Posts by TeamFUZE

RETRO-GASM: The Fuze electronics kit for the Raspberry Pi

Re: Available in US?

Hi G0ldie,

Apologies for the late reply! We have shipped a good few units to the US but at this time don't have a US distributor.

Gladly give you a quote for shipping if you're interested.

Shila

TeamFUZE

Re: Does it meet

Hi cortland,

The FUZE has been certified CE (not self certified either) so yes it conforms to LVD & EMC requirements. Saying that the Pi is of course also CE approved and we have really added very little in the way of circuit electronics. The PSU is also CE approved, but to be safe, the whole unit was certified with everything attached, program running and little LEDs flashing in sequence.

Please keep in mind though, we're not responsible for any gravitational electromagnetic spacetime disrupting gadget you happen to build on it Ok.... (you can do that in BASIC and a few flashing LEDs you know, well that's what you tell the kids. Now stand well back....)

Jon Silvera

teamFUZE

Re: from the makers....

I'm trying to figure out which way you mean that - but all the same, a long, long time.

from the makers....

Wow, I love the Register, more because their readers actually understand what we're trying to do here, no daft comments, no my C64/Amiga is better than your ZX Spectrum / Atari ST – just good old common sense, people actually ‘get it’.

Thank you. (although – what is that about noise generators?)

The above review is refreshingly accurate, very well presented and rightly so points out a few negative issues which of course I’d like to address;

The somewhat expanded Reference Manual or User’s Guide as it has now evolved into, is currently being copy checked for the umpteenth time before we put it up in PDF form on the Fuze website. It contains a very comprehensive guide for getting started with the Fuze and FUZE BASIC, and has a dramatically expanded reference section.

Ok next one’s a biggie – USB ports. A powered hub was always intended but it has many ramifications. Not least in that we are a small outfit without corporate scale budgets and as such every little thing we do costs a bloody fortune!

The extra USB ports require a powered hub, and the sockets must to go inside so it has to be designed for its purpose. Needless to say we now have one underway. This means a single Power supply goes in, powers the HUB which powers the Pi and provides enough current to support lots of GPIO antics. At least two but possibly three extra USB ports will be available shortly, and yes, we have upgrade options for existing users and no, they will not be very expensive – expect around £15 plus delivery as a new back panel is also provided.

I am a bit surprised by a comment suggesting no documentation. We include a user guide (an evolving one too) and Classroom friendly Project Cards. The project cards are free and available from the Fuze website as well as being provided on the SD card. We will continue to provide more projects as soon as we can – it is an on-going process and users are invited to submit more too – there’s a common goal here, make it easy to teach and therefore learn computer programming.

Once we are up-to around sixteen projects we are hoping to include a printed book version in the box. At the same time, they are all free to download on the website.

I don’t want to be canned for over stretching my welcome but just one more thing, we love criticism, good or bad. We have a short window of opportunity to get this right, but we are trying and every review and comment helps us to refine the product to meet its objective – make programming accessible again!

Sincere regards and again, many thanks

Jon Silvera

teamFUZE