Our New Machine, Pandora

[Squidge]

On a side note, it doesn't have integrated TV-out but that's a good thing as all of the other SoC:s we've mentioned here have rather strict TV-out implementations that won't allow for RGB or VGA. Implementing the

Actually, the MMSP2 in the GP2X supports RGB/VGA, but GPH decided not to support it and it would have incurred (slightly) more cost.

 

[atomicthumbs]

I read about a really powerful TI SoC a while ago, but I can't find it anymore.

To people with SoC suggestions: Remember that to have compatibility, we really need one with an ARM processor. No SH-3 or -4, or MIPS (eechhh).

EDIT: Zigbee would be fun.

 

[Rivroner]

Titan is the answer, we need more mhz.

But final cost can be a problem i suppose:


TITAN:

* RISC Core
* Up to 600 MHz ARM1136EJ1
* Up to 600 MHz integrated vector floating point unit for 3D acceleration1
* 128 KB level 2 cache
* DSP Core
* 250-300 MHz enhanced DSP for video and GPS1
* Full DMA support
* Direct control to UART, USP, GPIO, and other peripheral interfaces
* Advanced Autonomous GPS
* 40+ channels
* Up to -166 dBm sensitivity
* Up to 2,000,000 effective correlators
* Memory Subsystem
* 64-bit 250-325 MHz system bus with 16 DMA channels
* Up to 1.6 GB/s bandwidth
* Supports low-power Mobile-SDR and Mobile-DDR
* Advanced 2-dimensional DMA available for LCD and DSP
* I2C
* Two I2C interfaces
* 16 Byte FIFOs
* UART
* Three UART ports
* Full-duplex 64 byte FIFOs on UART0
* Full-duplex 32 byte FIFOs on UART1, UART2
* Universal Serial Ports
* Three USPs
* Operates in asynchronous, synchronous master, and synchronous slave modes
* Compatible with I2S slave mode
* AC97/I2S
* Supports AC97 specification 2.2
* Supports both master and slave modes in I2S
* 5.1 channel I2S audio data output
* ROM Interface
* Supports fixed-latency and variable-latency ROM / SRAM devices
* Supports access to 8-bit / 16-bit / 32-bit ROM/SRAM devices

Peripherals

* SDIO Standards
* Supports WiFi and Bluetooth
* SPI
* Supports both master and slave mode
* 32 byte FIFOs
* MSB/LSB configurable
* Supports connection to T-DMB,
* DVB?T/H baseband chipsets

External Interfaces

* NAND Storage
* Supports direct boot from NAND
* 8 / 16-bit large-page NAND with ECC
* Supports SmartMedia cards
* Dedicated DMA channels
* SD / MMC/MMC+ / CE-ATA
* Two fully concurrent interfaces with DMA
* Supports 1, 4, 8 bit modes
* Up to 52 MHz frequency and
* 25 MB/s read
* Supports both SD standard and secure SD specifications
* MMC specifications 3.31 and 4.0
* CE-ATA Digital Protocol 1.0
* SDHC
* ATA-4 Storage
* Supports 1.8” and 2.5” HDD
* UDMA2 with up to 33 MB/s
* USB Connectivity
* Host/slave with dynamic switching
* Transfer rate up to 480 Mbps
* Supports low pin interface (ULPI)

Graphics & Multimedia

* LCD/2D/3D
* Up to 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution in 32-bit color
* Four hardware overlay layers
* Hardware RGB to YUV conversion
* (8 / 16-bit 4:2:2 format)
* SiRF 2D BitBLT engine
* Video Input Port
* Accepts input from CMOS, CCD imaging sensors and DVD decoders
* Compatible with 8/16 bit CCIR601/656 and RGB 565 formats
* 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 down sampling
* Video Processing
* YUV 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 to RGB conversion
* Hardware de-interlacer
* Video scaler and resizing function
* Packaging
* 16 X 16 TFBGA-477 with .65 mm pitch



ATLAS III can be a similar option that Craigix and CO. are thinking about, but we want the big brother called Titan

ATLAS III:

* ARM 9 Dual-core processor
* Available at 375MHz and 400MHz
* GPS integrated on chip
o Centrality GPS V4 technology
o 30 channels
o High sensitivity and high accuracy
* DDR support
* On chip DSP and hardware acceleration
o Navigation and Music concurrency
o Video post processing
o Video scaling and color space conversion
* USB 2.0 Full-speed (12Mbps) on-chip
* Supports normal SDRAM, mobile SDRAM and normal DDR
* Pin-to-pin compatible with Atlas II

 

[atomicthumbs]

Titan is the answer, we need moar mhz.

fixed

also, I don't see any specs for the 3D accelerator. I think that the MMPS2+ might be the way to go.

 

[Rivroner]

Titan is the answer, we need more mhz.

fixed

also, I don't see any specs for the 3D accelerator. I think that the MMPS2+ might be the way to go.

* Up to 600 MHz integrated vector floating point unit for 3D acceleration1

 

[Squidge]

also, I don't see any specs for the 3D accelerator. I think that the MMPS2+ might be the way to go.

