State of the LameStation Address (and PropellerIDE too)
Brett Weir
Posts: 288
in Propeller 1
Hi guys,
I know it's been awhile since I gave you guys an update, but now seems like as good a time as ever to fill you in on what's going on.
As many of you may know, I have been developing LameStation and PropellerIDE full-time for the past three years. I gave up a cushy job and a steady income to build LameStation because the Propeller was a massive inspiration for me when I was still a student, and I believe it's a totally underrated platform and deserves to see a much wider audience than it ever has.
Unfortunately, funding has grown increasingly scarce lately. I had set my Kickstarter planning into overdrive to try to fill in the gaps, but it became clear that I would be out of money before the campaign ended, so I find myself needing to go back to work.
Now, I'd like to avoid that as much as possible. I want to continue developing LameStation, PropellerIDE, PropellerManager, and all the other tools I've created since this journey began. So I thought I would put my situation to the Parallax community and see if anyone wanted to help out.
There are lots of ways you can help:
- LameStation Fire Sale
- BountySource
- Patreon
- Consulting
LameStation Fire Sale
I still have about 90 LameStation DIY kits in stock. I haven't done much with them since I decided to develop the pre-assembled version, so they're mostly taking up space. So, to free up some cash and get my living room back, I've reduced the price of these kits to $75 per kit. That's HALF the regular price of $150.
http://www.lamestation.com/buy/
Please BUY one! Or five! They are awesome kits in their own right, but even if you don't need a LameStation, the kit comes with a ton of parts, including a power adapter, USB serial cable, and a beautiful LCD. Any one of these items could cost you upwards of $30 if you tried to buy one off the shelf.
I am selling my remaining inventory AT COST. This offer is only good while supplies last, so get it while you can!
BountySource
I've set up BountySource for the Parallax GitHub:
https://www.bountysource.com/teams/parallaxinc
Here's how it works:
- User A really wants a feature, so they submit an issue to a project, and place a monetary "bounty" on the fix. Whatever amount they want.
- Multiple users can place bounties on the same issue, accumulating into a larger bounty.
- Developer B sees the bounty, and so they decide to fix it.
- There is a two-week review period where User A can choose to reject the fix.
- If it's not rejected, Developer B walks away with a stack of cash, and open source software is improved!
Now, I set this up for myself, but it works for any Parallax project. So whatever you need to have fixed, you can incentivize other developers. I see this being a way to improve community collaboration over all. So if you have specific things you want fixed, try it out!
Patreon
I have set up a Patreon account for PropellerIDE development:
https://www.patreon.com/bweir
Where BountySource provides one-time bounties, Patreon provides recurring funding. If you choose, you can decide to kick some amount of money my way every month to allow me to continue working on PropellerIDE. I have set up several reward levels to choose from, and I will be adding updates as I go.
This is the preferred way to support my projects, as it provides stable, predictable revenue every month. If you believe in what I am trying to create with LameStation and PropellerIDE, then send a couple bucks my way each month so I can keep doing it.
Consulting
Finally, this one is obvious but it deserves mention, I am available for hire to help you with your Propeller projects. You can learn more here:
http://www.lamestation.com/consulting/
And that's that, I suppose. I'm doing what I can to get back up and running, but in the meantime, there aren't going to be many improvements to PropellerIDE or LameStation until I have money coming in again.
I know it's been awhile since I gave you guys an update, but now seems like as good a time as ever to fill you in on what's going on.
As many of you may know, I have been developing LameStation and PropellerIDE full-time for the past three years. I gave up a cushy job and a steady income to build LameStation because the Propeller was a massive inspiration for me when I was still a student, and I believe it's a totally underrated platform and deserves to see a much wider audience than it ever has.
Unfortunately, funding has grown increasingly scarce lately. I had set my Kickstarter planning into overdrive to try to fill in the gaps, but it became clear that I would be out of money before the campaign ended, so I find myself needing to go back to work.
Now, I'd like to avoid that as much as possible. I want to continue developing LameStation, PropellerIDE, PropellerManager, and all the other tools I've created since this journey began. So I thought I would put my situation to the Parallax community and see if anyone wanted to help out.
There are lots of ways you can help:
- LameStation Fire Sale
- BountySource
- Patreon
- Consulting
LameStation Fire Sale
I still have about 90 LameStation DIY kits in stock. I haven't done much with them since I decided to develop the pre-assembled version, so they're mostly taking up space. So, to free up some cash and get my living room back, I've reduced the price of these kits to $75 per kit. That's HALF the regular price of $150.
http://www.lamestation.com/buy/
Please BUY one! Or five! They are awesome kits in their own right, but even if you don't need a LameStation, the kit comes with a ton of parts, including a power adapter, USB serial cable, and a beautiful LCD. Any one of these items could cost you upwards of $30 if you tried to buy one off the shelf.
