One queue cleared, TV Out cables finally coming and some other tidbits (2013-03-20)

[God Ginrai]

Congratulations on clearing your queue, ED!

I still haven't seen this answered yet, so I was wondering: What's the plans for shipping out TV-out cables to people who had already pre-ordered them?  I got my Pandora a long time ago, but I'm still obviously waiting on the TV-out cable I ordered w/ it back when I ordered from GBAX.

-God Ginrai

 

[Kumaki]

Can I assume, ED, that you will also be providing some TV out Cables to Link for us Yanks??

If so, should I put HIM on notice, or you?

In either case, I'd definitely like a second TV Out Cable.

 

[SirAileron]

This is delightful news! I get the feeling I'm one of the absolute last people in Craig's queue, given how long I've waited. But progress is always music to my hears. X)

Granted, if I'd had work, I would have upgraded to a 1GHz a long time ago, but I guess if it arrives before I actually earn enough, I'll simply send it in for an upgrade.

Either way, I'm glad things are moving along still. And actually, now with the rise of so many HDMI devices, is there going to be such a thing as an HDMI-out cable for the Pandora? Or is that not a feasible option?

 

[Binky]

The pandora's processor has one digital video out and one analogue video out.

the digital connection is permanently wired to the built-in screen, leaving only the analogue signal for TV-out

More modern processors have two digital outputs. (with one connected to an HDMI socket)

This might interest you though:

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/12271-displaylink-external-dvivga-display-on-superzaxxon-firmware-request-for-assistance/

 

[SirAileron]

Ah, much appreciated. I'd always really looked forward to using the Pandora as not only a portable dev/emulation platform, but as a retro console emulator that I could hook up to TV sets and such. Since I run the gaming club at my college, it comes in handy to have a device that can run arcade classics on a TV without the need of a laptop or a Wii. :lol:

 

[mmielke]

I'm glad to hear ED's hard at work clearing up all queues, producing TV-Out cables with GC, supporting this wonderful community (unlike Craig), and tempering the flames of irate customers. You rock, ED! Keep up the good work! I would also like to know if I'll get the TV-Out cables that I originally ordered through Craig.

 

[Godmil]

Great progress

One wee question, I try to keep an eye on the dragonbox website to see how quickly the pandoras are selling (thanks very much for listing the stock it's really interesting).

when you send units to old pre-orders is that number deducted from the stock number too? (or for some reason are there units marked for sending off that aren't included in the stock number).

 

[Da Dude]

Great Milestone ED. really great. Time to catch up on sleep and beer!!!!!

Now let's get them tvout cables in the shop.  I want one.

 

[sporkbox]

I'm glad to hear ED's hard at work clearing up all queues, producing TV-Out cables with GC, supporting this wonderful community (unlike Craig), and tempering the flames of irate customers. You rock, ED! Keep up the good work! I would also like to know if I'll get the TV-Out cables that I originally ordered through Craig.

In Craig's defense, it's hard to try to work with irate customers when they continue to be convinced that Craig's shortcomings were intentional. As a preorderer who still hasn't received his I'm disappointed by the current situation, but I'm not crazy enough to assume that either Craig or Michael planned these problems. Business is a cutthroat world rife with opportunities to mislead, even other businesses. If Craig's focus on the iCP2 or whatever will allow him to come back to OpenPandora better prepared, then awesome.

Also, we knew before the project even got started that we may lose our investment. If someone has a problem with that, then they shouldn't have plunked the money down. This was a very high risk thing, and the belief in the community is what made it happen. Throwing Craig under the bus (whether the criticisms are warranted or not) only poisons the feel of the community and guarantees that more projects like this won't happen.

tldr version: ED's doing a great job, Craig's not evil.

Disclaimer: I don't have regular communications with Craig but I've seen many dramatic topics on these forums and my opinion is based upon those public discussions.

 

[kasp]

I'm glad to hear ED's hard at work clearing up all queues, producing TV-Out cables with GC, supporting this wonderful community (unlike Craig), and tempering the flames of irate customers. You rock, ED! Keep up the good work! I would also like to know if I'll get the TV-Out cables that I originally ordered through Craig.

