A certain rarity...


AVahne

Handheld-obsessed
Joined
May 3, 2013
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253
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Texas
Something I managed to hunt down last year. I was asked for photos a while back and...never delivered lol
But I've taken some photos now, so enjoy.
Panasonic's unreleased Jungle gaming handheld/UMPC/MID thing. Was probably supposed to compete with the 3DS and Vita, but because it runs Linux I would've grouped it with the Pandora instead. Kinda.
Was supposed to be some kind of mobile MMORPG type thing. On ARM Linux. But that's an entirely different issue....
If I knew what I was doing, I would wish to get it to run some kind of very light Android ROM so I could at least let it run MMORPGs like it was meant to.
No clue on specs, as those were never released, but it does seem to have a 5 inch screen along with a smaller second screen that seems to display auxiliary information, kinda like a VMU. Has a micro USB port, a uSD slot, micro HDMI, and a headphone jack. Also has a pretty interesting hinge design. Controller layout looks a bit like the later released Steam controller. The left circle is d-pad and the right one is a touchpad, just like the Steam controller. It's just missing the ABXY buttons and analog stick....would be nice if we got a real Steam controller-based UMPC (Smach doesn't exist). Could have the d-pad and touchpad circles at the top corners, a mini analog stick that's depressed into the case like the Shield Portable and small ABXY buttons. Oh well...here's the photos:

IMG_20180617_232841.jpg IMG_20180617_232857.jpg IMG_20180617_232929.jpg IMG_20180617_232934.jpg IMG_20180617_232939.jpg IMG_20180617_232949.jpg IMG_20180617_233026.jpg IMG_20180617_233041.jpg IMG_20180617_233053.jpg IMG_20180617_233107.jpg IMG_20180617_233156.jpg IMG_20180617_233253.jpg IMG_20180617_233602.jpg IMG_20180617_233619.jpg IMG_20180617_233633.jpg IMG_20180617_233657.jpg IMG_20180617_233732.jpg

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention something. The keyboard, both the layout and button feel, is terrible. Worse than the Win 1 even. The shoulder buttons are really shallow and wouldn't have been fun to play with if they had released this as is. The d-pad....is fine. At least, as fine as a freaking circle could be. I don't have a Steam controller, so I can't compare it. The L3/R3 shoulder button things that look like scroll wheels are actually jog wheels, like you'd find on them old PDAs like the Sony Clie's. And finally, unfortunately to actually use it, you'd have to register it on Panasonic's online servers, which don't exist, so I can't get past the registration screen. I wonder if it'll be possible to load another Linux distro on it....


EDIT 2: Here's some photos of the packaging. The fact that this exists probably hints at this thing being rather close to release before the plug was pulled huh?
IMG_20180624_220214.jpg IMG_20180624_220257.jpg IMG_20180624_220314.jpg IMG_20180624_220446.jpg IMG_20180624_220506.jpg IMG_20180624_220527.jpg IMG_20180624_220700.jpg IMG_20180624_220720.jpg IMG_20180624_220854.jpg

Huh, they were going to have a 3G/WiFi model (I don't think mines is that) just like the Vita. Probably how they expected to let people play MMOs anywhere. Also there seems to be quite a bit of space underneath where the Jungle would sit in the box, so I think there would've been something else included with the system. Also, while it does come with a working charger and has a barrel-shaped charging port, it charges just fine with micro USB.
 
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Something I managed to hunt down last year. I was asked for photos a while back and...never delivered lol
But I've taken some photos now, so enjoy.
Panasonic's unreleased Jungle gaming handheld/UMPC/MID thing. Was probably supposed to compete with the 3DS and Vita, but because it runs Linux I would've grouped it with the Pandora instead. Kinda.
Was supposed to be some kind of mobile MMORPG type thing. On ARM Linux. But that's an entirely different issue....
If I knew what I was doing, I would wish to get it to run some kind of very light Android ROM so I could at least let it run MMORPGs like it was meant to.
No clue on specs, as those were never released, but it does seem to have a 5 inch screen along with a smaller second screen that seems to display auxiliary information, kinda like a VMU. Has a micro USB port, a uSD slot, micro HDMI, and a headphone jack. Also has a pretty interesting hinge design. Controller layout looks a bit like the later released Steam controller. The left circle is d-pad and the right one is a touchpad, just like the Steam controller. It's just missing the ABXY buttons and analog stick....would be nice if we got a real Steam controller-based UMPC (Smach doesn't exist). Could have the d-pad and touchpad circles at the top corners, a mini analog stick that's depressed into the case like the Shield Portable and small ABXY buttons. Oh well...here's the photos:

View attachment 31804 View attachment 31805 View attachment 31806 View attachment 31807 View attachment 31808 View attachment 31809 View attachment 31810 View attachment 31811 View attachment 31812 View attachment 31813 View attachment 31814 View attachment 31815 View attachment 31816 View attachment 31817 View attachment 31818 View attachment 31819 View attachment 31820

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention something. The keyboard, both the layout and button feel, is terrible. Worse than the Win 1 even. The shoulder buttons are really shallow and wouldn't have been fun to play with if they had released this as is. The d-pad....is fine. At least, as fine as a freaking circle could be. I don't have a Steam controller, so I can't compare it. The L3/R3 shoulder button things that look like scroll wheels are actually jog wheels, like you'd find on them old PDAs like the Sony Clie's. And finally, unfortunately to actually use it, you'd have to register it on Panasonic's online servers, which don't exist, so I can't get past the registration screen. I wonder if it'll be possible to load another Linux distro on it....


