About to buy a Pandora.

[j0e]

Hello, everyone! I have some questions about the pandora before I buy it.


1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.


2) Can it run Ridge Racer (for PS1) at full speed? My Wiz couldn't do that either.


3) Does the touch screen work correctly? When I got my Wiz this happened... and it also happened to the replacement model within one day of having it.


4) I have contradicting information on shipping time! Here it says it can be shipped to me in 7 business days for £309, but here it says it is as "slower than [a] dead cheetah" to arrive. So which one is correct?


Thanks for your answers!

 

[Link]

Don't know the answers to 1, 2, or 3 (I never use my touchscreen). As for 4, things aren't happening in 7 business days at the moment. The company producing the boards has run into an issue with the Wi-Fi chip, so things are at a stand-still for the past few weeks. I would recommend ordering if you are happy with the answers to your first three questions, but can't give you an answer as to when specifically you'll receive your Premium Pandora.

 

[Stradian]

1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.

Can't answer that, since I haven't tried it on the Pandora, but it will most likely run full speed as my PSP couldn't handle Kirby, but the Pandora easily could.

Can it run Ridge Racer (for PS1) at full speed? My Wiz couldn't do that either.

Some else would have to answer that, I can't answer it directly or indirectly.

Does the touch screen work correctly? When I got my Wiz this happened... and it also happened to the replacement model within one day of having it.

The touchscreen is of high quality, it will never do that to you. After you get a Pandora, try it with mypaint.

4) I have contradicting information on shipping time! Here it says it can be shipped to me in 7 business days for £309, but here it says it is as "slower than [a] dead cheetah" to arrive. So which one is correct?

It will ship around 7 business days. Mine got to me for a total of eight days. The dead cheetah was sad, but critical part, of the Pandora's past and will not happen to anyone anymore today. Forgot about the Wifi issue...

 

[Blue Protoman]

Hello, everyone! I have some questions about the pandora before I buy it.


1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.


2) Can it run Ridge Racer (for PS1) at full speed? My Wiz couldn't do that either.


3) Does the touch screen work correctly? When I got my Wiz this happened... and it also happened to the replacement model within one day of having it.


4) I have contradicting information on shipping time! Here it says it can be shipped to me in 7 business days for £309, but here it says it is as "slower than [a] dead cheetah" to arrive. So which one is correct?


Thanks for your answers!

All of the above. As for taking a while, it's because of a recent issue with the Wi-fi, which has slowed (but not necessarily halted) production. If you saw that thread, then I assume you saw the Stalker I linked in it. Read it a bit more carefully, especially about its background, you seem to be getting some facts mixed up a bit.

 

[j0e]

I tried reading the Pandora Stalker but I couldn't find anything about wi-fi or shipping. If delivery has just been slowed down, how long will this make my Pandora take to deliver? Several people I have seen ordered their pandoras two years ago and are still waiting. Since I am from the UK, should I order from here? How long will it take if I do that? Thanks for your help.

 

[Blue Protoman]

People ordered theirs years ago because things worked differently; to monetarily kickstart the Pandora, they took preorders to fund the parts. A ridiculous amount of delays surmounted, and only a few months ago did units finally start shipping again. Shortly after, the Premium Pandora was introduced; more expensive to bring in some profit (because they were selling it at cost before, which didn't work), but you'd get it shipped in seven days. That's sort of on hold for the moment. I hear that CircuitCo's (the board manufacturer) shipping another batch of 125 boards soon.

 

[Prometheus]

1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.

I can't help with much else here (everyone else has already got you covered, there), but I know this game like the back of my hand, and feel compelled to answer this one fully.


Star Fox on the Pandora is not playable. It is unfortunately too fast - unplayably, game-breakingly so.


