Our New Machine, Pandora

[Dutch_Cap]

You don't need to be here very long to realise AtomicThumbs is nuts.

 

[atomicthumbs]

I tend to get information-starved when there's no new Pandora news for a while.

 

[nubie]

I tend to get information-starved when there's no new Pandora news for a while.

I built a Sega Radica handheld with a 5" screen using the original controller cut up to fit. I think I'll Sig it.

Oh, and I built a Core2 Based PC for $92 (CPU, 1GB MEM, PCI-e Mobo), and then overclocked it to 2.8Ghz (darn DDR2-533, I probably could have hit 3.2-3.4Ghz).

I think I will get my GTi on the road, oh, and frequent these forums and post contradictory technical documents as much as possible.

I wish it would get here now.

 

[aatu]

I read it all, and I'm not nuts.

Or am I?

Well, you did start posting random rabbit pictures...


Rabbits are nice! I have three of them! Their names are Uni, Nyytti and Pikku-Kani. In English something like: Dream, Parcel and Lil-Rabbit.

I think everybody should have at least one rabbit. Squirrels and hedgehogs are nice too...

 

[Squidge]

I tend to get information-starved when there's no new Pandora news for a while.

Go read the datasheets at TI's website

I think everybody should have at least one rabbit. Squirrels and hedgehogs are nice too...

There's only one use for rabbits, and that's to skin them, and throw them in a pot for a stew.

Squirrels? They should be called tree-rats, and if they are the grey version, they should be shot on sight. The red squirrels are OK though.

 

[Yrx]

Squirrels? They should be called tree-rats, and if they are the grey version, they should be shot on sight. The red squirrels are OK though.

What's wrong with rats?

Awwwwwwwww... :lol:

 

[nubie]

Squirrels? They should be called tree-rats, and if they are the grey version, they should be shot on sight. The red squirrels are OK though.

What's wrong with rats?
Awwwwwwwww... :lol:

I have nothing against unwanted house guests that drag their testicles on all of my possessions. Oh wait, I don't like that.

And a little thing we like to call The PLAGUE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2004/...ent-plague.html .

In fact Rats is a curse word B)

 

[Yrx]

Domesticated fancy rats are adorable. Unless they get cancer.

 

[#1 GameMaster]

Domesticated fancy rats are adorable. Unless they get cancer.

Let's just drop that subject. :unsure:

 

[nubie]

So the Pandora should run at 600mhz, and it should be 2 times as powerful as an ARM9 (11?), Will this mean Sega emulation at 60-70mhz? If so what will the battery life be like?

If the PSX emulation is possible (assuming low overhead on the video rendering, not even counting the DSP core that can run at 430mhz, I don't know who wants to code assembly for that, although we have some crazy people around here), will that run underclocked too?

Basically what will tax this thing? Quake III? New homebrew? I don't mind it being underclocked, I see it as a boon to battery life, and the extra power might enable music playing in the background.

I forgot to add, can we start playing CD emulators off of a real CD? (I know, I know, but since we have the USB now it might be fun.) Possibly playing Divx/Xvid DVD-Roms?

I really like the USB 2.0 support, I think that is a real step in the right direction. Make that one giant leap

 

[Exophase]

So the Pandora should run at 600mhz, and it should be 2 times as powerful as an ARM9 (11?), Will this mean Sega emulation at 60-70mhz?

Don't believe things like that so easily, when the marketing says 2x the power at the same clock speed it means up to, for programs that benefit really well from the arch, not on average. I wouldn't expect it to be more than 1.5x most of the time, and since I'm pretty sure you're talking about Genesis emulation bear in mind that that only runs at such low clocks on GP2X when sound is emulated on the other core. There's no other ARM core here so that can't be done (unless it was ported to the DSP.. which would actually work pretty well but it's a ton of work for too little purpose)

 

[nubie]

So the Pandora should run at 600mhz, and it should be 2 times as powerful as an ARM9 (11?), Will this mean Sega emulation at 60-70mhz?

