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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Game*Mite: handheld game console based on PicoMite

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Martin H.

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Joined: 04/06/2022
Location: Germany
Posts: 1117
Posted: 10:16am 20 Sep 2023
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Search on Ebay for "Game*Mite" then Tom's offer appears.
With Taxes etc. it costs about 45 € in Germany.
Edited 2023-09-20 20:17 by Martin H.
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thwill

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Joined: 16/09/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4048
Posted: 10:26am 20 Sep 2023
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  Martin H. said  Search on Ebay for "Game*Mite" then Tom's offer appears.
With Taxes etc. it costs about 45 € in Germany.


Thanks for the purchase Martin.

I only put one up on eBay for the moment so we could find out the cost, I hadn't expected you to pull the trigger so fast. I suspect that the eBay "Global Shipping Program" gouged you; I have no control over what postage it sets, but it should only have been ~5 GBP. I'll have to look to see whether I have more control over it if I use something like Etsy ... but that's not normally used for Electronics. Tindie alas does not handle the UK tax situation so is out.

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-09-20 20:28 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2916
Posted: 10:44am 20 Sep 2023
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Wow,

45 euro is about $75AU. I would be interested in what happened there.

Tom, couldn’t you just pop a couple of PCBs into an envelope and post them? Most parts can be bought on the cheap from Aliexpress or eBay.

If that is difficult I am happy to send overseas in envelopes (no tracking just sent as a letter). I haven’t had any issues in the past although some times freight times were not quick at times

Regards,

Mick
Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<
 
Martin H.

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Joined: 04/06/2022
Location: Germany
Posts: 1117
Posted: 10:57am 20 Sep 2023
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  bigmik said  Wow,

45 euro is about $75AU. I would be interested in what happened there.

Tom, couldn’t you just pop a couple of PCBs into an envelope and post them? Most parts can be bought on the cheap from Aliexpress or eBay.

If that is difficult I am happy to send overseas in envelopes (no tracking just sent as a letter). I haven’t had any issues in the past although some times freight times were not quick at times

Regards,

Mick


GB --> EU

£20 £ for Tom
£9.64 Shipping
£7,39 import Tax

so it is £37.03 which Paypal translated to ~45€  
$70.65AU
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thwill

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Joined: 16/09/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4048
Posted: 11:01am 20 Sep 2023
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Cross posted with @Martin H

  bigmik said  Wow,

45 euro is about $75AU. I would be interested in what happened there.


It's because I wanted to do it properly and not just pop it in the post, tick the "Gift" box on the obligatory customs form and cross my fingers.

The cost was made up of:

£20 - my kit
£9.64 - eBay "Global Shipping Program"
£7.39 - 25% import tax from UK to EU - thank you Brexit

  bigmik said  Tom, couldn’t you just pop a couple of PCBs into an envelope and post them? Most parts can be bought on the cheap from Aliexpress or eBay.


Even for a couple of PCBs I'm still supposed to fill in the customs form and deal with the import tax; the latter being practically impossible for a private individual, hence the eBay "Global Shipping Program".

Plus if all you want is PCBs then it is cheaper to order direct from JLCPCB. Though I seem to recall "Chinese parcels" to the EU are more expensive (and more likely to be held up in customs) than to the UK.

  bigmik said  If that is difficult I am happy to send overseas in envelopes (no tracking just sent as a letter). I haven’t had any issues in the past although some times freight times were not quick at times


I wouldn't complain if that happened .

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-09-20 21:29 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6832
Posted: 11:39am 20 Sep 2023
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For PCBs posted from the UK international standard post is £2.20. There are restrictions on size and weight, of course.
Europe - 3-5 working days
Worldwide - 6-7 working days

I took a normal "long" letter envelope containing a couple of PCBs (protected by cardboard) into the Post office and asked them to send it to Texas. I wasn't asked about a customs declaration, although she did weigh it, stick a couple of things on it and charge me £2.20.

I probably broke all sorts of regulations. :)
Edited 2023-09-20 21:40 by Mixtel90
Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs
 
thwill

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Joined: 16/09/2019
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Posts: 4048
Posted: 11:46am 20 Sep 2023
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  Mixtel90 said  ... and asked them to send it to Texas.


I think the US are less anal about this than the EU/UK authorities and there is also some price threshold below which items between the US and UK don't attract tax/duties (it used to be the same with the EU but that changed). Of course if the US customs authorities do decide to take an interest then the customer may find their parcel arrives with a couple of .45 holes in it, especially in Texas .