I am selling my remaining inventory AT COST. This offer is only good while supplies last, so get it while you can!
BountySource
I've set up BountySource for the Parallax GitHub:
https://www.bountysource.com/teams/parallaxinc
Here's how it works:
- User A really wants a feature, so they submit an issue to a project, and place a monetary "bounty" on the fix. Whatever amount they want.
- Multiple users can place bounties on the same issue, accumulating into a larger bounty.
- Developer B sees the bounty, and so they decide to fix it.
- There is a two-week review period where User A can choose to reject the fix.
- If it's not rejected, Developer B walks away with a stack of cash, and open source software is improved!
Now, I set this up for myself, but it works for any Parallax project. So whatever you need to have fixed, you can incentivize other developers. I see this being a way to improve community collaboration over all. So if you have specific things you want fixed, try it out!
Patreon
I have set up a Patreon account for PropellerIDE development:
https://www.patreon.com/bweir
Where BountySource provides one-time bounties, Patreon provides recurring funding. If you choose, you can decide to kick some amount of money my way every month to allow me to continue working on PropellerIDE. I have set up several reward levels to choose from, and I will be adding updates as I go.
This is the preferred way to support my projects, as it provides stable, predictable revenue every month. If you believe in what I am trying to create with LameStation and PropellerIDE, then send a couple bucks my way each month so I can keep doing it.
Consulting
Finally, this one is obvious but it deserves mention, I am available for hire to help you with your Propeller projects. You can learn more here:
http://www.lamestation.com/consulting/
And that's that, I suppose. I'm doing what I can to get back up and running, but in the meantime, there aren't going to be many improvements to PropellerIDE or LameStation until I have money coming in again.
Comments
Macca may be interested in making an editor for music and sfx for Retronitus?! (I lost interest in my own editor) He has got his own Propeller game consol system with a lot of tools and drivers. Collaboration of some kind?!
/Johannes
I just ordered one of the lamestation kits. It was on my Christmas gift list, but since you need a cash infusion now, I moved up my purchase to be more of a post labor day "gift".
Hopefully you will be able to continue your work with the propeller and not have to get side-tracked too much with having making ends meet...
Thanks Francis! I've gotten three orders so far! I also want to thank Dave Jenson and Charles George for their purchase. That's $230 that I didn't have two days ago, so it means a lot!
I hope so too. I've been setting up 9000 profiles on all sorts of different websites. Hopefully I'll find a low-overhead gig that I can generate some cash with quickly.
Haha, I was wondering what happened with Retronitus. Who knows, maybe. While there's still some kinks, LameAudio is pretty pervasive. I'd like to do what I can to release the next LameStation as is without starting another new software cycle. Once the adjustments are made to the graphics driver for the new LCD, I already have enough curriculum for a semester, and none of the materials require any tools besides PropellerIDE, which has worked out better than I thought. I even teach them how to draw graphics in quaternary. I'll worry more about tools in the future, but I gotta get the thing out the door and into the Parallax store first!
I often receive inquiries asking "do you know a good engineer who can help me on this project that does this and that?" to which I reply "well, many good engineers are also productive engineers, so they're not readily available to start new projects".
At this moment, Brett is a capable engineer who is also available to work. Not typical and I know he'll be booked before too long.
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
@Ken.... I might be able to help.
As you are aware I am contemplating a significant project based on the P1 technology, and it will involve a (big ? ) bunch of FPGA work. Would you think that Brett has serious competency in FPGA design, implementation, testing and sufficient lab and hardware facilities to help me in my project?
@Brett..... Please let me know your own answers to my contemplated needs.
Cheers,
Peter (pjv)
I received my Lamestation kit a couple of days ago and have just completed assembling it.
The kit was well packaged/organized and was easily assembled using the online instructions.
Great project/kit, I'm looking forward to playing around with it, both game-wise and software programming-wise.
Keep up the good work...
Hi Peter,
I don't have much in the way of FPGA experience. =\ However, I didn't have any experience in Qt before I took on PropellerIDE, so that's not necessarily a roadblock. It depends on what you're trying to do. I'd be happy to talk with you more off-line and see if there is anything I can help with. Shoot me an email at brett@lamestation.com and let's chat!
Peter (pjv)
An email from Patreon just reminded me about this thread.
Cheers,
Jesse