Release Date - On Track ?

[danboid]

Craig:

Just wanted to clear the Zaurus/Amiga/Pandora comparison thing up

What I was trying to say is that I have no doubt that the Pandora WILL be faster and better than a Zaurus sl-cxxxx in almost every way except keyboard for those who want a pocket desktop not a console/pockdesk hybrid, natch.

But there was uch a HUGE gap between the C64/Spectrum/BBC/Amstrad CPC machines and the Amiga, which got released in their era, I don't think we'll ever see such a large leap. You went from 8-bit, 1Mhz CPU to 16bit 8Mhz CPU, 4/16 colours to 4096- thats a REAL big leap in computing power. Seeing as I'm not a gamer I'm not really that bothered about 3D acceleration and there's no way that the Pandora's ~600Mhz Cortex is going to be 7/8x faster than my Z's ~600Mhz PXA270- which was the difference between the C64 and the Amiga. Maybe it'll be twice as fast if I'm lucky. Pandoras video performance WILL deliver 8x the Z's (which was almost non-existent save playing 320x240 vids smoothly), but thats not hard

There were a number of significant probs with the Z tho- primarily that the good models (C3000 on) never got released and hence never got officially supported outside of Japan, which caused problems when they broke if not under guarantee by an importer. They also cost 3x the price of the Pandora and so were a bit of a luxury item and you had to have a certain degree of geek skill to get them to do anything fancy until pdaXii13 arrived. Still, I consider myself very lucky to have been in for that ride as it was a preview of what is just about to happen here with the Pandora's arrival.


What was REAL good about the Z was the build quality of it- fantastic! They were pretty much unbrickable by the time it got to the C3000. If the Pandora's build quality is as good or better than the Z and we get a decent battery life out of it then it will be God's gift to computing and if you thought people went crazy for the C64 or the Wii well you ain't seen nuttn yet

 

[ldesnogu]

It looks like people think we suddenly went from 8 bit CPUs to the Amiga with nothing in-between. Take your time machine back and look at the various things that existed at that time,that had limited availability (sorry, but I think the Pandora can be considered as a niche product, and that's why I love it ) and that were more powerful than c64/spectrum/cpc.

And even if you don't look at forgotten products, remember the PC was out before the Amiga (and the Atari ST too, at least in Europe).

 

[danboid]

The year is 1985...

danboid has used his FOSS time machine app (running on a dev pandora box to travel back in time to check out the home computing scene. He finds that, unless hes got £££/$$$ to spend on some hefty unix workstation, theres no way hes getting anything close to the power of the newly released Amiga 1000 (July 1985- little difference hardware wise between this and the mega-popular A500). danboid see's that he COULD buy a 16Mhz 386 running a DOS variant (or even Windows 1.0) IF he had 3x the amount of cash but he can smell doo-do quite well even through a time-travel VM and can see that Amiga's workbench kicks seven shades out of the other OS choices available at that time. Early MacOS also smells in comparison to super-slick multitasking Workbench, not surpassed in OS cool until the arrival of BeOS, and now Haiku is almost upon us...

Which depresses me a bit thinking how little computing has progressed since Workbench/ Windows/ MacOS 1.0 in 1984/5

I blame Bill Gates n his Jesuit mates!

 

[Sdw]

So, the system I propose: the first 100 are released on a "justify it" basis. To get one within a period of say, the first three days of availability, one would have to show either bloody good debugging knowledge, or some evidence that they know how to develop in a meaningful manner. That would not commit them to bring whatever it is they're pointing at over, all it'd do is guarantee that those who did get the first shot at the first batch were people who might help.

Yeah, anything else would be to shoot the project in the foot. To get some software ready for the "real" release, of course the beta units should go to people who actually are in a position to contribute.
It might be a bit of work for the guys to manually check every application to see that it is a knowledgeable developer, but just letting anyone purchase a beta unit would be madness.

 

[ldesnogu]

The Amiga 1000 was very expensive when it came out, IIRC about $1000 back then (at a time when dollar had some value ).

Oh well my point was just to show no quantum leap exists in technology.

