Our New Machine, Pandora

[Magic Sam]

Good evening everyone,

@ craigix : could you please give us the estimated price of this system with the i.MX31, for comparison ? Thanks.

I said previously that I would not spend more than 250€ for that handheld...but if it has the qualities it seems to have, and if the coders are OK with the OMAP, then I'm sold

I think it's time for us to have new information about the system, its intended market and functions, as it appears now to be more than a gaming handheld, which could justify the price...

Bye, Magic Sam

 

[Eolair]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

It's a bit much for a gaming handheld I would say. But it's a good price for a PDA with extreme gaming capabilities. It depends on what this baby is But it also depends on what the system would cost if it used the i.MX31...

On a different note... I was looking some more at the ARM Cortex-A8 core used in the OMAP3430. I can find no official TI information regarding its clock speed. There is unofficial information suggesting it would run at a maximum speed of 550MHz. Official ARM information only states that the ARM Cortex is capable of scaling in speeds from 600MHz to greater than 1GHz. This makes me wonder if the unofficial information is outdated or if the core in the OMAP3430 is a custom version licensed to TI.

One thing to consider is that the ARM Cortex is at least twice as fast as the ARM11 at equivalent clock speeds. It executes up to twice as many instructions per clock cycle and has dedicated level 2 cache. If the ARM Cortex-A8 core in the OMAP3430 runs at 550MHz it is at least twice as fast as the 532MHz ARM11 core in the i.MX31. You would need a 1GHz+ ARM11 to equal a ARM Cortex running at 550MHz!

It just goes to show what a monster the OMAP3430 really is...

 

[God Ginrai]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

You've got me sold. Now that GP32z is gone, who's the US distributor again? And will they be distributing your handheld? (I can easily order it from you when the time comes if there is no US distributor) ^_^

-God Ginrai

 

[MWeston]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

Well, I know I can say that I would be willing to pay that for the most advanced _OPEN_ handheld system the world may EVER see. Sure it might be more than your average mass marketed device, but it is a one time cost and then you will have years of fun ahead of you!

I do worry about the average joe "I don't want to code anything, just let me install and play" person who won't appreciate the power of this thing and is mad because it doesn't cost $89 like his old gameboy.

 

[Orkie]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

Go for it.

I do worry about the average joe "I don't want to code anything, just let me install and play" person who won't appreciate the power of this thing and is mad because it doesn't cost $89 like his old gameboy.

I got a GameBoy the other day for £2 .

 

[TelcoLou]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

 

[declaration]

$400 is way too much.

How much would the i.mx31 work out at?

 

[Turnip]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

Well, I know I can say that I would be willing to pay that for the most advanced _OPEN_ handheld system the world may EVER see. Sure it might be more than your average mass marketed device, but it is a one time cost and then you will have years of fun ahead of you!

I do worry about the average joe "I don't want to code anything, just let me install and play" person who won't appreciate the power of this thing and is mad because it doesn't cost $89 like his old gameboy.


It wont appeal to the avarage joe until the emulators and games are there anyway by which time the price of the components may have fallen a bit? Tho I think most would consider £40 more than a PSP (with no games) a good price anyway considering the number and quality of games it would play.

 

[Orkie]

$400 is way too much.

$400 may be too much, but £200 isn't. Things cost more over here, that is a very reasonable price for such a powerful machine. Since most of the GP2X community seems to be European, American-style ultra-cheap pricing isn't that important.

 

[Vimacs]

300€ would hurt quite a bit, but its just within reasonable reach, i would buy it. (Of course that alse depends on the rest of the machine, but im sure you wont mess up )

ps: you americans should really get used to the fact that your currency isn't worth shitt anymore, i doubt it will change any time soon...

 

[Eolair]

Does the £199 price tag include 17% VAT? If that's the case it would be ~$345 if you lived in the US.

 

[hisaki]

Hey, new here. Recently bought a GP2X and I like it quite a bit. Based on what I've read about the new machine so far (wifi, 800*480 touchscreen) and how fast it would be I'm quite sure I'd buy it for €300. Does that include VAT though? Because €360 might be just too much for me to spend on it. (never mind that some just asked ^^")

 

[zaffercharles]

Using the OMAP chip may result in a system which would be around £199. Opinions?

I guess it is coming up to time that some details were going to be released? and now that things have changed as you said with people willing to pay for more power that's probably changed too. Like Eolair I'd just like to know is it intended to be a raw gaming device or a bit more than that? I only got the impression it was more and liked the idea. So if it isn't I don't care - but would that 199 be spent to make it purely a GP2X2, or something more than that it makes a difference.
Please can somebody tell me basically the kind of upgrade percentage that chip will allow over the i.MX31?

I didn't get any response one way or the other from my viewpoint I posted before - which was a shame but, ok, I just hope some of you read it.
But I get the feeling people here are sort of looking down on a hell of a lot of prospective customers because they'll all be turning up here bitching, whining and ordering games to be made for them. I don't think you can really be that fussy if we (or at least craig's going to) want this to sell.

for 199 I'd like that organiser I spoke of thrown in

Never mind specs or pics, could you just define the overall intended features /usage from the thing please at some point soon?

I would thank you in advance.

