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8-Bits

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Joined: 28/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 08:18am 01 Mar 2014

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As you can see I�m new to this forum, so first let me say hello to everyone.

Background: My TRS-80 after many years of use has failed, so I started looking for a replacement computer that had an embedded GW BASIC compatible interpreter. I was surprised to find the current interest in BASIC, especially the work done by Geoff Graham with MMBASIC and the Maximite boards.

After some research on Maximite alternatives I decided last week to purchase the CGColorMax2 (plus add-ons) from CircuitGizmos. My concern now, which I see on this forum is not unusual, is CircuitGizmos does not appear to send purchase updates to their customers or respond to email. Frankly, I don�t understand why a business that has such an outstanding product would have this problem.

So before I panic, has anyone in the U.S. made a purchase from CircuitGizmos in recent weeks; did you receive any emails or PayPal updates from them; and how long did it take to receive your order?

Thank you for any information you can provide - John

John ~ Just tinkering in Florida

viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 09:23am 01 Mar 2014

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Hi 8,

I purchased a cgcolormax from circuit gizmos. I did receive it in about 5 -7 days I believe, not so long ago. Very happy with the product as I am sure you will be also. Don't forget to download his beginning maximite document. It is very informative. Hang in there, it will show up�

P.S., I am in florida.

I meant cgcolormax2...Edited by viscomjim 2014-03-02

Justplayin

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Joined: 31/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 326

Posted: 09:35am 01 Mar 2014

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I've ordered from him a couple of times in the past couple of months. Took less than a week to receive my orders. Only "glitch" I had was on my first order, which I had to send a order verification email. I suspect he thought my info was phony... My email address looks fake.

CircuitGizmo is a regular poster on this forum, so I wouldn't be surprised if he chimes in on your post.

--Curtis

I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!!

StoveMan
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Joined: 29/03/2013
Location: United States
Posts: 51

Posted: 09:44am 01 Mar 2014

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8-Bits,
Yeah they are legit. I have a bunch of CG's stuff. They do generally require a followup order verification from you before they process/ship. Check your spam folder as that has happened to others. I do seem to remember that the orders took awhile to arrive. Even though communication is sparse, build quality is excellent and like ViscomJim said their amplified documentation for the Maxi is great.
Personally with all the new Pic versions in the pipeline for MMbasic I hope they continue investing the time developing such well thought out boards!

Welcome to the best group of guys (only guys?) making the best group of stuff.
-Frank

8-Bits

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Joined: 28/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 10:09am 01 Mar 2014

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Thanks Jim, Curtis and Frank

I will certainly give them more time for the shipment to arrive, it's just very strange that they don't send an email confirming the purchase or shipment; or at a minimum update the PayPal status to "shipped". And I doubt it's a SPAM problem since I operate my own email server.

John ~ Just tinkering in Florida

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9308

Posted: 04:24pm 01 Mar 2014

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I'm not in America, but I will chime in here anyway.
I have bought a couple of boards from CG, and they arrived in due course.
As others have said, build quality is excellent, and they are great boards.

He does the email verification thing, to make sure that you are you, and not some kind of robot. With the amount of spam these days, it seems like a reasonably sensible thing to do, especially if you don't have user-accounts per-se'.

The wait will be worth it - plop it down, plug in monitor, keyboard and power, and away you go!

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

8-Bits

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Joined: 28/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 04:53pm 01 Mar 2014

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Grogster said He does the email verification thing, to make sure that you are you, and not some kind of robot. With the amount of spam these days, it seems like a reasonably sensible thing to do, especially if you don't have user-accounts per-se'.

Thank you for the response. I'm not sure what value this has when the payment is made using PayPal (i.e. an immediate credit) from a "verified" user (me).

As I mentioned the concern I have is that I have never purchased something from an Internet seller where they didn't send some form of email acknowledgement. That sure seems like less effort than having customers continue to ask about their order until it just shows up. And PayPal makes it easy to update the transaction status as "shipped", with or without tracking information. Very odd???

Thanks again,Edited by 8-Bits 2014-03-03

John ~ Just tinkering in Florida

Grogster

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Posted: 05:01pm 01 Mar 2014

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Yes, you do have a very valid point in that respect - every other seller I have ever dealt with, all send confirmation emails etc. Perhaps CG will offer his own comments here.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

Lou

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Joined: 01/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 229

Posted: 11:31pm 01 Mar 2014

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Hi 8-bits,

I have likewise ordered from CircuitGizmos 2 months ago, the boards arrived in the mail in about 7 days to St Louis. Hang in there, you have quality stuff coming that blows away the TRS-80 - you'll love it!! With the ColorMax2 you have lots of port lines to use without hand building your own interface, I went through that 35 years ago with the TRS-80.

You should also look at the MicroMite if you haven't yet. Geoff puts a lot of functionality in a 28pin DIP and 44pin TQFP. Start here and follow the threads if you're interested.

Lou

Microcontrollers - the other white meat

CircuitGizmos

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Joined: 08/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1425

Posted: 08:58am 02 Mar 2014

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Hey 8-bits!

Your order was processed and the order information sent to my shipper on the 27th. You should be receiving it soon.

Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite

8-Bits

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Joined: 28/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 09:30am 02 Mar 2014

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CircuitGizmos said Hey 8-bits!

Your order was processed and the order information sent to my shipper on the 27th. You should be receiving it soon.

Thank you for the update.

Also let me join all the other CGColorMax2 users and say how much I appreciate the work you did producing an out-of-the-box usable Color Maximite alternative and the "Beginning Maximite Programming and Interfacing" document.

John ~ Just tinkering in Florida

CircuitGizmos

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Joined: 08/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1425

Posted: 09:40am 02 Mar 2014

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Thank you!

The Beg Max document was a labor of love and free time. I'm not gonna run out of love any time soon, but free time is scarce. The document is in the middle of an update and has not been getting the time it deserves. That is one of the reasons I support the Kickstarter Maximite Book effort. There needs to be a lot more written about the Maximite!

Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite

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