A Flock Of Questions

[atomicthumbs]

These questions are probably intended for the people higher up on the Pandora knowledge hierarchy.

1. Would the purchasers of the May-release Pandoras be at any significant disadvantage, other than possible board bugs? Would the 3000 run faster/better/more stable? I'm not too concerned about bugs (probably not too many hardware bugs, and the software bugs can be fixed via firmware update). The assemble-it-yourself aspect would be fun.
2. Would it be possible to test Pandora apps functionally using an ARM emulator on a computer and a Debian install? (Note: ARM emulator is not specifically OMAP3530.)
3. Would the Pandora be able to run off of a solar panel while playing MP3s, and maybe some higher-power activities?
4. If I were to start encoding videos for the Pandora, should I encode them in XviD, H.264, or something else? (wavelet codec lol)

Thank you!

 

[javaJake]

1. The 3000 who get their hardware in May should not be, except for perhaps few rare bugs that haven't been caught yet (happens everywhere).

4. I know I'll be using XviD, because it's the best video codec mencoder's got. However, I don't think any encoding will have to be done if mplayer/VLC is ported to the Pandora. I'll be looking forward to play-anything-anywhere functionality myself.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Wait, wait. 3000 in may?

What I saw was this:

1. Mark 0.1: several units to developers who catch hardware bugs and write software

2. Mark 1: 100 consoles for enthusaists; might have non-severe hardware bugs (horrible ones will result in a new PCB)

3. Mark 2: 3000 consoles for everybody

Am I right or wrong?

If I'm wrong and JavaJake is right, Woo! I get a Mark II pandora!

(And hopefully I'll be able to preorder by my birthday, April 16. Will any Pandoras (MK1 or MK2) be availble by then? What will I get if I preorder? I'm confused!)

(Hey, April 16 is my forum account's creation date! Probably because I got a GP2X when I turned 14. )

 

[jdh2550]

1. The 3000 who get their hardware in May should not be, except for perhaps few rare bugs that haven't been caught yet (happens everywhere).

jJ - I think you missed the point - I think thumbs is suggesting the release in May is the 100 and the release of 3000 is later.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Yeah, I thought that was what MWeston said.

 

[Jonttu]

I thought people were to receive their MK1's between March and April. Well as long as I get my Pandora this year I'll be happy.

 

[idjit626]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Where can I preorder it nao?

 

[atomicthumbs]

You can't yet.

 

[aatu]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Where can I preorder it nao?

I think Mr. Santa Claus will accept preorders even today!
(But you'll have to wait few extra months for the delivery to arrive...)

 

[javaJake]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Where can I preorder it nao?

Unless you're a developer, you don't really want to. The idea behind the MK1 is to let the developers write software for it before the stable, bug free MK2 comes out.

jJ - I think you missed the point - I think thumbs is suggesting the release in May is the 100 and the release of 3000 is later.

I don't miss points. I crash land into them.

 

[ldesnogu]

Would it be possible to test Pandora apps functionally using an ARM emulator on a computer and a Debian install? (Note: ARM emulator is not specifically OMAP3530.)

The only option now (from an open source point of view) is to hack qemu which is the only open source ARMv7A emulator.
Not an easy job...

 

[atomicthumbs]

Would it be possible to test Pandora apps functionally using an ARM emulator on a computer and a Debian install? (Note: ARM emulator is not specifically OMAP3530.)

The only option now (from an open source point of view) is to hack qemu which is the only open source ARMv7A emulator.
Not an easy job...

done

 

[OrR]

3. Would the Pandora be able to run off of a solar panel while playing MP3s, and maybe some higher-power activities?

As far as I understood it, it charges via USB. So that should be no problem at all. Just get a powerful solar USB charger.

 

[DXR_13KE]

for solar power, the solar panel should be able to get 12 volt at about 500mA, if the pandora uses the USB to charge.

6 watt if my calculations are correct.
i think that would be a square of 20cm in each side.... but i am not sure....

 

[Squidge]

The only option now (from an open source point of view) is to hack qemu which is the only open source ARMv7A emulator.
Not an easy job...

done


That seems like a ARMv5 image ?

 

[Julius]

for solar power, the solar panel should be able to get 12 volt at about 500mA, if the pandora uses the USB to charge.

6 watt if my calculations are correct.
i think that would be a square of 20cm in each side.... but i am not sure....

That would be to charge the pandora.

However to run the pandora (over the DC in port) one would most likely need quite a bit less. May guess would be 100-500mA @ 3.7V depending on the load (that is really a very rough guess based on the battery info we got so far).