Pandora OMAP4 and POSITIVE FEEDBACK!!

[maiden]

ok, i had set my deadline for canceling to the 1 of January


but the problem is that i think that you deserve more cash then you have got for your work.


I will move to China in February, so that have been my second deadline. but now i have put some thought to it and decided that i wont cancel my order no matter what.


I think that you have done a great job, I think that you are crazy people who haven't given up yet and spent the rest of the cash on beer.


Any one that thinks that you will make a profit on this is an idiot. I mean think about the 3 years of salary you could have gotten if you did the same work elsewhere. you are actually sacrificing 3 years of your life for something that you believe in.


Please set up a "dontate 4 beer" button somewhere, i want to give you something to increase your morale!


with this said:


will you make a new board based on the OMAP4 when you are done with the first and second batch?


if so i would love to have a "upgrade board" to replace the old one. i guess that this will require some soldering and playing around with those "lovely" LVDS cables to the screen


I understand those who cancels their order, but it feels like kicking the humble servant who have served you for 3 years and are laying at your feet and begging for mercy.

 

[WizardStan]

I really hope they don't set up an OMAP4 based upgrade. By the time it is time to upgrade the Pandora, the OMAP4 will most likely be outdated and we'll be onto OMAP5.

 

[elwing]

can I haz an OMAP12 with pulse lazers?

 

[MarioPandio]

As a peaceful Pandorian I would opt for mining lasers to extract lithium and uranium directly for the Mr fusion unit, to compliment the solar fuel scoop for day time useage.

 

[Emnasut]

Wait, do I vote yes if you are insane and I wouldn't like an OMAP4 Pandora or if I *would* like one?

 

[TrashyMG]

I thought it was a general question of sanity.

 

[SNESFAN]

If they had a board with socket nubs, a sturdy IO port (see no fear of breaking the cables or connector) for speakers and video, and make the case easier to get into like a standard pc case, I'd totally welcome the idea of a DIY upgrade. It would be alot easier and cheaper to send bare boards out than assembled Pandora right?


[tangent]


One thing I've always hated about laptops is that you can't upgrade them (well outside of ram and HDD) but if the board was a standard purchase and form factor for DIY upgrade people, I think that it would be revolutionary for a handheld. A board the same physical size and form factor like pci or similar it could actually become a standard for underground modders if done correctly. Think if you could just slip on a beagle board and panda board into a standard handheld case with a screen and keyboard and it would "just work"


That last part might be a pipe dream but what an idea...


[/tangent]

 

[Sugar_Kane]

Although I don't agree with it in the near future, a board based upgrade rather than a pandora 2 isn't such a bad idea...

 

[WizardStan]

Just so we're clear, we all remember that Craig is on record as saying that any Pandora 2 will use the exact same case, right? A board swap is almost guaranteed to be viable based on that.


Also remember that the board is one of the two most expensive components, alongside the LCD. For the cost of a board upgrade, you're almost buying the entire thing anyway.

 

[maiden]

Omg. i am insane.. good to know :rolleyes:

 

[Prometheus]

^ Someone had voted that you weren't earlier, but I see that they've deleted their vote... :lol: Hands up, whoever that was.

 

[emcee]

I could see the Pandora 2 being available as optionally a board upgrade or a full unit. The board could come with the D-pad and nubs already attached, so it would just be a matter of putting in, plugging in the screen, lining up the buttons and switches, and putting it back together.


It seems like, though, there would be an issue with the warranty. If you buy a full Pandora 2, the whole thing would be warrantied, whereas with the upgrade, it would be just the board. And the Pandora's warranty is voided when open it up and fiddle with the insides. The board is the insides, you have to fiddle with it to install it. And not everyone is going to take the proper precautions when doing so, and I don't know that OPT would want deal a lot of warranty claims that are likely from human error.


Also, there's more to updating a product than just upgrading the core components. The Pandora 2 could sport a better screen, or a better hinge, for instance. Although, it may be as good idea to keep it a similar to the current model as possible, if they want to ship before the end of the decade.


Either way, I hope the Pandora sees a hardware refresh at the end of Batch 2, or they'll likely have a hard time selling out batch 3. At least not without significant price drop.

