Craigx Twitter Update Cases This Weekend!

[Phawx]

We should totally do that. Just have a huge amount of people outside a factory in Texas pleading to get in and work.

 

[Yoyobuae]

Quote from CraigIX (10 October 2009 - 01:19 PM):
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/49910-second-batch/page__view__findpost__p__762080

There are no plans in place for the second batch right now, it is unlikely it will be a couple of months after the first. I'm much more interested in looking after the first 4000 people who allowed us to make this console and trusted us to deliver.

There will be more information on the second batch after Christmas I'm sure.

Yes, I know.

But that doesn't rule out the possibility of pre-orders somewhere in early 2010, not that far away. Considering the lead times for some parts, maybe they need to get them early so that second batch shipping doesn't get pushed back near 2011.

Unless I'm missing something and OpenPandora can get into the queues for ordering parts with little or no payment. In which case second batch pre-orders could be delayed a bit more.

 

[WizardStan]

Unless I'm missing something and OpenPandora can get into the queues for ordering parts with little or no payment. In which case second batch pre-orders could be delayed a bit more.

Someone else can find the quote as I'm too lazy, but MWeston stated that the processor from TI has a 7 month lead time; ie, you order now, 7 months later they get them to you. Maybe sooner, if you're lucky, but not likely. Other parts have a similar lead time.
Craig has said they've ordered 8000 more nubs (meaning next batch is probably going to be 4000 again (although personally I would have done 6000 just to use up the excess cases, but their finances probably wouldn't have allowed that, so what I would have done is totally moot)) but I don't recall if anyone said anything about getting into the queue for anything else.

 

[Dead1nside]

Now I'm getting really confused. Texas Instruments have nothing to do with Pandora but advice, some code and the fact that they produce the OMAP processor: this is the impression I have.

There is an assembly factory, presumably specialising in electronics, in Dallas that will be where the components are put together to become final working Pandoras, to be shipped out to their distribution points.

The fact that it might be a production line doesn't take away from the fact that it's skilled work, in the same way that car plant workers are called skilled workers (in the UK). You still have to know what you're doing and have done it for a while to be good at it. So I don't think the OpenPandora team (of which who and how many are in the US?) are going to assemble by hand all 4000 Pandoras.

I certainly hope that this is just a tangle of misunderstanding.

For these sample final cases, the devs will be the ones placing some of the 105 test boards into them, but that's about it.

 

[emil10001]

Unless I'm missing something and OpenPandora can get into the queues for ordering parts with little or no payment. In which case second batch pre-orders could be delayed a bit more.

Someone else can find the quote as I'm too lazy, but MWeston stated that the processor from TI has a 7 month lead time; ie, you order now, 7 months later they get them to you. Maybe sooner, if you're lucky, but not likely. Other parts have a similar lead time.
Craig has said they've ordered 8000 more nubs (meaning next batch is probably going to be 4000 again (although personally I would have done 6000 just to use up the excess cases, but their finances probably wouldn't have allowed that, so what I would have done is totally moot)) but I don't recall if anyone said anything about getting into the queue for anything else.

I think all three, Craig, MWeston, and ED all mentioned something about a 28 week lead time. Those posts were after my quote above from Craig, however that quote is only a couple of weeks old, and not much on the subject of a second batch pre-order has been said since then. So, it looks like as of a couple weeks ago, they were shooting for a Dec/Jan batch 2 pre-order.

 

[rmm2131]

We should totally do that. Just have a huge amount of people outside a factory in Texas pleading to get in and work.

Yeah, people driving by will think that a Star Trek convention is happening inside with Mr. Shatner himself presiding. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x930vt_william-shatner-snl-skit-get-a-life_fun

Did anyone read when the 3895 boards would start production?

