#Cltd = Jack Tramiel ????
28 messages in this thread
Where did you get the aluminum foil from?? Pepsi cans!!
Listen I don't want the users to think that you are a bad case (you do
have a good priced product out there) but don't make it sound like
heaven.
I also own a A-Time which I purchased almost a year ago for $39.95!!!
My A-Time has been running a year now and I had no problems what so ever.
I am also a member of our local user group (membership 135) and 80% of
them own an A-Time. Not only no-one has had any problems but we all feel
that ASD (Akron Systems) has the best technical support in the business.
They just released some PD utilities for their clock and are ready
to release a Public Domain program that will give macro capability to
the Amiga and be compatible with ALL!!! programs. I've been beta testing
the program now for about a month and I can tell you that is a killer.
If the guys at ASD where not so busy filling out orders for their A-Time's
the program would have been ready right now!!. (I hear there are more than
10,000 A-Time users out there!!)
Also some of our users own the Starboard 2 from Microbotics which by the way
I think is the BEST BOARD IN THE MARKET for 2 Megs!!!. These people
did everything right!!!! Computer Best (1-800-221-6086) sells a starboard
un-populated for $325 with sockets for 64 256k x 1 chips. These chips can be
had for $1.99 which puts the price for a 2 meg board at $325+(64*1.99)= $452.36
They also sell a module with parity checking, 68881 socket, real time clock
for $81. I think Ed you are out of the memory board market!!!
To conclude my message I would say that I would not have spoken if you
had kept your messages just to your company and your company only.
But making sales on false information and at a forum that had a bad experience
with T-S is not right. I just wish that the SYSOP's would have opened
your eyes sooner.
John Bates.
John,
I'll let Mr. Lippert address your concerns dealing with C Ltd. In the
case of their 'advertising', please read VENDOR.TXT in DL 1. A manufacturer of
Amiga related products may make a product announcement here. They may give
suggested retail prices. The may list an address and a phone number. They MAY
NOT have a line that says to the effect of: "To order call" or "Send cash,
check, or money order to …". ANY manufacturer of Amiga related products may
do this — nothing special about C Ltd. One of Mr. Lippert's messages did go
over the line — the messages dealing with PALs. However, I felt that it's
informational content outweighed it's commercialism.
For the record, I do not own a C Ltd product altho I am in the market
for a HD. As of now I'm seriously looking at Supra's product because of the
sockets available for Amiga ram expansion in their product. I also have had an
A-Time for well over a year. On my second Amiga I use Byte by Byte's TIC
(which I do prefer over the A-Time). I just want my 'prejudices' out in the
open.
You are indeed welcome to your opinions and comments and I'm glad you
voiced them. The reason that I'm replying to your message is just to point out
that Mr. Lippert of C Ltd did not violate CIS or AmigaForum policy and that we
welcome any Amiga related software/hardware manufacturer to provide customer
assistance/support via this forum.
Steve:
Also, no one is going to make much money doing the PAL at those prices
unless everyone that owned an AMI sent it in for service. It is clear to me
that the offer was intended to create goodwill and solve problems. I still
admire the good sense and skill of the sysops in their exercise of discretion.
Keep up the good work! 73s,
bill
First of all let me say that my name is John Bates I live in Tuscon Arizona
and Bill gave me his permition to use his account while he is in Canada.
So all comments are mine and NOT Bills'.
Anyway, I am sorry to all the members if the message got a little nasty
but I was so upset returning from our user group meeting where I heard some
people, that which by the way monitor the messages here, saying to other
members about the faults of T-S board and how heaven the Amega was.
I even heard a comment about the Starboard that it was IT that caused the
problem with the Cltd hard drive. So as you can see the comments of Mr Lippert
are causing misinformation among users and SALES for Cltd.
Listen Steve and everyone else. As you heard Ed's company manufactures their
own boards. That gives them the best speed in the industry in turn around
performance. Technisoft on the other hand is a company that had this idea.
Sell the best board (expandable to 8 megs) at the best price.