 

[SNESFAN]

I could see the Pandora 2 being available as optionally a board upgrade or a full unit. The board could come with the D-pad and nubs already attached, so it would just be a matter of putting in, plugging in the screen, lining up the buttons and switches, and putting it back together.


It seems like, though, there would be an issue with the warranty. If you buy a full Pandora 2, the whole thing would be warrantied, whereas with the upgrade, it would be just the board. And the Pandora's warranty is voided when open it up and fiddle with the insides. The board is the insides, you have to fiddle with it to install it. And not everyone is going to take the proper precautions when doing so, and I don't know that OPT would want deal a lot of warranty claims that are likely from human error.


Also, there's more to updating a product than just upgrading the core components. The Pandora 2 could sport a better screen, or a better hinge, for instance. Although, it may be as good idea to keep it a similar to the current model as possible, if they want to ship before the end of the decade.


Either way, I hope the Pandora sees a hardware refresh at the end of Batch 2, or they'll likely have a hard time selling out batch 3. At least not without significant price drop.

well you can upgrade a desktop without voiding the warranty, I think this should be no different, if you disassemble the nubs or the lcd then yea.. but to unscrew the bottom and slap in a new board shouldn't void the warranty, it should fall under the same level of skill as say a video card upgrade for example. And that doesn't void a warranty from say dell or gateway.


my idea was take exactly what craig has 1000 of right now, pandora's minus the board and have that be the "core" pandora and the boards just slipping into place, the dpad and abxy and keybaord are all together and come with the rubber keymat. With the exception of the nubs all that they have said they have to do is slide in pandora boards (with soldered on nubs) connect stuff and boom 1000 "ready to go" pandoras

 

[second exodous]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Apple has never won in a small claims court when someone has opened any of their audio players and broken it worse than it was before to fix it and claimed it should be covered under warranty. I just don't know if Apple just gave in or they were all ruled in favor of the device owner.


Also, there was another case were someone opened their notebook to upgrade something, everything worked, and then it broke, the manufacturer claimed opening the notebook voided the warranty but the judge ruled that it was in the owners right to open the notebook. Opening a device does not void your warranty.


I know I've read these stories on tech sites before but can never remember where I read them and don't even want to try to find them. It is in the end users rights to open devices and fix them/upgrade them without voiding the warranty from what I understand.


Anyway a board upgrade for the Pandora would be pointless until the Pandora is so outdated that it is barley worth to own anymore. Also, whatever they upgrade to BETTER have HDMI out with at lest 1080p and that would require a new case and a board to upgrade at the very least. All your saving is the keymat and the screen plus a few other odds and ends. After you upgrade what will you do with the old board? It is useless with out every thing else. In the end it would be better to sell the OMAP3 Pandora and put the money towards the next one then noting is useless.


I would just feel bad gutting my Pandora, I would never do it to any other handheld I have owned to upgrade it.

 

[emcee]

well you can upgrade a desktop without voiding the warranty, I think this should be no different, if you disassemble the nubs or the lcd then yea.. but to unscrew the bottom and slap in a new board shouldn't void the warranty, it should fall under the same level of skill as say a video card upgrade for example. And that doesn't void a warranty from say dell or gateway.

Well regardless of whether or not it should void the warranty, it does.


And I would say adding a video card to a desktop PC is definitely easier than replacing the board in a Pandora. Desktops are designed to be easily upgraded and repaired. A lot of manufactures actually use large knurled screws on the outside of the case that can be removed by hand, just to make it that much easier to get into. The video card has one screw holding it in place, and a "quick release" tab to pop the card out.


The internals of the Pandora on the other hand, are very delicate. I actually managed to break the mic off my board with a slight brush of the hand. Unlike the heavy duty IDE and SATA cables inside a standard PC the LCD cable in the Pandora is thin the ends are easily frayed, and the connector it clips into is easily broke.


Working inside the Pandora is much closer to working in a laptop than a desktop, and generally replacing the motherboard in your laptop will void the warranty.

 

[SNESFAN]

Anyway a board upgrade for the Pandora would be pointless until the Pandora is so outdated that it is barley worth to own anymore. Also, whatever they upgrade to BETTER have HDMI out with at lest 1080p and that would require a new case and a board to upgrade at the very least. All your saving is the keymat and the screen plus a few other odds and ends. After you upgrade what will you do with the old board? It is useless with out every thing else. In the end it would be better to sell the OMAP3 Pandora and put the money towards the next one then noting is useless.


