Pandora Cube

[WizardStan]

The only problem is that it will use 90W MAX. 90 W is al lot compared to the pandora. But if you see what it offers is a bargain.
It's not going to be an always on thing anyway, is it? Assuming it's on 8 hours a day, 365 days a year, constant 100% usage, that's 262 KwH per year. At 15 cents per kwh, that's $40 of electricity usage. The Pandora uses about $1 during that same year. Of course, what the actual usage turns out to be is another question. Just because it can hit 90W max, it may only run at 9W, costing only $4 per year.

 

[wardred]

How much would it be for just the pandora board with antennas/connectors for both bluetooth and wifi, USB "pins" so we can attach a USB cable - possible to include a cheap one, power supply, and video in/out cables? If a cube isn't possible, we could build our own with these parts. It would compete with the beagle board if priced similarly, and would provide a fully compatible development platform for the pandora.

I'd still put a full "development environment" build of Linux on it so that we can jump right into software development without having to re-flash the board - that would still be possible, of course, just not required.

A little more hardware hacking on our part, but it should be a pretty "reasonably" priced item, and something developers could use as a second Pandora to test multi-player stuff without having a full 2nd unit. Don't know how many people would buy this, especially with no HD out, but it might be enough to sell some extra boards. Sort of goes with the "assemble it yourself" concept.

Cheers!

Edit: Corrected a repetitive sentence that repeated. :b And spelling.

 

[craigix]

Thanks for all this, we are working on the first spec of what this little device might be and do and will have something to post soon.

Just to note once more - making this device won't take up any Pandora money, time or effort. It's essentially a 'free' device to develop which does seem to have a (niche) market ready for it.

For me it's something I can use on the monitor in the bedroom to play emulators, maybe carry to friends houses to use on the TV, give to younger kids to introduce them to some classic games, give to my Gran for some easy email access via the TV. The controls and keyboard being built in make an interesting advantage.

That's the sort of thing I had in mind, but hackers, music, HD etc. it's all a bonus.

 

[streak]

Would you be interested in a Pandora cube, which would essentially be a Pandora for the home which would be a Pandora board in a small box with a TV out cable.

You would have to attach your own controls/hub via USB.

You would have access to the same software, emulators, media players etc. only via the TV screen.

Opinions?

I dont think You're asking right target. "desktop" pandora will be targeted more to hifi / video gadget enthusiasts [ for home entertainment ] than console / handheld people. IMHO, Pandora cube will be nice add to the world [ even if ACER / ASUS making wery similiar things with eeebox .. ]. Did You tried to make poll on other message boards like hifi / htpc ? for example: http://www.htpcforums.com/

 

[IwillOpentheBox]

Would you be interested in a Pandora cube, which would essentially be a Pandora for the home which would be a Pandora board in a small box with a TV out cable.

You would have to attach your own controls/hub via USB.

You would have access to the same software, emulators, media players etc. only via the TV screen.

Opinions?

I dont think You're asking right target. "desktop" pandora will be targeted more to hifi / video gadget enthusiasts [ for home entertainment ] than console / handheld people. IMHO, Pandora cube will be nice add to the world [ even if ACER / ASUS making wery similiar things with eeebox .. ]. Did You tried to make poll on other message boards like hifi / htpc ? for example: http://www.htpcforums.com/

First off all the most HDD-Mediaplayer on the market are very expensive or cheap and not usable.

Your "new" device needs :

- A little Display (oled ? ) for basic informations (title / time / radiostation ...)
- A ready to fly easy to use "MediaOS" with support of all free codecs and radiostreaming
- A remote option
- Connectors and connectors and connectors and connectors and connectors


Such a device i would buy ... :rolleyes:

 

[Azure]

Just to note once more - making this device won't take up any Pandora money, time or effort.

I know you're a businessman trying to run a successful business and everything, but I have to admit it is a little frustrating knowing that you're working on and starting other projects (iControlPad and Wizzley Presto, for instance) while thousands of us are still waiting for a product we paid for and expected to receive over half a year ago. I understand there's lots of downtime with Pandora development as you are waiting on other people...but you can use that time to appease the crowds of Pandora "investors" that have become impatient (such as answering more questions on the forums, taking requests and churning out more videos, etc.), instead of working on yet another project. Maybe it's a bit selfish, but I want the Pandora to always be at the top of your priorities (since thousands of people have already paid for it) until it gets released (unless, of course, you've already started taking pre-orders for your other projects).

QUOTE
...two new videos on the way.

This was posted by you on the blog nearly two weeks ago and we've yet to see these videos. My point is, you're clearly a busy man and could use more time to get done everything that you take on, and I just feel starting a side-project like this will be counter-productive to that.

Sorry if this post sounded kind of bitchy. I guess I've just been itching for more Pandora media

 

[Kimundi]

Well, the at least the iControllPad was around way before th Preorder. <_<

 

[Nova]

LAN, VGA and HDMI.

