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A propos d'Obligement
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David Brunet
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Interview with Artur Gadawski
(Interview conducted by David Brunet - December 2018)
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Here is an interview with Artur Gadawski, the founder of Retro 7-bit,
an Amiga hardware maker from Poland, known is particular for the Rys USB adapter.
 Hello Artur. Can you
introduce yourself?
I come from Poland and live in the city of Wroclaw. I am a software
developer and an electronics engineer who runs a small company, which
devotes some small part of its activities to the Amiga. My hobbies
include the already mentioned Amiga, history and some other stuff for
which I can never find enough time.
When and how did
you discover the Amiga?
I started my Amiga adventure in the early 1990s, when my brother and I got the Amiga 500.
What are your Amiga
configurations and what do you do with them?
Currently, I have Amiga 500, 600, 2000, 1200 and CD32. All of them play their respective roles in the development
of new hardware and software solutions.
What was your
main Amiga projects before you created Retro 7-bit?
Before Retro 7-bit came to life, I had been a pretty regular Amiga user. The only exception to that rule might
be a short period of time in the early 2000, when I designed two Amiga adapters called PARalizer and
SpeedCOM. In order to manufacture and sell them, I had established a company called S-Bit.
Can you introduce
Retro7bit?
To be precise, Retro 7-Bit is a brand. It was created on the spur of the moment. One day, as I was going to use
my A1200, its original mouse died. Since I did not have any other Amiga mouse on hand, the need to connect a
regular USB one emerged. This is how I came up with the Rys USB adapter.
Rys USB Adapter
Did you work alone?
Or you have employees?
I design the hardware all by myself, but during subsequent stages of the typical project, I get some help from other
people. The core of my little team includes my brother, Jacek, and Milosz Staszewski (k7).
Did you need some
help with your company and did you plan to recruit additional staff?
On the Amiga side of things, I do not hire anyone. There are, however, several volunteers helping me out with
the beta testing process.
Can you summarize your
main hardware products? (just a list with name of the product and a little description)
- Rys and Sum USB adapters : my first projects.
- Wicher 500i : first "significant" turbo card project.
- wicher CD32 : the Amiga CD32 memory expansion board that has just been launched. :)
Wicher 500i Ex
One of your most
interesting product is Wicher 500i, an accelerator for Amiga 500. Could you tell us the story behind this product?
When the work on Wicher 500i started, considering its size and complexity, it was my most significant project to
that date. But it all had started earlier, with a very simple turbo card Wicherek14.
Wicherek14 allowed installation
of 14 MHz CPUs in A500/A500+/A2000, but did not provide any additional RAM. The next evolutionary step brought memory
controller and hard drive support. It materialized into Amiga 500 Expansion port-attached Wicher 500. As the
time went on, the project transformed into Wicher 500i.
Why did you not
supply the 68000/68010 processor with the Wicher 500i?
There are two reasons for that: firstly, it is a simple matter of cost reduction, and secondly, these CPUs are not
RoHS certified.
What are the differences
between the Wicher 500i and the Wicher 500i rev.2c?
The main difference between these two cards is in the support for 16-128 MB SIMM modules, which translates into
the fact that AmigaOS can access 12.5 MB of Fast RAM. Wicher 500i rev.2c provides also the MAPROM function and
allows IDE hard drive controller to use PIO 0-3 modes.
Did you plan to make
an accelerator also for Amiga 600?
I haven't thought about that, but who knows? ;)
Did you plan to make
accelerators with faster processors like 68060 or the Apollo Core?
I am a proponent of both FPGAs and MC680x0 CPUs. Most probably my future projects will try to embrace both.
You also annonced
the Wicher CD32, an accelerator for the CD32. What are its specifications? Do you have an idea of its availability and
its price?
Wicher CD32 should be available any moment now. Its main features include 11.5 MB Fast RAM support, MAPROM function,
IDE controller and ClockPort connector.
Some of your products
have firmware (Rys USB, Rys MKII, Sum 600, Sum 1200...). Since it's designed for the Amiga, did you plan to make the
updating of the firmware possible directly on Amiga? (it's only possible on Windows for now)
In order to do that, there should be a USB stack available. Unfortunately, this cannot be taken for granted in the Amiga world.
Therefore, using Windows compatible software seems to be the most reasonable solution.
Did you plan to market
(or remarket) your old parallel and serial adapters PARalizer and SpeedCOM?
To be honest, I did not. I am not really sure, if there would be any demand for these old products.
Which of your products
sell the best?
Definitely the most popular one is Rys MKII.
On your website, we
can see an Atari button. Which Atari projects did you plan?
At the moment, I am working on an Atari 520/1040ST expansion card that will provide fast memory and an IDE controller.
Which tools and software
did you use for designing/making your products?
The tools that I am using for designing my products are all Windows-based.
What are your next
projects for the Amiga?
I will take the liberty of not giving away my plans. ;)
It seems to have
lots of good Amiga hardware makers in Poland (Elbox, RastPort, Archi-Tech, CS-Lab, yourself, etc.). Did you think the Amiga
Classic market is now big enough for such strong competition?
Certainly, at the moment there is a high demand for new expansion cards and other classic Amiga-oriented
products. However, building one's business specifically around the Amiga market sounds like a really risky
decision. Most of the companies you mentioned seem to perceive Amiga
market as an addition to their respective regular activities. Because
the founders of these companies are Amiga fans, they try to respond to
the most obvious Amiga hardware market needs.
Which of the
hardware projects/products of the Amiga community impress you the most?
I find Apollo Accelerators (Vampire) the most impressive one.
What is your opinion
about AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and AROS?
I have not used any of them.
What is your opinion
about AmigaOS 3.1.4 and the legal battle about its release?
It is great that AmigaOS 3.1.4 has come into existence. Unfortunately,
this continuing legal turmoil does not bode well for the future of this
AmigaOS line. I really, really hope that one day all the AmigaOS IP
rights will find a single owner and further development will be possible.
Is there a question
I didn't ask you, and that you want to answer to?
I don't think so. ;)
A last message for
the Amiga community?
I really want to thank all those of you, who buy my products and by
doing this back the future projects. You make it happen!
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