Release Date - On Track ?

[Lobo]

Any chance of getting an .stl file of the prototype case? I'd really like to print it in ABS plastic and feel it in my own hands!

 

[Sphinxter]

Is it possible to subscribe to an announcement mailing list or get some kind of alert once the dev kits become available to a wider range of developers? basically what i am asking ** Is there a way to get me one of these as quick as possible ** Edit: I don't need the finished product (case) just the board and screen.

You have a couple of options for dev kits:
1) Buy a OMAP 3530 EVM (~$1500)
2) Buy a beagle board (~$150, not available yet)
3) Buy a Logic MDK (~$875, not available yet)
4) Buy a Pandora (~$330, not available yet)

Hmmm, ok, you currently have no options unless your willing to spend $1500. If not, then you'll have to wait for one of the others to be available.


I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?


Except for the SOC they appear to be miles apart.

 

[D.C.]

Is it possible to subscribe to an announcement mailing list or get some kind of alert once the dev kits become available to a wider range of developers? basically what i am asking ** Is there a way to get me one of these as quick as possible ** Edit: I don't need the finished product (case) just the board and screen.

You have a couple of options for dev kits:
1) Buy a OMAP 3530 EVM (~$1500)
2) Buy a beagle board (~$150, not available yet)
3) Buy a Logic MDK (~$875, not available yet)
4) Buy a Pandora (~$330, not available yet)

Hmmm, ok, you currently have no options unless your willing to spend $1500. If not, then you'll have to wait for one of the others to be available.


I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?


Except for the SOC they appear to be miles apart.


So it basically lacks support for most the peripherals included on the pandora board.

 

[Squidge]

I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?

The one used in the Pandora was designed specifically for the Pandora by MJW. The beagle was designed by someone else for a completely different reason ( http://beagleboard.org/brief ), hence they are completely different apart from the actual SoC used.

 

[D.C.]

I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?

The one used in the Pandora was designed specifically for the Pandora by MJW. The beagle was designed by someone else for a completely different reason ( http://beagleboard.org/brief ), hence they are completely different apart from the actual SoC used.


I understand. I didn't realize MJW designed the pandora board himself .That's really impressive. I hope some of the details about that will be mentioned in the background story of the Pandora from craigix.

 

[Chip]

I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?

Except for the SOC they appear to be miles apart.
So it basically lacks support for most the peripherals included on the pandora board.

But from a purely software development perspective, it shouldn't matter unless you plan on accessing those peripherals directly. All the important bits - CPU, RAM, GPU, DSP - are all contained in the SoC. If you were really chomping at the bit to start programming for the Pandora then the Beagle Board would be a great tool for it. Of course that is assuming the BBs were actually available. The good news is there's a decent chance the Pandora dev boards will beat them to market and you can get one of them.

 

[DTH]

I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?

The one used in the Pandora was designed specifically for the Pandora by MJW. The beagle was designed by someone else for a completely different reason ( http://beagleboard.org/brief ), hence they are completely different apart from the actual SoC used.


Beagle?

Would that fit?

 

[D.C.]

I've heard about the beagle board before, although I don't know any specifics. What are the actual differences between that board and the one being used for the Pandora?

Except for the SOC they appear to be miles apart.
So it basically lacks support for most the peripherals included on the pandora board.

But from a purely software development perspective, it shouldn't matter unless you plan on accessing those peripherals directly. All the important bits - CPU, RAM, GPU, DSP - are all contained in the SoC. If you were really chomping at the bit to start programming for the Pandora then the Beagle Board would be a great tool for it. Of course that is assuming the BBs were actually available. The good news is there's a decent chance the Pandora dev boards will beat them to market and you can get one of them.

Yeah, the beagle board does provide a cheap way to develop software. It's probably a good development for the pandora, as pandora users will be able to benefit from the software developed by programmers outsde this community using the beagle board.

 

[JakeK]

*gets mouse finger, reload every 5 seconds, and caffiene ready*

You sound like the all the TF2 fanboys that are waiting for this update that is coming Should see the forum, threads are getting closed because of all the duplicates of "when is it coming" threads and all the "stop complaining about the update and just wait for it" threads. It is a Lol of a time

 

[Firefox]

Before we allow the 100 dev orders to happen we *must* make sure these boards are working 100% so if we have to we will delay the ordering.

Hang about, does that mean that the first 100 haven't been allocated yet?

 

[crazedover]

We have some real pandoras (without cases) working now.

You only have some? Are you guys populating the first 100 dev boards by hand? If so, then bravo.

