This page was last updated
October 05, 2011.
INTRODUCTION
If you've come this far then you're probably anxious to buy one, but please
read the rest of this information first. The instructions for ordering one are
down below, I promise, but there's a lot of other information that you should
know first. I recommend that you read everything, maybe more than once, just to
be sure you understand what you're getting and to ensure that you aren't
disappointed.
Please don't email me directly for information about this order unless you
have some deeply personal thing that you need to discuss. All other discussions
about the SBC6120/FP6120 should be directed to the
Spare Time Gizmos Yahoo!
group so that we can all hear what's said and participate. If you haven't
already joined this group then you should, and while you're there check out the
group archives. There are lots of pictures and files related to past SBC6120
builds.
WHAT YOU'RE BUYING
I assume that you already know what the SBC6120 and FP6120 are and that
you have a basic idea of how they go together and the parts required. If you
don't then you might want to read the manuals first -
| The beautiful FP6120 faceplate, silk screened in five colors and laser cut |
| SBC6120 bare PC board (four layers, silk screened and solder masked) |
| FP6120 bare PC board (two layers, silk screened and solder masked) |
| One NOS HD6120 PDP-8 CPU chip |
| A set of 20 paddle switches for the FP6120 |
| A custom machined LED shadow bar for the FP6120 |
| Three 64Kx4 SRAMs |
| Two 27C256 EPROMs pre-programmed with BTS6120 |
| Five pre-programmed PLDs (three for the SBC6120 and two for the FP6120) |
| Two stacking bus connectors used to connect the SBC6120 to the FP6120 |
That's all - the rest of the parts you will need to supply yourself. There is
a complete parts list in the back of the SBC6120 and FP6120 manuals, and there
are also some more current lists, complete with DigiKey and Mouser part numbers,
in the Spare Time Gizmos group files area. Unfortunately, the only paddle color that the switch vendor has in stock in
large enough quantities to fill our order is BLACK. The white does look a little better, I'll admit, but
we've used black in the past and it looks pretty good with the FP6120 colors.
THE PRICE FOR THIS PARTIAL KIT OF PARTS WILL BE $600.
REMAINING PARTS AND
FULL KITS
You should expect to spend another $100 to $200 for the remaining PCB mounted
components, depending on how well stocked your parts box is. And of course that
doesn't include an enclosure, terminal, disk drive or power supply. There are
people in the Spare Time Gizmos group who have offered to do a group buy of all
the remaining parts and sell them - that's fine with me and you're welcome to
get your parts there if you choose. Some vendors (e.g. DigiKey) also have the
ability to set up a public BOM so that somebody could set up a list of the
required parts and then everybody else could just order from that list - that's
fine with me too, if one of you would like to manage it.
Spare Time Gizmos won't be selling a full kit of parts for either the SBC6120
or the FP6120. My role here is to make it possible for you to get the unique, "unobtainium"
parts that you just can't get anywhere else. It doesn't make financial sense for
me to sell you parts that anybody can get from the corner Radio Shack, Dick
Smith or Maplin, and I have no desire to be in that business.
SHIPPING CHARGES
Shipping and handling charges to US domestic addresses are $40 for USPS
Priority mail with insurance. International shipping to addresses outside the US
is $65, once again for Priority mail and insurance. I'm afraid that this is the
only shipping option - I can't ship by UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. Also, if you order
more than one kit, then they'll be shipped separately - the shipping boxes that
I use really aren't big enough to hold two faceplates safely. That means that
there's no shipping discount for multiple orders.
PARTIAL ORDERS
I know some people want to order just SBC6120s without FP6120s, or the reverse,
or even just some specific part such as switches. I CAN'T ACCOMMODATE ANY OF
THOSE REQUESTS. Sorry. It just takes way too much time and effort to keep track
of what everybody wants and calculate special shipping charges when everybody
wants something different. The only option is to buy the combined SBC6120/FP6120
partial kit.
If you buy a SBC6120/FP6120 kit from me you're more than welcome to part it out
and sell whatever bits and pieces you want. My advice to the people who only
want this part or that is to get together (advertising on the Spare Time Gizmos
Yahoo! group would be a good start) and work out deals privately.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I think that's all the details. If you have questions or think of something that
I haven't mentioned, then please post them to the Spare Time Gizmos group.
Here's a recap