Those unfamiliar with the game, its nuances, and the actual speed that it is supposed to run at, are unlikely to notice this, but if you enjoyed it and had a mastery of it on the SNES (as I did and do) then you likely won't find it satisfactory at this time. However, if you've only ever played it with iffy SuperFX emulation (as was the case in the early 2000s), you may not find this to be a problem.


I must stress that this is not the fault of the emulator (Snes9x4P) or those responsible for the Pandora port (and the Dingoo port which it is based on), but rather the fact that it is based on Snes9x 1.39, which is a version of Snes9x from a time when SuperFX emulation was somewhat poor/"off", and could not run SuperFX-based games correctly.


Whether or not this will change, no-one can really say - unless someone happens to pop up with a fully-working port of the current version of Snes9x as they say so. :lol:


I'm sorry that I couldn't deliver better news about that one.

 

[j0e]

So I suppose the £309 pandora (or $500 or €364) is the one shown here. How long will it take if I order from there, since I am from the UK?

 

[FaeMinx]

1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.

...I know this game like the back of my hand...


Star Fox on the Pandora is not playable. It is unfortunately too fast - unplayably, game-breakingly so.

Have you tried under-clocking the CPU? I've never played Star Fox, so it's pointless me trying to determine the appropriate processor speed to play this game 'The Way It Was Meant To Be Played'.


A dirty hack as you'd have to set the speed every time you wanted to play - but for Star Fox addicts, I'm sure it would be worth it.


Perhaps someone could make a PND...

 

[Prometheus]

^ That doesn't work, I'm afraid. Clocking too low leaves it with a choppy frame-rate making it even more unplayable, along with the issues I already described.

 

[FaeMinx]

^ That doesn't work, I'm afraid. Clocking too low leaves it with a choppy frame-rate making it even more unplayable, along with the issues I already described.

Darn! So the only solution now would be for a Dev to implement a speed-throttling feature in the emulator?

 

[freamon]

So I suppose the £309 pandora (or $500 or €364) is the one shown here. How long will it take if I order from there, since I am from the UK?

I'll just mention this because I didn't initially realise it when I ordered mine: the £309 price is before VAT is added, so the full price (with VAT and shipping) is closer to £380.


If I were you, I'd keep my money for now, wait until production is in full flow, and order then.

 

[j0e]

Right, so I will wait until there is news from the developer that the dodgy Wi-Fi boards are sorted out and that production has stopped being stalled. Thank you.

 

[andmaz]

Hello, everyone! I have some questions about the pandora before I buy it.


1) Can it run Star Fox (for SNES) at full speed? Because my GP2X Wiz couldn't, which miffed me.


2) Can it run Ridge Racer (for PS1) at full speed? My Wiz couldn't do that either.


3) Does the touch screen work correctly? When I got my Wiz this happened... and it also happened to the replacement model within one day of having it.


4) I have contradicting information on shipping time! Here it says it can be shipped to me in 7 business days for £309, but here it says it is as "slower than [a] dead cheetah" to arrive. So which one is correct?


Thanks for your answers!

I can give my opinion on 1 and 3 - Star Fox is a game I bought when it first came out on the SNES and I bought it on import for a fortune! It does play very well and fast on Snes9x4P and PocketSnes - between the 2 emulators you should be okay and I find it enjoyable on both.


The touch screen works fantastic in my opinion.


As for 4 - its a must have if you do not mind tinkering and expect to put a little work in to get stuff running - therefore get it ordered - if you do want one quicker then you will have to look at ebay but that comes with its own risks - you are better buying directly from OPT as it also helps the whole project.

 

[Prometheus]

^ That doesn't work, I'm afraid. Clocking too low leaves it with a choppy frame-rate making it even more unplayable, along with the issues I already described.

Darn! So the only solution now would be for a Dev to implement a speed-throttling feature in the emulator?

Alas, no. The issue stems from a time when SuperFX emulation was wrong - the solution would be a current version of Snes9x, but I have no doubt that that comes with a set of problems all its own (and it's unfortuately beyond my abilities).