Unofficial Openpandora Community Blog


Gruso said:
^ I ended up deciding not to post that. While I do have confidence in MW's confidence (in fact, he must be factoring in some extra time to be safe, meaning the cases are probably due tomorrow :ph34r: ) I don't want to risk another hyped deadline / missed deadline saga on the blog.

Also just noticed: MWeston's photobucket has hit its bandwidth limit. Bloggers: This is why we must host images on Wordpress. ;)

If you hotlink, you're supporting terrorism. Do you hate freedom?

If you need some Image hosting with no probs I can do it for you xD I have http://openpandora.info/hosting/ with unlimited brandwith and 200mbit speed (for Russia atleast) so use it if you want, I can also host files and Video too xD

But I almost everytime recompress them, since MW likes lossless stuff I guess xD
 
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Gruso said:
^ I ended up deciding not to post that. While I do have confidence in MW's confidence (in fact, he must be factoring in some extra time to be safe, meaning the cases are probably due tomorrow :ph34r: ) I don't want to risk another hyped deadline / missed deadline saga on the blog.


Good call on that one.

But how about posting this:
http://twitpic.com/photos/Craigix
 
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Gruso said:
Bloggers: This is why we must host images on Wordpress.  ;)

I wasn't able to make this work when posting an image a while back. I just uploaded it to a folder on the website. I guess I could set up an image uploader on the site.
 
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Yeah, media library stuff is temperamental!

Cheers for fixing the post anyway. I tried to edit it last night with images uploaded to op.wp, it previewed fine but it wouldn't let me save changes ("You can't make this user the author" or something, probably because you're an admin). I don't know if admins editing admins is as dangerous as googling google, but I didn't want to risk destroying the internet. A draft post is still floating around in there though.

emil - yeah I'll post that one. :D
 
I also came across a good roadmap update:

Craig:
The PCBs are finished, the PCB population is due for completion at the end of Nov.

This will put at least a couple of debates to rest.
 
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Yo Atomic, I see MW's photobucket is still out of action. Could you update the silkscreen post with this? I'll be your best friend. The whole post is there, should be right just to dump straight in.

Code:
 <address>Posted by: <a href="http://pandorapress.net/author/atomicthumbs/" target="_self">atomicthumbs</a></address>
 <p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://openpandora.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/silkfront.png"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://openpandora.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/silkfrontsml.png" alt="" /></a></p>
 
 Recently posted to MWeston's Photobucket account were these renders of the planned labels to be printed onto the Pandora cases. Highlights include a snazzy "First Batch" text and a Pandora logo. Rear labels after the break. <!--more-->
 <p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://openpandora.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/silkback.png"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://openpandora.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/silkbacksml.png" alt="" /></a></p>
 
Just a minor note.
Auch werden jetzt gerade solche Sachen wir ein First-Boot-Wizard eingerichtet, welcher zwar nicht notwendig ist, aber Leuten, die keine Ahnung von Linux haben, doch weiterhilft.
The Pandora will get a first boot wizard to help Linux n00bs.

Source:
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=101952#p101952
 
A big one :)

EvilDragon said:
As I did work with the latest image during the last day (and changing the settings to make it much more comfortable for Pandora usage), I can tell you how the status is:

The image is pretty stable so far. I haven't had ANY crashes. I worked for hours and it was absolutely stable.
Customizing the desktop works nicely, working with it is very nice (good speed :) )

I'll probably manage to make some video tomorrow, but don't nail me on that, I'll try :)

Booting is a bit slow at the moment, however, we're booting a complete Linux desktop, so that's nothing special. It boots about as fast as a standard PC, I'd say.
Suspend and Hibernation are not included at the moment, probably also won't be for first release, but a firmware update should follow soon, so I guess in January (latest) you can simply suspend the unit like a normal PDA and then you don't need to reboot each time you use the unit.

Right Click (Tap and Hold) is currently being worked on.
I did connect a USB Hub with mouse and keyboard and that also did work without any problems.

The first boot wizard (which helps you setup the unit with a user account, Autologin (or not), XFCE4 or PMenu as default boot, etc.) is already working.

PMenu works fine, cpasjuste and DJWillis are currently working on a bitbake recipe to include it automatically upon Angström image creation (at the moment, I had to copy the files over manually).

Bluetooth is also working fine via command line, a GUI will be included within the next days.

Network Manager also does work (with g_ether, WiFi and - AFAIK (haven't tested it myself) UMTS sticks).

3D Acceleration (even in Windows) does also work.

PND-Files does work in readonly-mode, as there is a problem with AUFS which is currently being fixed.

For a first release this is really nice.

The only things that need some more work:

* Right-Click (Tap and Hold)
* Include Battery-Status (it charges, but it can't read out the current status yet)
* Include Suspend (Hibernation doesn't make sense at all, it's not much faster than a normal boot and it needs to save the memory on SD Card)
* Some more WiFi-Tweaks (to make it faster)
* Some minor issues (i.e. permissions on files, etc.)
* Fix AUFS (so pndlib does work as it should)
* Speed-Up booting! :)
* Some more scripts (enable TV Out, etc.)

That's mostly it :)
Pretty usable already :)

EDIT: About the NAND:
Yes, we're working with an SD Card to boot from.
DJWillis tried a NAND install months ago and it worked fine on first try, so it's nothing special (after all, NAND is basically just the same as an SD Card).

We'll probably put it on while assembling (just before shipping) to make sure you got the latest OS.

We might even install a minimal OS which allows you to download (via WiFi) or load from SD Card the most current image and install from there.
This would make sure you get the most recent image when flashing :)
But those are just ideas, we'll keep you informed about how we'll manage it.

Edit:
The Dragon wants you!
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/50534-wallpapers-and-other-graphics-wanted/
 
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Maybe nothing for the blog, but good to have in this thread.

No FCC
craigix said:
There will never be any FCC testing.
MWeston said:
CE testing appears to be more strict than FCC compliance so we are going to pass CE tests which will also make us FCC compliant. This is the expensive testing that HAS to be done and no way around it. What we don't need is FCC registration which is where you submit your testing results and get into their system (where Engadget likes to go for all those cool internal picture presentations). Being registered means any organization that wants to challenge your certification has somewhere to go rather than bother you for the documents, but right now it is easier for us to spare those costs rather than falling deeper in debt and its likely a several month long process (especially for a first timer) as you re-submit documents until it matches their criteria and format. I certainly don't have time for such efforts right now. :)
Workaround for suspend mode
EvilDragon said:
Don't worry, we'll probably put a quick workaround in until we get real suspend.
Just a small script that switches off backlight, turns off as much hardware as it can and clock the CPU to 14MHz.
That should work pretty well for the beginning.

And yes: Booting time is below 60 Seconds.
skeezix said:
ED had the pretty cool idea of a 'low power mode' there, mentioned above; I'm going to make a little daemon to watch events like lid-open and lid-close (and some other stuff), and have it invoke scripts as a result; then we can have scripts disable the backlight, set the clock down, mess with drivers, all that stuff. Shoudl be a pretty easy and handy system .. close lid, screen goes off and cpu goes down. Change the scripts if you want to change the behaviour. (Heck, I could make it use the libpnd searchpaths, so scripts could be overridden based on SD cards and such, without altering firmware.)

Seems like a clever idea to me

(The same daemon will watch for Menu key and bring up a defined script, so you can define what happens at that point.)

jeff
MWeston said:
I know of some work being done with the Beagleboard to lower the idle current to as little as possible. They say they have it down to 17mA right now which is pretty good. Pandora has more hardware that would need to be put into idle mode so let's double that and that would put the idle time at 123 hours. It's still just speculation, but these are the kinds of things being worked on slowly.

Note that this is different than suspending to RAM and turning everything off but the RAM. Off time would be much longer in that case but requires a larger software effort, likely community driven.
 
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Big news guys :)

craigix said:
I don't have a lot of time tonight as I'm working on the appstore.

The case 'stuff' is scheduled for next week, this week is still about boards, firmware, testing.


craigix said:
There is no DRM, but it does have the ability to track who leaked anything. Although I hope the Pandora scene might be basically honest and support itself.

The appstore can be accessed by the Pandora or a browser on your pc/mac/etc. You get a PND file, and it does keep track of your history.

Anyone can upload, there are options exactly for our scene like 'previous version free, current version pay for' and 'spare change auto donate', which if you have less than 99c in your account will donate it to a free bit of software (randomly or you can choose). I'm quit excited about that feature.

You can charge your account via paypal or card.

The first version will be invite only from this weekend - it's likely it will be dev tested for a while.

It also supports the wiz and dingoo to some extent.



craigix said:
Grench said:
craigix said:
Anyone can upload, there are options exactly for our scene like 'previous version free, current version pay for' and 'spare change auto donate', which if you have less than 99c in your account will donate it to a free bit of software (randomly or you can choose). I'm quit excited about that feature. You can charge your account via paypal or card.
Very nice - but I don't see how someone will have cash in their account since payments will happen via paypal or card...

You charge the account with either $20, $30 or $50 at a time (max balance allowed $100). This is to avoid constant bank/paypal charges.

So you could often have a spare 1c-90c (or set it to more) to throw to a dev.


craigix said:
Grench said:
craigix said:
There is no DRM, but it does have the ability to track who leaked anything. Although I hope the Pandora scene might be basically honest and support itself.
So, it watermarks the content then? You might want to put that in big bold red text somewhere on the download screen. Effectively this means that although we don't have to link the content to the device in order to play it - the content is linked to our payment history. Would this also make the purchaser personally liable for damages if the content they purchased that later appeared in the wild? I'm not opposed to this - but I think it should be spelled out front and center and not in page 5 of some document that nobody would read. Loosing a 32GB SDHC card full of apps could result in a huge personal liability though. It may be safer from a user perspective to have DRM checking to a registered SD card - but that would be harder to set up and would see resistance from some of the community.

I think that would be judged on a case by case basis and is also up to the app creator.

All from this thread.
 
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ED will post a blog update if it goes as promised by the Chinese mould company.
Some peeks what's happening:

The cases will be send to MWeston today or tomorrow.
The cases should have the final matte finish.
The moulds are finished.

http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8381&p=103673#p103673
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8381&p=103689#p103689
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8381&p=103724#p103724

Take it with a grain of salt and please don't speculate in this thread. I just wanted to let you know what's happening on the German board ;)

Edit:
craigix said:
The factory has green lighted them via their tests (ie they built several real pandora consoles) but we still want to do a couple of final tests. There is no delay for us as we don't need the cases for 12 days.
 
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The cases are on the way to MWeston.
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=104128#p104128
 
mali said:
The cases are on the way to MWeston.
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=104128#p104128

Nice. I guess I'll play with my Dingoo until my Pandora arrives (which won't be for a while since I'm far, far down on the list).
 
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E_I said:
mali said:
The cases are on the way to MWeston.
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=104128#p104128

Nice. I guess I'll play with my Dingoo until my Pandora arrives (which won't be for a while since I'm far, far down on the list).
That just sounds so dirty... LOL
 
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