News and information about the exxos store. Includes common questions and answers, plus information on new items for sale or items which will be coming off sale soon etc
JezC wrote: 08 Apr 2025 21:29
I'm reading all of this with a lot of mixed emotions - concern for your health @exxos plus sadness at the potential loss to the whole forum as a result.
The forum aspect is currently safe. It was already discussed. It's why there is sponsorship by members now. That takes a huge chunk of the financial strain off me. Server updates is a weekly slog. Lots of reasons. Not to bad currently. I've been working on getting costs down in the background as well... Still ongoing but light at the end of the tunnel now..
I'd offer to help as much as I can (and for once it's looking like I might even have a bit more free time for at least a few months as well) but being 2+ hours away from Derby (and nearer 3 from Uttoxeter) I think it would likely involve a lot of posting...unless we can end up with more than the on CL event per year ;)
Thanks for the thought. It's half a problem I've been dealing with for the past several weeks dealing with a UK supplier. Posting stuff is a knigmare. Several 22KG boxes of power supplies so far. Half the problem is it can take me a whole day to package stuff up to post. In that time I could do a lot of work myself. But I really struggle with fine control on my hands now. So not like I can do the soldering anyway. The UK PCB guy will do just about anything I want. Just it adds time and costs. Prices have to go up. His rates are fair I think overall. Just posting adds a ton of cost. But I was shipping stuff back and forth to china which cost a lot anyway. So not really sure there's much difference at the end of the day.
For the next CL, I'm trying to plan so I can actually make it (and no clashes for dates so far) so I could possibly ferry Chris from the M1 near Derby to the venue & back if that is an option?
That would result in 2 hour drive each way.. you be doing that 4 times basically.thats 8 hours added just to ferry me about. A nice gesture , but it's just not worth it. Plus I think you have a 4 hour drive yourself each way IIRC ? That's 16 hours driving in a day! I don't think anyone lives around here who's basically going past me on the M1 either.
Very honestly, quite a number of us are in turmoil actually, because we're quite numerous to work in the IT sector. So either we lack time due to daily job, or worse, we're out of job, and the lack of money is terrible.
I guess this last one is indeed a big source of your problems, nevermind the fact that you have a handicap now. This is why the sales are diving down the drain.
For my own sake, at the moment i survive because i have a small entrepreneur business very specific, otherwise, i'm 47 and i'm invisible in the current market. No one wants to hire me..... most of my projects, repairs, and others are on the brakes or have stalled.
I'm sure i'm not the only one. And the times coming are going to be worse than a perfect storm.
JezC wrote: 08 Apr 2025 21:29
For the next CL, I'm trying to plan so I can actually make it (and no clashes for dates so far) so I could possibly ferry Chris from the M1 near Derby to the venue & back if that is an option?
That would result in 2 hour drive each way.. you be doing that 4 times basically.thats 8 hours added just to ferry me about. A nice gesture , but it's just not worth it. Plus I think you have a 4 hour drive yourself each way IIRC ? That's 16 hours driving in a day! I don't think anyone lives around here who's basically going past me on the M1 either.
Well, the 2+ hours down to you is pretty much on the route down to the venue, so more like 20-30 minutes from the M1 to/from Derby which isn't much extra on a 4 hour drive each way...so if you change your mind, the offer is there.
Not to mention that I still have to settle up with you for the CL2.0 swaps ;)
Dlfrsilver wrote: 08 Apr 2025 22:48
i'm 47 and i'm invisible in the current market. No one wants to hire me..... most of my projects, repairs, and others are on the brakes or have stalled.
I'm sure i'm not the only one. And the times coming are going to be worse than a perfect storm.
I'm lucky, I have work and it seems stable, but I'm 60 this year so fighting to just hang on to retirement but it seems a long way off...
@exxos I know it's been a difficult time and I think you're making the right move, and just so you know I'll keep up on the forum admin as long as you need it, though it seems the forum at least is in a good place.
I'd do more if I could but location and work mean I can't sadly.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
JezC wrote: 08 Apr 2025 23:04
Well, the 2+ hours down to you is pretty much on the route down to the venue, so more like 20-30 minutes from the M1 to/from Derby which isn't much extra on a 4 hour drive each way...so if you change your mind, the offer is there.
