Raspberry Pi - 25 Dollar PC on a USB stick

[craigix]

Pandora 1

CONFIRMED: Pandora 2 is in the works

Surely Pandora II?

 

[DavidBowman]

You can call the Pandora successor whatever you'd like, just don't call Alec "Shirley."

 

[kloplop321]

I love one quote form the BBC on this:

. . .get the device into the hands of children who may not have access to a computer at home or would not be allowed by parents to "muck about with it".

I really think that tech savy, or at least parents that know how to use computers, is stifling children when it comes to learning real computer knowledge by trial and error. When I was a kid my parents were absolute in the dark when it came to computers and the family computer was mine and my brothers. We broke it constantly, freshly installing windows at least once a week. We learned a ton from doing that, tweaking and installing programs that broke things. Kids are not allowed to do that anymore, the computer is an important part of life for people my age with kids. The family computer can't break, it is too important and loosing things on it is a bad bad thing. A lot of families can only afford one computer and a lot of the times kids are not allowed to 'muck around' with it so they never learn anything.


This is great because they can break the OS on this thing because it is their's and it is cheap enough that any kid can have one. The HDMI port is kind of a put off, it seems a lot of budget monitors hover between HDMI and older standards and a lot of monitors from budget PCs, the kind families with only one computer own, might not have HDMI.


EDIT: I think kids now-a-days are so computer illiterate it is pathetic. There are a lot of factors; devices that are easy to use as is and can't be hacked, ipod, ipad, xbox, ps3, ect. Possibly OS's are getting too easy, even Linux is dead simple to use now. Kids not using computers and not being able to play around with them because they're so important in households now is probably the biggest, at least in my mind.

Dude, you're like the brother I never had now.

 

[chris_r]

I do wonder if the number of electronic engineers and programmers will start falling as the days of just giving your kid a zx spectrum, a ton of manuals and a soldering iron are gone. Or at least that's how I learnt

 

[Granitehead]

I agree that playing around is the best way to learn it. We have got only one PC too, but thankfully my parents weren't too angry when I broke the OS a few times, if I could repare it in a day or two...


This with the hacking is what surprises me most: Most of my class mates wouldn't mind pirating a game, but they don't spend an hour in the internet finding out how, but spend $50 or more on a game regularly (while I, the one who could do it, doesn't pirate [anymore] but only plays homebrew and indie games).


But some of my class mates program their TI 84 a lot and at least one started learning c, so I guess they'll be about like me when they are as old as me (I'm older than my class mates 'cause I changed to a better, no, rather more difficult [but, sadly, still too easy, but that's probably me, not the] school some time ago). So I don't think it's as bad as some of you wrote, I don't think it was /that/ normal some time ago to become like you are/I will become. You're probably the more technical ones of your age too.

 

[WizardStan]

When I was quite a young lad, I learned about inodes when I somehow accidentally linked a directory to the root. This was in dos on a 286, so not only was there no security to keep me from doing something stupid, but this shouldn't even have been possible. Yet there I was, typing "cd star"... "cd star"... "cd star"...


"Wonder how I get rid of it." "deltree star"


Whoops.

 

[Jourdy288]

I love one quote form the BBC on this:

. . .get the device into the hands of children who may not have access to a computer at home or would not be allowed by parents to "muck about with it".

I really think that tech savy, or at least parents that know how to use computers, is stifling children when it comes to learning real computer knowledge by trial and error. When I was a kid my parents were absolute in the dark when it came to computers and the family computer was mine and my brothers. We broke it constantly, freshly installing windows at least once a week. We learned a ton from doing that, tweaking and installing programs that broke things. Kids are not allowed to do that anymore, the computer is an important part of life for people my age with kids. The family computer can't break, it is too important and loosing things on it is a bad bad thing. A lot of families can only afford one computer and a lot of the times kids are not allowed to 'muck around' with it so they never learn anything.


This is great because they can break the OS on this thing because it is their's and it is cheap enough that any kid can have one. The HDMI port is kind of a put off, it seems a lot of budget monitors hover between HDMI and older standards and a lot of monitors from budget PCs, the kind families with only one computer own, might not have HDMI.


EDIT: I think kids now-a-days are so computer illiterate it is pathetic. There are a lot of factors; devices that are easy to use as is and can't be hacked, ipod, ipad, xbox, ps3, ect. Possibly OS's are getting too easy, even Linux is dead simple to use now. Kids not using computers and not being able to play around with them because they're so important in households now is probably the biggest, at least in my mind.

Dude, you're like the brother I never had now.

*SNIFFLE* My father would love you like a brother too.


@WizardStan Oh yikes..

 

[DavidBowman]

When I was quite a young lad, I learned about inodes when I somehow accidentally linked a directory to the root. This was in dos on a 286, so not only was there no security to keep me from doing something stupid, but this shouldn't even have been possible. Yet there I was, typing "cd star"... "cd star"... "cd star"...


"Wonder how I get rid of it." "deltree star"


Whoops.

Ah, I remember those days. I broke my computer so many times and fixed it again all the same. I really learned a lot in the pre-GUI days of computing.

 

[Prometheus]

I really learned a lot in the pre-GUI days of computing.

And there was always something more rewarding about learning how something was done, and more directly telling the computer to do it, too (it was interesting to experience that again when I first figured out some things with the Linux command line, I must say).


I'm guessing that it still clicks with people, too, given how they seem to respond to it in computer-related science-fiction, which even now still seems to play off of this "sending direct commands to the machine" thing to some degree or other.

 

[Exophase]

I wonder what SoC this uses. My guess is something from Rockchip or another Chinese manufacturer. At least it's not yet another Ingenic Jz4732..


It'd be kinda cool if someone did a handheld based on something like this. Where you plug the USB stick into a case that has controls, screen, speakers, battery, etc. Then of course you could upgrade the core. Or maybe the case. Or parts of the case.


Yeah I know there were some products like this but IMO not executed too well and not high volume enough to make good on the cost savings. And this would have the extra novelty of being able to unplug it from the case and into your PC for a comfy dev setup. Something where you plug it in and your OS instantly opens up its desktop in a window would be really neat.

 

[Prometheus]

I wonder what SoC this uses. My guess is something from Rockchip or another Chinese manufacturer. At least it's not yet another Ingenic Jz4732..

They have a contact address on their website - they might be able to answer that.

 

[Granitehead]

I wonder what SoC this uses. My guess is something from Rockchip or another Chinese manufacturer. At least it's not yet another Ingenic Jz4732..


It'd be kinda cool if someone did a handheld based on something like this. Where you plug the USB stick into a case that has controls, screen, speakers, battery, etc. Then of course you could upgrade the core. Or maybe the case. Or parts of the case.


Yeah I know there were some products like this but IMO not executed too well and not high volume enough to make good on the cost savings. And this would have the extra novelty of being able to unplug it from the case and into your PC for a comfy dev setup. Something where you plug it in and your OS instantly opens up its desktop in a window would be really neat.

That's actually a brilliant idea. You could even do it in a way so it looks like a complete normal handheld while plugged into the display/controls thing and it wouldn't need to be as small as an USB stick, you could also make it bigger and integrate a cable which you can pull out of the part to connect it to a PC.


Something for a PandoraII+? ^^

 

[Asiyura]

The modular concept from Exophase made me think about an old Creative MP3 player.


This one :

(The "dock" part was only for batteries, but the basic idea is similar)


I think it's a great idea, worth working on it!

 

[Garg]

It'd be kinda cool if someone did a handheld based on something like this. Where you plug the USB stick into a case that has controls, screen, speakers, battery, etc. Then of course you could upgrade the core. Or maybe the case. Or parts of the case.

I know I'd buy one! It's always driven me crazy to keep track of files, settings, and bookmarks across my three different Windows computers and the PCs in the computer lab on campus. Since every attempt at syncing these across boxes has been a half success at best, I'd love to just carry around a competent low-power computer and plug it into a monitor when there's one handy.


This is the use case that makes me really hope that Craig & ED are seriously considering a Pandora II. I understand why it makes no sense to actually build one right now or even announce that it's being considered, but I'd buy a Pandora with a HDMI port (and maybe an upgraded processor while I'm being greedy) in a heartbeat. I'd do it two years from now or two weeks from now, so long as someone else doesn't build one first.

 

[Nintendo]

Would an HDMI port be necessary on Pandora 2?

 

[Asiyura]

Would an HDMI port be necessary on Pandora 2?

A video out that allows better resolution and image quality than a classic TV out would be great.


That way we would be able to connect the Pandora 2 to a full sized monitor and use it as a "desktop" computer.


It would be nice in a "docking station".


The problem is that VGA and DVI are huge connectors for such a small device (taking up lot of PCB space).


HDMI is a great option, it's small and already a standard, but you have to pay to put it in your device. (IIRC)


Another solution would be mini displayport, but only a few monitors are natively using this connector.


You would have to use adapters (now third-party manufacturers are producing some, no need to spend large amount of cash on the overpriced Apple ones) for VGA, DVI and HDMI out.


Mini VGA and DVI exist, but I don't know if the connectors and the adapters to the full sized version are still produced…

 

[WizardStan]

HDMI is a great option, it's small and already a standard, but you have to pay to put it in your device. (IIRC)

If I understand the HDMI protocol correctly (which I probably don't), HDMI requires 8 lines, with the other 11 lines being superfluous features. Another option is component, which is still pretty good quality but only requires 3 lines (and ground).


Both of these can be implemented using the EXT connector and a very simple adapter be created, just repurpose some of the GPIO lines. Can even make a control switch with a GPIO line so it can be switched between GPIO/serial and video out in software.

 

[Garg]

If I understand the HDMI protocol correctly (which I probably don't), HDMI requires 8 lines, with the other 11 lines being superfluous features. Another option is component, which is still pretty good quality but only requires 3 lines (and ground).


Both of these can be implemented using the EXT connector and a very simple adapter be created, just repurpose some of the GPIO lines. Can even make a control switch with a GPIO line so it can be switched between GPIO/serial and video out in software.

I was just wondering if it would be possible to use the EXT for component (hadn't thought of HDMI). How difficult would that be? Would it take much processor power - I mean, would it be like emulating a graphics device, or could the video signals be sent out the EXT without much overhead?

 

[WizardStan]

I was just wondering if it would be possible to use the EXT for component (hadn't thought of HDMI). How difficult would that be? Would it take much processor power - I mean, would it be like emulating a graphics device, or could the video signals be sent out the EXT without much overhead?

I was talking about a theoretical Pandora 2, using the same form factor. There's no way you could get component out of the Pandora right now.


Well, technically you could decompose the S-Video into RGB and convert that to component, but the resolution would still only be 480i. Only thing you'd gain was the ability to plug into modern TVs that don't have S-Video.

 

[Asiyura]

Honestly, I hadn't thought about using the EXT port that way

(maybe the fact that the "official" TV out cables are nowhere to be seen played a role

)


If I was the one to choose, I would favor HDMI over component.


My TV doesn't have any component connector, but it does have a DVI one, same for my computer monitors.


But yeah, that would be nice and elegant solution.


That way, no need to change the case moulds.


The option of software switching between HDMI and GPIO is pretty nice.


It would be sad loosing the ability to play with the GPIO of the Pandora 2