100% success! (2011-12-24)

[leathco]

Double the RAM? Sounds cool. Should help quite a bit for those using these as a portable computer, and maybe for emulators that are RAM hogs.


I'm seriously debating to use ta check to buy one of these, or a new phone to augment my iControlpad. The ONLY thing I am worried about is lead time. I didn't order last year due to all the problems (heck, I STILL wouldn't have one if I had ordered last year! Although I know most everyone has been waiting for years, but eplaining to my wife I was gonna drop 500 USD and not get a product for a year or more was a bit hard). It'd be easier to convince her if I can tell her I'd prolly have it by summer.

Since September 2011, the preordering is 10 USD, the rest needs to be paid when the unit is ready to ship

If I can do the pre-order now, than pay in full in February once full production starts (I don't want to sit on the money or the wife will use it for something else), I'll go for it. My old GP2X Wiz buttons are shot.

 

[EvilDragon]

Double the RAM? Sounds cool. Should help quite a bit for those using these as a portable computer, and maybe for emulators that are RAM hogs.


I'm seriously debating to use ta check to buy one of these, or a new phone to augment my iControlpad. The ONLY thing I am worried about is lead time. I didn't order last year due to all the problems (heck, I STILL wouldn't have one if I had ordered last year! Although I know most everyone has been waiting for years, but eplaining to my wife I was gonna drop 500 USD and not get a product for a year or more was a bit hard). It'd be easier to convince her if I can tell her I'd prolly have it by summer.

Since September 2011, the preordering is 10 USD, the rest needs to be paid when the unit is ready to ship

If I can do the pre-order now, than pay in full in February once full production starts (I don't want to sit on the money or the wife will use it for something else), I'll go for it. My old GP2X Wiz buttons are shot.

Yes, that's how it currently works

 

[Carlos FL]

Sadly, the last three years have been hell for the team, and it appears to have only made you guys better at what you are currently doing. The ICP was the first example of a good idea done properly, now with board production moving to Germany, things are running as they should have from the start, but I don't feel we could have ever gotten here, without the trials and tribulations we have all endured.

Nice sum up, Chris.


But it is still a wonder that the project survived all these tribulations and thanks to key supporters , as ED mentions in the video, and thanks to ED himself. What a great Christmas gift.


Carlos

 

[drohan]

Fantastic news, congrats ED (and congrats to whole OP team).


I will also wants to thank all the people like developers and investors that bet on this fatastic little machine.


Happy new year to everyone in the comunity!!


Angel.

 

[fredg999]

With the new amount of RAM, it could be a good idea to change the FAQ on the Pandora Wiki:


http://www.pandorawiki.org/FAQ#Why_does_Pandora_only_have_256MB_of_RAM.3F_Is_that_enough.3F


(I'm not sure I'm aware of enough details to do it myself)

 

[knotty]

With the new amount of RAM, it could be a good idea to change the FAQ on the Pandora Wiki:


http://www.pandorawi..._that_enough.3F


(I'm not sure I'm aware of enough details to do it myself)

just replace 256 by 512

 

[HuckFinn]

how do you do that in machine code though

 

[Binky]

With the new amount of RAM, it could be a good idea to change the FAQ on the Pandora Wiki:


http://www.pandorawi..._that_enough.3F


(I'm not sure I'm aware of enough details to do it myself)

I have added a note to the wiki, this needs to be filled out at some point.

 

[OpenUser]

Hi everybody!


Nice video! ED, we all thank you, too. For your devotion, your spirit and your guts!


What a year! It has seen DN4ever, the CFFA3000 and now working prototypes "Made in Germany" with double RAM of the OpenPandora!


Congratulations to the whole team - hardware as well as software devs! You are all awesome!


Well, and 2012 is going to be an even better year - since it'll see a LOT of new OpenPandoras out there in the wild - hopefully including mine...


Merry Christmas to the community and - of course - a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

 

[fredg999]

Also, the technical specs page still says 256MB DDR-333 SDRAM and probably other places and other languages too.


http://openpandora.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91&Itemid=6&lang=en

 

[gruso]

Great Christmas news, good work ED!

 

[Caine]

Fantastic news and a nice video.


I do hope you managed to get some well earned rest the last few days ED. You don't look all that healthy in the video.


Hopefully 2012 goes a bit smoother than 2011.

 

[Phelsumania]

However, I am also planning of an upgrade program: If you already own a Pandora, you can get a new PCB for an upgrade price (and either keep or swap your case as well).


The old boards will be sold as second hand units for a cheaper price. I've not worked out the details yet, but these are the basics of what I'm planning.

Sweet good work ED sounds like an awsome idea would love be more than willing to part with the panda for a short while for a Ram upgrade, and the option to change the cracked to hell case is a very nice addition aswell no matter what the upgrade cost might be.