 

[juniorm33]

Not all publicity is good publicity regardless of what people say.
We have no idea, what bugs may be unearthed once people start playing with it. As MWatson said.
And that's exactly what the press would be getting, untested devices (in terms off mass final testing).
Even if we don't send those out to customers, I don't think it's ready for the press.
Drum up pre orders? I think the amount of unboxing, emu, Linux, surfing, media playing, productivity, etc, vids that will be going up and blogged about, I think that we'll be getting enough attention as it is.
They sold out 4000 pretty much straight away with hardly any publicity, for a device that's being made by the community, wasn't even ready, etc.
Second batch, will have close to 4000 in the wild, being used, software being shown, hands on reviews, showing what it's capable off. I doubt drumming up another 4000 pre order will be to hard, even if they don't sell out as quick.
How many people here are also just waiting for after the first batch to pull the trigger on the second.

 

[Prometheus]

Did anyone read when the 3895 boards would start production?

My understanding, from this, is that they already have.

Oh, and second wave production PCBs (3895) were ordered on Sept. 30 just to get in the queue. We knew they wouldn't be starting until after the Chinese holiday anyway which is how it went down but we wanted our place in line. That gave us time to resubmit modified files if we had to before they did anything, but not lose our place. The boards should be deep into formatting and CAM inspection by now and perhaps already into the etching stage of inner layers.

That last line seems to be the relevant bit. (It was posted on October 19th.)

 

[emil10001]

We should totally do that. Just have a huge amount of people outside a factory in Texas pleading to get in and work.

Yeah, people driving by will think that a Star Trek convention is happening inside with Mr. Shatner himself presiding. http://www.dailymoti...-get-a-life_fun

Did anyone read when the 3895 boards would start production?

From an official blog post on Oct. 15:

The other thing you might want to know is that we placed our order for the production of those 3895 boards. Yep, mass production of the motherboards has started!

 

[rmm2131]

We should totally do that. Just have a huge amount of people outside a factory in Texas pleading to get in and work.

Yeah, people driving by will think that a Star Trek convention is happening inside with Mr. Shatner himself presiding. http://www.dailymoti...-get-a-life_fun

Did anyone read when the 3895 boards would start production?

From an official blog post on Oct. 15:

The other thing you might want to know is that we placed our order for the production of those 3895 boards. Yep, mass production of the motherboards has started!

Thanks Prometheus and Emil for that info. The impression I had was that they were in line with the factory to start the boards sometime soon but that the actual work hadn't yet happened on those 3895. Nice to hear.

 

[Grench]

1. There would be some satisfaction to being able to hand the press units and say, "Look - it IS real."

2. The review sites would look at the hardware - but they will also be looking at the software. Is the software shipping on the Pandora going to be mature enough at launch to survive being put on that level of scrutiny?

Is the desire to prove 1 strong enough to take the slams if 2 is not true? The reviews will live forever - on sites that will always pop to the top on a Google search. If every one of them slams the functionality due to functionality that is coming - but isn't there yet in software, it would be a potential negative legacy that could hurt the product in the long run.

I am no where near high enough on the list to get one of the 105. I would just as soon see them all go to existing developers - and to mid-size independent software development houses. Save the press units for when the software has advanced and the 4,000 of us have helped work out bugs - THEN hit the press hard as the 2nd batch ordering is being ramped up.

There are enough blogger types in the 4,000 to get some good hardware press now. Hardware without applications pre-loaded and running smoothly - the big reviewers would slaughter it with articles that won't go away.

In My Humble Opinion Only

 

[CCmachined]

You have an obligation to ship to customers.

News sites will give better reviews if you wait a couple weeks, once they're all shipped, due to more mature software.

There is simply no reason whatsoever to ship to news sites first. Customers will try to buy one and get frustrated, also being put off by the fact that none have been shipped yet for well over a year!

Besides, your "vaporware myth" point is irrelevant anyway since 3900+ pandoras have been sold. Us users having our units and hence unboxing videos and such will stamp out that myth for good.

- Andy

 

[rmm2131]

You have an obligation to ship to customers.

News sites will give better reviews if you wait a couple weeks, once they're all shipped, due to more mature software.

There is simply no reason whatsoever to ship to news sites first. Customers will try to buy one and get frustrated, also being put off by the fact that none have been shipped yet for well over a year!

