When Will It Be Avaible

[astro]

Well said chad.
4. sounds great (wifi and bluetooth) Yay.

 

[Chip]

Say, (this is entirely hypothetical and speculatory, don't fixate on the dates), the hardware will be finished in mid-July, and the official GUI won't be done until mid-August. It's released in mid-July, and it only comes with a terminal. Why not just put on the order page "GUI not finished, only ships with a terminal," as well as a rough overview of what software is done and what isn't, and the people who are fine with that order earlier and the people who need the GUI wait?

It won't come down to that. They already have a (at least) partially finished simple GUI in the works. They will not hold back hardware to wait for applications. They may hold back hardware for firmware issues, but there is no reason to think that there are any firmware issues, so it's not something to worry about.

Right now all the hardware is waiting on is the hardware. A bunch of test boards got wrecked, and it's going to take some time to replace them (no, I don't know how long). When the replacement boards go out to the devs they will play with them and make sure everything is working 100%. A lot of this will include writing / porting software. Once everybody involved agrees that the hardware is good to go, Craig will have the factory fire up the assembly line and dozens of Chinese indentured servants factory workers will start making the first commercial batch.

Hopefully many of the software projects that the test-board devs were working on will be ready by the time the commercial units ship. If not, do you really think they'll just sit on cartons of Pandora consoles because "Oh noes! Breakout Clone #715 isn't ready yet!"? As long as the BIOS and OS are (relatively) bug free, they'll ship.

 

[Eolair]

Here's what I, as a mildly tech-saavy consumer want the software to do out of the box - point and click style - when I buy it. These are the bare minimums, of course, not the dream features.
[..]

1. Emulate some basic popular retro systems (NES/Gen/SNES/Atari2600/GB)

[..]

I don't think game emulation will be provided out of the box. Non licensed emulation is a grey legal area and it would be an unwise move to include emulators with the system.

Even if most people believe emulators are legal, the game console companies don't. Their view is that emulators promote the download and play of illegal ROMs (Especially Nintendo is known for this view).

I think it's safer to skirt this issue by providing an easy means for people download and install emulators themselves. You could even have a 1-click download & install system. I think there's been talk about including something like that.

 

[gruso]

^ I think you're right about them not coming pre-installed - but as long as they're available for download then that item is effectively checked. I get the impression that at least a couple will be released at the same time as the hardware (SquidgeSNES & Psx4Pand, per'aps. )

 

[darkbiship]

@chad
I agree with you fully, I would of said something similar but typing on the PSP sucks. andora1: typing will be win.

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

I agree with Chad fully. As for shipping without a GUI, I honestly think that's just kind of dumb. I mean, what's the point if you can only use terminal? It'd be fairly lame, IMO. Now I'm not saying we need a GUI with all the bells and whistles just yet (but it would be nice) , just something basic; all else will come in time.

 

[x68000]

Regarding emu's; I'm pretty sure that the Pandora will follow the gp32 and gp2x in having nothing preinstalled. Not just for potential legal reasons, but also by the time these emu's are installed onto the system and then shipped, they will probably be out of date.

 

[gaterooze]

If the 3,000 are snapped up by folks here, it will all be hunky dory -- but remember that guys used to fancy PSP menus will spread bad reports of a finicky GUI that could hurt later sales. A good balance is required -- although I personally would be happy with just a terminal.

 

[Vorporeal]

TO QUELL ALL THE DELAY RUMORS DUE TO USB HOST:

I'm sure most of you don't read the Dev board, that's why I'm posting this here. In the dev board, MWeston stated that the USB HOST issues should be fixed soon - July and not November (to paraphrase what he said).

 

[sandaili]

Here's what I, as a mildly tech-saavy consumer want the software to do out of the box - point and click style - when I buy it. These are the bare minimums, of course, not the dream features.

1. Surf the web (I should at least be able to interact with this forum)
2. Play basic media files (mp3, mp4, avi, wav, jpg, png)
3. Emulate some basic popular retro systems (NES/Gen/SNES/Atari2600/GB)
4. Update the OS/firmware to the latest version without a computer or entering the commandline
5. Detect WiFi (and all the other hardware it comes with!)
6. Not crash (at least not more than would be reasonable.)

If it can do that, we're good. All else will come with time

The stage they are at now, it will probably be ready in a year? I think the important thing is making it perfect, and usable for everyone. Even a command line usable environment would need work, it's not like you can just plop stuff on there and expect it to be great. I don't know exactly where they are at but I'd rather have it pushed farther back than be released only to have machines lock up or have limited functionality. IMO to have units ship with just CL would possibly hurt the reputation of it if someone looked at it and went 'well what does it do'.....you want to have people see the product and go "I want one!", not "WTF?"