All that matters to the consumer is what his money can buy, and in that sense the Atari ST was better placed when it came out than the Amiga (things changed later when the A500 was out in '89).

 

[x68000]

Wasnt the Sinclair QL the first 16 bit home computer?

 

[ldesnogu]

Indeed QL came out in 84.

And don't forget the Archimedes were out in 87. These were much more powerful than anything else in the consumer market. They used ARM processors Quite expensive too at around GBP 900.

 

[Chip]

Personally I'd wait until there's a decent amount of software ready for the platform before sending out review units.

You only get one chance to make a first imression, and first imprssions really count. If you send out a dev unit with virtually no software, incomplete and possibly buggy firmware then the review isn't going to be good. Bad news travells faster than good news and you'd need ten decent review later on down the line to even begin to make up for one bad review.

I don't think you're giving the reviewers enough credit. Anybody who is lucky enough to get a pre-release unit to review would certainly take the beta status of the hardware into account in the review. As long as we're clear with them up front about what's finished, what isn't, and what's likely to change in the final release, then the review will reflect that. Engadget has done reviews on beta hardware with unfinished software before, and they have always been very fair about it. As somebody over there has taken enough interest in Pandora to post about it three or four times, I'm sure they'd jump at the chance for a pre-release review. I don't see how the review could be anything but positive (unless there is actually a problem with the hardware).

I think its given that there will be a fair amount of interest in the first batch of 3000, so there's no need to instantly market the unit. See how sales progress with the first 3000. I'd suggest only sending review units out when sales start to slow down. And even then, only if there are a fair few left. If sales start slowing but there are only 100 or so units left then wait until the second batch is ready before sending out review units. As you don't want 500 people reading reviews and thinking "Yeah I want one of those" only to find it's not available at that time. Some people will wait and order when they're available, but you'll loose a lot of impulse buyers

It's not just about attracting potential users, it's also about attracting potential devs. Nobody is going to write software for a platform unless they're pretty sure it's real. As evidenced by the comments sections of sites which have reported on Pandora so far, many people are incredulous. They see renders and a too-good-to-be-true spec sheet and their first instinct is to call shenanigans. It is going to take a hands-on review by a trusted tech site to prove that Pandora is real and as powerful as we've been claiming. A good review will also (hopefully) get potential homebrew programmers excited enough to get a Pandora and start adding to the software library.

And lastly, a 3rd party review will give us something to reference on Wikipedia that won't get taken down as self-published. It's a small thing, but it's an incentive none the less.

 

[Svartalf]

I don't think you're giving the reviewers enough credit. Anybody who is lucky enough to get a pre-release unit to review would certainly take the beta status of the hardware into account in the review. As long as we're clear with them up front about what's finished, what isn't, and what's likely to change in the final release, then the review will reflect that. Engadget has done reviews on beta hardware with unfinished software before, and they have always been very fair about it. As somebody over there has taken enough interest in Pandora to post about it three or four times, I'm sure they'd jump at the chance for a pre-release review. I don't see how the review could be anything but positive (unless there is actually a problem with the hardware).

Indeed. And, in many cases even hardware glitches will be overlooked. We do want at least one or two sites to actually have their hands on a unit.

QUOTE

It's not just about attracting potential users, it's also about attracting potential devs. Nobody is going to write software for a platform unless they're pretty sure it's real. As evidenced by the comments sections of sites which have reported on Pandora so far, many people are incredulous. They see renders and a too-good-to-be-true spec sheet and their first instinct is to call shenanigans. It is going to take a hands-on review by a trusted tech site to prove that Pandora is real and as powerful as we've been claiming. A good review will also (hopefully) get potential homebrew programmers excited enough to get a Pandora and start adding to the software library.



Heh... Isn't that true. The thing is, I deal with this sort of hardware daily- have been for some time now, so I know that it's not too good to be true at this point. I'm willing to shift my plans for projects (and have done a bit of it already) to see if the thing will do all it's claimed to be and go out on a limb and buy one of the dev units when they come available. However, many devs, homebrew and professional don't have the spare time I do (I do this after hours to begin with) so they won't give something that might seem a little more vapor than we see it as the time of day.

