A further update on preorders (18th of November 2012)

[hedwards]

I did not know the level of risk when I ordered as I asked about the funding. I was told the financing was in place and the expected release date was at the end of October/November. I ordered on Oct 6th. Well, maybe I had some idea that everything was not smooth throughout the process.


I agree liquidating OPL would leave many with more than paper losses.


As for CC? I hear them accused, but without knowing the issues, contracts, and other circumstances around the events, it is difficult to know. Dealing with a CM and having a design optimized for production can be quite involved. I'm not defending CC, I just don't have any information to form an opinion.


But if one wanted to stir the pot (just for fun), instead of liquidating OPL, all the people who are due pre-orders, refunds or other order could just forgive OPL the obligation and would really support the project.


Each person needs to decide what they want to do. Whipping Craig is not really productive. refund, wait, upgrade .. choose!

To be fair, nobody knew that CC was going to prove to be so incompetent. Some of it was the result of their working beyond their normal technical specs and then there were the things like leaving all those boards to corrode while they weren't working on them. That's not something that a company in that line of work should ever do. You can't just leave electronics sit there and get oxidized without that costing large sums of money to fix.


As far as contracts go, I obviously don't have any information about that, but I'm pretty sure the only reason that there hasn't already been a suit filed is that there isn't money for both that and filling the orders. Production like this doesn't happen based on wishful thinking. Somebody offers money and somebody agrees to fill the order.

 

[DisgruntleElf]

To be fair, nobody knew that CC was going to prove to be so incompetent. Some of it was the result of their working beyond their normal technical specs and then there were the things like leaving all those boards to corrode while they weren't working on them. That's not something that a company in that line of work should ever do. You can't just leave electronics sit there and get oxidized without that costing large sums of money to fix.


As far as contracts go, I obviously don't have any information about that, but I'm pretty sure the only reason that there hasn't already been a suit filed is that there isn't money for both that and filling the orders. Production like this doesn't happen based on wishful thinking. Somebody offers money and somebody agrees to fill the order.

Well yes and no. OPT did ask CC to halt production for a time while they dealt with faulty nubs and cables. When production did resume it was shortly becoming clear that CC could or would not fulfill their promised quota. The OPT talked about searching out another manufacturer but nothing ever materialized and decided to stay with CC until it became the big financial mess it is now. There's enough blame to go around.

 

[WizardStan]

Well yes and no. OPT did ask CC to halt production for a time while they dealt with faulty nubs and cables.

No, OPT asked that they continue production while they sorted out the nub issue, populating everything except the nubs. CC agreed to this. A few months later they even came back and said it was all done, every board populated except for the nubs. When OPT finally did get the fixed nubs they found out that absolutely none of that was true, no boards had been populated, nothing was "just waiting" for nubs, and in fact a great deal of damage had been done to the boards that did exist, damage which CC should have known about and which OPT could have easily fixed with fresh bare boards (which are relatively cheap) but CC lied about that damage too.

 

[DisgruntleElf]

Well yes and no. OPT did ask CC to halt production for a time while they dealt with faulty nubs and cables.

No, OPT asked that they continue production while they sorted out the nub issue, populating everything except the nubs. CC agreed to this. A few months later they even came back and said it was all done, every board populated except for the nubs. When OPT finally did get the fixed nubs they found out that absolutely none of that was true, no boards had been populated, nothing was "just waiting" for nubs, and in fact a great deal of damage had been done to the boards that did exist, damage which CC should have known about and which OPT could have easily fixed with fresh bare boards (which are relatively cheap) but CC lied about that damage too.

Well that's news to me. I stand corrected but still that should have been a red flag to dump CC and for OPT to search out a new manufacturer.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

No, OPT asked that they continue production while they sorted out the nub issue, populating everything except the nubs. CC agreed to this.

Actually, IIRC it was CC's own idea.

 

[Timstertoo]

No, OPT asked that they continue production while they sorted out the nub issue, populating everything except the nubs. CC agreed to this.

Actually, IIRC it was CC's own idea.

If you hit trouble with a manufacturer and you have 300k of gear lying there, you fly over immediately and go look for yourself. Or better yet, if you have 300k of liability somewhere and everything is still fine and dandy but 300k is an enormous amount of money for you you fly over and go look for yourself.


