Let's Label This Mofo

[shadow.8]

^No, the solder pads are in fact reserved for backlight MODs.

NO WAY! That's pretty sweet. Props to OP for this 'feature' I wasn't even aware of. B)

Also, can I safely assume the same goes for "Shoulder 2" adding the equivalent of R2 and L2 shoulder buttons?

 

[mali]

^Yep

 

[rabidpoobear]

the little brass disk up and to the left of the wifi/bt is the antenna connector.

[edit] J14

 

[peca]

Shadow.8: Hey man, You are looking as going to lose warranty ASAP :-D

 

[WizardStan]

Also, can I safely assume the same goes for "Shoulder 2" adding the equivalent of R2 and L2 shoulder buttons?

Yes indeedy.
You may also find this interesting: there's a single GPIO line in the back of the LCD screen. Connect a button to it and have an extra button on the back, or connect an LED to it and light things up.

 

[robotjohn]

Also, can I safely assume the same goes for "Shoulder 2" adding the equivalent of R2 and L2 shoulder buttons?

Yes indeedy.
You may also find this interesting: there's a single GPIO line in the back of the LCD screen. Connect a button to it and have an extra button on the back, or connect an LED to it and light things up.

ohhh that would be great for an infrared led!!

 

[kingoddball]

Also, can I safely assume the same goes for "Shoulder 2" adding the equivalent of R2 and L2 shoulder buttons?

Yes indeedy.
You may also find this interesting: there's a single GPIO line in the back of the LCD screen. Connect a button to it and have an extra button on the back, or connect an LED to it and light things up.

Use it for the Z trigger button from the Nintendo 64!!

I plan on chopping up a PSX or PS2 (so the colour is similar) control pad and make something like a clip on addition to have L2/R2 buttons and to make them work well and functional.

I'll wire up the L2/R2 to a plug and so I can just plug in my button caddy style thing when I make it.. Seems VERY easy in my head.

Edit: Maybe just chop up an N64 controller and make a button caddy to connect to the pandora and hook onto the rear!

 

[peca]

ohhh that would be great for an infrared led!!

Or use one of UARTs from EXT port. One is dedicated to CIR (consumer infra red) by HW design. Just sacrifice linux serial console or recompile kernel.

 

[rabidpoobear]

I plan on chopping up a PSX or PS2 (so the colour is similar) control pad and make something like a clip on addition to have L2/R2 buttons and to make them work well and functional.

I'll wire up the L2/R2 to a plug and so I can just plug in my button caddy style thing when I make it.. Seems VERY easy in my head.

Edit: Maybe just chop up an N64 controller and make a button caddy to connect to the pandora and hook onto the rear!

This sounds kinda convoluted. You're going to cut up a ps2 controller just for the shoulder buttons? or are you trying to make a handle from the controller?

 

[kingoddball]

I plan on chopping up a PSX or PS2 (so the colour is similar) control pad and make something like a clip on addition to have L2/R2 buttons and to make them work well and functional.

I'll wire up the L2/R2 to a plug and so I can just plug in my button caddy style thing when I make it.. Seems VERY easy in my head.

Edit: Maybe just chop up an N64 controller and make a button caddy to connect to the pandora and hook onto the rear!

This sounds kinda convoluted. You're going to cut up a ps2 controller just for the shoulder buttons? or are you trying to make a handle from the controller?

No handle.
I just want the L2/R2 buttons. The playstation has always had great buttons esp L2/R2!

Rather than try just glue on some crap buttons, I'll wire up a plug section (so they can be removed as easy as pulling an SD card), plug in the 2 shoulder buttons that can clip to the pandora shell somehow. Nice and easy extra buttons, without the mess of too much case modification. (tiny 4 wire plug will be exactly that... tiny).

I've got a few broken controllers. Even a ps3/xbox360 broken one and 2 dreamcast controllers.

 

[nikkopt]

Added a few more, wea0 got the most..

Edit: I labeled U21 as Bus transceiver for the DAC although voltage translator fits better..

 

[robotjohn]

ohhh that would be great for an infrared led!!

Or use one of UARTs from EXT port. One is dedicated to CIR (consumer infra red) by HW design. Just sacrifice linux serial console or recompile kernel.

Is it ok if the Pandora makes me very excited in so many ways?

 

[fearofshorts]

I still think that someone needs to produce (as in, mass and then sell) a basic box that clips onto the base of the Pandora. It just needs to fit into the USB port and then (via a hub) have several ports inside it.

Problem solved for about 90% of all Pandora mods.

Of course, this would just be for those who don't want to get their hands too dirty, otherwise hardcore mods (the kind I can't do- thumbs up to you guys!) would fit the bill.

 

[gruso]

Nice work on this, thanks everyone! Assuming there are no objections from OP Ltd, I'll post it on the blog later today (with the usual unofficial disclaimers attached, etc).

 

[fusion_power]

I hope, no Chinese Pirate Company see this Photo and makes a 1:1 copy of our Pandora-Motherboard just by studying the front and the back-side ^^

Oh, is the NAND really a part of the RAM Chip or is the NAND within the OMAP itself?

 

[mali]

disregard, misread.

 

[Asiyura]

I still think that someone needs to produce (as in, mass and then sell) a basic box that clips onto the base of the Pandora. It just needs to fit into the USB port and then (via a hub) have several ports inside it.

Problem solved for about 90% of all Pandora mods.

Of course, this would just be for those who don't want to get their hands too dirty, otherwise hardcore mods (the kind I can't do- thumbs up to you guys!) would fit the bill.

A USB hub won't do, the power on the host USB of the Pandora is pretty power limited.
I think that at most you'll be able to use 2 low-power USB devices (mouse, keyboard) or one power hungry device (3G dongle, USB speakers, ...).

 

[urjaman]

Oh, is the NAND really a part of the RAM Chip or is the NAND within the OMAP itself?

IIRC the RAM and NAND are both in the same memory package... Source: cant remember. OMAP has no internal NAND. source: memory from reading omap3530 datasheet & TRM.

 

[gruso]

I hope, no Chinese Pirate Company see this Photo and makes a 1:1 copy of our Pandora-Motherboard just by studying the front and the back-side ^^

I think it's pretty safe. They can study the front and back, but there are another 4 PCB layers in between. I think any clone maker would have to do all the hard stuff from scratch as opposed to just copying it.

 

[kingoddball]

Hey Gurso,
Were all the "bigger hacker points" (to void warranty) pointed out as well?
I want to hack and destroy a Pandora mobo one day (when they start selling mobos/dev kits alone)