 

[mc74]

£199 for a machine with this sort of power seems more than reasonable to me and I'd definately buy it. The omap chip sounds amazing and is such a jump up in tech that it would be worth the investment. You dont want something out of date within a year or two...

A note about the analog stick - I'm all for it especially if its on the right side with a good dpad on the left. N64 would be cool but with the tech that this thing would offer you could start getting some pretty decent games written for it. DPAD's are great for 2D but FPS and driving games need analog on the right!

 

[Squidge]

Maybe what is needed is something like compiling a few of the most power hungry emulators (I'm thinking SNES & Amiga, as those don't have many dependancies) and getting a list of fps for various games on both the MX31 and OMAP at various frequencies. That way we'll have some "real life" figures rather than just clock speeds, architectures and manufacturer "marketing speak" (eg. OMAP may state that there processor can be almost twice as fast as the MX31 at certain tasks, so we test that with code that will typically be run on the device).

After we have our own facts, we consider whether the price change is worth the speed performance difference?

 

[PokeParadox]

That sounds sensible!

 

[Eolair]

Maybe what is needed is something like compiling a few of the most power hungry emulators (I'm thinking SNES & Amiga, as those don't have many dependancies) and getting a list of fps for various games on both the MX31 and OMAP at various frequencies. That way we'll have some "real life" figures rather than just clock speeds, architectures and manufacturer "marketing speak" (eg. OMAP may state that there processor can be almost twice as fast as the MX31 at certain tasks, so we test that with code that will typically be run on the device).

After we have our own facts, we consider whether the price change is worth the speed performance difference?

It would be very interesting to the see the results from such a test. How easy is it to get hold of test boards for evaluation though? I gather Craigix already had one for the MMSP2+?

 

[X-Code]

Squidge, you adore the i.MX31, don't you? :lol: ( jk )


I trust you guys, you know what we all want, please test, reason, and finally tell us what to do... The end user likes performance, but performance without control is nothing ( I wonder who said that before ) B)

 

[MWeston]

Maybe what is needed is something like compiling a few of the most power hungry emulators (I'm thinking SNES & Amiga, as those don't have many dependancies) and getting a list of fps for various games on both the MX31 and OMAP at various frequencies. That way we'll have some "real life" figures rather than just clock speeds, architectures and manufacturer "marketing speak" (eg. OMAP may state that there processor can be almost twice as fast as the MX31 at certain tasks, so we test that with code that will typically be run on the device).

After we have our own facts, we consider whether the price change is worth the speed performance difference?

I'm trying to finish up a Linux port to my i.MX31 hardware this week and then I want to try some OpenGL demos and maybe port a couple emulators. The problem is always TIME. My real life gets in the way of the fun stuff and so we will see if I can get it done.

If I do, I will try to get some Youtube videos up showing the performance. It won't be optimized or use the 3D hardware (other than the OpenGL demos from powerVR) but it offers some comparison to the MMSP2+ (I think you have the eval module right?). As for comparisons to the OMAP3430, I cannot help there as my work area contains no TI hardware

 

[God Ginrai]

Does the £199 price tag include 17% VAT? If that's the case it would be ~$345 if you lived in the US.

That would be even better if it is. ^_^

£199 for a machine with this sort of power seems more than reasonable to me and I'd definately buy it. The omap chip sounds amazing and is such a jump up in tech that it would be worth the investment. You dont want something out of date within a year or two...

A note about the analog stick - I'm all for it especially if its on the right side with a good dpad on the left. N64 would be cool but with the tech that this thing would offer you could start getting some pretty decent games written for it. DPAD's are great for 2D but FPS and driving games need analog on the right!

Why do you need it on the right? You can put it on the left and use the buttons as your w,a,s,d. That way, you don't screw up other game emulation just so you can play your FPSes. (of which there are not as many)

Maybe what is needed is something like compiling a few of the most power hungry emulators (I'm thinking SNES & Amiga, as those don't have many dependancies) and getting a list of fps for various games on both the MX31 and OMAP at various frequencies. That way we'll have some "real life" figures rather than just clock speeds, architectures and manufacturer "marketing speak" (eg. OMAP may state that there processor can be almost twice as fast as the MX31 at certain tasks, so we test that with code that will typically be run on the device).

After we have our own facts, we consider whether the price change is worth the speed performance difference?

Also try DosBox with some programs that were unthinkable to run under it on the 2X. (like a C&C game) Also, how fast could you port a Linux N64 emulator, for testing? I could link you to some if need be.

Maybe what is needed is something like compiling a few of the most power hungry emulators (I'm thinking SNES & Amiga, as those don't have many dependancies) and getting a list of fps for various games on both the MX31 and OMAP at various frequencies. That way we'll have some "real life" figures rather than just clock speeds, architectures and manufacturer "marketing speak" (eg. OMAP may state that there processor can be almost twice as fast as the MX31 at certain tasks, so we test that with code that will typically be run on the device).

After we have our own facts, we consider whether the price change is worth the speed performance difference?

It would be very interesting to the see the results from such a test. How easy is it to get hold of test boards for evaluation though? I gather Craigix already had one for the MMSP2+?


Craig has made quite a few MMSP2+ test boards, actually. I know ED has one, and Squidge does, too.

-God Ginrai