Lan so I can stream media from my main PC, VGA so I can use my PC monitor and HDMI so that if I ever buy a big telly, it wont look all fuzzy and crap, a la GP2x TV-Out.

Hopefully with all those things, you'll have the video game version of the Popcorn Hour

 

[younghifi]

Nope, wouldn't be interested. Bad idea if you ask me.
Maybe yes if it wouldn't be based on the Pandora. If it won't be mobile, it should be something better from a technical standpoint (I mean like better CPU, more RAM, better graphics and sound chips, etc.).

 

[streak]

.

Do You really think, thats Craig intention to make a pandora cube incompatible with pandora handheld? I see it as the main feature to "be compatible" with handheld. If You want to have better CPU / RAM / GFX.. ok, go ahead buy eeebox or other i86 based nettop.

 

[kloplop321]

I would think that little effort would need to be used to make it "compatible", the hardware is essentially the same.

 

[younghifi]

I'm just speculating Streak As Kloplop321 writes, if it were the same arch and, for example, something from the same OMAP family just a tad better, than it would be both OK and compatible.

QUOTE
ok, go ahead buy eeebox or other i86 based nettop.

But I don't want those pieces of shit (BTW, why only x86?) I personally wouldn't have any use for a nettop. Just thinking about the general Pandora Cube idea, 'tis all.

But like I said. If it's essentially just a "Pandora in a box" with a few extra ports than still, bad idea, scratch that out IMHO

 

[hobbyman II]

@ Azure: what was the point of that post? what part of

"Just to note once more - making this device won't take up any Pandora money, time or effort"

don`t you understand?, would you like me to explain it to you?, or maybe you think Craig should ring up the board manufacturers every ten minutes and say "are you done yet?", ring up the carriers every five minutes and say "are you there yet?", ring up the mould makers every two minutes and say "are you ready yet?", the operative words are "won`t take up any" that means what it says, he`s waiting for parts, people to finish drivers, parcels to arrive, what do you think he should be doing? checking the front door every 15 seconds in case the postman is there? , get a grip.

Mweston has mostly done with all the design and tweaking, the rest is software and setting up, you think he can`t go back to what he`s worked on and tweak it some more? try new ways to make some more funds from the board, the altered version could well end up helping to keep the Pandora funded and in production, I am soooo sorry we didn`t ask your Majesties permission ...not,

and boo hoo, you don`t have any pretty moving pictures, of what exactly?, a working Pandora?, well sorry, but we already have that, any new videos are icing, not something new, and making videos for spoilt kiddies who have ADD and promptly start whinging about em cos it didn`t feature THEIR favourite game when they are posted is nobodys idea of fun, Craig can do as he bloody well pleases when he has some SPARE time, you bought a not yet manufactured, homebrew, console, not a personal slave, if you don`t like it get a refund.

sheesh! people now days!.......yeah! just checked, American, that figures, obvious with all that gob/attitude, personality summary, I want-you must-I am all that matters-give me more-I will take more-we are the b****x, you are c**p-do as I say or I shoot-kill-maim-rape,invade,liberate,-worship me or I sue-I look after #1, if you ain`t for us your against us.... etc, good attitude you have there, just as well people like you don`t influence the world economy....oh! wait!....

 

[younghifi]

Don't be a "playa hater" yourself hobbyman II. Don't need to get all agitated around such trivialities. You are of course right though

 

[WizardStan]

Craig can do as he bloody well pleases when he has some SPARE time, you bought a not yet manufactured, homebrew, console, not a personal slave, if you don`t like it get a refund.
The problem that Azure seems to be working up to is that Craig has once again made a statement that he has been unable, for one reason or another, to live up to. Saying "we'll have a video soon" and then nothing for several weeks is worse than not mentioning video in the first place. If Craig would stop trying to make commitments he can't keep, there'd be a lot less of that type of complaint.
We'd probably see an increase in "NO NEWS!!!1!" type complaints, however, but that's a separate problem

 

[Azure]

just checked, American, that figures, obvious with all that gob/attitude, personality summary, I want-you must-I am all that matters-give me more-I will take more-we are the b****x, you are c**p-do as I say or I shoot-kill-maim-rape,invade,liberate,-worship me or I sue-I look after #1, if you ain`t for us your against us.... etc, good attitude you have there, just as well people like you don`t influence the world economy....oh! wait!....

I really wish you would have put that line at the beginning of your post, then I could have saved myself some time and known to skip such an ignorant post. Oh wait, that was probably really American of me to say that. I'm not one to throw personal insults from left field and cause internet drama, so I'll just assume you had a bad day and I'll leave it at that

Craig can do as he bloody well pleases when he has some SPARE time, you bought a not yet manufactured, homebrew, console, not a personal slave, if you don`t like it get a refund.
The problem that Azure seems to be working up to is that Craig has once again made a statement that he has been unable, for one reason or another, to live up to. Saying "we'll have a video soon" and then nothing for several weeks is worse than not mentioning video in the first place. If Craig would stop trying to make commitments he can't keep, there'd be a lot less of that type of complaint.
We'd probably see an increase in "NO NEWS!!!1!" type complaints, however, but that's a separate problem

Yup, that's kind of what I'm getting at. I know Craig said "making this device won't take up any Pandora money, time or effort," but it still takes up even more time out of Craig's busy, busy life, and I feel he already has some big business commitments to attend to (in addition to having a personal life!). I have a hard time believing that this will have absolutely zero influence on everything Craig does that's related to the Pandora (from actual development to press/media). I think I raise a legitimate concern (if you skim the thread you'll others mentioning a little discomfort at the notion of Craig starting another project in the middle of this current one).

