Next pandora (competition model)

[anexanhume]

I really have no idea what kind of availability there'll be but if you get the chance you should sample SoCs from Samsung, Freescale, maybe Qualcomm.. Shouldn't have a problem running all PNDs out of the box on those. Angstrom Linux is a given for pretty much anything, with some porting effort of course.

Qualcomm and Samsung both make great SoCs, but neither use ImgTec (Samsung migrated to ARM's Mali GPUs with the Exynos 42xx and Qualcomm has been in the Adreno camp since the original snapdragon). Staying with TI would ensure ImgTec GPU on board. ST also uses ImgTec GPUs, and their upcoming novathor a9600 will be a beast, but like ED said, quantity will be a bear for whatever they want to get. However, IMO it's not worth pursuing an A9 if they could also potentially get an A15 unless the cost is astronomically higher.

 

[Exophase]

Qualcomm and Samsung both make great SoCs, but neither use ImgTec (Samsung migrated to ARM's Mali GPUs with the Exynos 42xx and Qualcomm has been in the Adreno camp since the original snapdragon). Staying with TI would ensure ImgTec GPU on board. ST also uses ImgTec GPUs, and their upcoming novathor a9600 will be a beast, but like ED said, quantity will be a bear for whatever they want to get. However, IMO it's not worth pursuing an A9 if they could also potentially get an A15 unless the cost is astronomically higher.

IMG makes good GPUs but they're not the only clear choice. It really comes down more to what configurations the SoC vendors are licensing. Exynos's Mali-400MP4 easily beats the SGX540 in OMAP4430. Adreno 220 probably does too, although some of that may be contingent on drivers. The Vivante GC2000 in i.MX6 looks like the next best thing currently out after SGX543MP2 in Apple's A5. OMAP5 and Novathor will have great GPUs but those are a long way out.


But if you ask me I think it'd be foolish for OPT to heavily weight their decision based on who has the best GPU when Pandora has hardly gotten much high end 3D attention and I doubt it'll change for the next one. Unless it runs Android out of the box.


A9 SoCs they can get today, A15 in 6-9 months.. maybe.

 

[SNESFAN]

Unless it runs Android out of the box.

*cough* ^this *cough*

 

[Prometheus]

I wonder if Android will ever get a usable text editor... Computers are thoroughly useless without those.

 

[Mr Rob]

I wonder if Android will ever get a usable text editor... Computers are thoroughly useless without those.

That's actually my main gripe about emacs. Emacs can do a whole heck of a lot of things really well; the only thing it's missing is a good text editor.


Zing! Take that emacs.

 

[neko]

I've very rarely seen dead pixels on Pandora LCDs (only know of about 5 or 6 LCDs so far with one dead pixel), it might be the cheap one has far more dead pixels on the LCDs.

Mine has a dead pixel.  Craig said it wasn't covered under the warranty.


Some of the cheap ones are cheap because they are rejected parts which have dead pixels.

 

[Prometheus]

I've very rarely seen dead pixels on Pandora LCDs (only know of about 5 or 6 LCDs so far with one dead pixel), it might be the cheap one has far more dead pixels on the LCDs.

Mine has a dead pixel. Craig said it wasn't covered under the warranty.


Some of the cheap ones are cheap because they are rejected parts which have dead pixels.

Dead pixels are actually a normal part of manufacture, and most display manufacturers do not consider them a defect, and it's my understanding that they do not reject parts on that basis.


Check the manual for any electronic device that has a built-in display, and you'll likely find some boilerplate text that states as much, along with what actually is considered a defect as far as dead pixels go.

 

[SNESFAN]

I wonder if Android will ever get a usable text editor... Computers are thoroughly useless without those.

https://market.andro...dora.jota&hl=en <- lightweight


https://market.andro...ex.spartacuside <- everything else

 

[Prometheus]

Jota is useless. It only supports one million characters - you're not going to be writing anything useful with that, unfortunately.


Terminal IDE isn't for writing, either.


Still waiting...