In Craig's defense, it's hard to try to work with irate customers when they continue to be convinced that Craig's shortcomings were intentional. As a preorderer who still hasn't received his I'm disappointed by the current situation, but I'm not crazy enough to assume that either Craig or Michael planned these problems. Business is a cutthroat world rife with opportunities to mislead, even other businesses. If Craig's focus on the iCP2 or whatever will allow him to come back to OpenPandora better prepared, then awesome.

Also, we knew before the project even got started that we may lose our investment. If someone has a problem with that, then they shouldn't have plunked the money down. This was a very high risk thing, and the belief in the community is what made it happen. Throwing Craig under the bus (whether the criticisms are warranted or not) only poisons the feel of the community and guarantees that more projects like this won't happen.

tldr version: ED's doing a great job, Craig's not evil.

Disclaimer: I don't have regular communications with Craig but I've seen many dramatic topics on these forums and my opinion is based upon those public discussions.

I agree with you.

On that note Craig needs to start up a pre order queue for the cables.  All pre ordered cables will be guaranteed to receive the cables first. However it can't be helped if he uses that money to pay for other things and then rely on ED to pick up the slack when he has no money for them.

Jokes aside you can't really blame Craig for the initial pre order mess however what he did with the 1Ghz pre orders was borderline criminal.  The community is justified in their rage with this. So if he can be that blatant about it, it makes you wonder what else has happened like this behind the scenes. That isn't even taking into account how he has treated loyal developers and members of the community.


Luckily ED is here otherwise the project would have fallen over a long time ago.

 

[elwing]

I'm glad to hear ED's hard at work clearing up all queues, producing TV-Out cables with GC, supporting this wonderful community (unlike Craig), and tempering the flames of irate customers. You rock, ED! Keep up the good work! I would also like to know if I'll get the TV-Out cables that I originally ordered through Craig.

 In Craig's defense, it's hard to try to work with irate customers when they continue to be convinced that Craig's shortcomings were intentional. As a preorderer who still hasn't received his I'm disappointed by the current situation, but I'm not crazy enough to assume that either Craig or Michael planned these problems. Business is a cutthroat world rife with opportunities to mislead, even other businesses. If Craig's focus on the iCP2 or whatever will allow him to come back to OpenPandora better prepared, then awesome.

Also, we knew before the project even got started that we may lose our investment. If someone has a problem with that, then they shouldn't have plunked the money down. This was a very high risk thing, and the belief in the community is what made it happen. Throwing Craig under the bus (whether the criticisms are warranted or not) only poisons the feel of the community and guarantees that more projects like this won't happen.

tldr version: ED's doing a great job, Craig's not evil.

Disclaimer: I don't have regular communications with Craig but I've seen many dramatic topics on these forums and my opinion is based upon those public discussions.

sorry, but you're wrong. of course all these problems were not intentional, and I hope no one blames craig for that. But not giving us any explanation, keeping his list secret like he does or only coming on the forum every three month, ignore question, start bitching with other team members and accusing everyone of being a troll? he behave like a totally obscure and closed company, delivering us the most bullshit PR talk I ever saw, it's a bit strange for someone who "promote open source"... no?

Sorry, but that are great reasons to be angry with craig.

 

[Neelix]

Yes,  but sporkbox is still right. 

He didn't say Craig didn't do anything wrong,   nor did he say that there was no reason to be angry with him.   However, there is a big difference between mishandling a bad situation, and being intentionally malicious, and I have seen nothing to indicate the latter.

- Neelix

 

[elwing]

Yes,  but sporkbox is still right. 

He didn't say Craig didn't do anything wrong,   nor did he say that there was no reason to be angry with him.   However, there is a big difference between mishandling a bad situation, and being intentionally malicious, and I have seen nothing to indicate the latter.

- Neelix

I agree, but I still see him as evil, that's what I meant by wrong...

 

[Timstertoo]

Yes,  but sporkbox is still right. 

He didn't say Craig didn't do anything wrong,   nor did he say that there was no reason to be angry with him.   However, there is a big difference between mishandling a bad situation, and being intentionally malicious, and I have seen nothing to indicate the latter.

