About The Mk3 Board

[Tor]

Aaah! Very interesting information popping out of this thread. So, the Pandora can work with just the power supply, no battery? This is quite different from most mobile devices (except laptops) these days.

The Nokia tablets, for example, can only work with a battery in. And if that battery isn't charged there's a lot of trouble, which, when combined with user errors and the way the charging is done (the device actually boots the kernel to single user mode) adds up to a headache for some folks.

This puts the discussion about the 'no-battery early Pandora' into another perspective - I wouldn't mind getting a no-battery, almost-no-software version early then, as I only planned to start working on getting maemo apps. running anyway! Building kernels, that's just fun too.

(Another thing came to mind: Is the battery easily replaceable, like in the Nokias? Just open a cover, remove battery, drop in a new one? And could you put the Pandora on AC, then switch batteries? Can't do that on the Nokias, for reasons explained above, so there you have to shut it down before switching to a spare battery. Of course this is less of an issue for the Pandora, even on an intercontinental flight, due to the larger battery.)

 

[sehs33]

Aren't most multi voltage power adapters have options only to change voltage in 1.5 v increments?
Wouldn't that force us to choose between 4.5v and 6v? :huh:

No, as the final Pandora comes with a 5V power supply

Great! thanks for clearing that up Squidge

 

[mali]

(Another thing came to mind: Is the battery easily replaceable, like in the Nokias? Just open a cover, remove battery, drop in a new one? And could you put the Pandora on AC, then switch batteries? Can't do that on the Nokias, for reasons explained above, so there you have to shut it down before switching to a spare battery. Of course this is less of an issue for the Pandora, even on an intercontinental flight, due to the larger battery.)

IIRC you have to unscrew 4 screws to lift the battery cover. Seriously, I wouldn't switch batteries while connected to the mains and the device still on. This may damage components on the board.

 

[hede]

After all the hassle of the GP2X' power-regulator not functioning properly, this gives me a little concern to be honest. I have 3 GP2X's, none of them are useful any more because the power-regulator has been 'burned out' by using the GP2X without having a battery installed.

Huh? Thats normally only caused by el-cheapo power supplies which are not regulated. The Pandora one will of course be fully regulated (and if you lose it, you can use the one from a PSP or similar)

I hope the power regulator will be put into the pandora instead of the power supply. I think this will be far more stable and this will enable the pandora to use any unregulated power supply anywhere nearby the recommended power source voltage without any harm!?

 

[mali]

After all the hassle of the GP2X' power-regulator not functioning properly, this gives me a little concern to be honest. I have 3 GP2X's, none of them are useful any more because the power-regulator has been 'burned out' by using the GP2X without having a battery installed.

Huh? Thats normally only caused by el-cheapo power supplies which are not regulated. The Pandora one will of course be fully regulated (and if you lose it, you can use the one from a PSP or similar)

I hope the power regulator will be put into the pandora instead of the power supply. I think this will be far more stable and this will enable the pandora to use any unregulated power supply anywhere nearby the recommended power source voltage without any harm!?

That would be a very bad idea. You surely don't need a built-in heater and that's exactly what such a regulator is

 

[Kyo]

ya, bad idea. These things convert the extra voltage to heat