Board Only Purchase Option Down The Road?

[dannyowelch]

I've been pretty close to snapping up a Beagleboard, but I'd rather have a Pandora board for a multi-console system. I prefer the Pandora board for the integrated Bluetooth/wifi, dual SDHC slots and some soundcard differences I've seen referenced. Do you see yourselves offering a board only purchasing option going forward for hobbyists?

I don't need any pricing info right away... just a "Yes, we'd consider it" or "No, go buy a Beagleboard, fruitcake".

 

[Squidge]

I think they've already spoken on this issue elsewhere. Basically they said "Minus case will not be that much cheaper (and more hassle for us), it would be easier to just buy and disassemble it yourself." or words to that effect (plus of course if they basically sell them as a kit, the warranty becomes so much more difficult then too, as they can't be tested without being fully built, and someone could damage the unit building it).

It might be possible later on (for the reason of spares), but don't expect much of a discount.

 

[TaG]

I think they've already spoken on this issue elsewhere. Basically they said "Minus case will not be that much cheaper (and more hassle for us), it would be easier to just buy and disassemble it yourself." or words to that effect (plus of course if they basically sell them as a kit, the warranty becomes so much more difficult then too, as they can't be tested without being fully built, and someone could damage the unit building it).

It might be possible later on (for the reason of spares), but don't expect much of a discount.

Roughly translated, go buy a Beagleboard, fruitcake.

Seriously, if you want board only you need to consider what type of screen you plan on using: Pandora has LCD output and Beagle has / will have HDMI / DVI. Neither is planning to output to the other, but Beagle potential solution for LCD sounded painful. The assumption of Beagle is that you add you own requirements for wifi etc.

 

[sindbad]

A beagleboard is fine, get a sdhc usb reader and bluetooth/wifi dongles. Much cheaper.

 

[dannyowelch]

Unfortunately, bringing the Beagleboard up to Pandora's TOTALLY AWESOME 256MB of RAM isn't an option. I just don't want to pay that kind of money and feel like I'm settling. Especially not when there's an alternative out there that has everything and the kitchen sink. I (wrongly) assumed that the LCD, battery, case, and final assembly were a larger part of the cost than they really are.

On the subject of output, I intend to hook it up to standard resolution TV's and both devices support s-video, I believe.

Maybe I'll be able to find one with a busted LCD for sale on eBay in the future.

 

[Megamixman]

Unfortunately, bringing the Beagleboard up to Pandora's TOTALLY AWESOME 256MB of RAM isn't an option. I just don't want to pay that kind of money and feel like I'm settling. Especially not when there's an alternative out there that has everything and the kitchen sink. I (wrongly) assumed that the LCD, battery, case, and final assembly were a larger part of the cost than they really are.

On the subject of output, I intend to hook it up to standard resolution TV's and both devices support s-video, I believe.

Maybe I'll be able to find one with a busted LCD for sale on eBay in the future.

Looks like you don't do your research before asking a quetion

This is from the BeagleBoard FAQ:

"Revision C is same as revision B except:

* USB HOST (EHCI) will be operational on revision C.
* It will use updated OMAP3 revision. BeagleBoard revision B uses OMAP3 ES 2.1 (engineering sample), while BeagleBoard revision C is supposed to use ES 3.0. OMAP3 ES 3.0 will fix minor issues:
o updated ARM Cortex A8 silicon (r1p3) fixing a very rare NEON issue that has not been seen in real code
o possible have 256MB of slightly faster RAM instead of 128MB SDRAM
o add interface for raw LCDs (mockup)

Note: Revision C is expected earliest at late December 2008 or early January 2009. There are some early revision C prototypes out there, but they still seem to have USB host issue. "

 

[EdCa22]

Also consider

Gumstix Overo - but it's OMAP 3503 based which means no DSP and no GPU - as an old customer I'm very dissapointed

Cogent CSB740 - probably needs you to develop your own daughter board and is not available yet - and will probably turn out to be an expensive option

Also, I requested from Compulab a while back whether they are designing an OMAP 3530 based system - they are and it will be available Q2 2009 - they tend to make _very_ nice systems (take a look at their web page) but you need to order 10 to get a decent price

I would not be surprised to see OMAP single board computers from other manufacturers (e.g. Toradex)

 

[EdCa22]

Oh yeah, of course, there's also the guy who found the BeagleBoard didn't quite do everything he wanted so he designed and built his own based on their designs, you could go down that route! http://www.magniel.com/omap3.html

 

[Tor]

OMAP3 ES 3.0 will fix minor issues:
o updated ARM Cortex A8 silicon (r1p3) fixing a very rare NEON issue that has not been seen in real code
o possible have 256MB of slightly faster RAM instead of 128MB SDRAM
[..]

That CPU version _is_ what we're getting in the Pandora, isn't it?

As for Beagleboard, the reason I didn't, in the end, buy one, was because it doesn't have integrated wi-fi. I'm not sure how well a USB wi-fi dongle would have worked, but SDIO wi-fi (as everyone seemed to refer to) is just so much rubbish. No power saving mode, for example, in those I have seen (and there aren't many to choose from either).

 

[craigix]

We will be offering the PCB alone in one form or another in the new year, we will make a section of the homepage about this.

Sorry I can't give any more information right now, but we are aware of the demand for the bare PCB

 

[dannyowelch]

Woohoo!! That is some very good news. Thank you.

 

[jdh2550]

We will be offering the PCB alone in one form or another in the new year, we will make a section of the homepage about this.

Sorry I can't give any more information right now, but we are aware of the demand for the bare PCB

Oh man, now that's exciting!

 

[pcklee123]

That's good news.

 

[Prometheus]

Cool stuff - might make for some sort of interesting project.

 

[hobbyman II]

MIGHT? please hand in your geek credentials when you leave the forum.....



philistine.....

(jk)

Hobbyman