When their ad hit Amigaworld they went crazy with orders. They start shipping
some boards which quickly came back as defective. Now for them and I think
for everyone that does not have the capabilities of Cltd (which by the way
where also Cardco's facilities) the turn around time is much longer some
times 2-3 weeks. They did however, even if it took them a bit longer and a
bit of cash (remeber they where stack with an increase of price in their
SIPs and at the same time most of their orders where with the older price),
did correct the problem and are now shipping a very good product at a
very good price.
I got mine a week ago from my local dealer. UPS had just delivered 6 of them
so they where as new as you can get them.
(Continued…….)
What I am really saying though is this. Mr. Lippert, let US decide what board
to buy without the comments to some users 'tell them how good we really are'
and that its all their fault and not ours.
The way I heard the story is that IT WAS YOUR problem and not theirs.
Maybe you all forgat the jumper story with the Amega board. They where able
though to fix it right away due to my previous comments.
I do like that Mr Lippert is here and able to answer questions from users
but his presence here also has become very commercialized. I would not like
to see ANY company go out of business. But with the comments of Mr Ed and
Bela and some others that may happen, and if it happens it can only do
damage to the Amiga comunity.
Cltd does have good products for the Amiga but so do a lot of other companies.
Is up to us USERS to make the decision on whats bad and whats good.
I would give credit to him though for being a good executive (look what Tramiel
has done with misinformation), but even though he made an offer for a
recoverable ram disk (could not afford competition from ASDG i guess), it was
the goodwill of Perry Kivolowitz who gave it to us. Why don't you all
look at ASDGs' products and service. Its at least their RAM disk you are
using for free!!!
Thanks for listening Steve!!
John Bates.
John, You apparently did not call Techni Soft about 10 times to get your board
and were each time met with a different story. They outright lied to us about
boards being shipped and admitted that in the next call. If only they had told
the truth, we would have been waiting patiently, but lies do NOT create any
goodwill for a company.
Joergen
John, I must say that Perry Kivolowitz and ASDG are very impressive. He gave a
demo and talk tonight at my user group (LICA Amiga Users) and it was the best
meeting we ever had. He stated tonight that ASDG is giving 2 year warranties
on all of their products, that you can upgrade to any of their products at any
time for FULL cash value of the old product. They will support every Amiga
regardless of what new stuff comes along – the 1000 will not be left in the
dust.
Marlene
Wo! While I thank you Marlene for the comments, let me clarify one point.
Owners of the mini-rack-c or mini-rack-d (both two slot zorro kinda boxes) can
upgrade a full buy back to our larger rack at any time. This does not cover
boards. Just racks. This is our way of making up for not passing the bus (yes,
passing the bus is popular but dangerous). Also, the Lica meeting (and all
people in the LI area should attend them, they are very well put together) was
the scene for our announcing that our warranty period is now two years. This is
retroactive to current owners. Cheers! perry
Whoops, guess I forgot to mention which product! Just a small (grin) error.
Marlene
To SYSOP
I would like to post my experience with TIC and A-Time.
I got TIC about 2 weeks ago and after using it for about 3 days my Amiga
started to malfunction. I took it down to my dealer and this is what he said.
The Paula chip needed replacement. He asked me if I did anything wrong
with the Amiga and I told him about the TIC. The TIC needs to be unpluged
when you want to use the joystick port. I do have a lot of games that
use the joystick port (and more of them are coming out) plus I have
Logistix which requires a dongle at the port. So as you can see I did a lot
of pluging and un-pluging. My dealer heard my story and checked his
diagrams and found out that the joystick port is connected directly to
the Paula chip and any static charge could destroy the chip. He then said
that it would be better if I needed to use the joystick port to unplug
the TIC before I turn on the computer.
Well, that was it, I took it back and traded in for an A-Time.
All I can say is that I am glad I bought A-Time.
There is no need to unplug it from my computer and it works just fine with
both my printer and my Futuresound which both plug into the parallel port.
Also a friend of mine who has TIC said that he will also trade it in for
A-Time because from pluging and un-pluging his joystick port has come loose
and he is scared that he may bend the port or blow his Paula chip.
Kevin.
