Pandora 2 is Modular

[_wb_]

Maybe 3 AA batteries?


But is there any reason to change the battery type? I'm quite happy with the Pandora battery - in fact I wouldn't mind if the P2 used exactly the same one. We just need a more solid battery lid.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I imagine the nubs,buttons etc and keyboard layout will be used for the p2 but i assume the base will be higher than the icp2 to accomodate the pcb and battery etc.dunno if they will use the icp2base for the p2 anyways.if they have not finalised the p2,s hardware yet can they be sure it will fit in the icp2 base.just sayung.

 

[ghostpatch]

Of course, I'm just saying that the higher the starting voltage is the more you tend to lose in inefficiency (someone else feel free to correct me on this, I'm not anything resembling an EE). The PMIC would generate a bunch of voltages off of its input from there, for the various SoC rails, but probably only a couple of them will be off of switchers instead of LDOs.

dunno, maybe someone can tell us if you can get them highly efficient at a reasonable price?

But is there any reason to change the battery type? I'm quite happy with the Pandora battery - in fact I wouldn't mind if the P2 used exactly the same one. We just need a more solid battery lid.

because its a custom battery meaning increased cost, questionable long term availabllity etc. AAAs are common standard. You can get them anywhere. They are ceap, available, rugged and... praobably something else too


I just like that concept. By the way I'm sure they will have to make another custom battery for Pandora2

 

[Dark_Link]

How about this the open pandora 2 is like a 5" tablet/phone that has a removable icontrolpad 2 device and closes like a clam shell


Oh it's like a android phone but doesn't run android

 

[_wb_]

Of course, I'm just saying that the higher the starting voltage is the more you tend to lose in inefficiency (someone else feel free to correct me on this, I'm not anything resembling an EE). The PMIC would generate a bunch of voltages off of its input from there, for the various SoC rails, but probably only a couple of them will be off of switchers instead of LDOs.

dunno, maybe someone can tell us if you can get them highly efficient at a reasonable price?

But is there any reason to change the battery type? I'm quite happy with the Pandora battery - in fact I wouldn't mind if the P2 used exactly the same one. We just need a more solid battery lid.

because its a custom battery meaning increased cost, questionable long term availabllity etc. AAAs are common standard. You can get them anywhere. They are ceap, available, rugged and... praobably something else too


I just like that concept. By the way I'm sure they will have to make another custom battery for Pandora2

Yes, but AAA is less compact if you need more than one because the space between the cylinders is wasted and there's some redundant packaging, which only adds weight and space. Also I don't think they can deal well with being recharged before they're empty, and I don't think you can get any accurate charge level info out of them. Would charging over USB still be possible? Would it really be cheaper? (good AAA batteries are not that cheap!) Wouldn't the change of battery system potentially cause more problems than just refining what they already have and know? (these are not rethorical questions, I don't know the answer so please discuss )

 

[jonny:Dumb]

Cpu in a cardtridge so its swappable ?

Hi


I did not read all posts in this topic, a search did though not lead to a result. Sorry if this was allready mentioned and i am just bad at using the search engine:


http://rhombus-tech.net/


Advantages would be price and (of course) modularity.


I think a disadvantage would be the size and the available connections.


http://elinux.org/Em...EOMA-68_pinouts


Ah yes, USB one could use:


http://elinux.org/Em...ngineeringBoard


And they seem to have more ports available via some other connector!?!


This sounds and looks interesting to me. Maybe this is a realistic and code efficient option. Also, I like the mentality they seem to have. MWeston could maybe also concentrate more on other aspects (like the complexity a higher modularity would bring in other places).


Edit: code efficient? One of my common brainfarts -_-

 

[fahrstuhl]

Um, as far as I understand, the mAh value only makes sense together with the voltage of the battery. A 3.7V 4400mAh battery gives you 16.28Wh of energy. You'd need 12 1100mAh 1.2V AAA batteries for this.

 

[Binky]

A Watt is a Joule per second


a Wh is 3600j


the Pandora`s battery holds 56Kj


Watt (haha) you say is correct, but "joules per second hours" is a silly unit of energy imo


(not as bad as "seconds per sixty miles per hour" though

 

[fahrstuhl]

I agree with you but it definitely is very handy to compare batteries: 1Ah*1V=1Wh


But that's beside the point, you'd still need 12 AAA batteries.


EDIT: (Also, the Pandora battery holds 58kJ)

 

[T.T.]

I'm going to have to agree with exophase on this one. I think the pandora will be modular like a normal PC, which would make repairs easy. I don't think it will be modular like a megadrive.


on the topic of batteries, I think we should stick to Lithium, it is much lighter for the same power.

 

[Dionysus]

I think whats needed is some market research, for which we have the perfect tool right here. One thing I'd want to know is how many people use external hd's with the pandora. I have a 1tb one. Its amazing how small and inexpensive they are these days. The annoying thing tho is the rate at which it drains the battery. So this got me thinking that if lots of people do as I do then a hd with a its own battery would be a really good pandora peripheral. I was also thinking about the ideas in this thread and about how I would base the design of the pandora 2 mainly on the systems it was intended to emulate. Which I expect would maybe be up to the original DS?


Then I thought (and I don't know how technicly feasable this is) that you could take a hard drive, add a touch screen and a few extra chips to create something that does the same job as a perepheral that many may already be using but better but with the added advantage of a hardware upgrade for a specific purpose which also requires the second screen.