Handing an assembled unit to a review site with a few good ports will give some solidity to the thing that'll draw more interest.

 

[kneehighspy]

The Amiga 1000 was very expensive when it came out, IIRC about $1000 back then (at a time when dollar had some value ).

Oh well my point was just to show no quantum leap exists in technology.

All that matters to the consumer is what his money can buy, and in that sense the Atari ST was better placed when it came out than the Amiga (things changed later when the A500 was out in '89).

i purchased my amiga 1000 back in 1986, can't remember the exact cost, but i purchased the 1000, 1080 color monitor and a 'clone' 256k memory module. i think total was like $1800 or so (maybe a little less).

man i loved that computer. now over time i have aquired another 1000, a 3000 and a 4000 with a video toaster and all still work great (also have a vic 20 and c-64, both working fine). you can take the amiga from the man, but not the man from the amiga.

 

[jaycee900]

Anyway back on topic! I don't won't to be the only one to ask, BUT! Do you guys believe the Pandora will still hit by the stated June/July date for 'normal' consumers? even if its by the last day in July at the latest is it still possible or do you believe its probably a little later maybe in August as its only 3 weeks till June now!
I see the case is nearly done but still needs a top finish, edges need rounding off, screw covers etc
Gui needs finishing if not already.
All parts been supplied to you ready for assembling? Or any delays in this section?

So I (we) thank you for making this a community machine with feedback/contributions and constant updates and pictures, and I understand because its not quite done you cant give a exact date, but honestly will it rather be July than June - at least give us that!

 

[javaJake]

It's May 11th (for some of us, I think). June is a little ways away. I wouldn't be surprised if the release was mid-June at all. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if it was July either, knowing how developers just love to skip release dates.

The developers have units in their hands, so I assume that once the software end is all set, things will start gearing up for pre-orders. I hope.

 

[teggun]

Patience!

The hour of the Pandora will come.

 

[craigix]

It will probably come down to if we think the software is ready or not, if it has to move to august then it will, we are not in a rush to release it. I should imagine preorders will start about 4 weeks before the release though.

 

[Rayek]

It will probably come down to if we think the software is ready or not, if it has to move to august then it will, we are not in a rush to release it. I should imagine preorders will start about 4 weeks before the release though.

I will happily wait till August. I'd also imagine its hard to deem how 'ready' the software can be for an initial run of units, too, as the software for a unit like this will always be in some sort of flux.

 

[Spadoof]

Does anyone know what kind of payment system they are going to have? Can we use paypal or creditcards? What about shipping? I take it it hasn't really been a big concern as of yet.

 

[plopperz]

Does anyone know what kind of payment system they are going to have? Can we use paypal or creditcards? What about shipping? I take it it hasn't really been a big concern as of yet.

As per most online stores, you will probably be able to pay by both paypal or credit card. It really depends on the store. Shipping prices will depend on the store and the shipper.

 

[mavsman4457]

Unfortunately there will be a delay after the first 3000 units but we hope 3000 will be enough to keep most of you happy while we set up production for more!

That's not the way to think at all. You should hope that the 3000 won't be close to enough but that you will be able to speed up production fast enough to get the product into the hands of the everyone that wants it. Anyways, I must say that this looks great and I have noticed that the buttons are placed above the keyboard so it will be a lot more comfortable to use than the PSP. I like the PSP but it gets my hands cramped sometimes. This looks great. I doubt I can shell out the cash for this thing but it is going to make me angry that I can't.

 

[JakeK]

It won't matter to me if the Pandora gets delayed . If it comes out later it is possible I could get it after I finish basic training for the Australian Army, so I can really get into the Pandora.

 

[jaycee900]

It will probably come down to if we think the software is ready or not, if it has to move to august then it will, we are not in a rush to release it. I should imagine preorders will start about 4 weeks before the release though.

Cheers, thanks for your answer, I at least know it won't make it out in June, I don't mind but I hate waiting so I would rather know if it was past June at least, ta!