Massachusetts to spend a week learning all the tricks involved in getting
each CMD product produced and running. Following that, I will be returning
back to Michigan with a truck and trailer full of anything and everything
that CMD has that is Commodore-related. And I mean EVERYTHING! CMD is getting
out completely. Their current business simply doesn't provide them with
enough time in the day to continue producing the Commodore related equipment.
CMD has provided us with some products that no other company
could do or was willing to do for us. I want to personally thank them for
that. While I'm at CMD, I will also be helping to fill some
of the orders that were taken during the final two weeks prior to June
4th. However, the bulk of the orders will be filled by myself at my shop
in Michigan once I'm all set up for production. I estimate it will take
about 2 weeks to get everything organized in my shop here in Charlotte
to begin producing the products. I have a 13,000 square foot building here that includes
a machine shop and metal fabrication area. I can set up equipment here
to fabricate the special cases needed for products such as the RamLink.
This capability will save me from having to hire an outside fabrication
shop to do the work. This also means that the RamLink will remain in production
since the per-unit cost of the cases will be lower. The same will hold
true for the HD, FD, and SCPU cases. CMD always had the cases built by
one outside shop and then shipped to another shop for painting. The whole
process including the baked on paint finish can be performed 'in-house'
now.
Now for the only problem I've got right now... I've been
trying to get the financing for this acquisition. However, the two finance
companies I've tried have not been helpful. The computer industry is obviously
not as sound as it was a couple of years ago, and they are leery of it.
Add to that the fact this business is targeted at Commodore owners and
you can imagine what the finance people think.
However, with some of my own money and with the help of
another individuals, I'm able to come up with a good portion of what I need
to finish this deal. Presently, I'm lacking about $10,000 to complete the
deal. I'm trying to work this deal in a way that I don't get myself into
a financial mess. The only way this takeover can happen is if I make it
a successful and profitable venture. So far, I'm OK.:
Ideally, it would work best for me if I could get some
of the current orders pre-paid. Believe me, CMD took in a lot of orders
at the end of May and just a portion of those orders would secure this
deal for me. Remember, CMD is turning all of those orders over to me as
part of this deal. I just don't know who you all are yet. But I thank you
in advance for placing your orders! Another idea I have to raise some capital is to announce
some of the new products I plan to introduce soon. If I can pre-sell
enough of these, I would have the remaining amount of money that I need
to finish the purchase. In exchange, everyone will get a nice new product
that will truly be enjoyed.
THE NEW HD-DOS
I'm doing an upgrade to the HD-DOS and it will contain
many new features. Remember the talk about the print spooling? That's what
the auxiliary port is for. You can plug in your Commodore-ready printer
or printer interface into the auxiliary port and the HD can act as if it
were the device 4 printer. The HD intercepts the printer data when an application
tries to print. The HD will then store the data into the printer partition.
It will then either send the data immediately to the printer or save it
for later printing. There will be several configuration modes. For instance,
the incoming data can be sent out as-is. In this case, a program such as
TWS might be sending data as if the printer were in Epson mode. If you
have an Epson compatible printer plugged in, then the data should pass
on to the printer as-is. But what if you have a PostScript compatible printer?
In this case, you would set the configuration for incoming Epson data and
outgoing PostScript data. The HD-DOS would interpret the incoming data
and automatically convert it to PostScript code for the printer. This makes
it possible for most any Commodore program to be able to print to a PostScript
printer. There can also be an HP PCL mode as well as a Canon BJ mode. How can a hard drive do all this? CMD made this possible
by putting a 64K computer inside the HD case. Yes, there's something very
similar to a Commodore 64 sitting inside that case. If it had a video chip,
think what we could do with it! Some users are presently connecting a CD-ROM to the HD,
but special programs are needed to handle the data transfers. To make things
easier, the new HD-DOS will incorporate a new partition type called CDROM.
Just create a CDROM partition and when you switch to that partition, you
will be able to access the CDROM drive just like you would any partition
on the hard drive. Plug in a second cdrom drive and create a partition
for that one too! There will be other features added to the new DOS such
as the ability to recognize a disk change for those who have installed
Iomega Zip drives into their units. You will no longer have to partition
all your disks the same way and you will not have to press the reset button
during a disk change either. When a disk change is sensed, the DOS will
automatically re-read the partition table from the new disk just like the
FD drive does when you insert a new disk. The new HD-DOS will include a new BOOT ROM which is very
easy to install and a new DOS disk which will also include some new utilities.
I'm estimating this upgrade will be sold for about $40.
THE NEW HD-ZIP DRIVE
Another nice new product will be an official production
HD-Zip drive. For us Commodore users, this makes much more sense than having
a hard drive with gigabytes of storage. You'd be surprised at how much
stuff you can put on a 100 megabyte Zip disk. If you get low on space,
just get another Zip disk! Or keep different projects on different Zip
disks.
The new HD-Zip drive will have all the same features as
the regular HD-Series drives. The only difference will be visible on the
front, where the Zip disk is inserted.
The HD-Zip drive will also include the new HD-DOS mentioned
above.
I don't have a firm selling price on this unit yet, but
I've determined that the price will be $299 or less (plus shipping). Once
I get production up and running on these units, I might find that costs
are low enough with the "in-house" cases and other in-house production
that I can keep the selling price below the $299 figure.
If I were to pre-sell just 30-35 of these, I would have
the remaining funding needed to finish the purchase of CMD's Commodore
business.
HD-ZIP KITS
Do you already have a CMD HD? How would you like to put
a Zip drive in it? I will be selling a kit in two forms, with or without
the actual Zip drive mechanism. The kits will also include the new HD-DOS
mentioned above.
The kit will give you the necessary bracket and screws,
a template for cutting the front panel, a new front panel decal, and an
instruction sheet.
Currently, I can only estimate what the selling price
of these kits will be. Most likely, the kit without the Zip drive mechanism
will be somewhere around $55. (remember, that includes the new HD-DOS)
MY REQUEST AND MY PROMISE
Once again, I'm putting out a request for anyone interested
in the above products to go ahead and send me your order. Or maybe you're
still thinking about ordering a SuperCPU, or an FD drive, or whatever.
Go ahead and send me an order and I'll get this deal going and get your
order to you just as soon as I finalize everything with CMD and get up
and running with production. Naturally you won't get your order shipped
in 24 hours, so please be patient with me.
I'm currently not set up to take credit cards, although
I plan to later on this summer. So, money orders or personal checks are
accepted. Email me if you prefer paying by credit card and I'll look into
getting something set up with PayPal for the time being.
| HD-Zip drive (complete) |
$299 plus $15 shipping |
| HD-DOS upgrade (for existing units) |
$40 plus $4 shipping |
| HD-Zip kit without mechanism
(includes HD-DOS upgrade) |
$55 plus $4 shipping |
| HD-Zip kit with mechanism |
price not yet determined |
|
