Hardware Change Requests Are Driving Me Batty

[Prometheus]

Well, considering that you can probably use a Linux-compatible USB TV-tuner, anyone in any batch could have that...

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm aware that Gerix wasn't being serious. I just really like the idea of using a USB TV-tuner and the picture put it back in my mind.

 

[lulzfish]

derp why don't we just have an ARM processor and x86 on the same board, it'll be like in that one anime I heard about but didn'tw atch because it scked (speed racer?) or like in the sapce shuttle where they have 5 redundnant systems or like in neon genesis where the magi makes decisions by a 2/3s majority, we can have a arm and a x86 and a powerpc for emulating old suckintoshes and they can use each other for hardware aceceleration and all shre one display because x11 is magical

right guys?

Spoiler

Of course I am joking.

Edit: That reminds me, VLC has some built-in finders for Internet radio and TV, and I once watched a constant (illegal) stream of Family Guy on default VLC. It was so weird. I'm going to try that again.

 

[Lorkile]

So without reading the rest of the thread, and refusing to make requests in other threads as I long ago received an answer to this, I do still wish there would be a model with GPS as I could use something with a useful map integrated.

 

[VRAndy]

Built-in GPS would rock.

GPS modules can be pretty tiny, I wouldn't be surprised if someone finds a way to mod one into the lid or something.

 

[mali]

Webcam!

 

[mahousaru]

Built in laser keyboard and 3d projector please!

 

[Pleng]

Oh and there won't be a mould, the case will be stamped out of a single sheet of aluminum and hermetically sealed.

Would probably be quicker than the current process...

 

[WizardStan]

derp why don't we just have an ARM processor and x86 on the same board, it'll be like in that one anime I heard about but didn'tw atch because it scked (speed racer?) or like in the sapce shuttle where they have 5 redundnant systems or like in neon genesis where the magi makes decisions by a 2/3s majority, we can have a arm and a x86 and a powerpc for emulating old suckintoshes and they can use each other for hardware aceceleration and all shre one display because x11 is magical

right guys?
Of course I am joking.

Actually, not only is this not a terrible idea, it was already suggested and heavily considered (for a theoretical Pandora2, of course). Using an x86 as a coprocessor isn't as bad an idea as you think it is. It only kicks on when you need to do some x86 work, all the rest of the time is strictly on the ARM.
Of course, it adds significantly to the cost and the complexity of the design for something that should be rarely used, not to mention the difficulty programmers would have actually using the setup effectively, all of which make it impractical, but it is by no means an immediately stupid idea.

 

[JayFoxRox]

This thread should have been pinned and locked once it was created and I did not post in it because I thought it was a perfect statement, however, now this thread is fucked up too. Great...
One of the reasons why I bought a Pandora is because I wanted to have fixed specs. Anyone who downloads something can run it without any hardware incompatibilty problems, I don't have to worry about performance and no-one would come up with stupid things like: "Hey.. LETS OVERCLOCK - LULZ". If a Pandora application is released it SHOULD work on all systems, if it can't its simply not ready (and overclocking only would make sense for some emulators such as DC and possibly N64 in the next few month (I'm sure it can be optimized further, but its just getting somewhat harder to do)).
I'm fine with any changes which are not breaking compatibility such as better display (same resolution), better TV-Out (if it does PAL and NTSC resolution), ... - but don't change anything which breaks compatibility.. (Which means older systems should be able to emulate new hardware if its not in place)

 

[mali]

An overclocked LULZ, I like it

 

[u9i]

@zounder1

Yes i agree, everyone should stop creating threads that annoy you, because you are the greatest and we should all try to adjust ourselves to increase your comfort levels!

[/sarcasm]

Here is another request. Could everyone stop creating threads about what other people are doing, that annoys them? You are not alone in this world, and if you don't want to participate, then then don't click the damn link. No reason to try and censor everyone else.

 

[yannv]

Can't wait for the, 'Pandora Go', with multi-touch higher res. display, GPS, GSM, CDMA, accelerometers, force feedback, four corner buttons and those new center click nubs.

If you're going to copy another company's marketing names, you'll get a bit of their expectations along. So the "Go" version shouldn't add ANYTHING (we already had bluetooth), instead removing SD support, rearranging the controls to be more cramped, smaller screen, more fragile hinge, etc.

 

[lulzfish]

One of the reasons why I bought a Pandora is because I wanted to have fixed specs. Anyone who downloads something can run it without any hardware incompatibilty problems, I don't have to worry about performance and no-one would come up with stupid things like: "Hey.. LETS OVERCLOCK LULZ".

Overclocking me is a terrible idea.

I would have thought the problem with an x86 and ARM co-existing would be the motherboard space needed. It would be cool to have something like an Atom that's used as a slave to accelerate x86 VMs, but it seems like a lot of work, and having both CPUs on would eat battery like a motherfucker.

 

[paulguy]

An x86 coprocessor would be kinda silly...

May as well just go x86 all the way if you want to have both. All our software would run the same either way... it's pretty much just desktop linux and other portable libraries. I think even libpnd would compile and work on a standard desktop if you adjust it to do so (removing hardware specific stuff.).

Anyway, I see no problem in speculating a pandora 2, but yeah, expecting changes to the existing pandora for a next batch or something is just silly. Changes take a lot of time and money, and I imagine they're looking to break even before they try any design changes.

 

[Tom`]

An x86 coprocessor would be kinda silly...