I would just feel bad gutting my Pandora, I would never do it to any other handheld I have owned to upgrade it.

pandora has a tv/video out... use that port, it's the same thing or am I missing something?


I still own 386 motherboards and 8mb ram chips I will literally never ever ever use agian... why do I keep them? .. just can't get rid of them.

And I would say adding a video card to a desktop PC is definitely easier than replacing the board in a Pandora. Desktops are designed to be easily upgraded and repaired. A lot of manufactures actually use large knurled screws on the outside of the case that can be removed by hand, just to make it that much easier to get into. The video card has one screw holding it in place, and a "quick release" tab to pop the card out.

it's that way now... i said change it to easily accessible like a pc... or at least easier accessable. You don't have to use "big ol screws" to allow you to get in. Gotta work with me a little on this idea...


parts on video cards are delicate, i've accidentally ripped off capacitors more times than I want to count... i understand the parts are delicate but somewhere in between needing a clean room and flexibility of an AK-47 is what I'm saying they should go for... a coat of epoxy or similar non-conductive material to lock peices into place could work wonders on parts big enough to be brushed off. I'm not saying take the board "as is" and use that, I'm saying consider user upgradeable design with the next mk version of the board... they are already considering socket nubs, so in that revision maybe?

 

[second exodous]

pandora has a tv/video out... use that port, it's the same thing or am I missing something?


I still own 386 motherboards and 8mb ram chips I will literally never ever ever use agian... why do I keep them? .. just can't get rid of them.

Ha! I still have a 486 board also, yeah, can't get rid of it along with 5 or 6 power supplies, USB 1.1 cables, floppy drives. . . I might need them some day.


The point I was trying to make was why rip out the old board and put a new board into the Pandora? Why not sell the entire Pandora and then put that towards the next version? That is all I was saying, it seemed wasteful to upgrade the Pandora as the main cost of the Pandora is the board.


As for HDMI out yes, it is much better than analog out if you want to watch HD movies. I'm happy with what it has right now but future Pandoras I hope will have HDMI out as future chips will have 1080p capabilities. I did feel a little gypped that it didn't have HDMI out at 720p but OMAP3 HDMI was not integrated into the main chip like the OMAP4 is was it? I remember they said they didn't include it for a reason like this, extra cost, so I'm not too upset.

 

[emcee]

it's that way now... i said change it to easily accessible like a pc... or at least easier accessable. You don't have to use "big ol screws" to allow you to get in. Gotta work with me a little on this idea...


parts on video cards are delicate, i've accidentally ripped off capacitors more times than I want to count... i understand the parts are delicate but somewhere in between needing a clean room and flexibility of an AK-47 is what I'm saying they should go for... a coat of epoxy or similar non-conductive material to lock peices into place could work wonders on parts big enough to be brushed off. I'm not saying take the board "as is" and use that, I'm saying consider user upgradeable design with the next mk version of the board... they are already considering socket nubs, so in that revision maybe?

Both my posts (the last one, and the one about the warranty), were specifically about the idea of OPT selling upgraded boards that could be installed into existing Pandoras. Redesigning the Pandora so it's easily upgraded by the end user may be a a good idea, but it seems like a pretty major redesign, at not really anything we would see in the near future, especially at the rate thing sometimes move in this project.


On a side note, how did you manage to break parts off a video card? I can't even think of a situation where that would happen.

 

[SNESFAN]

On a side note, how did you manage to break parts off a video card? I can't even think of a situation where that would happen.

agp video cards with that little platic hook at the bottom that holds it in place... getting your hand down in there... big ol fat capacitors... shit happens


jabed a few motherboards with screwdrivers trying to grab screws... broke pins on ZIF ports for processors during upgrades because I forgot to undo the latch...


...all in the name of being a desktop support tech for a living

 

[Asiyura]

agp video cards with that little platic hook at the bottom that holds it in place... getting your hand down in there... big ol fat capacitors... shit happens


jabed a few motherboards with screwdrivers trying to grab screws... broke pins on ZIF ports for processors during upgrades because I forgot to undo the latch...


...all in the name of being a desktop support tech for a living

Until now I considered myself clumsy, but you seem far better than me.


I'm used to leave behind bits of flesh and a few drops of blood every time I open a computer case