Accessories/ultimate Docking Station Thread


1. VGA out
2. Extra USB ports for peripherals like gamepads and keyboard
3. Infrared port for remote
4. Slot for charging a second battery<---------Most Important
5. Maybe an extra SD slot for when you want to store larger games that you use only during TV-out.
6. Maybe an extra headphone port or two for quiet multi-player TV-out gaming.
7.Ethernet port perhaps.
Thanks MWeston. :)
 
I want a 160GB hard drive and I will pay $10 for it


Only said it because MWeston was looking forward to it and no one had done it yet. Was that better than expected?????
 
Tobriand and rmm21's posts sound good to me.

VGA would be particularly nice to hook up to a PC monitor. Would greatly enhance the Pandora's functionality if you could dock it, and instantly be hooked up to a regular VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse. It becomes a viable basic home computer at that point - a pretty impressive extra for a DS sized gaming handheld.
 
I'd want DVI, as well as VGA for when I'm at an older monitor or projector (I'm thinking about the possibilities for maybe having OpenOffice Impress and never needing a laptop at all). Also, S/PDIF out would be great, since if you're going to output a 720p video, you're probably going to want to feed that into a surround system as well.
 
I would like component video out also, but I'm not sure how a cable could add this functionality if it's not in the hardware.
 
I'd like an extension that fits snuggly in the back over the usb port and whatever else is there. It should be as wide as the pandora and not stick out too much so it can be used on the run.

Features:
- extra usbs
- bluetooth
- one wired ethernet port
- replicate the plugs it covered
- attach firmly
- nothing else (to keep it small)
 
I agree with Chip's idea. Resell existing devices that have supported drivers/software. (In particular dongles, such as those half centimetre bluetooth dongles.)

Would be nice otherwise to have a simple hub with
- 4+ usb ports
- Ethernet for high speed file and playing movies reliably over the network. (I doubt an Ethernet usb dongle would be pretty)
- And most importantly some form of progressive scan video output. (VGA, Component?)

The idea of a docking station (instead of a glorified hub) seems rather pointless. The idea of the pandora is portability. You can get a pc emulators, even a media center application to launch them all and then connect it up to your pc. So anything to expand the pandora will also need to be somewhat portable.
 
The only add on i want is bluetooth that sticks out very little or none. Well and maybe a mouse occasionally.
 
sindbad said:
I'd like an extension that fits snuggly in the back over the usb port and whatever else is there. It should be as wide as the pandora and not stick out too much so it can be used on the run.

Features:
- extra usbs
- bluetooth
- one wired ethernet port
- replicate the plugs it covered
- attach firmly
- nothing else (to keep it small)
Click to expand...
i agree (except for the ethernet port and bluetooth, i mean come on, just buy a couple $10 usb adapters!).
also, being the width wouldnt be so great, it would cover the l and r buttons...
just a small 4 port usb hub that attaches securely to the pandora, would be worth whatever fair price, i cant imagine it being too much.
 
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I'd have a couple of combinations.

1) Extender battery + Bluetooth Attachment

Reasoning: PPP dialing off many phones and the added radio will not eat your batteries. This would preferably use the same battery as the Pandora itself, and have a switch for you to turn the Bluetooth off so that it would only power the Pandora. Cost? I'd pay 30-50.

2) Video Dock (Component, RGB / DVI, HDMI) Depending on what kind of outputs are more feasible, digital or analog, I'd like to be able to get a decent resolution out of the Pandora. I'd maybe add a couple more USB ports and either a battery or DC power jack to power the extended USB ports.

Reasoning: My one and only problem with the unit is that people seem to suggest that 480i is sufficient for TV out. It'd be extremely cool to sit someone down at a computer monitor, keyboard / mouse hooked up to the Pandora and ask them what they think of your new PC. I'd set the same price bar (30-50) but honestly I'm willing to go much higher (80-120) for a quality product that effectively turns my Pandora into a mobile command center.

3) USB Power, takes the 500mA load off the main port (attachment)

Reasoning: I want to use my Pandora with a 3G Modem. Others will want to use hard drives and other high drain USB devices. Getting the power usage onto a battery pack sounds like a good idea. $40.

4) Developer Kit Dock

The usual, make a homebrew dev's life easier toolset. You can probably guess what would go on this. $100.
 
If you can do this with an EEE PC, a Pandora version would be good.

Apart from that, Bluetooth is the only thing I would really like to see added to the Pandora's capabilities, for all the normal reasons (internet access by phone, WiiMote stuff, GPS modules, etc.), and also to help make the Toothing myth a reality.
 