But that's the past and let's hope for their sakes that's the lesson learnt.

 

[slenkar]

Craig nubs PCB CC GC

 

[Binky]

Or better yet, if you have 300k of liability somewhere and everything is still fine and dandy but 300k is an enormous amount of money for you you fly over and go look for yourself.

Thats why European production seems a good plan

 

[quartercast]

No, OPT asked that they continue production while they sorted out the nub issue, populating everything except the nubs. CC agreed to this.

Actually, IIRC it was CC's own idea.

Yep I wonder if its as clear cut as OPT is trying to assert. I remember they put a lot of pressure on CC to hurry up and then asked them to halt production while sorting out some issues. I was concerned that this stop-and-start might cause some friction between the two companies but never expected 300k worth of boards to go to waste.

 

[Timstertoo]

Or better yet, if you have 300k of liability somewhere and everything is still fine and dandy but 300k is an enormous amount of money for you you fly over and go look for yourself.

Thats why European production seems a good plan

Absolutely that was a great move. If you see how much times ED has been over there and how well the process is going now it's a time investment that has paid itself back.

 

[SoleGrave]

I remember the CC production issue being about nubs then wifi. An impedance issue was discovered so the rest of the boards could not be produced until the problem was fixed. TI had changed something on the boards without telling OP and this tweak had to be corrected. ED even had mailed a SD card with testing software and though the problem was eventually solved, CC didnt do shit after they stopped.

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, just to clear it up:


1. Wifi issue was first. Not TI changed something but the bare PCB manufacturer. This changed some impedance value and therefore one resistor needed to be change. This only was a short break, as Michael figured the correct value out within a few days and hand-soldered over 400 PCBs that had already been produced, replacing that resistor.


2. Then came the nubs issue, which lead to a production stop. The nub manufacturer looked into the issue (which took 6 months).


CC discussed about the further production with Michael. They agreed to populate ALL boards except for the nubs, so that the remaining 3500 PCBs could be finished within a week once the nubs are ready and working.


I personally asked the CEO a couple of times how many boards have been finished already, and each time he told me an increasing number. From Mid October on he told me they're all finished and tested and only missing nubs.


These were the most blatant lies I've ever seen. I still got the eMails with these 'facts', so there's no denying they totally lied.


When the nubs were ready end of December, NOTHING had happened. No PCB had been populated already.


About the corrodation:


Bare PCBs corrode after lying around for too long.


This is no big issue when manually soldering big pads, but with these tiny pads you have for the SoC, this is a real issue, as there's a big chance they won't make contact anymore.


If CC had populated these boards upfront and only had to solder the nubs, then this would't have been an issue.


Using these boards to continue populating them was the worst idea ever. No professional PCB manufacturer would've done this - and even if: he would've stopped right away when seeing how many suddenly fail.


CC simply continued to populate and produce broken boards, leading to a failure rate of over 25%.


So basically:


If CC had done as they promised and populated the PCBs when they were still good, soldering the nubs on when they were finished, this wouldn't have happened at all.

 

[Super Roach]

That's an excellent summary by Evildragon there.

 

[fusion_power]

And not forgetting, the plastic case from China also needed much longer than expected, I remember that they made alot of adjustments and at the end it still had flaws. SO it must have been very bad at the beginning.


But it's good that things come togehter now, I've checked EDs Shop and at the moment, he has over 60 1GHz Pandoras in stock and also some Rebirth Editions, that's a good sign (as long as the people also buy the Units of course )

 

[calc84maniac]

This isn't really relevant, but I just randomly decided to calculate the number of days since my order confirmation. Apparently I've been waiting for exactly 1337 days. Such an amazing coincidence that I just had to post it.

 

[palstyo]

Is there any update about 1GHz unit from Craig?


Not sure how long does it takes from Germany to UK but 25units will be soon arrive(or arrived) from ED isn't it?


Craig pls let us know when you have ready to resume shipping.

 

[EvilDragon]

Should've arrived today or will tomorrow.


It will be soon in any case.

 

[palstyo]

Fantastic.


Thanks ED

 

[Monkfish]

thats just the news i was hoping to hear

 

[ComradeStalin]

Thanks for the Update ED!


So, Anyone know what the last 1Ghz order CraigX shipped out was? (Mr. #81 here checking in.)