Your experience was unfortunate but more than likely just coincidental. The TIC
was developed by Jude Katsch — one of the original Amiga design team. Much
time and development work went into the TIC to assure that there is no problems
plugging and unplugging the unit in a live machine. It is much more likely that
plugging and unplugging a joystick in a live machine would cause a static
discharge or bend the pins.
I have uploaded a completely original song to the audio database. It can be
used with DMCS and teh Instant Music instruments. IT shows how good DMCS can
really do! I highly recommend it! bob[]
Flame off Bill. Your 'attack' of Ed is stronger than anything he has said
about anyone else. In particular Ed's comments on Technisoft have been very
mellow compared to the remarks by those that have been so badly mistreated by
that company. Many (if not most) are willing to go a long way with a company
that is struggling to meet their commitments as long as they are truthful. The
experiances of many of the most active members of this forum with Technisoft
were bad. One can expect a great deal more animosity toward the company than
is actually seen here.
Ed is well favored here by the members because he frequently makes
worthwhile contributions to the efforts of others. He provides a great deal of
technical information that would often be somewhat difficult to obtain. He
speaks highly of his products (what manufacture would not?) but I for one do
not think that he misrepresents himself or his company. I expect him or any
other competitor to be a little critical of others. Ed is not out of line. The
SYSOPs probably favor him (at least a little) too. After all they are human
also and Ed (or for that matter anyone else that) tries to help the other forum
members and otherwise contribute to the usefulness of the forum really helps
them. I think that you will find that they (the SYSOPs) are slightly partial
to 'Gold Disk', 'MSS' and anyone else that shows up here regularly to
contribute their knowledge to the membership.
Everyone has their own experiances. While I am generally happy with
ASD and have the A-Time, it is the only piece of AMI hardware that has failed
on my AMI system. The aMega board has performed flawlessly. So what? So when
I have questions about the aMega board, I only have to drop a line on the
AmigaForum and there is a usually response within 24 hrs.
73s,
bill
Bill;
Thank you for saying what I wanted to! I haven't noticed
any activity from Techni-Soft or from many of the companies that
supply Amiga Products. As a an Amiga user and dealer it is really
appreciated.
Ken
}i}i{zO}Ogo pdp11 Ken:
Guess I did not realize that you were a dealer. REAL glad to see you
here. You can no doubt supply very useful information to your customers and
therefore supply a valuable service to the entire AMI community.
73s,
bill
Bill, I don't really think that we 'favor' anyone. Every member of the Amiga
Forum is valued (and that's the truth). Remember that it is the membership
(including yourself) that makes this forum such a great place to be. We
welcome everyone – from a new user to known developers. I know that you
weren't implying that we don't appreciate everyone – however – all are equal
here, level of experience and/or status within the computer industry
notwithstanding.
Marlene
Bill,
I don't really know if any manufacture can say that he has sold his
product and never received any of it back for repair. Why don't you contact
ASD and tell them about your problem, and maybe you will be supprised that
Cltd is NOT!!! the only company offering good service and good support.
Who knows, maybe you can tell us all about it in a few days.
As far as activity from other companies maybe when they get as big and rich
as Mr Ed they will be able to AFFORD!! to get up here. Till then, they
think is more important to supply a GREAT product at a GREAT price!!
I would say this. Why don't CIS offer free accounts for companies. All that
will do, will be to attract even more users.
John Bates.
By The Way, I just want to emphasize that there exist two companies with very
similar abbreviations. ASD is Akron Systems Design, and ASDG is ASDG (that's
really our corporate name). At the developers conference, one of the
principals of ASD came over to me and said, “you know, one of us should really
change our name.'' Well, they were ASD before we were ASDG so in fairness I
suppose it should be us. But….we like the name too much. Anyway please try
and keep them distinct., Thanks! Perry
Perry, is that short for Advanced Systems Design Group? (just curious)
Regards, Larry.
Actually, this was the name of the entity which existed before the formal
incorporation. Advanced Systems Design Group was too similar to other company
names in New Jersey. Hence ASDG, Inc.
