News

The NEW Ironclad Hi-Fi Blaster, and progress updates

Happy holidays everybody!, it has been a while since the last update, but sometimes this work is a bit overwhelming and i have to accumulate news to do long posts like this ;)… well here I am with exciting news about the advancements of the Ironclad Plus project. When the Ironclad Plus was announced about a year and a half ago, i talked about an accessory I had in mind to improve the audio fidelity and incorporate headphones output, and i did the Ironclad Plus from the beginning with a special port called “Audio Exp” with that purpose in mind. I was certain I wanted to launch such a great add-on, as I am a big fan of retro synthesizers myself, but we had a rough year, supply of the necessary components was hard, or too expensive to be practical, and the Ironclad production was taking 100% of my time… Well i managed to improve on that over time and… Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

1st Anniversary status reports and updates!

Hi everybody! it has been a weird year marked by instability in general, heavy shortages in everything we like gaming related, atrocious prices, distribution problems, and Covid still conditioning our lifestyles in some way. But despite all that we managed to get here, a full year after the Ironclad Plus launched and i cannot be more grateful with the acceptance and the feedback received, you are awesome, and it is time for celebration. mt32-Pi Internal Hat available for all previous customers: The Internal mt32-pi hat is available at the shop for all previous purchasers who didn’t have it as an option when they bought their Ironclad Plus kits, please read carefully the instructions provided and see the install diagram picture in the shop’s item. This kit is for the Ironclad Plus without the dedicated Pi-CONN connector on board (all boards shipped before summer 2022), if your board has that connector and you didn’t purchase the mt32-pi hat along with your Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

New batch available for pre-order and other updates

Hi everybody!, it has been a very busy summer but Batch 3 is almost completely shipped, only a small number of orders remain, but they will all be shipped this week. Batch 4 is in production and will start shipping before the end of September, about the advertised date this time. I will do everything i can to have it shipped asap and keep you posted at the front page, meanwhile i managed to reserve all the parts and arrange my place at the factory to manufacture another batch. The new batch, the 5th (I thought about another name this time, like “Batch 360” but, oh well…) will start shipping in December 2022 and everything remains the same, as i still cannot produce them fast enough to meet the demand and have stock available for immediate shipping, thanks to you ;). I have updated some sections of the web and pictures to reflect the small cosmetic changes and some features Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Final Mt32-Pi Hat reveal and batch progress

Hello all!, as I said in the announcement, the MT32-Pi Hat shown at that moment was not the final design, and i am here today to show you how it looks like and explain why this is much better than before. As you see it is a full redesign: The main advantage resides in that it does not increase the total height of the Ironclad Plus with the DE10-nano + RAM mounted, it sits even lower, so it should not interfere with cases that use an HDD/SSD holder in the top cover, it allows easy access to the Pi MicroSD, also holds the Raspberry-Pi better than the preview model. It is very firmly held and durable, and that’s the main philosophy of the MiSTer Ironclad Plus; make your MiSTer build last “forever”. This final model of the Mt32-Pi Hat is the one every past or future purchaser will receive. It will also be available as a separate item from the Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Pre-order Your Ironclad Plus Now, progress, and a mix of everything

Hi everybody, I have finally managed to get, or arrange, enough supply of parts to make another batch of the Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus, this time with the stellar addition of the Internal Mt32-Pi Hat, something i thought was not possible when i started in this, now it is a reality. It was not easy to get to this stage, the semiconductor crisis has not finished and i would say it got even worse in the last months after the war in Ukraine, gas prices (and shipping prices) skyrocketing, China’s lockdowns, etc, some ICs, specially the main microcontroller, went out of stock and you could only get them at 10X scalping prices, crazy circumstances indeed. So… go to the shop section and pre-order now! 😉 As always every purchaser has his unit assured and shipping is done in order of purchase. For this new batch the expected date when the shipments will start is September 2022, and the available quantity is Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Your Mt32-Pi the professional way!

From the beginning, when I was designing the Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus just for myself, I wanted to design something durable, resistant to the passage of time, and at the same time be customisable without sacrificing anything along the way while being standard for future-proofing, and it is proving to be just that!. But I also wanted it to be as integrated as possible, with the minimum of accessories hanging around it while still being fully functional, that way it is much easier to transport, less prone to issues with less weak spots, and much easier to look at, clean, and integrate in your entertainment center. All your retro-gaming in one single professional and beautiful box for many years to come, the MiSTer project deserves that and more! Right now we have “almost” everything already, including SNAC+ with a DB9 Genesis gamepad port built in, dual RAM support, all official analog outputs available, two types of User I/O ports, remote control Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Second batch sold out!, status updates, and 3rd batch on sale!

Hello all, it has been a long time since i wrote here for the last time, but the support and demand for the Ironclad Plus has been so overwhelming that I have spent all the time building and sending this little puppies while answering your kind messages and questions, i hope nobody was left unanswered on social networks, if so, please ask again, on the e-mail preferably, and accept my apologies for missing it. First batch is about to be be completed, I have right here the last group of boards, and they are already 90% finished, on Friday they will be 100% finished, and this weekend I will have the usual “testing and packing party” X’D They all will be shipped the next week, and with that the first batch will be finally completed!. Meanwhile… the 2nd batch was completely sold out when i wasn’t looking, i almost fell off my chair!, seriously i don’t know how to thank Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Next Pre-order Wave Starting on Friday, Dec 10th, and new accessories added!

Hi everybody!, as you know production for the first batch keeps going, and all shipments from the first batch should go out during this month as it was planned, we are working hard to achieve that feat. I will be starting to order stuff for the next batch right now before prices rise even more or important parts get out of stock, so it is time to open pre-orders for the next batch of the Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus, so that I should have the fresh supply of parts to start building the second batch around after when we finish with the first one to satisfy everybody who wants one sooner, as the previous time it was sold out pretty quickly. the date is Friday (again) 10th December 2021, at 16:00 UTC (GMT) This second batch will be bigger than the first one, but still limited to the amount of units we can manage, and the window for shipping will also Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

There is one more thing… and progress updates

Hello everybody!, it has been a crazy November, a huge mountain of work thanks to your support and love, you know… ;p That let me without much time to update social networks and other tasks, i think i have been answering all the e-mails and questions, if not, please ask again as i may have overlooked your message and it got buried, sorry if that was your case. The thing is that while waiting for some parts to come i had some time to further testing the Mini-ITX Ironclad, play with it, and see it through the eyes of the retro-gamer, what does he want and what doesn’t, This is beautiful, robust, works flawlessly, and integrates perfectly with my setup and the living room, but, is there something that can be improved that increases my retro-gamer quality of life?. Then i realized i was tired of getting up/down the couch to power on/off the MiSTer, playing with the multi-function case Read more…

By d3fmod, ago

Thank you so much!!!

This has been an experience like I have never had before, so much support and encouragement is something that marks you in life. Every “like”, every message, every e-mail counts. And that is why I say thanks to all of you, because without you, this would not have been possible. The MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus was sold out on Sunday at around 14:00 UTC, this means it only lasted less than 48 hours, and that is something i would have never imagined! I consider myself a humble person, and I would not feel comfortable talking about sales figures to brag or whatever, knowing that 150 of you will get the MiSTer build of our dreams in this first batch is enough reward to me 🙂 This starts here!, i will work hard to ship your packages as soon as posible, and then people who couldn’t get one this time will have a new chance as soon as possible I will Read more…

By d3fmod, ago