Besides, your "vaporware myth" point is irrelevant anyway since 3900+ pandoras have been sold. Us users having our units and hence unboxing videos and such will stamp out that myth for good.

- Andy

I'm torn between having one of the 105 instead of the press since I ordered within the first half hour, but I also don't want to have a bacony crisp burned-in testing board in my Pandora. If I had supreme power over all this I would say that they should hold on the 105 and then ship them once the other 3895 start trickling out to patient customers that way both review/hands-on extremes are covered with say Engadget and Gizmodo and the early adopters.

No one would get preferential treatment except for some of the dozen important devs who should get their 105 ones a little earlier than the two aforementioned groups so that software can be improved pre-ship.

 

[emil10001]

If I had supreme power over all this I would say that they should hold on the 105 and then ship them once the other 3895 start trickling out to patient customers that way both review/hands-on extremes are covered with say Engadget and Gizmodo and the early adopters.

No one would get preferential treatment except for some of the dozen important devs who should get their 105 ones a little earlier than the two aforementioned groups so that software can be improved pre-ship.

+1
That's my vote too.

 

[hobbyman II]

I say they do as they please with them, the 105 could be free developer devices for key devs and demo machines for review, when they send a demo Pandora to a review site they can make it clear its a Beta device, not yet fully sorted, I don`t see a problem with that, it will get better over large values of time, so when DO you decide it`s fully sorted?, the hardware is key, if OP are happy with the hardware then I don`t see any issue with the software being a little rough around the edges, everybody with any interest will know software issues can be fixed, and any complaints about rough software on a beta demo machine would sound just silly (imo).

edit: oh! the test machines just have a few more hours of high level use, it`s not like a car where its been raced up and down a rough road until it`s falling apart, more like it was sent round a test track for several days to make sure the engine didn`t miss a beat and the radiator was up to the job, I doubt it would shorten the life of the Pandora by any appreciable amount. (car analogies are mandatory on the intertubes) :lol:

 

[juniorm33]

Dev's, indie devs, demo units for shows those 105 wouldn't go to waste. Even if nand had been thrashed for example.

MWetson pretty much ruled out sending out too early to the press, unless something changes, or CraigX goes on his merry way .

There's other things apart from actually doing the fine parts of the assembly that people could possibly help with, doubt they'll get 100's popping down there.
As mentioned, installing firmware, booting it up quick test.

edit
@hobbyman II - Beta after a year delay from a community, that couldn't get the software right in meantime, don't expect it to be resolved any time soon although we we're told 2 months, I can see very well meaning but unhelpful reviews from that alone. Not my views but could understand why they came to it.
Beta demo machine that's being shipped to customers who are these cowboys hehe

 

[matzesu]

i dont know, how expensive such a pandora board is, but it should hurt the piggy bank if there must extra 105 units more get make because no one want one of these 105


Craig: i want one of these first 105 test units, i have no problem whit one of this!, there are simulare to the other 3895 Units!, and so i get mine in mid november!! thanks in advance (not the gameboy) B)




edit: my english is more terrible than my guitar play scill.. :huh:

 

[emil10001]

i dont know, how expensive such a pandora board is, but it should hurt the piggy bank if there must extra 105 units more get make because no one want one of these 105


Craig: i want one of these first 105 test units, i have no problem whit one of this!, there are simulare to the other 3895 Units!, and so i get mine in mid november!! thanks in advance (not the gameboy) B)

The 105 won't be going to waste. They plan to send some to the devs, and the rest will be used as loaners for reviews and demo units for game shops that might eventually carry the pandora. It was mentioned in another thread that the life of the board might be greatly reduced because of the heavy testing.

 

[matzesu]

i dont think that there is so much life reduce, meybe some hours but the pandora schould life 20 yeahrs (if whe are carefull)

 

[WizardStan]

i dont think that there is so much life reduce, meybe some hours but the pandora schould life 20 yeahrs (if whe are carefull)

It's not so much the life reduction, it's the thought that someone else has been playing with our toys before us.