Next pandora (competition model)

[SNESFAN]

I would say gamecube support or at least enough power to hopefully run gamecube, would be near the top of my list of course without actually using a pandora and looking at flaws and things that irk me on it.

Alright... So could someone in the know tell us exactly how powerfull a processor we'll need for this... Because I was under the impression GameCube wasn't even on the cards...


An 8-Core running at 3Ghz? I suppose the possibility of GameCube emulation all depends on weather the P2 happens later rather than sooner.


P.s. I would be thrilled to have GameCube emulation by the way.

I'm not the best at explaining extremely technical things, but what I do know, it's not all about mhz and ghz for example a 1GHz ARM is not equal to (!=) the processing power of a 1GHz x86. In fact a 1GHz arm from Samsung is significantly different in power than one from TI.


The same person who pointed that out also went on to say that with the top of the line arm processors are just now scratching on the edge of the power of most netbooks.


here's a good read and benchmark comparison thing I just pulled up comparing the beagle board with a low end atom processor


http://www.slideshar...ark-comparisons


if you have a netbook kicking around try loading up an emulator optimized for x86 and give yourself a good comparison of what it would be like. N64 struggles on my EEE PC similarly to what it does on the pandora. NDS, Gamecube, PSP, Wii etc.. is just completely out of the question.


I'm sure the convergence is over though and you will start seeing more and more improvements in the ARM side of things since mobile devices seems to be the push these days. Programmers and software more than raw power will make your emulator run but as processing power becomes more abundant you can exchange some skill for some of that raw power.


I'm sure someone's going to come in here and make a million corrections to what I said, but I'm fairly confident this is the general gist of it.

 

[FaeMinx]

So with that in mind - what kind of specs do you think the P2 should be aiming for? Or is it a given that at least for marketing purposes, we have to go with the fastest processor available at the time?

 

[DaMummy]

i, for one, dont think its important to push out a pandora2 until specs are available to produce an emu that can play ps2/ngc/dc at least the way pandora1 can play n64

 

[MarioPandio]

Sorry Mr Johnson (I've had an Xperiaplay (and an asus transformer) and it was comparable to my Pandora in my experience)Grantr'd but yes, on a million points (none of which shedding any light) I would like to say, you are no doubt largely correct here and most folk dig your general gist, in an inversely proportional one, to their lack of understanding mine


GC, PS2 etc on a handheld are pipedreams though, unless Pandora 2 is coming out in "2 Months" from when Roswell is admitted and Conspiracy folk are happy that Project BlueBeam meant only that, the Olympics were a diversion for Cameron to be hailed the messiah and we are all well past our requirements for sacrificing our children to the stock markets, as the wormhole allowed Cameron to shoot Kennedy from behind his left shoulder, sorry, his right shoulder from in-front, whilst masquerading as Jackie to the public but due to a dual core process, actually being one of the security staff, who were somewhere in-front, having got off earlier, when they probably shouldn't have.

 

[Binky]

i, for one, dont think its important to push out a pandora2 until specs are available to produce an emu that can play ps2/ngc/dc at least the way pandora1 can play n64

How long will that take compared to the first (pre component selection) design stages ?

 

[craigix]

The ideas we have won't disappoint.


Mr.Loons comparisons might well turn out to be true.


We do enjoy reading, and often I want to say 'YYESSS!' or 'NO!' but can't yet!

 

[FaeMinx]

-_- <_<

Spoiler

^ how many ways does one have to say: Not going to happen. Due to the circumstances, I'll be playing out my own experiment. There is something delicious in consequences... I am far too curious not to find out.


When you kick yourself - what part is doing the kicking? And what, pray tell... is being kicked?


Sometimes one just has to know these things.


It's just so delicious!


This fear of exposure is fascinating! Funny how I stand here, just this side of the line... where they dare not tread. What use are all their ways if they simply cannot get me to cross over? Surely when the only answer is to step over the line, and it is so important to them: *they* should be the ones doing it, not I.