Dear Mr. Beck:
I'll let my activities on this forum speak for themselves. And
I thank those members who have responded on my behalf. There is one
allagation, however, that only I can respond to and I will do so here
ONCE and will waste no further time on it!
I resent you statements that I am RICH, that I folded CARDCO
and that I made money off CARDCO leaving others 'holding the bag.'
My current net worth, including all of my holdings in C Ltd., as
shown on several loan applications I have filled out recently is slightly
less than $100,000.00. This includes my house in which I have $50,000
equity! I am not RICH.
As President, C.E.O. one of five shareholders of CARDCO, I was
paid a salary of $50,000/yr which was 30% below the national average for
C.E.O.s of comparable sized companies. (Ref. INC Magazine – Executive
Compensation Review, 1986) The salary I was paid was less that I had
earned (as a consultant an Disk Jockey) the year prior to starting CARDCO.
During CARDCO's life the Shareholders NEVER withdrew ONE RED CENT in any
way shape or form. So all I 'made' off of CARDCO was my salary, period.
CARDCO folded because three (SKU, Warehouse One and First Software)
of the five largest distributors in the C-64 area filed bankruptcy within
a short period of time owing CARDCO a lot of money. When the last one
filed, CARDCO's bank deemed their loan as insecure and siezed the assets
of the company. (I did not fold the company!) The five sahreholders lost
our entire initial investment of $550,000.00 and as guarantors of the bank's
loans are now have to personally pay an additional $520,000.00. That's over
a million dollars in hard cash (not paper) losses. So as you can see, we
(I) didn't 'take the money and run.' By the way, C Ltd's facilities are
not CARDCO's facilities, but the experience wasn't left behind!
* * * * * * * * Continued Next Message * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
First of all let me say that the only task Bill gave to me when he left was
to log on and download the forum messages so that he could read them when
he gets back.
When I start reading the messages I downloaded, your tone of voice(or writting)
for that matter made quite an impression to me. Since you are biased you should
try and keep comments clean of criticism of your competition.
By the way I have messages from CIS all the way back to 2 months so if you
want I can specificaly quote you on things you said (this is taking too long).
Anyway, as I said before I was only here to monitor CIS for Bill, and
nothing more. Leaving messages to CIS does cost money and is not my money.
So messages that where self explanatory I did not answer, as I am not going
to answer some messages from today.
So here it is, since you are sooooo!! fast to make YOUR conclusions and
cleverly enough to let everyone know about them.
I am NOT affiliated with ANY company, never had and probably never will.
I am just an Amiga fanatic and it hurts me to see ANY!! (and that includes
Cardco) company go under. I beleive that constractive criticism is the
thing that everyone should be doing so that the Amiga market will expand.
Competition helps the Amiga User and thats what this forum is all about.
I remember when Tecmar came out with products for the IBM everyone had
the same criticisms as you did here. But Tecmar did listen and did correct
most of their problems. Just think about it. How many people bought Amigas
because they felt that a big company was behind the Amiga from the very
beginning. Tecmar like Microforge got burned from Commodore. When they
needed some capital to continue R&D C-A said we will go into 100 pin zorro
and that was IT!!
(continue………)
* * * * * * * * Continued from the Previous Message * * * * * * * * *
And as for CARDCO's customers, I made sure that the CARDCO name,
as well as the rights to produce CARDCO's products along with test equip-
ment, source code, schematics and artwork were sold to a company (Supra
Copr.) who would continue to manufacture the products as well as make
sure that technical support, replacement parts and repair service was
kept available to CARDCO's customers. We even kept CARDCO's customer
service phone line open (with a recording telling people who to contact
for tech support and repairs) at our own expense for six months after
CARDCO closed. I'm sorry if you think this makes me a bad guy, but I did
my best to insure that CARDCO's customers weren't out in the cold. Can
Micro Forge's owners say they did as much.
And about CARDCO's failure to ship products, over 500 Monitor
Tuners were shipped. We had a dismal response to the product and sat
with the inventory for quite some time, in fact it took almost six months
to move all of those 'turkeys.' So we simply did not have any more made.
