Pandora Cube

[DAP]

For me, I'd want a fanless box with a gigabit ethernet port, and a SATA port that was fast enough to fully saturate a SATA drive or the etherenet port (whichever is slowest). I'd want it to be able to act as a NAS, a UPNP server, and a mythTV back end (Digital TV only, no analog tuners). For this purpose it would be a headless always on system, so I'd like its idle power to be below 5 Watts.

From what I have read in this thread, it appears there are a bunch of wants with opposing requirements. Some want a game machine with a high res display, and others want a low power server type device.

It seems to me that it might be better to design two devices: A low power always on headless back end with hard drive, and a front end that only uses power when the user wants to do something with it. The front end could drive a display & play games. Lets face it, a DVR would be useless if it did not record scheduled programs when someone was using it to play games. And a game machine requires horse power which translates to Watts.

A separate back end & front end, even if they share the same power supply & box, seems to make more sense (as long as the front end can be shut down separately from the back end).

 

[RichiH]

Only if it.. (in this order of importance)

1) ..is based on OMAP4 (dual-core and HD in hardware!) and has a HDMI out

2) ..is able to house a 3.5 or 2.5 inch hdd

3) ..has bluetooth, WIFI (ideally with an antenna socket), RJ45 and optionally IRdA


I know this is pretty much impossible, but you asked. If you (or anyone else) offered me such a device right now, I would paypal $300 to you immediately. Seriously.


Richard

PS: Yes, I know of Fit-PC, Gumstix, BeagleBoard, that one OSU handheld, etc, etc

 

[murphy]

I voted yes, but i like to have hdmi, dvi, vga or similar output so i can hook it up to a normal monitor hdmi is the favorite, because of the sound channels. 5.1 is not importent for me

Also put on the wish list:
- up to 4 USB ports if you can add. (not very importent)
- no controls, i use an usb wifi gamepad and keyboard
- no battery, but lightweight power adapter, since its always hooked up to the tv or monitor we have some power there in the near lying around
- sd cards are enough
- wifi is also enough

My use would be as surfing, gaming and video machine

Then consider 2 bought by me.

 

[Butterman]

.

Whoa, did they invent a new kind of cable? Eatherenet cable?!! I've heard of the ethernet cable, but this must be a new one?!

 

[rmm2131]

---I'm reposting this here from the unofficial blog.---

Interesting idea Craig that you should go forward with since it can coincide with the Pandora production easily.

Here's my ideas:
1. I would use the Pandora as a template, remove the screen portion(top part), include two extra shoulder buttons on the “cube” part so it can be used by itself as a controller for TV-Out gaming. The cube itself would really be a smooth quadrilateral the size of a complete Pandora that you can still fit into a pocket.

2. Also, (maybe) make it a usb host device using the single SD slot that it has(one SD slot was removed so more ports like another USB 2.0 could be included) for when people want to hook it to another PC. One SD slot is plenty.

3. Offer the "rectangle" in more than one color option. Maybe even clear.

4. I do think the keyboard and gaming controls in the Pandora should be included in the "rectangle" which could possibly be crafted into the slight shape of an isosceles trapezoid for the cool factor and for the extra space needed for the several USB ports, VGA, HDMI, or whatever else people and your team want and can include. Maybe make the corners more roundish like a SNES gamepad and perhaps curved slightly like an XBox controller and on the bottom like a Hori Gameboy Gamepad. (Yes, i'm excited about this.)

Possible names:
You could call it the Pandora Go!
Just kidding, maybe you could call it the Pandora Bridge, the Pandora Passage, or my favorite, the Pandora Core.

Really go forward with this Craig. I believe if price is kept to about $199 or less you can have a winner here.


In short, same size as Pandora but slightly rounder like a game controller without a screen, two full size USB ports, headphone jack, volume dial, SD slot(one or two), four shoulder buttons, every keyboard button and the nubs already on a regular Pandora, TV-out, some kind of PC monitor output if possible.

 

[salasq]

X = digital video/audio out & IR port. So I could use it as a client for my media server.

 

[MSkull01]

In all honesty, I would wait until the actual Pandora is released before considering getting something like this. No offense; I'm sure it'll work fine, but for now let's just concentrate on the actual Pandora itself.

 

[kylejl]

Well...why not make a different console with features like these:
- media support (good media support)
- a significantly different OS
- wi-fi support (with streaming media)
- ir support
- USB/Bluetooth support for input
- USB hard drive/flash drive support
- HD support
- connectivity to the pandora handheld

These would be GREAT selling points. If anyone decides to make this, I am a graphic designer. I would love to help for free!

 

[chaosfx]

for me there are two possible designs for the cube :

1st : a standalone videostreaming and gamingcube with hdmi,wifi and bluetooth

2nd : a miniserver possibly used as nas (i know that it cant complete with a 400+€ device)
u could use sdcards and a external harddrive.

 

[greendots]

Its not really worth it IMO. I would rather purchase the board alone and build something myself.

Considering the pandora cube would be pretty much just an emulation box at standard def, it makes the cube a worse option compared to a hacked Xbox/ Wii.