* Up to 600 MHz integrated vector floating point unit for 3D acceleration1


A 600Mhz VFPU is not that good if you have to draw all the triangles yourself. I'd rather have a slower VFPU and get the hardware to draw the triangles.

 

[sam fisher]

i.mx31 all the way!

 

[Eolair]

also, I don't see any specs for the 3D accelerator. I think that the MMPS2+ might be the way to go.

* Up to 600 MHz integrated vector floating point unit for 3D acceleration1


A 600Mhz VFPU is not that good if you have to draw all the triangles yourself. I'd rather have a slower VFPU and get the hardware to draw the triangles.

According to the PowerVR wiki the Titan SoC has the same integrated 3D accelerator as the i.mx31 (the PowerVR MBX Lite). That should be plenty of power. I doubt this SoC comes cheap though. The i.mx31 is probably a more realistic choice. It's always nice to dream though

 

[TyBO!]

Question:

I thought it had been decided that the SoC would be an MMSP2+, so why are we talking about alternatives?

 

[Eolair]

Question:

I thought it had been decided that the SoC would be an MMSP2+, so why are we talking about alternatives?

Afaik, Craigix has never said that he's decided to use a particular SoC. It's been deducted that he's considered and possibly tested and evaluated the MMSP2+. But as far as we know nothing has been decided. He has only said he would let us know more later on.

 

[quartercast]

Guys, don't forget about battery life in all this - it's meant to be a handheld remember? Some of these specs are looking like desktop machines!

 

[DaveC]

I've been lurking these forums and this is my first post.

Hopeful about this new machine, I just wanted to respectfully voice an idea that I had on the keyboard issue.

It would be great if a keyboard could snap on/off, slide on/off, or otherwise interface with the rest of the machine in a clean and manual way. Full interface could result in a satisfying *snap* or *click* sound.

Instead of having to integrate the design of the keyboard and the rest of the machine, both parts may be designed somewhat separately. The simple design of a machine without a keyboard could be relied upon to be beautiful, lightweight, and functional. The simple design of a keyboard as a separate device could be made to the same standard.

This would satisfy people who want a keyboard and people who don't, as long as the design were implemented correctly. The keyboard could be sold separately.

The keyboard decision would be left to the user and it would just make for a better design.

Detachable kind of like this?

 

[atomicthumbs]

Guys, don't forget about battery life in all this - it's meant to be a handheld remember? Some of these specs are looking like desktop machines!

Desktop machines (unlike embedded systems) don't focus on reducing power consumption. An ARM CPU consumes much, much less power than an x86 CPU.

 

[fatblueduck]

*** EDIT ***
Wow I feel stupid. You've already posted this image over a month ago! I still like it and I hope that it ends up in the final design!
*** ***

DaveC,

Thank You for rendering this!

Wow! You nearly read my mind. Your design seems better than the ones that I had imagined. It is certainly a winning design for keyboard implementation. There might be other ways of doing it and I wouldn't rule those out yet...

I'm not a product designer, but I think this is perfect

It should be made so that the keyboard can't fly open when its closed which might present difficulty.

I really like this design. Its very modular.

Thank You

 

[quartercast]

*** EDIT ***
Wow I feel stupid. You've already posted this image over a month ago! I still like it and I hope that it ends up in the final design!
*** ***

DaveC,

Thank You for rendering this!

Wow! You nearly read my mind. Your design seems better than the ones that I had imagined. It is certainly a winning design for keyboard implementation. There might be other ways of doing it and I wouldn't rule those out yet...

I'm not a product designer, but I think this is perfect

It should be made so that the keyboard can't fly open when its closed which might present difficulty.

I really like this design. Its very modular.

Thank You

Out of all the designs posted already, this is my personal favourite by far. I mentioned previously I thought the console unit would need a little kick-back stand to stop it from falling over in "laptop-mode". Thanks DaveC for the sweet design!

 

[fatblueduck]

Maybe a strip of plastic could extended from the back of the keyboard?


so the profile would look similar to this: " _/_ "

 

[Deed]

Question:

I thought it had been decided that the SoC would be an MMSP2+, so why are we talking about alternatives?

:lol: It doesn't prevent many people in these forums to claim that all of this is for real because they *know* it :rolleyes:
Guys, if you don't care, I'll come back lurking in these forums in a year or so, it will be funny to see how real all of this really was back in 2007

 

[virusx]

You still beleive in the April fool theory?

@quartercast:
Did you had a nightmare with Craigix presenting the new handheld battery pack?

 

[Javacat]

This would satisfy people who want a keyboard and people who don't, as long as the design were implemented correctly. The keyboard could be sold separately.

It wouldn't satisfy me and I also know a number of people that wouldn't be buying this if it was designed like that <_<

 

[fatblueduck]

Javacat,

I don't want to appear combative here. I'm curious to know why you feel that way. Wouldn't you be satisfied using DaveC's device without the keyboard module? Why should we eliminate the option of having the keyboard module?

Can you see that you wouldn't be required to have the keyboard since it would be a separate add-on and could be physically detached? You would still have the option of an on-screen keyboard...

Chris