WiFi, tests and CircuitCo (2011-06-17)

[Narcoleptic.]

Well, I was away and while I checked mails and replied to any questions CC had, I had to pay for internet usage and therefore didn't browse the boards a lot.


I'm back in Germany now (typing this from my phone) and will be back in office this afternoon but I can give you an update.


They got the new testing setup and testing card fully working this week, so they can now continue to work on the PCBs.


They plan on shipping 125+ boards per week now (starting next week), I really hope that will happen!


They still haven't found what's wrong with those broken WiFi boards and will now remove a few modules and replace them to check if it was not a bad batch of parts.


I will be very busy during the next weeks to find a new production company here in Germany so that setting up Batch 2 will happen as soon as possible.


As usual, I'll try to keep you updated as often and good as possible.

Great news


I can haz Premium nao?

 

[Long]

As usual, I'll try to keep you updated as often and good as possible.

Thanks for update

 

[Mr_Loon]

Many thanks for the update ED, best of luck finding a suitable alternative supplier to CC.

 

[hkipp]

Well, I was away and while I checked mails and replied to any questions CC had, I had to pay for internet usage and therefore didn't browse the boards a lot.


I'm back in Germany now (typing this from my phone) and will be back in office this afternoon but I can give you an update.


They got the new testing setup and testing card fully working this week, so they can now continue to work on the PCBs.


They plan on shipping 125+ boards per week now (starting next week), I really hope that will happen!


They still haven't found what's wrong with those broken WiFi boards and will now remove a few modules and replace them to check if it was not a bad batch of parts.


I will be very busy during the next weeks to find a new production company here in Germany so that setting up Batch 2 will happen as soon as possible.


As usual, I'll try to keep you updated as often and good as possible.

It is a pity so many problems happened with production of parts (be it nubs, boards or cases). Good luck with finding new production company in Germany. http://www.microcirtec.de/pcb.php might help with producing the PCBs, http://www.fercad.de , http://www.dietz-em.de , https://www.pcb-factory.de/services.aspx or using http://www.pcb-pool.com/ppde/service_assembler_inquiry.html might help finding someone for PCB assembly. ;-)


Don't know if I should recommend http://www.ellwest-pcb.com (because assembly is also done in Shenzhen, China - even though it is ISO-certified... Doh!)


But then I have no experience with the mentioned companies either.


Tramp

 

[ibisum]

If you need it, I can refer you to some Hungarian PCB manufacturers who do an excellent job too, ED. Keeping it in the Euro is a good idea, and the Hungarians are pretty competitive because they're trying hard to expand the field.

 

[JeanLouSchmidt]

May be it's time to start DIY PCB manufacture and population activities ?


Have you think about that ?

 

[slaeshjag]

May be it's time to start DIY PCB manufacture and population activities ?


Have you think about that ?

That would cost a fortune, so it isnät really a viable option.

 

[EvilDragon]

If you need it, I can refer you to some Hungarian PCB manufacturers who do an excellent job too, ED. Keeping it in the Euro is a good idea, and the Hungarians are pretty competitive because they're trying hard to expand the field.

Sure, why not?


Hungary is not that far away, if you know they're doing a good job, then I could ask them as well (at least to get prices).


You also mentioned you could get money. This might also be good as it would make it possible to start with Batch 2 as fast as possible.


It would also make it possible producing units in advance. Those should easily sell and bring the money back in as well as make it possible to fund the next production runs.

 

[slaeshjag]

Well, if you're open for suggestions, there's also Note. Dunno if they do the in the quantity range that's required. They just happen to have one of their small series facilities ~20km from here, and has been mentioned in the local newpapers a couple of times :rolleyes:

 

[NESnero]

You guys should update the premium page, by saying there is a delay. Otherwise you will get more unhappy customers lured into the "7-day shipping" dilemma, which isn't happening at the moment....>_>

 

[doublebeta]

Be aware that CC will probably find a way to blame the nub company for at least some of why they aren't producing boards now (whether it made any difference or not in reality )


And while the nub company stuffed up and caused issues with CC (which of course, have nothing to do with right now), the nub company did the right thing by us and went the extra mile, and delivered.


So I'd be worried about them...


Not saying don't sue, but mention the possibility to your lawyer so you can defend them if you need to. Or don't :mellow:


EDIT: grr, it's late, I hope this makes sense.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Where'd you go for vacation, ED?

 

[DavidBowman]

Craig and ED will post when there is news to post, they always do

Maybe so, but a weekly update would be nice. how brief or big, it would help with the long wait.

If I had a dollar for every request for a weekly update...

... As usual, I'll try to keep you updated as often and good as possible.

Thank you as usual. We always appreciate your communications.

