Updated Pandora Info

[Squidge]

This brings up an issue that im not sure how it will pan out. With the GP2X pretty much all discussion was open here, and details that were reversed engineered from it were discussed openly. I dont think anyone has ever held anything back.

If you don't know whether something exists or not, is the information held back?

Is this going to change with Pandora? Is everyone that signed NDA's going to be always tight lipped.

NDA's change and sometimes are cancelled alltogether. When the Pandora is released, some information that was previously NDA will be public knowledge, other stuff will not, and some stuff might never be. It all depends on other people. For example, the name of the system was under NDA until Craigix felt it was the right time to release it.

Are there going to be some in the community that have to rev. eng. pandora to get details?

Possibly some parts of it, yes. It really depends on third party companies that provide the components/etc.

When those details come out, what will be the NDA groups reaction.

If the information was obtained via reverse engineering, nothing; the same as every other system.

 

[christo930]

Its nice that its been updated and sort of 'confirmed' a bit, but I'm still very much wanting to see at least the fabricated production case/shell of the unit.

It would be nice if more info were available on a regular besides a mockup pic. I mean, its almost 2 or 3 months left until they're hoping to release this! (Even if it's only to developers first) I'm mostly guessing this won't happen, but even so I could handle another year even if we were given more little snippets & info regarding how its development is progressing in terms of a daily, weekly or monthly log/progress report.

i.e.

1/31: Case design and molding finalized. Go to www.openpandora.ca for screenshots
.
2/26: First circuit board layout submitted and tested, everything checks okay
.
3/14: Problems with one of the production lines, but it looks like they've got a handle on things.
.
4/27: 5, first phase units shipped to developers!! Check www.openpandora.ca for 1st pics & vids of startup screen, etc.

etc., etc.

Just a wish-thought. *shrug*

Investors get that, not potential users. It would be bad business to do something like that.

we had zero information from GPH, ever. At this stage in a project, of course you won't get full disclosure - but we're getting more contact and frank discussion than normal.

No i agree with on that side, we for sure have more info from Pandora's group than GPH.

But say for example I had a question how X works on the GP2X hw, and say Squidge comes along and tells me it works like Y.
Now I have the same question for Pandora, but know he cant say anything because of an NDA.



Discussing stuff like that after the unit is out makes perfect sense and since it's going to be an open system I presume information will be shared, after all software is what drives the hardware sales. But right now the system isn't released and it doesn't make sense to discuss this stuff in public, especially given that things may change. I would assume that the NDA would expire when the system is in full public release.

Chris

 

[Sphinxter]

Nice site.

 

[nihilon]

Its nice that its been updated and sort of 'confirmed' a bit, but I'm still very much wanting to see at least the fabricated production case/shell of the unit.

It would be nice if more info were available on a regular besides a mockup pic. I mean, its almost 2 or 3 months left until they're hoping to release this! (Even if it's only to developers first) I'm mostly guessing this won't happen, but even so I could handle another year even if we were given more little snippets & info regarding how its development is progressing in terms of a daily, weekly or monthly log/progress report.

i.e.

1/31: Case design and molding finalized. Go to www.openpandora.ca for screenshots
.
2/26: First circuit board layout submitted and tested, everything checks okay
.
3/14: Problems with one of the production lines, but it looks like they've got a handle on things.
.
4/27: 5, first phase units shipped to developers!! Check www.openpandora.ca for 1st pics & vids of startup screen, etc.

etc., etc.

Just a wish-thought. *shrug*

Investors get that, not potential users. It would be bad business to do something like that.

we had zero information from GPH, ever. At this stage in a project, of course you won't get full disclosure - but we're getting more contact and frank discussion than normal.

No i agree with on that side, we for sure have more info from Pandora's group than GPH.

But say for example I had a question how X works on the GP2X hw, and say Squidge comes along and tells me it works like Y.
Now I have the same question for Pandora, but know he cant say anything because of an NDA.



Discussing stuff like that after the unit is out makes perfect sense and since it's going to be an open system I presume information will be shared, after all software is what drives the hardware sales. But right now the system isn't released and it doesn't make sense to discuss this stuff in public, especially given that things may change. I would assume that the NDA would expire when the system is in full public release.

Chris


For me as a user that would probably cement my probability of purchasing the unit. If things remain as
they are I'm a definate sell anyway but not knowing if and when things are liable be available will probably cause me to spend my money on something else.

I'm not saying it isn't bad business for hardware development (I have nada experience with the industry) but I know from a software/user perspective the more information I can get the more confident and sure
I am about my purchasing decisions.

But you're probably right, it could probably cause alot of needless potential customer angst and flipflopping
hearing about production lines failing, price increase on parts, possible delays, etc. etc.


ACK! I didn't know about the NDAs so...

 

[funtasticguy]

Unfortunately most of the stuff that is happening/being discussed at the moment can't be made public for various reasons, but you can be sure that when something major happens, you'll be told of it

Squidge, based upon what you know, do you think that the team will be able to pull off the April launch month when the Pandora will be ready? It's less than 3 months away.

 

[Squidge]

Squidge, based upon what you know, do you think that the team will be able to pull off the April launch month when the Pandora will be ready? It's less than 3 months away.

That's not for me to say really, sorry.

 

[Pickle]

Squidge, based upon what you know, do you think that the team will be able to pull off the April launch month when the Pandora will be ready? It's less than 3 months away.

That's not for me to say really, sorry.


Darn that NDA!

Squidge, I dont mind the stuff that's NDA by the Pandora group itself. Most of that will come out. Its more of the technical info NDA by TI. I guess we see whats when it's released.

 

[Squidge]

Well, I don't know if TI plan to release any technical documentation, but I know they have released the source code to there Linux kernel to the public, and that should have some interesting stuff inside. There's also a public Linux kernel mailing list that might have some interesting info. Both are available on TI's website.

 

[aconsumer]

I don't see a red version in this new site. Will there still be a red version, I liked that color, very original looking, the black and white are nice as well...but I like the red the best.

I'm working on a site that will feature Home Brew Info and Hardware Mods as well as GP2X / Pandora stuff.

Here

Hope to hear back about the red..crossing fingers that it will still be available.

 

[GaidinTS]

Every time this topic floats to the top of the forums, I get excited thinking there's new information on the pandora.

 

[Squidge]

Every time this topic floats to the top of the forums, I get excited thinking there's new information on the pandora.

Well, there's rumours that there's going to be a user-programmable LED on the thing

 

[javaJake]

"rumo(u)rs". Ha! Nice try Squidge. (Can someone add that to the wiki?)

 

[Pickle]

Every time this topic floats to the top of the forums, I get excited thinking there's new information on the pandora.

Well, there's rumours that there's going to be a user-programmable LED on the thing


hmm, is that so you can do your "debugging by counting LED flashes"?

 

[atomicthumbs]

morse code

visualizations for music

flashing faster the more the CPU is being used/the higher the clock

the possibilities are not endless, but they are neat

 

[Tobriand]

Just discovered something else about Pandora, potentially. There's a line in Ti's public OMAP3430 docs reading:

"Software-compatible with OMAP™ 2 processors"

Now, I don't know what many things that are based on the OMAP 2 processors. But I'm fairly sure the N8xx machines are. I wonder if programs written for them will simply run or not. And whether there's anything there worth using, of course...

That said, we also know (from Squidge) that it's potentially backwards compatible with the GP2x - the GP2x executable for FBA was the one that produced 3x the speed, if I understand correctly. Obviously, the dual core stuff won't work, but much of the single core stuff might. Maybe. If controls don't become an issue. Who knows... we'll see in a few months

EDIT: Actually, we don't - sorry I thought there was an earlier post by Squidge stating that he'd taken FBA for GP2x and put the same file on Pandora and ran it, but there wasn't. The comparisson was them "running the same code", but not the same binary - my mistake.

 

[javaJake]

w00t!

My friend will (er, might) curse the day Pandora was born: he recently bought a 770! :lol:

 

[ldesnogu]

That said, we also know (from Squidge) that it's potentially backwards compatible with the GP2x - the GP2x executable for FBA was the one that produced 3x the speed, if I understand correctly.

I hope it's not binary compatible, because that'd mean the use of the old calling conventions as opposed to the more recent one (EABI) which is much more efficient