Not to mention that I still have to settle up with you for the CL2.0 swaps ;)
I had to lookup where you was, I thought you way way down south for some reason... But yeah, I'd be like 10mins off the M1.. A50 to alvaston. About 2mins off A50... Off the A6..
Yeah that's like a good 4 hour slog for you to the venue. Not much of a detour to pick me up. You'll have to let me know closer the time... I'll try and convince my girlfriend to go if there's the room...
rubber_jonnie wrote: 08 Apr 2025 23:23
@exxos I know it's been a difficult time and I think you're making the right move, and just so you know I'll keep up on the forum admin as long as you need it, though it seems the forum at least is in a good place.
Thanks.. yeah I can vanish for a couple weeks and know all hell won't break loose in my absence. I'll have to limit my forum time to probably just one day over each weekend.
The forum is being funded by several people currently and @terriblefire is taking a big hit on funding the server each month. I have no plans to shutdown the server. If I did, I'd look for someone else to take over everything first.
Dlfrsilver wrote: 08 Apr 2025 22:48.
I guess this last one is indeed a big source of your problems, nevermind the fact that you have a handicap now. This is why the sales are diving down the drain.
Yes , generally someone somewhere in the world would buy something. But my EU market is gone now. It's survivalable but a X10 drop in sales overall isn't just down to no EU sales. In fact Germany sales used to be high. I think 2 Germany orders this year. I've never seen low sales that bad for years.
For my own sake, at the moment i survive because i have a small entrepreneur business very specific, otherwise, i'm 47 and i'm invisible in the current market. No one wants to hire me..... most of my projects, repairs, and others are on the brakes or have stalled.
Everyone seems 47 on here :lol: yeah my day job tanked since COVID hit. A lot of my customers no longer book work. But even so, physical work is hard for me. I simply can't do more than 2 small jobs each week now. Trying to juggle my hands between multiple jobs isn't simple.
I'm sure i'm not the only one. And the times coming are going to be worse than a perfect storm.
Yeah I think we heading towards another recession :(
Today's problem thanks to Google. "Case in point" at the type of stuff I have to deal with in the background constantly.
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Good it points out errors, but it was all working fine before. I'm Not going down another rabbit hole fixing things when they keep moving the goalposts all the time. So it will have to remain broken. It becomes pointless spending all my time fixing all this stuff, I should be working on stock! The irony of conflicting requirements..
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JezC wrote: 08 Apr 2025 23:04
Well, the 2+ hours down to you is pretty much on the route down to the venue, so more like 20-30 minutes from the M1 to/from Derby which isn't much extra on a 4 hour drive each way...so if you change your mind, the offer is there.
Not to mention that I still have to settle up with you for the CL2.0 swaps ;)
I had to lookup where you was, I thought you way way down south for some reason... But yeah, I'd be like 10mins off the M1.. A50 to alvaston. About 2mins off A50... Off the A6..
Yeah that's like a good 4 hour slog for you to the venue. Not much of a detour to pick me up. You'll have to let me know closer the time... I'll try and convince my girlfriend to go if there's the room...
Girlfriend said she would go but she seems like a bit of a 3rd wheel really. There's a possibility her next door neighbour might go. She's sort of intro retro stuff.. but that means you'll have to ferry 3 people. She's a bit older than us i think. She's a women who never shuts up... So you may need some ibuprofen... :lol:
exxos wrote: 10 Apr 2025 18:46
Girlfriend said she would go but she seems like a bit of a 3rd wheel really. There's a possibility her next door neighbour might go. She's sort of intro retro stuff.. but that means you'll have to ferry 3 people. She's a bit older than us i think. She's a women who never shuts up... So you may need some ibuprofen... :lol:
Well, this almost sounds like you will be coming!!
Well done @JezC for the coercion! :lol:
Hey, Lucy and Meg will be there like last time. They are into crochet and gaming. I can bring down some Gameboys with Pokemon Red or something, if it will clinch the deal? :lol:
