Any Case News?


hells_dark posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
What has changed since Craig said he was "pretty sure for july" ?
I believe the July was based on the idea that they could take a couple of shortcuts. Things like making a slight modification to the model without getting a new CNC case made, and other things that post minimal risk. And then they decided not to take a risk on even these minor shortcuts, pushing the date again.
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hells_dark posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
There is something I don't understand..

What has changed since Craig said he was "pretty sure for july" ?
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He also said "if nothing goes wrong". So he was waiting on stuff to happen and be tested, or at least waiting for tests to complete IMHO... and if all went well then July was a possibility. Even more recently although tests didn't go AS well as they would like (for example, the feel of the keyboard/controls MAT was apparently not as good as they would LIKE so a tweaked design has been sent to the manufacturer a few days ago) they could have started manufacturing, apparently, in time for at least some of us to get our kit in July... they had a choice. To build and ship ASAP with known irritations, or to improve the device slowly.

So they looked to the forum, expecting to see axe-wielding maniacs threatening to take their balls home if we didn't get the Pandora RIGHT NOW... and found that, on average, it seems we would still rather wait a LITTLE longer for a GREAT device than get something that's just "very good".

Specifically, the keyboard MAT is somehow not as good as they would like yet:

QUOTE (EvilDragon on Blog")
3. The Keymat
It was pretty perfect already, however, the pressure and gaming controls could be enhanced. So we did that - and the new version is already at the moulding company, so the new mats shall also be finished very soon. As there were some keys misaligned, we used the time to fix that up, too.
If you want to know what exactly happened: wider holes around screw pegs, made game button cups wider to make them softer, slightly more travel to 1mm, keypad buttons raised 0.5mm, a couple of other little guide holes moved.


and case irritations continue to persist, where "case" includes the D-Pad moulding or (more likely?) the case recess for the d-pad:

QUOTE (EvilDragon on Blog")
5. The case
That's our only issue for now, we're still working on fixing minor issues. It really does take a long time making something near perfect - and that's what we plan to do. Another problem is that neither CNC nor SLA cases are good enough to check if everything fits perfectly. Don't worry, there's already a solution for that.
The only thing we had to fix is the height of the DPad (so it works better) and the hinge. The rest was already pretty good. So we most probably won't need another CNC case, just another DPad which can be done within a few days. We hope Dave will be ready will all that fixes until next week. Yeah, we know that's a long time... but because of the financial crisis (once agin...) a lot of guys at Daves work lost their job and he now basically has to do twice the work at his daytime job, leaving him less time to work on the Pandora case. We're really really grateful he does work on it making it perfect.
Now, onto the solution I mentioned above: The moulding company offered their help. Together with the final model data, they will receive basically a complete Pandora (all parts, LCD, hinge, board, keymat, etc.) and will check before moulding that everything will fit. They are very experienced with stuff like that, so that does help a lot. The downside is that this adds a few more days (moulding now takes approx. 45 days instead of 35) but it will ensure that everything fits and we don't have to start all over again.
That time frame also does allow us to do CE testing and change some stuff if need be without losing any


I THINK that WiFi drivers became a public/more obvious issue after the "July!" statements too, and they MIGHT be fixed before the handheld is shipped:

QUOTE (EvilDragon on Blog")
6. Software
Software and drivers are already VERY advanced. Mostly everything works fine, only WiFi is giving some issues. The hardware is fine, lowlevel tests with WiFi do work, but it doesn't work yet within the Angström image. If we can't fix it until the Pandora is ready, it will be fixed with an (automatic) firmware update, don't worry.


So current sttus is:

QUOTE (EvilDragon on Blog")
Basically, to put it in a nutshell:

Board: Finished and working
Keymat: Finished and in production
Analogue Nubs: Issue solved, nubs tested and working fine
CE Testing: Pending (will be done during case moulding)
Case: Last fixes being applied, should go to case mass production company by next week

That's it for the status report, thanks for reading... and even more thanks for KEEPING with us :)
Comments like "We will rather wait a few days more but get a perfect device" has been what lead us to all those fixed - we could have gone into mass production with those minor flaws, but it should be a gaming console, so gaming controls shouldn't only be working but working perfectly. Thanks again!


"We" as a community have made comments along the lines of "after THIS long a wait, a few more days waot would be better than shipping a borked product". OUR commitment to quality seems to cheer them up as much as their commitment to quality cheers some of us up - it's group hug (and 2 months to go) time! ;)
 
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Moxie posted on Jun 12 2009 said:
VRAndy posted on Jun 12 2009 said:
I guess what I've been trying to say in this thread over and over is that Craigix's style of updating us via hints and whispers is extraordinarily frustrating, and not a little insulting. As a pre-paid customer I feel that we deserve more respect.

That's all.
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Well, you might learn something from this:

Craig says what is on his mind, and is usually to busy/absentminded/whatever to remember/bother about listing all the details and factors and whatnots.

ED writes up almost complete reports of the state of the project.

Use this information as guidance in how much weight you give the respective information. Problem solved.
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In other words, Craig is like a Gossip stone: short and cryptic, but can be very useful if you can figure out what he is actually saying. And EvilDragon is like Kaepora Gaebora: Long and detailed. ;) The only difference is that no one wants to listen to Kaepora Gaebora, while everyone wants EvilDragon to tell us more. ;)

Note: These are analogies that should make sense to people who have played Ocarina of Time, if you haven't played it, you likely won't understand the analogies.

-God Ginrai
 
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Username posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
Hmm, so the CE testing will be done after or before the final case is ready?
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"ED's wonderful blog update posted on well worth reading" said:
4. CE and FCC
CE tests will happen as soon as I get a finished board and prototype case, which should happen while the case moulds are being done, so there's no time problem. I've got a few CE testing companies around the corner where I can just drop-by and test everything.
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Confirmed: EvilDragon is a long-winded owl who can shoot lightning from his fingers... er, talons.
 
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VRAndy posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
trooper posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
gp2.eXe posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
So... EvilDragon can twist his head 180 degrees?
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So can most humans.

Trooper
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Hmm... Are we talking twisting our heads from -90 to +90, or a full +180 from our rest position? Because I can do the former, but I think the latter would require breaking some very important bones.
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Well, It`s still 180 degrees which ever way you shake it.

But i`m pretty sure most humans would prefer the former rather than the latter, For the reason you`ve stated.

Trooper
 
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Huh, well apparently I'm not as flexible as most humans. I can only make about 160-170.
 
Xian Long posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
Aethix posted on Jun 13 2009 said:
Huh, well apparently I'm not as flexible as most humans. I can only make about 160-170.
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i can do over 9000!

in want of staying on topic, i'm glad that we don't have to go through FCC testing if FCC will take longer than shipping from the UK to california.
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+1 to the over 9000 comment.

Also, back on topic, I'm curious about the CE testing and the current wifi driver issues. I'm wondering if the CE testers will take issue with the fact that the wifi chip isn't behaving properly in the environment that it will be normally operating in (i.e. the full linux system). Anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
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