May as well just go x86 all the way if you want to have both. All our software would run the same either way... it's pretty much just desktop linux and other portable libraries. I think even libpnd would compile and work on a standard desktop if you adjust it to do so (removing hardware specific stuff.).

Well, it wouldn't make that much sense on a handheld, but for a hypothetical netbook it could be quite nice - you would use the ARM CPU for most things, allowing for very long battery life, and only use the x86 CPU as necessary, for applications that won't run on ARM. I imagine such a system would be horrendously complex to design, though.

 

[Exophase]

Well, it wouldn't make that much sense on a handheld, but for a hypothetical netbook it could be quite nice - you would use the ARM CPU for most things, allowing for very long battery life, and only use the x86 CPU as necessary, for applications that won't run on ARM. I imagine such a system would be horrendously complex to design, though.

For a netbook sized device it's the screen that really takes most of your battery life, not the CPU.

 

[Tom`]

Well, it wouldn't make that much sense on a handheld, but for a hypothetical netbook it could be quite nice - you would use the ARM CPU for most things, allowing for very long battery life, and only use the x86 CPU as necessary, for applications that won't run on ARM. I imagine such a system would be horrendously complex to design, though.

For a netbook sized device it's the screen that really takes most of your battery life, not the CPU.

Even for an x86 CPU? that's surprising, I always assumed it was the other way around...

 

[zounder1]

@zounder1

Yes i agree, everyone should stop creating threads that annoy you, because you are the greatest and we should all try to adjust ourselves to increase your comfort levels!

[/sarcasm]

Here is another request. Could everyone stop creating threads about what other people are doing, that annoys them? You are not alone in this world, and if you don't want to participate, then then don't click the damn link. No reason to try and censor everyone else.

In no way was my comment censorship whatsoever - it was an expression of my opinion. And based on your response, it seems you have trouble with my opinion. Using your twisted logic on what is censorship, your comment can be construed as censorship of my views. (Which it ain't, you have an opinion.. so be it.)

The problem with all the hardware requests is they are a waste of time. The hardware will not be changing. Features are not going to be added. In my opinion it is just tiring to see these hardware change requests constantly being regurgitated ad nauseam with no real point. The forum really should have some stickies to guide folks a bit before they posting such un-needed requests.

The trouble with all these superfluous threads rehashing a dead-end topic (since no hardware changes are going to happen) is a person possibly interested in purchasing a Pandora is going to get a horrible impression of what the community is like. It will most definitely scare people away (possibly permanently) from ever buying a Pandora. For the Pandora to succeed you need to grow the market beyond this forum. And I'm not liking what I see here.

The general rudeness of this forum (you fall into rude with your flippant comment to me) is folks have a limited time to contribute to any one hobby such as this. Rude, belittling comments can make folks move onto other areas instead of contributing to a project such as Pandora. Pandora needs to hit a critical mass of developers/testers willing to dedicate their precious time to help it become a fantastic product and project.

I think the hardware is a great stepping stone for a potentially amazing product, but the next step needs folks to group together to polish the software experience to an incredible experience. The potential is there, but this forum will make or break that potential in many ways. And how people present themselves here now will have a big impact in my opinion.

 

[mali]

^ I think you are wrong, but I accept your opinion
I browse this forum a lot and can't reconstruct your conclusions. There was someone who wanted to have 3G built-in recently, other than that I don't know which hardware change suggestions you are talking about.

 

[fearofshorts]

Oh, trust me Mali. They're out there.

Also: I agree that the Pandora needs to stay a fixed platform.

Here, let me demonstrate why with an elaborate metaphor:
Think of OSs. Which two ones are most common? Windows and OSX (unfortunately).
Now, recently apple has been advertising their OS with the message that 'it doesn't crash'. This is true most of the time.
Now, think about Windows. It crashes like mad.

Ok. Now think about why this is.
Yes, Johnny, that's right! It's because of the nature of the two platforms!

OSX (and I'm sure that even Mac fans will agree with me on this) doesn't have too many third-party programs available for it. If you have OSX, you have to either use apple products or use open-source programs 90% of the time.
Windows, on the other hand, is bogged down by third-party apps right from the start. Sometimes poorly coded ones. Ever had a bluescreen and cursed microsoft? Ok, have you ever actually used a tool to find out what caused the bluescreen?
In my experience they are, a lot of the time, caused by bad drivers or bad programs. Hell, once my system was bluescreening every hour while I surfed the internet. The culprit? A firefox extension that screwed with the ram and did something that made my videocard's drivers screw up.
As all of this crashing is going on, OSX is sitting in a nice little corner happily proclaiming that it is crash-proof. With it's set hardware and 1st-party drivers and software, the mixture of which has been carefully tested for ages.

Now, I'm not saying that microsoft aren't to blame for some of the crashes- they could probably do a better job handling errors created by the program, plus there would be a few bugs of their own- but windows by itself is usually fine. Neither am I saying that either os is better than the other (or discounting the other OSs). And no, I'm definitely not saying that the Pandy would crash as badly as windows just from using third-party (read: all of the available) software.
I'm just saying that it's infinitely better to have a fixed set of hardware. With a fixed set you can code specifically to meet its needs. You can be assured that if it works on your Pandy, it'll work on any other.

And, finally, you can be assured that you won't be waiting another six months for the factory to create the required new mould.



tl;dr- The Pandora needs to have a fixed set of hardware to appease the mighty Craig.