Don't believe things like that so easily, when the marketing says 2x the power at the same clock speed it means up to, for programs that benefit really well from the arch, not on average. I wouldn't expect it to be more than 1.5x most of the time, and since I'm pretty sure you're talking about Genesis emulation bear in mind that that only runs at such low clocks on GP2X when sound is emulated on the other core. There's no other ARM core here so that can't be done (unless it was ported to the DSP.. which would actually work pretty well but it's a ton of work for too little purpose)

Well, TI has said 2.5-3x, so I figured 2x would be a safe bet, but even if we assume 1:1 performance with the MMSP2 main processor, wouldn't PSX run full speed at 400mhz?

Is there no way to accelerate the video? The wiki says that there isn't video acceleration, that has me confused because there is the PowerVR SGX, doesn't that help the render pipeline?

Or am I confused and raw CPU is where the bulk of work is done?

I don't mind either way, as long as the Li-Ion battery will keep it running it could run any speed it likes.

Wow, waiting for updates is hard.

 

[Exophase]

Well, TI has said 2.5-3x, so I figured 2x would be a safe bet, but even if we assume 1:1 performance with the MMSP2 main processor, wouldn't PSX run full speed at 400mhz?

When TI says that they're comparing the peak performance of NEON to VFP11, which isn't going to apply generally.

Is there no way to accelerate the video? The wiki says that there isn't video acceleration, that has me confused because there is the PowerVR SGX, doesn't that help the render pipeline?

Or am I confused and raw CPU is where the bulk of work is done?

What does the Wiki say exactly...

 

[nubie]

What does the Wiki say exactly...

Found it! http://www.pandorawiki.org/Emulators :
QUOTE

Although there is very little hardware for accelerating graphics functions, the CPU is fast enough to emulate many systems purely in software.


Weird no?

Never mind, I will just wait for updates.

 

[atomicthumbs]

QUOTE

Although there is very little hardware for accelerating graphics functions, the CPU is fast enough to emulate many systems purely in software.

So, uh... I guess a programmable DSP and a PowerVR SGX with 2D and 3D acceleration aren't "accelerators"?

 

[#1 GameMaster]

So the Pandora should run at 600mhz, and it should be 2 times as powerful as an ARM9 (11?), Will this mean Sega emulation at 60-70mhz? If so what will the battery life be like?

I looked up the processor (Cortex-A8) and I read that it has the ability to scale in speed from 600Mhz to 1Ghz+. Cortex-A8 info.

 

[nubie]

So the Pandora should run at 600mhz, and it should be 2 times as powerful as an ARM9 (11?), Will this mean Sega emulation at 60-70mhz? If so what will the battery life be like?

I looked up the processor (Cortex-A8) and I read that it has the ability to scale in speed from 600Mhz to 1Ghz+. Cortex-A8 info.

Nice, if our unit is allowed to set its clocks and the silicon is stable at 65nm, oh boy h34r:

I think that is just the architecture, and 600mhz is crazy anyway (My GP2x's never got much around 250mhz , yes multiple slow clockers.).

Edit: look down at the bottom of the page, there are two versions one for 650mhz and one for 1100mhz, LP and GP, I don't know which we get.

So it is possible it is only good for 650mhz on average, but who cares, that is FAAAST!

On the subject of virtualization, this isn't supported is it?

I was just wondering if we could have GBA or DS cores run in a "box" with their own "memory" and then just take the IO to emulate the rest of the hardware in the processing time left over.

As far as I can tell we wouldn't be able to do that . Still we should have plenty of processing power left over to do it the hard way.

 

[#1 GameMaster]

yeah that is about 3 to 2.5X faster than my GP2X. B)

 

[ldesnogu]

I looked up the processor (Cortex-A8) and I read that it has the ability to scale in speed from 600Mhz to 1Ghz+. Cortex-A8 info.


They probably can reach that speed using specific implementation of C-A8 with over voltage and adequate cooling. Don't try 1 GHz on 6xx MHz device (imagine overclocking your 3 GHz Core2 duo to 5 GHz).

 

[#1 GameMaster]

I looked up the processor (Cortex-A8) and I read that it has the ability to scale in speed from 600Mhz to 1Ghz+. Cortex-A8 info.


They probably can reach that speed using specific implementation of C-A8 with over voltage and adequate cooling. Don't try 1 GHz on 6xx MHz device (imagine overclocking your 3 GHz Core2 duo to 5 GHz).

That'd be nuts! :rolleyes: