RAM Controls Lunar Lander Thrust Controller

[djw90]

Someone brought this up last night and I've been thinking about it ever since.... Is there much interest in a FULL Lunar Lander conversion kit? Eventually, I can provide a fully populated control panel - wiring, buttons, thruster, mission select panel, etc... That means people will be able to slap them onto Asteroids cabs and turn them into Lunar Lander machines fairly easily. However, the CPU boards are somewhat rare.

The questions are:

- if I were to make reproduction LL CPU boards, would anyone be interested in them?

- should I make the boards EXACT or slightly different?

- wouldn't making a CPU board for LL be a "bootleg" essentially?

- wouldn't I be crossing a line by doing this?

- if I am crossing a line, what about others who make multi-boards? Are THEY crossing that same line and not worried about it or is it different all together?

I'm really reluctant to reproduce major boardsets of any type because of the whole idea that I would be making bootlegs, but it seems to be fine for supports boards - amplifone HV & deflection, 6100 HV & deflection, encoder boards, etc.. Maybe I could make the boards without the ROM and let everyone do it themselves or run over to Hobby ROMs? I could EASILY copy boards like Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, etc... but should I? I'm still leaning towards no on that one.

Comments?

Dave

Dave, Im not sure there will be a need for LL boards once the Braze multi kit comes out, and it is being worked on now. If that does not happen then It would be something to look at. JMO.

I would like to See the Vector Monitors and Monitor boards for sure!!

 

[Daviea]

Maybe I should make Asteroids boards to install the Braze kits onto?

That brings up the topic: Asteroids/AsteroidsDeluxe/LunarLander control panels.... that could be a good one.

Dave

Dave, Im not sure there will be a need for LL boards once the Braze multi kit comes out, and it is being worked on now. If that does not happen then It would be something to look at. JMO.

I would like to See the Vector Monitors and Monitor boards for sure!!

 

[MaximRecoil]

I'm waiting on ONE part (the "redo" of the plastic covers).

You upgraded the original plastic handle to metal (aluminum), correct? Why not upgrade the plastic cover to a piece of e.g., stamped 16 gauge steel? Forum member Dezbaz used steel to fabricate his own, and it looks awesome - link to picture and link to thread.

 

[djw90]

Maybe I should make Asteroids boards to install the Braze kits onto?

That brings up the topic: Asteroids/AsteroidsDeluxe/LunarLander control panels.... that could be a good one.

Dave

Maybe but Asteroids boards are pretty easy to find. How much do you think they would be?

 

[havok69]

I would need to see the parts in question. Race Drivin' hasn't been on my radar much at all, but I'll certainly look at reproducing anything ATARI. I would need originals to work from. Ideally NOS, but I'm pretty good at getting around that requirement if I have to.

Dave

Put me down for Race Drivin parts! I'd love to get mine mint...

 

[mhanlen1]

Maybe I should make Asteroids boards to install the Braze kits onto?

That brings up the topic: Asteroids/AsteroidsDeluxe/LunarLander control panels.... that could be a good one.

Dave

This might be a good idea. The only problem is keeping the cost down. I got a dead Asteroids board exchanged with a working one for $50. Working ones aren't too hard to find at around $100. It's a nice idea though, especially if Asteroids boards get harder to find working (at a reasonable price), or the people who repair them become scarce. It seems a lot of Asteroids machines come into to the hands of collectors with board problems.