 

[cokebottle tuque]

Personally I would love to see the pandora broken down in to several kits, offer the naked Pandora mother board as cheaply as you can, then sell option kits, you could satisfy a lot of nitch markets this way. As for options I would offer different power kits say batteries in various sizes, low power wall wart, and a ~6V-36V DC input power supply, also the vga/component breakout board, headers for every i/o pin on the board, possibly the lower case with key mat / analog sticks, an alternate set top case with all i/o broken out, the lcd, possibly a larger lcd that is plug and play with your current lcd driver circuitry, basically offer all the major component parts that make up the Pandora, then start adding additional kits. Start with the i/o kits and then offer a pre-assembled bundle with the set top case, mother board, vga/component, and low power wall wart, for the majority of cases.

But you still get the moders and hackers by offering a cheap mother board with the options they want, you get the guys that want to build arcade cabinets, you get the guys that want to reuse an old NES case, you get the embedded car computer guys. There might even be a market for robotics use given the built in wifi, SD, and usb, all I'm saying is you can get your fingers in to a lot of markets with minimal start up effort going the kit route, and think of the free marketing you could get going this route, think of every time one of the Benhack style moders comes out with something new and cool its all over the gadget and hacker sites. By opening up the components you open your product to the uses of all us creative people that want to use your new hardware as the guts of our new cd juice box or to build the next cool thingamawidget that's going to get splattered across engadget and the like.

So here are a couple hypothetical projects the Pandora mother board might work well for.

A) I have a set of myvu vr glasses I want to use so I buy the mother board lower case with key mates and the battery kit, maybe attach an old touch pad to the back of the lower case to simulate the touch screen.

B) Just buy the mother board and battery, add a usb hub some cheap flush drives and a 3g modem wrap it all up in some tupperware, and I have a portable wifi hot spot with built in media streaming.

C) The car computer guys do case B but substitute the DC voltage supply for the battery, add a larger LCD, a USB based GPS receiver, and some webcams.

D) The arcade cabinet guys just mount it In the cabinet buy the most convenient power suppl ad an external usb hard drive and usb based controller boards.

E) Maybe the warble computer folks start off like case A then add webcams and GPS to the mix.

F) Maybe some one wants to run Android on it and remake the board in to one hell of a smart phone.

G) See case A add a wii nun chuck, and gps for some vr shenanigans.

H) Add a webcam to case G for augmented reality shenanigans.(Think of playing tron on a college campus)

You get the opportunity to have us nutty unorthodox nerds and hackers play with your hardware and take it in new, interesting directions. And I think you have just that crowd watching in on developments around here, look at the comets on this thread there is defiantly interest in purchases on the component level for use in projects, and you get the set top kit crowd too. I mean really how hard would it be to set up an ebay store that just sells the components after receiving them directly from the various manufacturing plants? You can produce mother boards way faster than you can produce Pandoras right? so way not cash in on the project market?

 

[cb88]

@Azure I would be more worried if they werent' doing anything else... since you know most of these delays have nothing to do with how much priority they are giving anything

Oh and time is money as they say XD

 

[Prometheus]

@cokebottle - I like your thinking!

The more posts I see in this vein, the more interesting I'm finding this idea...

 

[Magnulus]

I must admit I did not read all the 22 pages of this, but here are my thoughts in any case:

I voted "only if" and I would say only if it can do 720p as a minimum for video and has the appropriate outputs. It should also come with a controller as standard so it's playable out of the box. You could sell extra controllers for the bonus sales. I'd also prefer to have between 4 and 6 USB outputs.

To be frank, this is a machine that would much better suit my needs than the Pandora handheld. When I had my GP2X, I found that I would rarely pick up and play emulators or stuff like that while I was on the go. Now that I have a jailbroken iPod Touch, I see the likelyhood of using a Pandora when I'm out being even smaller, meaning that I probably won't buy the Pandora in the current generation, at least. I just find it hard to justify paying for the portability when I won't use it. If there was a box designed for sitting next to the TV, though, I would definitely be interested as long as it's a proper, no-fuss solution to playing emulators and homebrew on the TV.

The GP2X sucked balls for TV-out and I now have a bunch of cables I'm not using for anything in particular lying around. I'd rather not have the same thing happen with something like the Pandora.

So yes, I would love a Pandora box, if it's no-fuss, can play some HD video and has a controller in the box. I can get a cheap keyboard, but a controller would be luvverly.