I'll never - nay, we'll never - be able to fully repay him for his incredibly meticulous and selfless work on this project. He not only successfully reverse-engineered one of my original Rejuvenator boards, which he was running in his own machine, but he even discovered and fixed a few bugs found within the boards that shipped back in the early 90s.
- The new Rejuvenator brought to life by Joe in April, 2019 - two years ago. I hope everyone that wants one can have a sparkly one like this some day.
He also made the license for the future work on the Rejuvenator done by anyone very clear by applying CERN Open Hardware License Version 2.
joethezombie:
In other words we're all in this together. And we’re not here to make “Amiga Scene Cash” (nothing wrong with that, it's just not a goal of this project since we're recreating someone else's work).Any projects, additions, alterations, or improvements based on this Amiga-1000-Rejuvenator project must be openly shared, including software or PLD coding.
We’re trying to preserve an important part of the Amiga's modder history, knock down the crazy prices on Ebay, increase the supply a little and make this remarkable tech available to more folks 30+ years after the original product was born.
I would go so far as to also hope, if not legally demand, that Greg Tibbs' name be on any printed silkscreens on any Rejuvenators made in the future if we get to that point. R.I.P. Greg - we haven’t given up yet!
I would encourage everyone to read all of Joe's posts and documents on Github as they are extremely helpful and informative.
The only thing today preventing brand new Rejuvenators from being built (besides the kind of crazy chip and electronic parts shortage going on worldwide are 4 read-protected Pal chips.
Three talented engineers and Amiga fans in Germany have volunteered to try and figure out this last piece of the puzzle. If they are successful it will be glorious. If they are not, I will officially end the project from my standpoint and hope that what Joe has put on Github might be enough for someone else to unpack some day.
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I received my original Rejuvenator in the mail today safe and sound. (Thanks, Joe!)
This is actually one of two that I'm lucky enough to own. I believe this particular board to be one of the earliest production models. I have a slightly newer one, too, which I use in my daily driver A1000 and that's where it shall stay for now. If I ever get one of Joe's new boards fully assembled, I will swap in the the new one for sure and keep the original Greg Tibbs version in safe keeping.
- The Rejuvenator that was reverse-engineered by joe. Snug as a bug in a rug.
- This what we all want in our Amiga 1000s some day, right? I know. Just hang on a little longer. And work those prayer beads, yo.
So! Now this old board will go on a long, kinda scary journey all the way from Seattle, Washington, to Germany (scary because I have a friend who recently lost a Rejuvenator in the mail going across the pond just a week ago...). Please, Lords of Mt. Olympus, protect this package on its long and important journey.
If this thing gets lost that'll be that!
The other risk, of course, is the PALs themselves could become damaged. Hopefully that doesn't happen before their secrets are pulled out first.
Also, I want to set some expectations.
While I personally have very high hopes Team Germany will unlock the secrets of the PAL chips, Joe is no slouch. He knows his s*** big time. But we’re making this change to simply get more minds into the room to try and coax the the equations out of hiding.
So, yeah. Bon voyage, Rejuvenator Board, and good luck on your final journey before coming back home one last time.
Team Germany/A1K:
We are all rooting for you so hard. If (and when!) you succeed, that noise you hear coming from the West will be our combined shouts of jubilation and triumph. Bring us home, boys.
And oh yeah, it'll be party time! Beers are on me.