L

It strikes me that this whole project is a bit like taking a bus-load of third graders on a class trip. Some of the kids sit patiently and wait to get to the destination, but others bounce from seat to seat and yell "Are we there yet!? Are we there yet!? When are we gonna get there!?" during the entire ride. The bus driver can't really give them a time, because god forbid they hit traffic - the little brats will just yell louder. All the driver can do is roll his eyes and hope the little buggers don't spill too much juice on the seats.

I think we need to remember the phrase "Those who can talk talk, while those who can work work." While Chip's post speaks git to some it tells me that they have a huge amount of invested time into the Pandora that none of us outside the project can even fathom.

So we need to let all of them be so the product is as errorless as possible. They will release the thing when they release it. Updates are alright but they won't make me grab my credit card any faster than I am likely to already when preordering is announced. I might even rearrange my furniture so I can grab my wallet and sprint to the computer without any obstacles in my way.

Now I am going to go back to my seat, open my lunch box, and chew my bologna on rye that my mum packed for me with her loving hands as I gaze out the window of my bus.


Is there a mailing list for it at least? That way we could all sign up for an email to be sent when we can pre-order. I've set them up before. They take five minutes.... B)

Plus it would ensure everyone who wants one knows and can order. Which equals more $$$$

L

 

[bigtruck]

Is there a mailing list for it at least? That way we could all sign up for an email to be sent when we can pre-order. I've set them up before. They take five minutes.... B)

Plus it would ensure everyone who wants one knows and can order. Which equals more $$$$

L

Indeed there is, at openpandora.org, at the very top of the page on the right.

 

[chad78]

Here's what I, as a mildly tech-saavy consumer want the software to do out of the box...
The stage they are at now, it will probably be ready in a year?
Why do you say that? Are you a dev? Do you have a MK0 unit? Craig has said that there are no major delays. It would take less than a year to port an existing OS to the Pandora, don't you think? Maemo, Ubuntu Arm, etc. If the software is going to be that big of issue, I would think not recoding the wheel would be the best option. (IANAHacker, so I don't know that to be true 100%.) If you got Maemo working on it - all my requirements would be fulfilled - include emulators. Same with Ubuntu, or Gentoo, or any of the other distros that have already been ported to ARM.

 

[doc5avage]

GUI... pffft
I know the pandora has drawn a lot of people onto this forum who may have come from more commercial platforms, but the pandora and gp2x, seem like more hobbyist type devices.
They (openpandora) don't have large funds to draw on for R&D, I doubt the OS is going to be released complete (unless we have to wait a long time for release). Apple, MS, Nokia, Sony etc. probably have thousands of beta tests done before their code sees the light of day. Here, in the gp32x world, we users are the beta testers.

This is not a problem, gp32x (read gp32, gp2x, pandora) hobbyists are generally OK with this because they know that their gadget was made with love

For everyone out there who is anxious for their pandora, just sit tight, the openpandora team are passionate too and they have been far more open about its development than any other console ever created.

 

[Sphinxter]

All I want is a shell prompt and a toolchain.

 

[darkbiship]

I know there is a GUI already, and some people have it running. Could you please post sceens?

 

[reidjr]

I take it people in canada will not be able to pre order one is this correct.

 

[Tinnus]

Of course not, they ship to all kinds of places including Canada. Also they're based in the UK if you didn't notice.

 

[WizardStan]

I take it people in canada will not be able to pre order one is this correct.

O.O How could you even suggest such a cruel thing? Some of us have feelings, you know.

 

[tmcnair]

So now we are to the stage where threads are being locked because of complaints about delays? I understand that things are going on that are beyond your control (damaged goods, nubs, whatever else) but they are no longer unknowns so can you at least fix the "available in June/July" statement on the openpandora.org web page?

 

[Tobriand]

So now we are to the stage where threads are being locked because of complaints about delays? I understand that things are going on that are beyond your control (damaged goods, nubs, whatever else) but they are no longer unknowns so can you at least fix the "available in June/July" statement on the openpandora.org web page?



Actually the thread was locked not because of the complaints about the delays, but because there were about three threads whose actual content were similar (this one among them), and the atmosphere in that particular thread being rather... flammable, whilst the others weren't.

Complaints about delays are fine. It's when the complaints start to talk about unlikely extremes (6-month delays beyond August and similar) that someone, somewhere, will read and consider to be a conservative estimate (because this is the internet), especially when talked about in colourful language that could easily cause erruptions into flamewar, that they get closed.

That said, I must say I would also appreciate an update to the official site mentioning what sort of delay is actually likely - though I can understand the reasoning that, if anything is still up in the air, they want to wait a bit. They may not know, for instance whether they can comfortably quote August yet - or whether they may still (just) be able to start rolling them out in July, even. Or whether, if late August is seeming more likely, September is on the cards or not. If they are unsure, then it makes sense to wait, because, as with train timetables and plane timetables, delays are infinitely more vexing if they incrememtn slowly rather than by one big jump.