 

[Sugarfix]

Regarding video output, hows about using a Mini Display Port? There are converters to output to Composite, VGA, DVI or HDMI. Surely something like that would be best as it provides the most flexible options for everyone to choose what suits them best.


Also, I think having R2/L2 buttons could double up to provide a slight tilt to the keyboard (more laptop-esq) as well as making the bottom of the device more ergonomic to hold.

 

[dreamer]

^ do realize that the current output-plug supports way more than just video:


Currently we have GPIO, sound (both in and out) and s-video/composite.


Going to a pure video-output would mean loss of the other options. Unless we'd have our own extended plug which would have something like a female Mini-Display at the end.

 

[SNESFAN]

Jota is useless. It only supports one million characters - you're not going to be writing anything useful with that, unfortunately.


Terminal IDE isn't for writing, either.


Still waiting...

1,000,000 limit too restrictive LMFAO :blink: ok... apparently you are a book writer.... See when I hear "computers are useless without a text writer" I instantly think you are talking scripting/programming because a computer would actually be useless without those. Not just viewed as useless....


anyway don't dismiss terminal IDE it has VIM built in, not sure what the character limit of VIM is but iirc it's limited to available ram, but agian I may be wrong.... you could also compile whatever it is that you use on your linux system... has a lot of dev tools built in, it's a really powerful app


EDIT: VIM has large file support +4GB should be well over the 1 million limit http://en.wikipedia....of_text_editors


so let me ask you... what is it exactly you use currently? What is an "ideal" text editor? I'm sure I can find ya something.... I'm looking in the pandora repo and I only see 3 programs listed as text editor but I'm probably looking in the wrong area... but the best rated one is VIM so..... yea.... waiting to hear what you consider to be a good text editor


http://repo.openpand...extEditor&s=new

 

[PokeParadox]

I've very rarely seen dead pixels on Pandora LCDs (only know of about 5 or 6 LCDs so far with one dead pixel), it might be the cheap one has far more dead pixels on the LCDs.

Mine has a dead pixel. Craig said it wasn't covered under the warranty.


Some of the cheap ones are cheap because they are rejected parts which have dead pixels.

Dead pixels are actually a normal part of manufacture, and most display manufacturers do not consider them a defect, and it's my understanding that they do not reject parts on that basis.


Check the manual for any electronic device that has a built-in display, and you'll likely find some boilerplate text that states as much, along with what actually is considered a defect as far as dead pixels go.

Yes most manufacturers will set a limit like > 3 dead pixels as faulty or whatever. Personally just ONE pixel that doesn't work bugs the hell out of me so I think they should just refine their process and not release the ones with any dead pixels... but they'd never go for that and LCD prices would probably sky-rocket, etc.


My DS Lite has one annoying deadpixel and my pre RMA Pandora had one less annoying dead pixel which I only pointed out when RMA'ing it for the purple tint problem.

 

[anexanhume]

Qualcomm and Samsung both make great SoCs, but neither use ImgTec (Samsung migrated to ARM's Mali GPUs with the Exynos 42xx and Qualcomm has been in the Adreno camp since the original snapdragon). Staying with TI would ensure ImgTec GPU on board. ST also uses ImgTec GPUs, and their upcoming novathor a9600 will be a beast, but like ED said, quantity will be a bear for whatever they want to get. However, IMO it's not worth pursuing an A9 if they could also potentially get an A15 unless the cost is astronomically higher.

IMG makes good GPUs but they're not the only clear choice. It really comes down more to what configurations the SoC vendors are licensing. Exynos's Mali-400MP4 easily beats the SGX540 in OMAP4430. Adreno 220 probably does too, although some of that may be contingent on drivers. The Vivante GC2000 in i.MX6 looks like the next best thing currently out after SGX543MP2 in Apple's A5. OMAP5 and Novathor will have great GPUs but those are a long way out.


But if you ask me I think it'd be foolish for OPT to heavily weight their decision based on who has the best GPU when Pandora has hardly gotten much high end 3D attention and I doubt it'll change for the next one. Unless it runs Android out of the box.


A9 SoCs they can get today, A15 in 6-9 months.. maybe.