 

[MarkoeZ]

@EvilDragon: Thanks for the (always) swift reply.


But i think that 150 euro is a bit much for only 256Mb extra ram? My Pandora is in perfect condition, been really careful with it. But i'd be very disappointed if i had to miss out on future developments that require the extra ram...


Unsure... Need to think...


I know you are not trying to make massive profits here though, just wondering why its so high and whether i should upgrade or not.

 

[dneuge]

First of all, many thanks to ED and the rest of the team. The video really shows such a huge progress considering all what went wrong in the past that I, too, wonder a bit how you could find the energy to "pick the broken pieces" and get everything back up and moving forward where it now is. I hope that ED (and of course everyone else involved) now can take some well-deserved holidays to recover from the stress he (they) had to go through for the project.

It does raise some interesting questions though... are we still expecting *anything* more out of CC?


At what point do they wash their hands of the project? Have they done that already or do they still have some bits and pieces that might conceivably be used to complete more boards?

I may have missed some clear information here as well. AFAIR we were expecting CC to finish some more boards in summer/autumn but nothing ever showed up? I'm still in the late first pre-order batch of ED's shop and would expect to get one of the next <100 devices (judging from the last order numbers posted on gp2x forums), so I feel very affected by the change since it could mean to be one of the first to get devices once production commences.


As I understand it, since CC does not deliver anything I would get one of the new boards (co-financed by the new pre-orders, including the new RAM?). Would that also include something else (new cases? I guess that's the first time I hear about it) and will the PCBs be new or still the ones CC left to rot on a rack for years that need refurbishing before they can be populated? If that's not included for unupgraded first batch preorders, what would such an upgrade cost (with nothing shipped yet) or does it come at the same price as replacing a unit that was already in use? (Or "worse", would I get a returned unit instead if I don't upgrade?)


I love to see all that progress but I'm a bit nervous now that I expect being very close to delivery while the transition happens (and I would of course prefer a newly populated unit, it's just unclear if I would have to upgrade anything or not).

 

[TrashyMG]

@EvilDragon: Thanks for the (always) swift reply.


But i think that 150 euro is a bit much for only 256Mb extra ram? My Pandora is in perfect condition, been really careful with it. But i'd be very disappointed if i had to miss out on future developments that require the extra ram...


Unsure... Need to think...


I know you are not trying to make massive profits here though, just wondering why its so high and whether i should upgrade or not.

Well you can't just easily de-solder the RAM chip and put a new one on, it's soldered directly on top of the OMAP processor.. so the only upgrade solution is to swap out the entire board.. why the price is high.

 

[EvilDragon]

Exactly.


I have to at least cover the costs to produce one complete PCB.


It depends on the price I can sell the old unit. If I can sell those for 200 EUR (a used Pandora with half the RAM), then I can swap a PCB for about 130 - 150 EUR.


Don't forget that I'll also lose sales with that (some users who would've bought the big version might buy the small one), so this needs to be included in this calculation as well.


AND I have to give a full warranty on these used Pandoras I sell as well. If a PCB fails, I have to replace it for free for half a year...

 

[ahahah]

My Pandora is in perfect condition, been really careful with it. But i'd be very disappointed if i had to miss out on future developments that require the extra ram...

it is as if people who bought a nintendo DS when it released, were very disappointed to not have the possibility to play 3D games with it, and are obliged to buy a 3DS for that.


the hardware has to progress.

 

[Clercq]

My Pandora is in perfect condition, been really careful with it. But i'd be very disappointed if i had to miss out on future developments that require the extra ram...

it is as if people who bought a nintendo DS when it released, were very disappointed to not have the possibility to play 3D games with it, and are obliged to buy a 3DS for that.


the hardware has to progress.

My Pandora is in perfect condition, been really careful with it. But i'd be very disappointed if i had to miss out on future developments that require the extra ram...

it is as if people who bought a nintendo DS when it released, were very disappointed to not have the possibility to play 3D games with it, and are obliged to buy a 3DS for that.


the hardware has to progress.

I don't totally agree as the 3DS is a new console. We can compare that to the DS / DSi where the DSi a slightly more powerfull than the DS, but nevertheless, all the game are compatible between the two console.


As ED said, at least as I understand, but agree, it would not change anything for game player. It can change some things for people who are using it as an ultra(ultraultra)book.


In my case I happy as I would like to use the pandora in my research (ultrabook embedded in a robot for accurate and efficient motion in an unknown environment).

 

[MrChops]

I say find a buyer for the old omaps you have stockpiled and go ahead and upgrade the omap while your at it. Call it pandora 1.5 or something. It's gonna have to happen soon anyways, better now than later imo. That upgrade would be worth 200+ eur and nearly everyone would jump at it, not to mention the increase in sales from the hardware-specs-mean-everything crowd. It would create quite a buzz I'd imagine.