- Neelix

I think using the 1GhZ money for something else and leaving the people who believed in him one more time, for a shitload more money, hanging out to dry is indeed intentionally malicious. He could've also immediately send the money out to ED after arrival to make sure that he can fullfill his promise to these people. He made a conscious decision to keep those funds and as a result used those funds conscioulsy elsewhere. 

And I also think his defence of getting a lot more refund requests then anticipated is rather silly after telling people time after time, after any form of criticism, that they might as well cancell as it's cheaper for him then sending them a unit. Be carefull what you wish for kids! Besides he said he had to pay the refunds due to laws yet at the same time he doesn't give a crap about the refunds he currently has. If he would, he would in the very least be working a hell of a lot harder to sell more Pandoras and keep the ICP2 crowd informed and happy so that product has a chance of selling more after the KS orders are fulfilled.

Did he start out with the idea of royally screwing everyone over? No he would've done some stuff different from the get go. Did he later screw people intentionally over? Yes absolutely.

The fact that he has put in a lot of money himself doesn't give him the right to take everyone elses money and do as he pleases as they might be hurting but not close to the amount he is hurting. That's just a ridiculous way of seeing things. I broke my neck so it's fine if I break a couple of your fingers as your damage is nowhere close to mine?

Edit: As for the "we all knew we were taking a huge risk when we jumped in" When I got on the batch 1 pre order list in 2010 it was said that all the parts were ordered and everything was ready for full production and I would get my product within two months if I paid now. So no, I didn't have any clue that I would be still waiting in 2013 with no chance of getting one before 2014 if I'm lucky.

 

[ShleeDragon]

That's history.. Craig should have given all of the funds to ED and hoped for the best.... at this point, it's right to say that craigs queue can only be offered two choices - Waiting or upgrading.

Refunds are NOT an option and craig offering a small number of refunds on a first come first served basis was a bad idea even if it did return money to a small percentage of people.. which damning the rest.

If the refunds were simple given to production, the queue would be shrunk a hell of a lot by now.... bah..Craig isn't evil - but he's made some bad choices.. but imagine if EDs plan didn't work and both of them were boned

Atleast things are coming together.

 

[akarolick]

I'm not actually expecting anything anymore but I'm trying to figure out where I stand.

I ordered in October of 2009 which, I beleive puts me pretty close to the middle of Craig's preorder queue, and I requested a refund in October of 2012. Now, I'm not holding my breath about even seeing a single $ back from Craig and it seems far more likely that I will, someday, receive a unit from ED. My question is, by requesting a refund from Craig, have I removed myself from the queue for delivery, and, in essence, made it unlikely to ever see money or a unit?

I'm just seeking a little bit of clarification, as my hopes of ever seeing one of these devices in person, or ever getting any money back, are pretty much just a bitter little ball of depression in my gut.

 

[Neelix]

As you have not received your refund you should be able to cancel your cancellation,  and reclaim your position in the queue. 

Given the current circumstances I would recommend doing so.

- Neelix

 

[jakk]

Ok, so this is my first time posting on here since I ordered back in Nov. 2009. I really haven't kept up with things at all because everything always seemed like 1 step forward and 5 back. I beleive I ordered from Craig (open pandora ltd). Can someone please give me a a TL;DR of where things stand if you ordered with him? I was thinking about a refund at this point because it has been so long and I don't ever expect to see anything, but now I see people are saying even that is not an option. This is relatively insane-when I ordered the Pandora I was just starting college, and now I am graduated and have a full time job. Thanks for your help.

 

[Wally]

TL;DR: ED is now doing all Pandora stuff, you can upgrade your Craig Pandora Order to his queue for an extra $150 or so.

https://www.dragonbox.de/en/main-consoles-and-upgrades/113-pandora-upgrade-256mb-to-1ghz-version.html

 

[elwing]

it's not the right item Wally, that one is to return a pandora you have and upgrade it, I think cross upgrade are not on his shop but manually handled as needed... he droper the price to 150$ using the donations?