Moving forward! (2010-12-17)

[Abaddon666]

Well, this could really be good news. But after everything that has been told (and not done) by this company I'll better hold my breath until late Tuesday I guess.


Good to hear your feeling better again ED, that's all that should matter now.

 

[may88]

It's good to have good good news.


Nice gesture with the postage of that batch. This should help to kick-start deliveries of Pandoras.

 

[Timstertoo]

It's good to have good good news.


Nice gesture with the postage of that batch. This should help to kick-start deliveries of Pandoras.

Indeed good news and a nice gesture.


Must be great for OPT to now have a bottleneck they have control over, the assembly and sending of the units.


Once again well done Trey!

 

[WizardStan]

So at this rate, some people might actually get their Pandora before Duke Nukem Forever ships?

Several hundred people already have theirs.

 

[ToastBucket]

Just curious, RMA boards will be sent to the factory for repairs after Batch 1 is complete? Or during it's production?

 

[- Theo -]

I could just imagine if it went the other way:


EvilDragon: Hi everybody, the boards are on their way and we're going to be able to ship a lot of Pandora's throughout January.


Unfortunately, the doctor said I may have terminal pnem.....


Community: W00T!!!!! MI PANDORAS COMIN IN JANURARY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! YAY!


So I'll simply state:


I'm glad you're feeling better EvilDragon, The Pandora's can wait!

Ah ah, good one. The Pandoras will wait, anyway


On an unrelated note, I love your avatar! Wizball is such a great game.

 

[Wootson]

Of course some are for RMA purposes, but surely not all of those 250!


My best guess is that there are around 100 people with board and/or nub problems. So, that would leave room for around 150 happy new Pandora owners.


Assuming that there will be no dead on arrivals, and all of those 250 Pandora's are indeed tested to the bone, and are guaranteed in fully working order.

 

[second exodous]

Of course some are for RMA purposes, but surely not all of those 250!

My best guess is that there are around 100 people with board and/or nub problems. So, that would leave room for around 150 happy new Pandora owners.


Assuming that there will be no dead on arrivals, and all of those 250 Pandora's are indeed tested to the bone, and are guaranteed in fully working order.

I don't think any of these will be sent to people that have broken units. ED has said there have been no board failures so the problems are with the LCD cable, which can be replaced, or the nubs which ED is already looking into getting a tool to replace nubs.


Besides I don't know the legality of fixing these defective units and sending them out as new units later to other customers at full price. They got rid of a lot of them by offering people to skip the queue which is semi legal, they still were sold as full price, but I really don't think there is any reason to send out new units to those that have broken nubs or a LCD cable that can be replaced. To me it just doesn't make sense, fix their units and send their units back to them, not to someone else later as a new unit.

 

[SNESFAN]

I don't think any of these will be sent to people that have broken units. ED has said there have been no board failures so the problems are with the LCD cable, which can be replaced, or the nubs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refurbishment_(electronics)which ED is already looking into getting a tool to replace nubs.


Besides I don't know the legality of fixing these defective units and sending them out as new units later to other customers at full price. They got rid of a lot of them by offering people to skip the queue which is semi legal, they still were sold as full price, but I really don't think there is any reason to send out new units to those that have broken nubs or a LCD cable that can be replaced. To me it just doesn't make sense, fix their units and send their units back to them, not to someone else later as a new unit.

i think what you're thinking of is refurbishment


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refurbishment_(electronics)


I'm pretty sure you have to specify when selling the unit that it is manufacturer certified refurbished product.


at least in america you do... If I find out I got a refurbished product when I paid full price I would definitely throw a fit

 

[second exodous]

i think what you're thinking of is refurbishment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refurbishment_(electronics)


I'm pretty sure you have to specify when selling the unit that it is manufacturer certified refurbished product.


at least in america you do... If I find out I got a refurbished product when I paid full price I would definitely throw a fit

Yeah, that is what I'm talking about like you I don't know if it is legal in the UK or not. I also don't want someone else's Pandora that they sent back broke so the OP team should not be sending new units out to those that have defective ones unless they plan to sell the units after they fix them at a reduced price. NONE of these ones should go out to those that have already received units that have broken, it does not make sense at all to me. Fix the broken ones and send them out to the same people, don't send them new units, this just means it will take longer to finish the queue and the OP team will stockpile units they can't sell as new.

 

[Captainbubby]

Ah ah, good one. The Pandoras will wait, anyway


On an unrelated note, I love your avatar! Wizball is such a great game.

Thank you! I also love your avatar; It also harkens back to my childhood with the whole muppet/Fraggle Rock look!