Obviously this resembles the mega cd however unlike the mega cd this would have the huge software support of the dc, ds and saturn and would be in the place of something people may be already getting. Plus it could be a stand alone product usable with a pc or iphone for ds emulation that'd compliment the icontrolpad and pandora well.


As I say I've no idea about the technical feasability but the usb battery drain pisses me off and I do like my dc and ds games as many do so thought I'd post it.

 

[matzesu]

I dont want a Pandora 2 which runns from AAA Batteries:


Because i ditnt had Batteries for my old Gameboy, i bought a Pandora, ok not only for Gameboy, but also for PSX, GBA, SNES, etc but the Gameboy was the reason, i begun whit interesting for emulation...


But a Pandora 2 in the shape of a Ipod Touch, which can be used whit a Icontrollpad 2 would be good


Maybe whe can use the Pandora 2 then also as a Mp3 Player, as the soundship on the Pandora 1 was also great.. but then whe need 3 SD Cardslots: one for a Android SDcard because Android makes wyt things, one for a Pandora 2 SDCard (or better 2 for Pandora 2, because the PS2 Emulator, the PS2 games are all DVDs..) and whe need 1 SD Card for Musik, 32 gb should be fit..


A internal Flash Drive would be better, 64 gb for Musik, and two Sd Card Reader for the PS2 Games and for Android..

 

[Dionysus]

wt

 

[fusion_power]

I doubt you would ever get 10+ hrs of Battery time with AA(A) Batteries, even if you put a dozend in it. GP2X reached barley 4-5hrs and this only with very good recharable Batteries. Calculate this up to the Power of an Pandora 2 and you can imagine that you will not get far with normal Batteries.

 

[Tenka]

We've been told that the Pandora 2 will only have MicroSD slots. But I'm not aware yet, were we told for certain how many MicroSD slots the Pandora 2 will have? I know that the big upside of MicroSD is using up less space but, I have a fetish for oxymorons and I also love live hardware redundancy. Three or even four MicroSD slots could physically allow RAID5 plus a spare card.

 

[Binky]

Idea:


Screen is whatever resolution seems suitable/available at the time


Motherboard has up-to-date ARM SOC, TV out, internal display connection, one SDXC slot, audio out, micro USB AB, analogue volume control, power switch, USB host


Pandora weirdness includes hardware specific stuff that should be separate from the main board (e.g. battery handling)


Daughter board has one SDXC slot, audio line in, GPS, DVB/DAB, one USB host socket, solder pads for internal USB host (instead of second battery), accelerometer, microphone, random external connectors on pcb headers


Model B could be available as an upgrade from model A


The daughter board and motherboard could be improved and also made available as upgrades (or fit-it-yourself)


The motherboard could be available on its own, or in a set-top-box case, etc

 

[Grench]

Idea:


Screen is whatever resolution seems suitable/available at the time


Motherboard has up-to-date ARM SOC, TV out, internal display connection, one SDXC slot, audio out, micro USB AB, analogue volume control, power switch, USB host


Pandora weirdness includes hardware specific stuff that should be separate from the main board (e.g. battery handling)


Daughter board has one SDXC slot, audio line in, GPS, DVB/DAB, one USB host socket, solder pads for internal USB host (instead of second battery), accelerometer, microphone, random external connectors on pcb headers


Model B could be available as an upgrade from model A


The daughter board and motherboard could be improved and also made available as upgrades (or fit-it-yourself)


The motherboard could be available on its own, or in a set-top-box case, etc

I think you're onto something there - but I would count on the 'pandora weirdness' to be 1/2 of the base footprint and then each of the batteries to be just a touch lower in capacity - like 2200mAh. Then allow for 1/2 footprint modules to be stacked onto the bottom of it. Each module would be required to have both the male and female 'surface plug' on them so they can be stacked in any order.


I could see the following module types - and a case for ANYTHING that a module can do being LEFT OUT of the main motherboard/unit. Yes, this means a theoretical Pandora with NO SD slots. It may even be possible that the 'Pandora Weirdness' block above is actually just a 'wireless module'.


The leads going through the 'surface plug' would need to include USB 3.0, power, some sort of 'active battery selector' logic, HDMI leads, etc - it would need to be a high density connector. The mating between the unit and the modules would need to be extremely durable.


1. Battery module. Need piles of battery? Add two more 2200mAh half footprint bases to it = 6600mAh. No real limit here - you could stack 11 batteries on the thing and make it 4" thick with a week and a half of continuous run time if you want.


2. USB and card reader module. Need a USB 3.0 hub/card reader with two ports out the back and two SDXC slots out the front - stack one of those 1/2 footprint jobs onto it. With this as a module and this example, it may make sense to put a microSD card into the pico ITX motherboard layer in the main example.


3. Wireless Connectivity Module. Bluetooth, wifi, IRDA even? All self contained with antenna in the module.


4. Entertainment Center Connectivity Module. HDMI, RCA jacks, Stereo Mic in, Display port, anything else you can jam a plug for on any of the three exposed sides of the module.


5. Wallet Module. With just 0.5cm more depth it could hold credit cards, ID & currency. (OK - so I'm running out of ideas.)

 

[craigix]

We do want to use the iCP2 as the basis, the back panel would be different though, to make it thicker and allow for the hinge + access to the master/slave pcb/battery.


However, without the KS working out I just cannot see how we can afford to even consider this modular approach.

 

[Scntrblob]

By you saing "we", I imply that that doesnt't include ED, so i.e. the person who places the eventual decision on how P2 will look like?

 

[TrashyMG]

So when Craig says 'we' it includes himself, ED and the others that started the Open Pandora Team.