Amazingly, this is on topic.


However, if you do not understand how that is so - I simply *couldn't* explain it to you. It's all about perspectives you see... some of which are exclusive, and fortunately so!... normal human beings shouldn't be troubled by 'unnessary' complications. =3


EDIT: P.p.s This post has nothing to do with what Craig just said just btw... to avoid confusion... we'll to avoid at least a tiny bit of the confusion. =3

 

[bismuthdrummer]

We do enjoy reading, and often I want to say 'YYESSS!' or 'NO!' but can't yet!

I am thankful for this reservation on the part of you and the rest of OPT.


Let's dream, but at the same time let us hammer out the high level design and anticipate consequences as fully as possible of the changes proposed to be made. Once these proposals are irrefutably within reach and undeniably superior to the status quo, only then should the fans should be hearing a resounding yea or nay.


I think OP2 sooner rather than later (but not too soon! Concretely, 1 year is too soon, 5 years is late, not end-of-the-world late but that pizza-guy-is-50-minutes-late, which-means-the-pizza-is-late-but-it's-ok-because-it's-still-tasty-and-warm, but-I-still-wish-this-had-come-sooner kind of late, IMO) is ideal for the survival and prosperity of the project. This handheld is beautifully brilliant and brilliantly beautiful, but some to many aspects could use (though admittedly do not need) an update. I suppose I also believe that some certain tweaks could elevate this handheld to another class of popularity and infamy, which can be bad for the device's hardcore fans if not done carefully and conservatively, but otherwise that extra revenue for OPT benefits everyone.

 

[Binky]

It would be useful to have some kind of idea of the design limits when coming up with high level ideas, for example:

• How many new input devices could be included? If the answer is None! then there is no point in thinking about positioning a camera.
  

 

[Binky]

Can we learn anything positive from this design?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pMyAw2PchpM?feature=oembed
If it weren't for the dreadful access to the keyboard I'd say that could be a winner, if you got rid of the strange phone on the lid and put gaming controls on the shoulders?

 

[hmc]

1) HD out. Ideally a HDMI port, but DVI-D (which is more or less the same as HDMI, sans-sound), or VGA, through the video out port would be OK.

HDMI without sound and without the insane licensing costs.

Just a thought, here: On the more recent MacBook models, you can get sound over DVI-D and run the whole thing to an HDMI port with the necessary TV-out adapter. I can only assume that Apple has some way that's sufficient to avoid licensing costs. Is this something that would be possible here?

If something like this will be done, I strongly recommend looking into MHL (Multimedia High-Definition Link). It's used on some mobile phones already.


It's basically a serialized HDMI signal (thus including sound), and what's really nice about it is that it uses a standard MicroUSB connector AND supports charging the mobile device at the same time over the same connector.


MHL has been developed by the same company as HDMI (Silicon Image).


Many devices with HDMI input already are MHL-ready (which requires the deserialization hardware and the 5V charging power supply hardware in the HDMI interface on receiver side), so you can directly connect an MHL device to a HDMI sink using an adapter cable.


For sink devices equipped with conventional HDMI, you need an active adapter cable, which contains deserialization hardware.


A very interesting interface, if you ask me, and ideal for applications like ours.


Daniel

 

[gotwake424]

1) HD out. Ideally a HDMI port, but DVI-D (which is more or less the same as HDMI, sans-sound), or VGA, through the video out port would be OK.

HDMI without sound and without the insane licensing costs.

Just a thought, here: On the more recent MacBook models, you can get sound over DVI-D and run the whole thing to an HDMI port with the necessary TV-out adapter. I can only assume that Apple has some way that's sufficient to avoid licensing costs. Is this something that would be possible here?

If something like this will be done, I strongly recommend looking into MHL (Multimedia High-Definition Link). It's used on some mobile phones already.


It's basically a serialized HDMI signal (thus including sound), and what's really nice about it is that it uses a standard MicroUSB connector AND supports charging the mobile device at the same time over the same connector.