 

[Squidge]

We have some real pandoras (without cases) working now.

You only have some? Are you guys populating the first 100 dev boards by hand? If so, then bravo.


It takes an entire day to populate a single board, so if your expecting them to be all hand built, then expect the first 100 to be done in about 4 months.

Now they have a couple working, I'd expect them to PnP the rest, test, then ship.

 

[Dingo_aus]

.....
However so far everything is going well, it's a really exciting time here, the power of this thing reminds me of the Amiga dropping in to the C64 and ZX Spectrum world!

That is the most exciting I've read on this forum. It is a powerful throwback to pull on

 

[Svartalf]

That is the most exciting I've read on this forum. It is a powerful throwback to pull on

It is a cool quote. And with a careful reading of the expected specs, he'd be really about right as to the proportion of power and ability in the handheld space.

 

[kneehighspy]

it's great to watch the new video(s). waiting for preorders to start for the first 3000. i would love to get my preorder (or prepay) in as soon as i can.

perhaps a maillist with preorder info / signup?

the project looks great so far, i would love for some sort of developer docu on the disc included with the unit. personally if additional packaging adds costs (and unneeded materials) i would prefer just to receive the unit, power adaptor, manual and disc only.

i'll go back to my hole and wait for more info

 

[atomicthumbs]

Before we allow the 100 dev orders to happen we *must* make sure these boards are working 100% so if we have to we will delay the ordering.

Hang about, does that mean that the first 100 haven't been allocated yet?

Mark 0: Dev boards shipped for free to the uberdevs.

Mark 0.1: Dev boards (with or without case; if no case, case later) shipped to those who pay for them. For hackers and testers and the Slightly Lesser Devs.

Mark 1: Pandora for the quivering masses.

I'm getting a mark 0.1

 

[D.C.]

Before we allow the 100 dev orders to happen we *must* make sure these boards are working 100% so if we have to we will delay the ordering.

Hang about, does that mean that the first 100 haven't been allocated yet?

Mark 0: Dev boards shipped for free to the uberdevs.

Mark 0.1: Dev boards (with or without case; if no case, case later) shipped to those who pay for them. For hackers and testers and the Slightly Lesser Devs.

Mark 1: Pandora for the quivering masses.

I'm getting a mark 0.1


Does anybody know what the pricing will be for the "Mark 0.1" dev boards? Will they be cheaper, because you'll have to assemble it (after buying/getting the casing) yourselve or will the whole package (dev board+ acquired casing) cost as much as the end product (Pandora)?

 

[Firefox]

I wasn't expecting the mk 0.1 ones to be cheaper, it's just that I've got some free time at the moment where I could code for it and perhaps help out with testing/debugging the firmware.

 

[danboid]

Yes! Send a dev board to Firefox Craig! Anyone who can get Jaguar games running on a GP2X has got to be up there- why is the guy not a guru already? MWeston wasn't a guru either last time I checked so the tag is currently meaningless and void

Thanks to MW and Craig for the regular updates on Pandoras progress- the Pand is unique in many ways including the way it has been developed.

Has anything been decided on the battery yet? Also, are we going to get a dedicated headphone jack alongside an AV out (also a headphone jack too) or not?

Yes, it would seem that the Pandora is all set to become the long-awaited 'handheld Amiga' in spirit but saying that the difference between the Pandora and the Zaurus/PSP is as big as the difference between the Amiga and the C64/Spectrum is total cobblers Craig. Somebody on OESF had worked out all the pins to add a 2700G 3D accelerator to the Z, it was just too expensive to buy 'em to be worthwhile, and a few people had succesfully upgraded the RAM in their Z's to 128MB but again this was no mean feat. Point is that with these additions and overclocking the Z to 624Mhz it really isn't that far behind the Pandora's spec and, for people like me who want a pocket Linux box and aren't really bothered about the portable console side, the better keyboard means it still beats the Pandora for some (terminal/shell addicts I'm looking at you). The difference between the Zaurus C3x00 and the Pandora is more like A500 vs A1200, not Amiga vs C64!

As we expected, we're going to be lumbered with a proprietary GFX driver for 3D accel- forever the bain of the Linux fan. I'm wondering how well 2D will work under open source xorg / fbdev or whatever? Hmmm....

 

[Chip]

Has anything been decided on the battery yet? Also, are we going to get a dedicated headphone jack alongside an AV out (also a headphone jack too) or not?

The battery is definitely sorted out. We will get a standard headphone jack as well as an ext port, though exactly what will come out of that ext port is not clear.