I guess the questions are. How did you get it, When did you get it, and from whom/where did you get it?
 
I guess the questions are. How did you get it, When did you get it, and from whom/where did you get it?
eBay, Autumn of last year, eBay.
I assume it was part of an estate sale?
It was an auction, but no one else was bidding until the very end. Guess they tried to ninja me, but their resolve was worth too little! (Around $120 actually; my max bid was about $550, so I guess I'm the only one who was actually actively searching for this thing.)
 
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About $120-ish.
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Thanks!

Jeepers, Was it incorrectly listed or something, like did they not title it as "Panasonic Jungle". Because I never heard of the ebay listing
 
Jeepers, Was it incorrectly listed or something, like did they not title it as "Panasonic Jungle". Because I never heard of the ebay listing
Funny thing, it was titled correctly and everything. Guess it was a stroke of luck that not many people were looking at it at the time.
 
Funny thing, it was titled correctly and everything. Guess it was a stroke of luck that not many people were looking at it at the time.


Have you thought about opening it up to check out what chips it's using
 
Have you thought about opening it up to check out what chips it's using
Yeah I have, but I've been feeling much too tired lately, even on my days off. Don't wanna open up something so rare when I'm not fully alert.
But once I do I'll be sure to post pictures here. I probably won't try to open the screen area though, just the base, where all the main electronics are.
 
Yeah I have, but I've been feeling much too tired lately, even on my days off. Don't wanna open up something so rare when I'm not fully alert.
But once I do I'll be sure to post pictures here. I probably won't try to open the screen area though, just the base, where all the main electronics are.

Cool , please do post pics
 
If it is currently working, I would be very hesitant to tear it down. Not like you're going to find any sources for parts for that.

Can you get to a Linux command line? If so, you might be able to get Linux to report back the hardware information without turning a screw.
 
If it is currently working, I would be very hesitant to tear it down. Not like you're going to find any sources for parts for that.

Can you get to a Linux command line? If so, you might be able to get Linux to report back the hardware information without turning a screw.
Welp, that gives me more reason to not open it up. I still might do it though just so we can get a look at how they designed things, but only when I'm completely alert as I'm mostly terrified of breaking all those shoulder buttons.
Not sure if I'll be able to get to a proper command line :/
When it boots up I DO see what looks like a typical Linux boot sequence and what I think is the log in lines, but it only stays on screen for a few seconds before booting into their super restrictive GUI. I've tried taking photos of that screen, but my 5T is slow to focus.
You know what? When I get home l'll just boot it repeatedly and type what I see. If there's a way to interrupt the boot sequence, l'll appreciate any tips. Also, I don't know if it helps, but there's a micro SD card slot if you know of any software I could attempt to load.
 
That's nonsense. I always take a line from Dave@EEVBlog when it comes to odd kit; don't turn it on, take it apart. Imagine that in an Aussie accent if that helps.

What's that USB port on the back? It is a micro-A-B combo port or something odd?

In terms of installing a proper user oriented linux on the thing or an android or something, you'll need some way to get into the bootloader. I take it it doesn't respond to any keys that are held when booting up? And if you plug in a CD drive or a memory stick into that microUSB port, can it read that at boot? ARM Linuxes don't tend to have bios screens though, so they can be relatively easily configured to be locked down, short of you taking the bottom off and poking around in there.
 
Welp, that gives me more reason to not open it up. I still might do it though just so we can get a look at how they designed things, but only when I'm completely alert as I'm mostly terrified of breaking all those shoulder buttons.
Not sure if I'll be able to get to a proper command line :/
When it boots up I DO see what looks like a typical Linux boot sequence and what I think is the log in lines, but it only stays on screen for a few seconds before booting into their super restrictive GUI. I've tried taking photos of that screen, but my 5T is slow to focus.
You know what? When I get home l'll just boot it repeatedly and type what I see. If there's a way to interrupt the boot sequence, l'll appreciate any tips. Also, I don't know if it helps, but there's a micro SD card slot if you know of any software I could attempt to load.
Record a video
 
First: nice collection.
Second: Video would be cool for sure.

And also:
I assume somebody used it, even for testing. If it wasn't released they probably also didn't use any (real) activation server.
Maybe there is a way (key combo) to skip the activation menu?
Probably also has a ssh/telnet open that you could connect to if connect to wifi/jtag.
 
First: nice collection.
Second: Video would be cool for sure.

And also:
I assume somebody used it, even for testing. If it wasn't released they probably also didn't use any (real) activation server.
Maybe there is a way (key combo) to skip the activation menu?
Probably also has a ssh/telnet open that you could connect to if connect to wifi/jtag.
Yes! Can you connect to the wifi? If yes, you should do a port scan

Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk
 
Nice.

I'd also try holding different buttons while booting it up.
 
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