 

[ToastBucket]

Well I just sent a Pandora to EvilDragon for repairs. It needs nubs replaced and the LCD connector on the board needs to be replaced as well. I was told that they were going to send my board to texas to have the parts replaced/fixed and I would get the same board back rather than a new board. Did I misunderstand?

 

[Eridger]

Well I just sent a Pandora to EvilDragon for repairs. It needs nubs replaced and the LCD connector on the board needs to be replaced as well. I was told that they were going to send my board to texas to have the parts replaced/fixed and I would get the same board back rather than a new board. Did I misunderstand?

If that's what you were told, that's likely what's going to happen. I haven't seen an official OPT member say otherwise. I think everyone here is simply speculating.


No worries, friend. You'll get your panda back. Likely the nubs will be repaired if the board is fine (sounds like it is) and shipped back to OP to get the lcd ribbon replaced. That is assuming that CircuitCo doesn't have any ribbons. Either way your Pandora will bounce from CircuitCo back to OP back to you, with shiny new nubs and a working ribbon. If your Pandora is one of those first few that had the messed-up shoulder buttons, that might be fixed as well, if you emailed OP about that problem, if you have it.


You'll probably be one of the first to get a Pandora in such a good condition, lucky dog.


Which makes me wonder... the paint that's used on the cases... Has that begun to chip for anyone yet? The molding for the pandora isn't black, is it? That means that when the paint chips will have one horrid looking piece of tech, right..?

 

[Asiyura]

[…]
Which makes me wonder... the paint that's used on the cases... Has that begun to chip for anyone yet? The molding for the pandora isn't black, is it? That means that when the paint chips will have one horrid looking piece of tech, right..?

Don't worry, the plastic is dyed black.


But it was a bit marbled, so they decided to paint it to make better looking cases.


The black from paint and from plastic are slightly different, but nothing shocking IIRC.


Later, the mould will eventually be electrosparked, lengthening its life and giving a nice grainy feeling to the case.


That finish will potentially hide the marbled look of the plastic.

 

[ToastBucket]

Don't worry, the plastic is dyed black.


But it was a bit marbled, so they decided to paint it to make better looking cases.


The black from paint and from plastic are slightly different, but nothing shocking IIRC.


Later, the mould will eventually be electrosparked, lengthening its life and giving a nice grainy feeling to the case.


That finish will potentially hide the marbled look of the plastic.

Yeah. I just took a piece of the old case that once housed my Pandora (I got a replacement)and scratched pretty deep into it. It's all black but underneath it looked to be slightly lighter than the black of the paint.

 

[WizardStan]

The paint on my d-pad has worn itself away over the months. The plastic underneath is a lighter shade of black (if there was such a thing... you know what I mean!) and not in a chipped way, but smooth transition from plastic to paint. I don't fear it chipping, it was done very well, but I do think there will be other places the paint will gently wear away from.

 

[EvilDragon]

ED, did you ever hear back from that company about the tool to make replacing nubs easier?

Not yet, but they mentioned from the very beginning they probably won't have time before christmas.

Is this news verified by Trey? I believe that last week someone official said he'd try to go this week.

Nope, didn't hear back yet from the CEO, this news was from the one managing the Pandora production - and he should know how things are going, as he is the one directly involved.

I don't mean to sound distrustful but, well, I guess I am at the moment, regarding these sort of figures.

True, but it sounds pretty realistic. 500 half-finished were there when Trey visited and they were working on it.


One week later with 750 boards in testing and 250 with nubs installed and nubs currently being tested, that's about 350 - 450 full boards in one week, which would be realistic.

 

[FaeMinx]

True, but it sounds pretty realistic. 500 half-finished were there when Trey visited and they were working on it.


One week later with 750 boards in testing and 250 with nubs installed and nubs currently being tested, that's about 350 - 450 full boards in one week, which would be realistic.

At 350 a week, and If there's completely smooth sailing from here on out - I estimate possible shipping of my Pandora at 3 Months 1 Week.

 

[myownlittlworld]

The way I figure it, the mascot of Pandora should be a cute little demon popping out of a box. BSD has had a demon as its mascot for years, so there's a long tradition of demons as mascots in the open-source world.


Furthermore, I figure this demon should be named "Delay". And he should have a sinister-looking suitcase. (In Latin, the word "impedimentum" means hinderance; the plural form also means "baggage".)

If we go with a demon (daemon) mascot, it should definitely be named Murphy. He'll have a law.


Maybe the mascot could be the Scales of Justice (law) with the D(a)emon named Murphy on one side (and the Pandora on the other?).

 

[chosen]

I quite like the Evil Dragon that ED draws, can that be considered for the mascot?