Hey there, long time no see! i've been reading the forums a bit, but I haven't been active for months. (In fact, I just read an inbox from october 2011)
I see we've moved on to talking about the pandora 2. It's only logical since the original hardware is already a bit aged, and they've even began making upgraded models.
Since there is no perfect setup for the openpandora, as we've noticed over the years, (People mocking hardware features other people find essential etc) I think we should go with a modular design.
In other words: Expantion slot(s). For example, people have been messing around with 3G dongles, while other people don't want that. There could be an expansion card that is basically just a fully tested and compatible dongle. Somebody else might not need that, so he could slide an extra USB host in. Or maybe a serial port card. Or an infrared tranciever, the sky is the limit, if we use an available connector. I think this way nobody would end up with features they don't need, and thus not paying for them, and people could develop their own cards, maybe.
Form-factor wise I think we're on the right track. The new cases look brilliant. Just cram the latest omap in there, maybe a faster wifi card (hey, this could be removeable, too! How hard is it to solder a connector on a board instead of a component?) So basically all outside connectors could be on removeable cards, as far as this is feasible. I think this would also simplify the motherboard designs, but it might not be financially doable to make that many daughter boards? The connectors could be an RS-232 variant, or maybe PCMCIA-based, or TTL. You'll have to talk to somebody else for that.
The screen is the right size and resolution, but a notch higher might not hurt. Resistive screens are the way to go, since you won't use your fingers that much on a top screen anyway.
I doubt the dual analog stick is a real must. the PSP did with one, and I think the general opinion here is that it's generally disused anyway.
I think all of this would help to cut costs, and make the new pandora a device that could last many years without upgrading, if we keep it modular.
I see we've moved on to talking about the pandora 2. It's only logical since the original hardware is already a bit aged, and they've even began making upgraded models.
Since there is no perfect setup for the openpandora, as we've noticed over the years, (People mocking hardware features other people find essential etc) I think we should go with a modular design.
In other words: Expantion slot(s). For example, people have been messing around with 3G dongles, while other people don't want that. There could be an expansion card that is basically just a fully tested and compatible dongle. Somebody else might not need that, so he could slide an extra USB host in. Or maybe a serial port card. Or an infrared tranciever, the sky is the limit, if we use an available connector. I think this way nobody would end up with features they don't need, and thus not paying for them, and people could develop their own cards, maybe.
Form-factor wise I think we're on the right track. The new cases look brilliant. Just cram the latest omap in there, maybe a faster wifi card (hey, this could be removeable, too! How hard is it to solder a connector on a board instead of a component?) So basically all outside connectors could be on removeable cards, as far as this is feasible. I think this would also simplify the motherboard designs, but it might not be financially doable to make that many daughter boards? The connectors could be an RS-232 variant, or maybe PCMCIA-based, or TTL. You'll have to talk to somebody else for that.
The screen is the right size and resolution, but a notch higher might not hurt. Resistive screens are the way to go, since you won't use your fingers that much on a top screen anyway.
I doubt the dual analog stick is a real must. the PSP did with one, and I think the general opinion here is that it's generally disused anyway.
I think all of this would help to cut costs, and make the new pandora a device that could last many years without upgrading, if we keep it modular.
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