Saying goodbye to Dexter (Final run announced!)

[ma...@rulecity.com]

After much internal thought (and some discussion with my wife), I've decided to do one final run of Dexter and then move onto a new project.

So if you've been on the fence about getting a Dexter with support from me, or just have gotten used to always being able to get one on demand, this announcement may be particularly relevant to you.

I've had 50 more Dexters made from the factory.  I am going to hold onto handful of these (maybe 10?) for unforeseen circumstances but will sell the rest immediately.

Once these are gone, I do not intend to make any more Dexters.

You can place your orders here: https://www.rulecity.com/dexterorderweb/

I'll answer a few questions that I anticipate many people will have:

Q: If I order now, when can I expect to receive my Dexter?

A: Sometime in January.  I have the boards, but I'm also in the middle of my Christmas vacation, so I won't start shipping these out in earnest until 2024.

Q: Are you going to keep supporting existing customers?

A: My official stance has always been that I will provide support for existing customers for 12 months after they have purchased their most recent Dexter.  So if you buy a Dexter in Feb 2024 (for example), I will keep supporting you until Feb 2025.  Once the 12 month window ends, I do not intend to provide the same level of support that I have in the past and want the support to transition to the community (see next question).

Q: Are you going to open source Dexter?

A: Yes!  Once I sell out, I will be releasing the Eagle CAD files needed to modify/create Dexter, as well as the full Bill of Materials, and the full source code for both the main Dexter program that runs on the Raspberry Pi and the two AVR programs that run on the ATMega644p and ATMega328p microcontrollers on the Dexter board itself.  I'll even provide a Docker image to make building all of this stuff painless.

Q: Great!  So I'll just wait until you release the source code and then ask you for help getting my own Dexter built.  You'll help me right?

A: Everything I will release will be completely UNSUPPORTED and you may be surprised how much expertise is needed to create a single Dexter unit from start to finish.  For those who are desperate, I may offer some "emergency" Zoom support where you pay me a consulting fee, but this will be pretty expensive and not worth it to most people.

Q: Once you release the source code, can I make my own Dexters and sell them?

A: Yes!  But see the previous question about support. :)

Q: Are you going to add any more games to Dexter?  What about Freedom Fighter?

A: I still intend to finish support for Freedom Fighter, Halcyon, and a few other titles.  But the number of people interested in this is very small and not enough to justify me continuing to do formal runs where I pay thousands of dollars up front to have a bunch of Dexter PCBs made.  This is why I am keeping a few Dexters in my inventory for special circumstances, just in case I happen to add support for a game that a few collectors are interested in getting a Dexter for.  (and if this happens, I would likely only sell a Dexter as part of a bundle with something else like Esh's Aurunmilla reproduction PCB)