Mercury Ace - A (Possible) Upcoming Jupiter Ace Recreation / Clone Project

[Hwlngmad]

So, came across a post by Retro Games Ltd, the makers of the THEA500 Mini, THEC64, and THEVIC20 on Facebook the other day.  Well, apparently, one of their workers is involved in a possible upcoming Kickstarter project that would be recreation / clone of the Jupiter Ace, which was an early 80s British computer that ran Forth instead of BASIC.  There is an article online, but it is in Spanish (http://www.retrowiki.es/viewtopic.php?f=34&p=200163814&sid=a7ef8684f6ac40211f07c371b9309d85).  Definitely looks like a crazy, wacky project that I will 100% buy if/when it every comes to pass.

[wilco2009]

Here you have the translation.

Hello guys!
Some time ago I announced the next release of a Jupiter Ace clone that I am developing.
The clone is currently fully operational and I'm only tweaking the last design details.
It is a board fully compatible with an original Jupiter Ace case, using its rubber keyboard, although it is also possible to solder push-buttons and use these.
The most outstanding characteristics are:
- 19K or 3K selectable onboard RAM
- 8 selectable ROMs
- zx81-like mode (it's like you have a zx81 but 3 times faster in SLOW mode and keeping the display, the keyboard layout is automatically changed to match the zx81, and all with moderate compatibility with existing software )
- test ROM
- Selection of direct video mode (white letters on a black background) or reverse (black letters on a white background).
Well, I'm exploring the idea of doing a kickstarter (in collaboration with Paul Andrews) that would include a molded plastic case and a rubber keyboard identical to the original, so it would be practically the same as having an original one in our hands but with the mentioned improvements. But, the molds for the case and keyboard cost a lot of money.
We have requested budgets and the project is perfectly viable, as long as there is more than a minimum number of bakers, so before I get into it, I would like to probe your interest in a possible kickstarter, and ask you to answer these questions:
- Would you be interested in buying one?
- How much do you think could be a reasonable price? (You already know that the total expenses must be passed on to the units sold, so if we are too few it can be too expensive and unfeasible.
- Do you already have a Jupiter Ace and want a replacement case, keyboard or PCB?
- Do you prefer to assemble a kit yourself?
You would do me a great favor if you filled out the survey by clicking on the link.
https://forms.gle/3kcrRm2V8swirYVm7

Edited December 8, 2022 by wilco2009

[Hwlngmad]

7 hours ago, wilco2009 said:

Here you have the translation.

Hello guys!
Some time ago I announced the next release of a Jupiter Ace clone that I am developing.
The clone is currently fully operational and I'm only tweaking the last design details.
It is a board fully compatible with an original Jupiter Ace case, using its rubber keyboard, although it is also possible to solder push-buttons and use these.
The most outstanding characteristics are:
- 19K or 3K selectable onboard RAM
- 8 selectable ROMs
- zx81-like mode (it's like you have a zx81 but 3 times faster in SLOW mode and keeping the display, the keyboard layout is automatically changed to match the zx81, and all with moderate compatibility with existing software )
- test ROM
- Selection of direct video mode (white letters on a black background) or reverse (black letters on a white background).
Well, I'm exploring the idea of doing a kickstarter (in collaboration with Paul Andrews) that would include a molded plastic case and a rubber keyboard identical to the original, so it would be practically the same as having an original one in our hands but with the mentioned improvements. But, the molds for the case and keyboard cost a lot of money.
We have requested budgets and the project is perfectly viable, as long as there is more than a minimum number of bakers, so before I get into it, I would like to probe your interest in a possible kickstarter, and ask you to answer these questions:
- Would you be interested in buying one?
- How much do you think could be a reasonable price? (You already know that the total expenses must be passed on to the units sold, so if we are too few it can be too expensive and unfeasible.
- Do you already have a Jupiter Ace and want a replacement case, keyboard or PCB?
- Do you prefer to assemble a kit yourself?
You would do me a great favor if you filled out the survey by clicking on the link.
https://forms.gle/3kcrRm2V8swirYVm7

Many thanks for the translation.  I just read it in Spanish   Still, I think it looks to be a pretty neat little project that I definitely can't pass on if/when it comes to fruition.