I was talking ImgTec for compatibility reasons solely. I don't see an issue with A15 in 6-9 months since ED's criteria for Pandora 2 to launch won't be fulfilled that immediately. A15 designs are already sampling and I assume Michael was designing the pandora PCB during the time the OMAP 3 wasn't yet in full production phase.

 

[Prometheus]

1,000,000 limit too restrictive LMFAO :blink: ok... apparently you are a book writer.... See when I hear "computers are useless without a text writer" I instantly think you are talking scripting/programming because a computer would actually be useless without those. Not just viewed as useless....

I speak from the perspective of someone who has brought computers into their home for things that non-programmers would do. A text editor for writing use is perhaps the most basic and important thing I can imagine. After all, a great many home users have things such as homework and papers as a reason for owning a computer.

anyway don't dismiss terminal IDE it has VIM built in, not sure what the character limit of VIM is but iirc it's limited to available ram, but agian I may be wrong.... you could also compile whatever it is that you use on your linux system... has a lot of dev tools built in, it's a really powerful app


EDIT: VIM has large file support +4GB should be well over the 1 million limit http://en.wikipedia....of_text_editors

Vim isn't really suitable to writing. It's more geared towards coding, from what I've found. I don't get on with it. :lol:

so let me ask you... what is it exactly you use currently? What is an "ideal" text editor? I'm sure I can find ya something.... I'm looking in the pandora repo and I only see 3 programs listed as text editor but I'm probably looking in the wrong area... but the best rated one is VIM so..... yea.... waiting to hear what you consider to be a good text editor


http://repo.openpand...extEditor&s=new

Mousepad, and I also don't mind nano (which is accessed from the command-line). Both are suited to writing. You won't find them on the repo - they're pre-installed, as they tend to be with any useful OS meant for creating work, since they're such a basic utility.

 

[fallen751]

I think you should seriously consider Qualcomm, maybe something in the 8x60 series. If we didn't want UMTS support the APQ8060 is a heck of a chip. It runs android quite well and the power numbers are good. A lot could be accomplished with dual core snapdragons. Plus the Adreno 220 is a solid chip even if the drivers aren't 100% there. Definitely should be in the running

 

[Exophase]

I was talking ImgTec for compatibility reasons solely. I don't see an issue with A15 in 6-9 months since ED's criteria for Pandora 2 to launch won't be fulfilled that immediately. A15 designs are already sampling and I assume Michael was designing the pandora PCB during the time the OMAP 3 wasn't yet in full production phase.

Any sampling right now, if it really exists at all, is probably very beta engineering only to very select customers. Probably not to players like OPT. TI took a special interest in Pandora and wanted to push it as a vehicle for an early release of an OMAP3 product. Given that Pandora was only actually released 1.5 years later than anticipated and well after mainstream OMAP3 devices were I don't know if TI would have the seem enthusiasm in giving them an early opportunity again.


6-9 months is my expectation for when they can get samples, if ever. I expect mass production to be a possibility after that.. and you can't just take the time to availability, you have to factor in lead time and assembly/testing times before Pandoras can be sent. I'd be pretty surprised if they got an OMAP5 Pandora out in under a year, and anything else A15 is even less tangible right now. That could be fine, but if ED really wants to start after production is stable and 4000 more units are sold that COULD be in just a few months. If the new assembly house isn't defective too, anyway.


GPU compatibility is almost a non-issue. The only real sticking point is anything using PVRTC exclusively, which on Pandora should be nothing.

 

[craigix]

Any Pandora2 will be taking a radical approach to things as big as the original Pandora design was.

 

[Pickle]

Any Pandora2 will be taking a radical approach to things as big as the original Pandora design was.

So the pandora 2 will be an iphone with icp for controls


(Thats first thing that came to mind when i read radical)

 

[diligentcircle]

Any Pandora2 will be taking a radical approach to things as big as the original Pandora design was.

So the pandora 2 will be an iphone with icp for controls


(Thats first thing that came to mind when i read radical)

A non-foldable Pandora with a capacitive touchscreen and no keyboard? Doesn't that seem like a backwards step?