(I can show you invoices to prove this!) Our monitor tuner was also sold
by DAK, a huge national direct marketer, under their own name, and by
MTR of Dallas, TX. They along with us thought it was a great product, too
bad the market wasn't ready for it. As for the Digitizer, CARDCO received
purchase orders for 12 (yes that's one dozen) after running a full page
color ad in all three of the leading Commodore orientated publications.
The minimun order from Panasonic for the B/W camera was 1,000 units
at $87.00 ea. Sorry, but that was one $87,000.00 gamble I wasn't willing
to take based on such a poor response to the ad.
And as for my veracity (to quote "making sales on false information")
I do not make statements on wich I am not properly informed (unlike your
personal attack on me addressed above) unless I annotate them as such. I
am know that a review of my comments will confirm this. Don't challenge
that statement unless you are properly prepared, as I retain a hard copy
log of all CIS activity for two to three weeks and will be ready for you!
I do however have opinions and, as do you, I feel I have the right to
express them.
* * * * * * * * Continued Next Message * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But I resent a company spokesman to talk against another company.
I read messages from Xebec, Supra, Gold Disk and others, and never did
anyone criticized or imortalize their or any other company.
You know I still can get over the fact that I was not allowed to upgrade
to the Cardco G+ from my first interface, "it is a completly different product"
you said. And where did my lifetime warranty go. I guess with Supra and some
$$$.
I don't really want to get nasty again so I will terminate this and do exactly
what Bill told me to do (If he gets a big bill this month I know who's going
to pay it). I will just leave you with this last thought. Don't create
turmoil with other companies. Users some times will take things as gospel and
that leaves no room for improvement. And please no more of those poems(???),
bad remarks and "tell them about your experience with us and how good we did".
Just do what you do best for the Amiga users, and if your products are good
and priced right then all you'll have to do will be to check your books for
sales, cause a good product doesn't need 'honey' from anyone.
John Bates. (Sorry no more replies but I would read your response.)
P.S. I wonder why there are so many people in Kansas, that talk bad about you.
Don't get ready to criticize that, I was just on a BBS in that area
while back and someone, who by the way said that knew you personaly (you
had the business together or something), was talking about his experience
with you and others.
* * * * * * * * Continued from the Previous Message * * * * * * * * *
Every product has good and bad 'features' and I certainly feel it
is not only within 'limits', but my obligation to tell people about our
findings. I have ON THIS FORUM WITHIN THE LAST TWO WEEKS recommended
the StarBoard II to those wanting more than the 1MEG of RAM that our
aMEGA Board provides. I have in fact positively recommended more
products (other than our own) that I have panned.
Finally, I noticed that you neatly side stepped the question
asked by one member as to your affiliation or association with any of
the companies you say I offended. As a matter of fact, it would seem
rather suspicious at this point for you to deny it; you are using another
forum member's ID and neither I nor CIS would have any way to ascertain
your true identity, much less your affiliations.
I am therefore closing the book on this matter and will take
no more of this forum's time to address this issue. In fact if you
have anything more to say to me, call me, or use EMAIL! I will not
respond to any more of this petty garbage on this forum.
E.J. Lippert II
C Ltd.
Wichita, KS
(316) 267-6321
P.S. In case you misunderstand an earlier statement, I don't think there
is anything wrong with being rich. I would like to be rich, but I'm
not and I resent your portraying me as using money to do things when
it is a lot of work and p[lanning that have gotten the job done!
Say, My understanding is that a company can not say on CIS “here's how to
order from so-and-so.'' Ed, you phone number and address on every message is
tantamount to doing exactly that, saying “here's how to order.'' I would like
the opinion of others if this is appropriate behavior or not. Perry (no phone
number, address, or other promotion)
Perry,
Read VENDOR.TXT in DL1 — it clearly states what a company may or may
not do in AmigaForum.
Yes it is. This system is called Compuserve INFORMATION Service. If someone
knows of a product or service and that person can present it in such a way as
to not truly offend anyone, why not let the group ( AMIGAFORUM Members ) know
about it ? To me this is the same as posing BBS numbers, show info etc. We
(forum members) are here to share our knowledge with one another and to lend a
hand when possible.
..sam