Snu said:
i agree (except for the ethernet port and bluetooth, i mean come on, just buy a couple $10 usb adapters!).
also, being the width wouldnt be so great, it would cover the l and r buttons...
just a small 4 port usb hub that attaches securely to the pandora, would be worth whatever fair price, i cant imagine it being too much.
Click to expand...
I didn't think about the shoulder buttons. Yes, if it's not as wide as the pandora the ethernet port is asking too much. I'd like that thing to have bluetooth so I don't have yet another thing sticking out of it, but wouldn't be much of a problem if it were just an attachable 4port usb hub.
 
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Prophet said:
Tobriand and rmm21's posts sound good to me.

VGA would be particularly nice to hook up to a PC monitor. Would greatly enhance the Pandora's functionality if you could dock it, and instantly be hooked up to a regular VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse. It becomes a viable basic home computer at that point - a pretty impressive extra for a DS sized gaming handheld.
Click to expand...
I have to say that I'd taken it as given that the Pandora had VGA out! I don't know where I got that idea into my head but, yes, I was thinking along the same lines as you. VGA out plus usb keyboard and mouse and all of a sudden we have a fully working computer!
 
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monkeyo2 said:
If you can do this with an EEE PC, a Pandora version would be good.

Apart from that, Bluetooth is the only thing I would really like to see added to the Pandora's capabilities, for all the normal reasons (internet access by phone, WiiMote stuff, GPS modules, etc.), and also to help make the Toothing myth a reality.




just push in a USB dongle? =)
Click to expand...
 
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I'm not that interested in a docking station (although I see there is demand). I have way better performing systems at home, I want the Pandora for mobile use. So what am I doing in this thread?
I want a mobile dockingstation like IBM Thinkpad X Series UltraBase:
Image: http://picture.yatego.com/images/44f596012.../IBM_X41_X4.jpg

It should attach to the bottom and back (using the USB-Host) of the device adding a bit in thickness (whis is why i suggested threads at the bootom of pandora) and have the following features:
- Two additional SD-Slots (you just can't have enough of these)
- Stereo Cinch Sound-Out (with very good sound)
- Bluetooth (with a turnoffswitch)
- EXTRA BATTERY COMPARTMENT (for a second battery of the same kind like the one in the pandora)
- More USB-Hosts of which one is internal and has space for a USB-Stick (of what kind whats-o-ever, UMTS for example)

That is what i need to be happy.
 
Balzac2m said:
I'm not that interested in a docking station (although I see there is demand). I have way better performing systems at home, I want the Pandora for mobile use. So what am I doing in this thread?
I want a mobile dockingstation like IBM Thinkpad X Series UltraBase:
Image: http://picture.yatego.com/images/44f596012.../IBM_X41_X4.jpg

It should attach to the bottom and back (using the USB-Host) of the device adding a bit in thickness (whis is why i suggested threads at the bootom of pandora) and have the following features:
- Two additional SD-Slots (you just can't have enough of these)
- Stereo Cinch Sound-Out (with very good sound)
- Bluetooth (with a turnoffswitch)
- EXTRA BATTERY COMPARTMENT (for a second battery of the same kind like the one in the pandora)
- More USB-Hosts of which one is internal and has space for a USB-Stick (of what kind whats-o-ever, UMTS for example)

That is what i need to be happy.



I second that but would like some DVI / HD outs and a DVD/CD player on it aswell
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Are you being sarcastic?
While all I'm suggesting should fit in a box smaller then the Pandora and with exception of the battery could be attached via USB Host (is Host 2.0), i forgot), DVI/HD can only be done by either soldering something onboard the Pandora PCB (internatal LVDS) or using an expensive Video->DVI Convertor which would most likely have very poor Quality and a DVD is way bigger then the Pandora itself.
 
A docking station with:
- 4 usb ports.
- vga-out
- An ethernet port.
- A slot to hold an extra battery that could be used to power the docking station and boost the pandora.
- A slot + adapter to hold a small laptop hard-drive so that capacity is optional.
- Possibly in-built sound adapters for extra audio in/out.

If there was a slot for a battery and a slot for the hdd, then those components wouldn't have to be included in the device and the cost/capacity/weight of the device would be left up to the user.

For a docking station like that which clips on the bottom of the pandora for when it's not needed to be quite as portable, I would pay £25->£35 (~$50->$70). And much more if a battery and disk-drive were included.

A camera is not something for a docking-station, nor is it specific to the pandora.
If you need more than 2 SD card slots, then you're using them wrong or should buy a more expensive card.
DVI/HD outs or cd drives would be useless.
 
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