ROTW units shipping soon

[SkoolKid]

I hope the title of this thread is correct, anyway. Join me here in the wait if you're not in the UK or Europe and backed KS2!

I slapped down $624.08 (CAD) on 2020/09/10 for this thing, so it's been well over three years now. At first it looked like the machine might arrive in time for Christmas, but it was not to be. Then perhaps my birthday (early January), but that seems very unlikely now. So when it does arrive I'll just have to look at it as either a belated Christmas/birthday present, or an early one.

Not sure what I'll do with it immediately after opening. Playing either Skool Daze or Back to Skool would probably be the most fitting, given how I spent much of my time on the rubber-keyed Spectrum I had back in the 80s. Maybe some Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy too.

Anyway, tick tock...

[cmal]

When I saw the subject line, I got all excited thinking that the units were about to be shipped.

Like you @SkoolKid, I'm also waiting eagerly for the remaining KS2 units to ship as I live in the US. Also like you, I have a birthday in January (mid Jan) so maybe it'll arrive in time if I'm lucky. If not, I have no doubt that the units will start shipping quite soon. I just hope Henrique and the team don't have to resort to unpacking the units, removing the batteries and then repacking them. I would see that as a last resort type of scenario.

It's been a 3 year wait and I don't think a few days will make a difference. Probably the first game I'll load up after admiring the system and trying out some of the Next games on the SD card, would be Horace and the Spiders or Menace which were the first 2 games I purchased back in 1983.

[SkoolKid]

So I hear they're shipping now. I haven't got a tracking number yet, though. <drums fingers>

[SkoolKid]

So I hear they're shipping now. I haven't got a tracking number yet, though. <drums fingers>

The drumming did it! I now have a tracking number.

[cmal]

I've been checking my email all morning today, then suddenly towards midday, I got a text message that looked like spam. After almost ignoring it, the word "SPECNEXT LTD" stood out in the message and there it was! Then another text message arrived for the machine I ordered for my brother.
Two minutes later, two emails arrived. Delivery is expected on Tuesday 30th Jan. Can't wait!!

[SkoolKid]

And now I have an import duty/customs clearance bill of over $100 to pay before I can receive the package.

[dfzx]

And now I have an import duty/customs clearance bill of over $100 to pay before I can receive the package.

You would have always expected that, though, would you not?

[SkoolKid]

You would have always expected that, though, would you not?

"Feared" would be a better word. The amount feels like a kick in the face, too.

[cmal]

And now I have an import duty/customs clearance bill of over $100 to pay before I can receive the package.

Sorry to hear that. That is lousy that the folks in Canada are having to fork out more. That’s a good few cold beers.
It would be much better if that 100 bucks was going towards the Next team to contribute toward higher shipping costs. Instead it’s going to customs officials.

[SkoolKid]

And it's here.

[cmal]

Mine arrived yesterday too. I couldn't stop playing around with it last night. It's an amazing machine and one of top quality! Well worth the wait.
I applied the HDMI update last night and that went well. Fixed Aquaplane in 60 Hz which I'm happy about.
One thing I wasn't previously aware of is the ability to load TZX files at different speeds (7 Mhz, 14 Mhz etc), through the Raspberry Pi (on accelerated models). I was expecting it was only possible to load TZX at the normal 3.5 Mhz speed.