 

[Mr_Loon]

You guys should update the premium page, by saying there is a delay. Otherwise you will get more unhappy customers lured into the "7-day shipping" dilemma, which isn't happening at the moment....>_>

^ This


Also why not update the ordering page to show a picture of a Pandora rather than some ancient render. Perhaps also consistently pricing items on the ordering page to include VAT or not might be a good idea. If I were looking to buy a Pandora without prior knowledge of the product then I'd run a mile on sight of the ordering page thinking 'that looks incredibly amateurish with little or no attention to detail'.

 

[Asiyura]

Okay, special events are making me break my pledge to not come on the forum until I'll get my Pandora.


Just to say that, when I was searching for a cheap Beagleboard (2 years ago, searches that led me to buy a Pandora…) I came across a european company that was making a beagle-clone.


It seems to be quite a large company that have offices across Europe and Russia.


It's called EBV Elektronik, I don't know if they are good or whatever, but since you're searching…


And now, I go back to waiting in silence

 

[Jumpman]

It appears like the problems could have been a bad batch of parts. I know CC has not been the best with meeting deadlines and such, but they always appeared to be good at board population.


So if they have not located a specific problem in their process, that makes me think it could be a bad batch of parts. CC also doesn't have the greatest reputation in this comunity currently, so we have to take their info with a grain of salt. They may say it's bad parts, when actually they may have messed up, and they just don't want to pay for the mistake. Time will tell I guess?


It's good to see they have all the testing rigs up and running, and I'm sure it is very time consuming for them to test every board in this new fashion. Hopefully they can keep a steady flow going once they really get going. 150+ would be awesome at this point!


I'm also glad to see the ICP is doing so well, and has not had any of the Pandora's BIG issues. It really shows what the team can do when others hold up to their end of production contracts.


Chris

 

[trapef]

Thanks for the update ED, welcome back. 125+ boards per week from CC is certainly ambitious, I'd love to believe it but just don't have the blind faith anymore, even 50 per week would be an improvement. Perhaps I'm becoming a bit too disheartened again?


Please forgive me if I've got some detail wrong here, but.... if the board delays have been because the WiFi element isn't working, could a usb WiFi dongle work instead or am I completely wrong here. I'm sure some of those waiting would accept it instead, this may help to reduce the risk of cancellations and speed up finishing batch 1.


My apologies in advance if I'm talking rubbish it's been a v long day. :wacko:

 

[Pontaloon]

I feel very lucky that I decided to upgrade to Premium back in May and now have had my Pandora for over a month - it still feels like I'm in a dream when I use it. And although I was never really interested in the 1-year Warranty, after reading the past posts by the team, I have been wondering if that will be sort of voided now if CC is out of the picture.


I wouldn't want to send my Pandora back now for any reason and definitely would not want to hear that OPT would send it back to CC for repairs but it also doesn't seem realistic that OPT would be able to send broken CC boards to the new company and expect them to fix them even though they will be building the same boards. And I guess there are a lot of Pandora owners out there now (at least 900, right?) who have had their Pandoras for more than a year too - time is really moving along.


I'm guessing also that the boards will be the same with the new company or are you thinking about some of these extras that have been floating around - I think it was ED who had mentioned socketed nubs that can be replaced by the end-user and didn't Craig mention that he was thinking about the next chip (the arm9 or whatever) where the base CPU output would be 1GHz? Or is all that just speculation/my retardedness?


Anyway, I would like to extend my thanks to all the people who continuously work on this massive project. It is absolutely Brilliant! I hope that all of you who have been waiting will stick with it and that the team are shown more support with as many as possible premium upgrades (I know that it just isn't possible for some) when everything gets back to normal and I hope that all the people who get the new boards will experience no problems.


Starfox64 RULES!


-Mike.

 

[Stevene]

Just wondering if there any pin compatible CPUs out there? and if we do find a new PCB population company for batch 2, wouldn't it be advantageous to find one able to offer some kind of replacement service (i.e 1GHz upgrades) after the production runs have finished for some kind of parts+installation+pandora profit fee...


Not sure whether its even possible, but im sure some of the newer TI ARMs must be compatible? I imagine it must be very difficult/dangerous even for pcb companies, but its just a factor that could be looked into for the new company..


I would understand that even if it was possible, you wouldnt want to diversify the range of Pandoras out there for support reasons, but thats already going to happen with the various overclock limits, and the fact that some programs require it.


Just a thought, and probably an awful one..

 

[dreamer]

^ apart from some minor revisions to the board (iirc mostly to make manufacturing easier and less prone to mistakes) batch 2 will have the same specifications as the first batch.


Wait for a Pandora2 if you want different/faster hardware.