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-09-20 21:49 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
thwill

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Posted: 11:01am 23 Sep 2023
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The first Game*Mite kit has arrived in a customer's hands. I guess that means I'm officially in the hardware business, or is that not until after handling my first return or faulty party replacement .

Have a good weekend folks,

Tom
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Martin H.

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Location: Germany
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Posted: 11:35am 23 Sep 2023
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  thwill said  The first Game*Mite kit has arrived in a customer's hands. I guess that means I'm officially in the hardware business, or is that not until after handling my first return or faulty party replacement .

Have a good weekend folks,

Tom

I can neither confirm nor deny this as I won't be back home until tomorrow evening. Maybe one of the nice neighbors accepted it :-)

Have a nice weekend, too

Mart!n
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thwill

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Posted: 11:50am 23 Sep 2023
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  Martin H. said  I can neither confirm nor deny this as I won't be back home until tomorrow evening. Maybe one of the nice neighbors accepted it :-)


Sorry Martin, it was someone in the UK.

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-09-23 21:50 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Mixtel90

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Posted: 02:46pm 23 Sep 2023
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Typical CIA reply anyway....
:)
Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs
 
Andrew_G
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Joined: 18/10/2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 847
Posted: 06:16am 29 Sep 2023
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Tom et al,
I now have my hands on a brace of Game*Mites and I am impressed. Congratulations.
(the plan is to get my grandchildren interested in electronics - if I can)

I'll turn the volume down and set about 'mastering' the games first.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
thwill

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Posted: 06:25am 29 Sep 2023
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Thanks Andrew, I hope you get as much enjoyment from playing and tinkering with them as we did from designing it.

Note that if you leave PicoVaders to run to the end of its intro animation without pressing START it will report an error. I'll issue a fix for this, alongside a firmware update to include Peter's enhancements to support the PETSCII Robots development, sometime this weekend.

Best wishes,

Tom
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Andrew_G
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Joined: 18/10/2016
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Posted: 08:51am 29 Sep 2023
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Hi Tom.
I had noticed that but hadn't resolved the conditions under which it occurred.
I've been poking around the .BAS files. Boy you and the team have put some serious effort in there.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
Martin H.

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Posted: 02:54pm 29 Sep 2023
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The old man can still solder after all
Edited 2023-09-30 00:59 by Martin H.
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Volhout
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Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 4271
Posted: 07:22am 30 Sep 2023
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Where did you get the housing Martin?
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Martin H.

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Location: Germany
Posts: 1117
Posted: 07:50am 30 Sep 2023
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  Volhout said  Where did you get the housing Martin?

Its just a draft 3D print to see how it could be arranged. and take mesurement.
I started to design it after Pictures ... II don't have that much experience in 3D construction or with CAD programs. So I do it online at tinkercad.com
Now , that have the Game*Mite in physical form. I can adjust the sizes, make the Holes for USB Switch etc., and create the Final Case.
There has to be at least two Versions for different screen sizes.
I also plan to design a sub-shell that can also hold 18650 batteries.

But that all has not the major Prio at the Moment.

Of course, we will publish the STL files for 3D printing as soon as they are ready. Then everyone can print out their own version.

Have all a Nice weekend

Martin
Edited 2023-09-30 17:53 by Martin H.
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thwill

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Posted: 09:01am 30 Sep 2023
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Nice looking case Martin.

I watch with interest since we were more concerned with creating something that had acceptable ergonomics without requiring a case and thus didn't necessarily make encasing it easy.

Best wishes, Tom
Edited 2023-09-30 19:21 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Bleep
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Joined: 09/01/2022
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Posts: 516
Posted: 01:48pm 30 Sep 2023
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Snap. :-)



Yes I know the display is too small, it's the only one I had with the correct resolution. I'm simply using an old Mobile phone battery as it's power, will put the base on now I know it's all working fine.
Thanks Tom. :-)
Regards, Kevin.
 
thwill

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Posted: 01:56pm 30 Sep 2023
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Hi Kevin,

Yay, another one built.

I'm guessing you must have installed the default PicoMite firmware in order to show PicoSCII Robots ? If so then please note what I wrote in Appendix C of the user manual where it may appear to crash/hang but infact the PM firmware has just reported a standard ERROR to the console or a "sigbus" error has caused the PM to clear AUTORUN.

Best wishes,

Tom
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
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