[tech] Glasgow Interface Explorer, was: Order 112642 Confirmation from Crowd Supply

[Nick Bannon]

We've raised the idea of buying various practical or experimental tools.
Things that would be great to have available as a club asset - maybe
after a few member donations/steeple fund/splat buy - but might not be
worth buying outright by any one person for home.

Here's a few:
https://wiki.ucc.asn.au/MoneyMoneyMoney

We were getting close to the end of the crowdfunding period of:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/glasgow

- it's not the simplest cheapest USB-serial interface - I think we could
  still use a FTDI or similar
- it's not the simplest cheapest logic analyser - I think we could still
  use one of those
- it's not the simplest cheapest FPGA dev board - a
  https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga might still
  be more robustly educational on that front

...but it can do all those things; it might be able to interface to
weird and wonderful things like murphy's 8" floppy drives, failing
partly-readable EPROMs, RGB LED strips and a whole bunch more. Python at
a high level and a Free Software FPGA toolchain for the fast bits.

Ordered! Looks like the cost will be about $294 including transaction
fee, but I'll know for sure when the transaction is no longer pending.

Time was short, a Constitution Section 24.5 "emergency" financial
agreement was passed to get the item:
https://discord.com/channels/264401248676085760/264411219627212801/805725016066097173
> Nick: @committee: Can I get an "emergency" Section 24.5 commitment to
> approve the purchase of
> a https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/glasgow ? Expected cost
> AUD$330 delivered or so, call it AUD$400 to be sure

- to be ratified at the next committee meeting
- this is so the club can leverage member donations and "insure" the total cost
- I have paid the full amount and I expect the club to reimburse me
  fairly promptly once I confirm the total and we know the number of shares
- [NTU] [DAA] [MSH] [MTL] [ZAR] have pledged a share each, more are still welcome,
  to be paid to UCC once the total is confirmed
- I would like the club to pay at least a share (about AUD$49) or two (about AUD$84)

This process has somehow, so far, gone smoother than almost every other
"we oughta get this cool time-limited-thing/auction-item/etc." recently.
If anyone has input on how to turn this into a sensible and repeatable
procedure, perhaps with a limited periodical budget, do pipe up.

Nick.

----- Forwarded message from Crowd Supply <no-reply at crowdsupply.com> -----

Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2021 13:23:41 +0000
From: Crowd Supply <no-reply at crowdsupply.com>
To: "A.C.C. Murphy" <glasgow21 at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: [wheel] Order 112642 Confirmation from Crowd Supply

Thank you for your order!

As soon as your order ships, you will receive a shipping confirmation email
containing tracking information. In the meantime, please double-check the
accuracy of the shipping information below. If you have questions about our
shipping, billing, ordering, or refund policies and procedures, your answers
are probably in the Crowd Supply Guide: https://www.crowdsupply.com/guide. You
should also check the project's campaign page for any recent updates on their
progress. If you need any further help, please contact us for assistance:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/contact.

To view the status of your order or to make changes to your shipping address,
go to (login required):
https://www.crowdsupply.com/account/order/112642

Shipping Information
===============================================================================

Name    A.C.C. Murphy
Company University Computer Club
Phone   +61419957011
Address M300, The University of Western Australia
        35 Stirling Highway
        Crawley, Western Australia 6009
        Australia

Billing Information
[...]
Order 112642
===============================================================================

Glasgow Interface Explorer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have made a pledge to a crowdfunding campaign. You will not be charged
until the campaign successfully reaches its funding goal. If the campaign does
not meet its goal by the end date, you will not be charged.

  * Glasgow revC - qty 1 - $139.00 ea.
  * Glasgow Aluminum Case - qty 1 - $50.00 ea.

Items Total             $189.00
Shipping                $14.00
Tax                     $18.90
Order Total             $221.90
[...]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crowd Supply
https://www.crowdsupply.com
1836 NE 7th Ave, #110
Portland, OR 97212-3978
----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
   Nick Bannon   | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick-sig at rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal