What Else Is In There?

[Karel Jansens]

Shame there is no video in for recording off TV or even one of those lill cams

Over USB?

I was wondering about that myself. I still have a USB TV tuner lying around somewhere. It would be nice if I could use it with the Box, but I doubt Linux drivers were ever written for it (it doesn't even have framebuffer support). Still, if it doesn't work, SanDisk's V-Mate is cheap enough (but is a bit of a pain to use with a standalone old VCR, because it needs a TV screen for input).

QUOTE
Well, Nokia's N8xx series are using the OMAP24xx series, iirc. But I don't think there are any other OMAP3 devices out yet.


Heh. The Nokia Itablets have most of the OMAP's features disabled. Cheap-ass Nokia bastards. Ask the people who ported Mplayer to the Itablet how much of a pain it was to get half-way decent playback (and still way beyond the capabilities of the screen).

In fairness, part of the problem is is the buggy LCD controller Nokia shoehorned in there, but still... you end up with a portable computer with a gorgeous 800x480 screen and your videos are for all intents and purposes limited to 400x240 at sub-1,000 bitrates.

 

[anexanhume]

I very much doubt anyone will be able to purchase an OMAP 4xxx before the pandora is released.

Huh? That wasn't the point. The point is the ease of upgrading the pandora's logic board once it has been released (and not by the user )

 

[Pickle]

I very much doubt anyone will be able to purchase an OMAP 4xxx before the pandora is released.

Huh? That wasn't the point. The point is the ease of upgrading the pandora's logic board once it has been released (and not by the user )


Still like Squidge said its BGA, and it may even have the same pinout. No normal user it going to be able to switch the soc. And usually unless your buying in bulk and probally have a contract with TI are you going to get a OMAP 4XXX.

The only way i see getting a OMAP is if the Pandora guys put it into the design at some point, but that might not happen.

 

[bnolsen]

For the developers: any idea of what sort of fps you're getting on glxgears?
I know it's not a *great* benchmark but at least it's a benchmark.

 

[Squidge]

I very much doubt anyone will be able to purchase an OMAP 4xxx before the pandora is released.

Huh? That wasn't the point. The point is the ease of upgrading the pandora's logic board once it has been released (and not by the user )


In that case, we may look into it when the OMAP 4 is released for the Pandora II.

Maybe

(and if TI let us of course, you can't just buy OMAP chips without an agreement)

 

[Chip]

I very much doubt anyone will be able to purchase an OMAP 4xxx before the pandora is released.

Huh? That wasn't the point. The point is the ease of upgrading the pandora's logic board once it has been released (and not by the user )


In that case, we may look into it when the OMAP 4 is released for the Pandora II.

Maybe

(and if TI let us of course, you can't just buy OMAP chips without an agreement)



I'd like to point out that it was nearly 2 years between the OMAP3 being announced and its commercial introduction (which won't technically happen until Pandora ships). Since OMAP4 was just announced, I wouldn't make any plans around it quite yet.

Nobody can say for sure yet, but I suspect that we won't need a Pandora II for at least a couple years. There's not much the Pandora I won't be able to handle

 

[Alex.]

Yes, I too hope the Pandora will have a long life span of at least 4 or 5 years, of course barring cosmetic changes or other such things that are insignificant from a performance point of view. Since Pandora will be such a great leap forward from the GP2X, the Pandora 2 should be a leap just as great if not greater from the first incarnation, which may be a feat hard to accomplish in the near future

 

[Gaeryc]

I would be happy if Pandora II just had omap 4 if it is compatible with the old one. Maybe little changes like another usb or different battery.

 

[ldesnogu]

I'd like to point out that it was nearly 2 years between the OMAP3 being announced and its commercial introduction (which won't technically happen until Pandora ships).

It indeed looks like the Pandora might well be the first device to use OMAP3430.

QUOTE
Since OMAP4 was just announced, I wouldn't make any plans around it quite yet.

Where did you find any official announcement about OMAP4? As long as TI didn't say anything, you can be sure that even the CPU has not been chosen

 

[anexanhume]

I don't ask because of the possibility of a user upgrading it (99.9% of people cannot solder surface mount and similar technologies, including me even though I can solder other things fine), but when it comes time to update the pandora, with the same package and pin-out, the developers just slap in the new chip with minimal effort.

My idea hinges on the fact that I/O won't have to change much because the developers are players themselves and have not left any possibility out in terms of input and media usage for the device.