 

[Asmo]

A 'console' version would really have to be capable of outputting it's true resolution to be more attractive than DIY-ing a bare board for the job, I think.

In any event, IF it was to happen, I'd suggest leaving it capable of taking one of the original LCD screens - that is, leaving a 'slot' or access to the connector on the PCB, through whatever it's cased in. There are good reasons

 

[TrevorBradley]

You're competing with the Sheevaplug wallwart at this point:

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS9634061300.html

and they're selling right now for $100. They think they can get their price point down to $50.

I would think video is where you'd be sorely lacking and your leverage point over the wallwart. There are new technologies out there that can do VGA over the USB bus, might that be worth looking into?

Also, my X is MythTV (which I hope to see running on Pandora).

And I would seriously recommend waiting for Pandora to be successful until you invest a penny in this. Back of envelope schematics, specs, and dreams are free though.

 

[ldesnogu]

Why pay $200, when I can buy for $400 a system that can read BluRay, has a 80 GB HD, comes with a controller, has HDMI support, has Gigabit Ethernet, has WiFi and can run Linux on a processor that's so much more powerful than Cortex-A8 and so funny to program. Oh did I mention that $400 system can also play PS3 games ?

 

[Ravnos]

Why pay $200, when I can buy for $400 a system that can read BluRay, has a 80 GB HD, comes with a controller, has HDMI support, has Gigabit Ethernet, has WiFi and can run Linux on a processor that's so much more powerful than Cortex-A8 and so funny to program. Oh did I mention that $400 system can also play PS3 games ?

On the downside, Linux is unable to access the GPU on that system and its media codec support is terrible, especially for HD media that doesn't come on a BluRay disc.

Seriously, there are a lot of good reasons to buy a PS3, but Sony has done their best to make sure that Linux isn't one of them.

 

[Googer]

I haven't read any of this thread to know if this was already discussed, but my answer is yes, if the TV-out is DVI / HDMI (along with auxiliary audio output if only DVI is possible). Given that this would have no built-in LCD already occupying the sole digital-out, I would think this is possible.

 

[fanoush]

Yes, I do want beagleboard in a case with battery and wifi/bt for <= $200. It needs to have dvi/hdmi though.

 

[hobbyman II]

the wallwart option is out imo

Pandora is overpowered for that application anyway

heres a way you could go that I think would be popular, the mods are actually very simple

remove the screen/battery/keyboard/nubs/controls

add a slimline cd/dvd drive

add a small hard drive or 32gig sd

add more usb ports

add a monitor port

include a more desktop-like OS such as Puppy or Xubuntu with all the standard applications and a good selection of games and dev tools

wrap it in a full size keyboard

sell it as a low cost, low energy, cheap to run, environmentally friendly, console computer

you could call it the "Pandora Carbon" and stick some carbon fibre trim across the top of the keyboard, the selling points being it`s a compact desktop that takes no more room than a standard keyboard, comes preloaded with all you could want, and is NOISE FREE and low energy (carbon friendly...hence the name)

you could add the hard drive and dvd/cd via internal usb ports for simplicity, even offer Pandora style control pads for gamers

you can still use it for emulation etc, I think the silent operation would cinch it for a lot of people, whenever system noise comes up in forums everyone seems to hate drive and fan noise, I think most people would be keen to own a totally silent PC suitable for Net/games/video/music/printing etc

 

[BackAssward]

Why pay $200, when I can buy for $400 a system that can read BluRay, has a 80 GB HD, comes with a controller, has HDMI support, has Gigabit Ethernet, has WiFi and can run Linux on a processor that's so much more powerful than Cortex-A8 and so funny to program. Oh did I mention that $400 system can also play PS3 games ?

Hmmm, good point. Add to that that it might be:
( $220 USD(purchase) + $20 USD(shipping) )*1.09 (exchange) + $20 CDN(duty)
= ~$280 total CDN.

Whereas one can go to the local store and pay $400 CDN total for the PS3 (didn't add sales tax, since you pay it either way, whether local or imorted). Then there's the WII or Xbox, both at or below $300.

 

[Tuxedomask29]

I'd be very interested if it could do HD out.

 

[CCmachined]

I would suggest doing an alternate release cycle; first you release a console version and then a year or two later you release a portable equivalent. Once those are out the door and everything has settled down you can start work on a new console and restart the cycle.

Doing it that way would give you the advantage of having a sizable software library already available when the handheld releases and you could get a bunch of hardware and OS testing out of the way via the console. You can just build on the progress you already had from the console version to add an LCD and any other parts you'd need for a portable equivalent.

I'd recommend having the handheld input interface planned out before you make the console though. For a touchscreen handheld you could make the console equivalent mouse operated, since they function similarly it would be a smoother conversion from console to portable.

If it was me in charge, I'd wait until the OMAP4 was ready, then put together an HD-capable console with HDMI output, an upgradeable internal hard drive--probably 2.5"--and any other cool stuff I might want.

Except we all preordered a handheld system. 6 months ago. The first pandora device released will be portable.

I don't expect the Pandora Cube to sell that well, just for the fact that an embedded ARM device isn't that suited to the desktop. HD or at least component output would probably be a requirement. Try it if you like , lack of money would stop me getting one though