MHL has been developed by the same company as HDMI (Silicon Image).


Many devices with HDMI input already are MHL-ready (which requires the deserialization hardware and the 5V charging power supply hardware in the HDMI interface on receiver side), so you can directly connect an MHL device to a HDMI sink using an adapter cable.


For sink devices equipped with conventional HDMI, you need an active adapter cable, which contains deserialization hardware.


A very interesting interface, if you ask me, and ideal for applications like ours.


Daniel

but display port already does all this besides charging and is licence free

 

[Mr Rob]

If it weren't for the dreadful access to the keyboard I'd say that could be a winner, if you got rid of the strange phone on the lid and put gaming controls on the shoulders?

My favorite part was when they showed the Windows key.

 

[Prometheus]

1) HD out. Ideally a HDMI port, but DVI-D (which is more or less the same as HDMI, sans-sound), or VGA, through the video out port would be OK.

HDMI without sound and without the insane licensing costs.

Just a thought, here: On the more recent MacBook models, you can get sound over DVI-D and run the whole thing to an HDMI port with the necessary TV-out adapter. I can only assume that Apple has some way that's sufficient to avoid licensing costs. Is this something that would be possible here?

If something like this will be done, I strongly recommend looking into MHL (Multimedia High-Definition Link). It's used on some mobile phones already.


It's basically a serialized HDMI signal (thus including sound), and what's really nice about it is that it uses a standard MicroUSB connector AND supports charging the mobile device at the same time over the same connector.


MHL has been developed by the same company as HDMI (Silicon Image).


Many devices with HDMI input already are MHL-ready (which requires the deserialization hardware and the 5V charging power supply hardware in the HDMI interface on receiver side), so you can directly connect an MHL device to a HDMI sink using an adapter cable.


For sink devices equipped with conventional HDMI, you need an active adapter cable, which contains deserialization hardware.


A very interesting interface, if you ask me, and ideal for applications like ours.


Daniel

I'm so sorry for the quote-pyramid, here. :lol:


I should mention that I had misremembered how Apple does this. As gotwake424 mentions, it's actually done via Mini-DisplayPort, which is probably a better bet for this sort of thing due to the lack of fees.

 

[TrashyMG]

I'm so sorry for the quote-pyramid, here. :lol:


I should mention that I had misremembered how Apple does this. As gotwake424 mentions, it's actually done via Mini-DisplayPort, which is probably a better bet for this sort of thing due to the lack of fees.

I really like the idea of mini-displayport, Adapters to HDMI, DVI and etc are abundant.

 

[hmc]

Okay, I didn't know that Mini-Displayport is an alternative here. Although I'm sitting in front of a Mac which has one.


Sometimes you don't see the wood for trees.


But does it really transport audio, too? Is this the same as Thunderbolt, or is the Mini-Displayport a subset of Thunderbolt...?


Daniel

 

[Prometheus]

I must admit to not having a clue! I'm pretty sure that it was pre-Thunderbolt, in this case.


It definitely does transport audio along with the video, though, as I helped a relative get set up with it earlier in the year (using a Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and a standard HDMI-to-HDMI cable), and found myself quite impressed with the results.

 

[monty]

The video out would be one of the most important features for the next Pandora model, for me at least. But surely OPT have very little choice about this? They will pick a SOC which is broadly compatible with the current one and it will come with certain outputs. Chances are it'll be one of the ones discussed above, but, unless I've misunderstood the market for SOCs, they won't have the luxury of deciding between output types.

 

[TrashyMG]

I know less ideal, but if OPT is stuck getting a SOC with only one digital out again. Perhaps there could be some added circuitry that disables the LCD and routes the video out to what ever digital out port they choose.

 

[Binky]

Another though about the 'Ugly sofa' video above:


If the mobile phone was taken out of the lid, the lid would be thinner, and the shoulders could be smaller, thus reducing the keyboard access problem