A dock (either P1 or P2)

[Binky]

• provides a trackpad
  
• or more (user configurable) buttons
  
• or a low power charge indicator
  
• or just more screen space
  
• and an easy way to connect to a bigger screen
  
• and more USB ports (500mA full size 1.1/2)
  
• and another SD card (could be used for backups?)
  
• A way to charge your Pandora on the go
  
• keeps the screen at a nice angle
  
• USB slave to another computer
  
• perhaps host/slave mode switching
  

This is here not because it is particularly related to the P2, but because it probably counts as spam in the same way.

 

[albo]

sounds like a good idea to me! I hope pandora team will consider this!

 

[mattman]

a dock is a deadly idea and this dock really does cover all bases for usablility and user needs. lovely looking there binky


but doesnt it defeat the purpose of a "handheld" ?

 

[SNESFAN]

so it's a docking station.. but without the port replicator? VGA, HDMI, ethernet, etc? .....Wait see a sideways note about that... USB hub is nice though, would want 4 ports minimum though.


the e-ink touch screen seems gimmicky and expensive, I'd take a regular cheap-o touch pad or just remove completely and use a mouse. Also, are you left handed?


I would have a removeable standard pandora battery for the dock, so you can swap the batteries out or have a spare etc. Battery powered hub is nice, but this is going away from portable pretty quick, the pandora isn't that small to begin with.


replace additonal sd card slot, and put in a eSATA w/ a 2.5/3.5 HDD space under touchpad or something. 1TB > 64GB =D

 

[Binky]

--> This would be about 25cm by 10cm, so still portable, just not pocketable.


--> More USB-A ports seem sensible


--> Using the same battery compartment as the pandora seems an obvious move.


--> The battery has two advantages: charging your pandora, while using it on the train (or something) without rebooting, and providing a powered hub while traveling


--> No, I am not left handed, but the extra touchscreen could behave like extra buttons for programs that require them, or as shortcuts. For some applications it you could put frequently used controls on there (used with left hand) while you used a usb mouse/etc with your right hand:


For example, I hacked a separate numpad together out of one of these (operated by my left hand), I find it very useful for entering numbers in boxes.


Also, I'd love to see what people could come up with to do with it (other than DS emulatiion )


Might be good for graphics work too...


--> an e-SATA bay could be interesting. What exactly would you do with it?


EDIT: missing S

 

[Binky]

What about putting a PCI-e slot?

 

[SNESFAN]

--> an eSATA bay could be interesting. What exactly would you do with it?

put a hard drive in it?


EDIT: FTFY

 

[Binky]

--> an eSATA bay could be interesting. What exactly would you do with it?

put a hard drive in it?


EDIT:FTFY

Hard drives are, indeed the obvious thing to fit in a eSATA bay.


What I meant was: how much data storage do you need Only when your Pandora is docked?


What large files would be used when docked, but not otherwise?

 

[double7]

USB hub is nice though, would want 4 ports minimum though.


[...]


the e-ink touch screen seems gimmicky and expensive, I'd take a regular cheap-o touch pad or just remove completely and use a mouse. Also, are you left handed?


[...]


replace additonal sd card slot, and put in a eSATA w/ a 2.5/3.5 HDD space under touchpad or something. 1TB > 64GB =D

Do you really want all that stuff on your table?


I don't. That's why i can't see any practical usage for this dock. I bought a 7port USB hub with external power supply, which will go under the desk. There will be the HDD, the USB-LAN connection, the gamepad connection, too. I could connect additional SDcard readers, or other USB stuff but i'm not sure i would need that. This way i have to connect the USB cable and the power plug and the pandora is connected to already existing equipment. The desktop of the pandora will be vnc'd, i could use screen and keyboard of the desktop pc.

 

[Binky]

This way i have to connect the USB cable and the power plug and the pandora is connected to already existing equipment. The desktop of the pandora will be vnc'd, i could use screen and keyboard of the desktop pc.

No, you have to slot your Pandora into your dock, which takes care of both connections while reducing the number of wires on your desk.

 

[SNESFAN]

@double7- I always thought the pandora had the potential of being an desktop replacement, with a neat and quick connection to a monitor, larger storage and other regular accessories it could.. if you've never used a docking station or port replicator, it's hard to envision how easy it makes things. I use one at home and work for my laptop.... one of the best ideas ever


@binky- I have more files than I have space on sd cards... there are other solutions like external HDDs and cloud storeage that would work fine also but instead of adding another sd card slot, my suggestion is throw in a hdd bay instead, 2 sd card slots is already enough IMO

 

[Binky]

given that the Pandora is primarily a mobile device, what about putting an RPi in a box with a battery, an hdd, a HSPDA dongle, and wifi dongle


You now have a personal cloud - in your bag


or something

 

[asimov-solensan]

I also think that the point of a dock should be to transform the pandora into a full desktop PC. So most important elents would be: ethernet adapter, lots of USB (mouse, keyboard, hard drives, gamepads, ...), and vga (or similar).

 

[Binky]

I also think that the point of a dock should be to transform the pandora into a full desktop PC. So most important elements would be: ethernet adapter, lots of USB ports (mouse, keyboard, hard drives, gamepads, ...), and vga (or similar).

Perhaps also extend the functionality towards that of a laptop?


Maybe some retrode-like features too?

 

[asimov-solensan]

That would be nice too. And very consequent with the pandora "philosophy".


I guess I didn't thougth about it because I don't have any classical catridges.

 

[SNESFAN]

hmmm... you could probably do most of this yourself with a component box, retrode, usb hub, external hard drive enclosure, tv out cable, couple of psp chargers and pandora parts.... would be a very interesting modding project


interesting interesting

 

[Binky]

What does the Pandora lack that you would want in a small laptop/netbook?


Providing those things could define such a dock.

 

[SNESFAN]

vga/hdmi out, larger hdd, ethernet, more usb ports... besides the lack of specs it would perform the same functions of a desktop computer.

 

[Binky]

vga/hdmi out, larger hdd, ethernet, more usb ports... besides the lack of specs it would perform the same functions of a desktop computer.

Question is: Should the dock extend the Pandora's functionality by itself, or only when accompanied by other hardware.


e.g. video-out is no good without a screen.


I could imagine this kind of thing having an (optional?) second 800x480 screen which could stick up above the Pandora's built in one to provide more space, bringing it closer to being a netbook.

 

[SNESFAN]

Question is: Should the dock extend the Pandora's functionality by itself, or only when accompanied by other hardware.


e.g. video-out is no good without a screen.


I could imagine this kind of thing having an (optional?) second 800x480 screen which could stick up above the Pandora's built in one to provide more space, bringing it closer to being a netbook.

I would say ports and connectors only, putting actual technology into this would increase the cost significantly, not to mention how much more complex this would need to be. Right now you're just talking about adding a micro-controller or two... if that. (except for the retrode, that's a seperate thing, but it's basically just micro-controller also)