My Mp Pandora

[craigix]

Because I don't own any PSX games I'd rather leave that to someone else.

I do own an N64 + Games and those are what I'd like to demo.

The cases will probably arrive with Michael at the weekend if we are lucky. They should be the final ones.

So it looks like units won't ship to customers in large numbers until (probably) after Christmas.

I'm sure Michael will make up more units, but it's going to be small numbers before Christmas, probably for devs.

When you get your Pandora and see just how perfected it is you will understand the delays.

Hopefully several of you will drop by my house to try one out before then.

 

[Pinballwzd]

I am getting a head ache from going through all these threads..
Just so I am clear with things.

1) We are waiting for the China Plastics Company to ship out a corrected mold before mass production of the cases can start, right ?
2) Any update to Question #1
3) Only 5 final production units have been made ?
4) Only SPECIAL people have those 5 said units ?
5) This has been a huge conspiracy in order for the 5 said people to get their pandora units...
6) I know that #5 is not true..
7) Is # 5 enough of a reason for Canada to declare war against England ?? I mean really, what did England really give us anyways... The Monarchy, The Imperial Measurement System ???
:lol: :lol:

David

 

[Awakening]

Today my friend had a NDS with him, he put it on the table and played with his stylus. As I understand it the screen of the NDS doesn't go back as far as the Pandora's. I just want to see if the hinge can stand someone play using the stylus with the screen in a 3/4 open position. Lying in bed the full back position will be great.

 

[Dead1nside]

Because I don't own any PSX games I'd rather leave that to someone else.

I do own an N64 + Games and those are what I'd like to demo.

The cases will probably arrive with Michael at the weekend if we are lucky. They should be the final ones.

So it looks like units won't ship to customers in large numbers until (probably) after Christmas.

I'm sure Michael will make up more units, but it's going to be small numbers before Christmas, probably for devs.

(snip)

Thanks for the update Craig, I'm sure a new influx of videos will keep us sated until we receive our Pandoras.

 

[fusion_power]

The Pandora CPU isn't the kind which overheats, it's not an X86 or 'Intel' CPU. It's an ARM.

Please don't forget that WIFI chips can get VERY warm, so is this part checked over a longer time Period?

And how good is the Pandora D-Pad in real? Compared to the F100 D-Stick for example which is the ground why I don't like to play movement-critic games onto the GP2X, Metroid (SNES,GBA) was a nightmare with this stick.
Like mentioned before, are all the known Special moves in Fighting Games possible? Especialy these complicated 360° D-Pad Moves. ^^

 

[Paradox]

Because I don't own any PSX games I'd rather leave that to someone else.

I do own an N64 + Games and those are what I'd like to demo.

The cases will probably arrive with Michael at the weekend if we are lucky. They should be the final ones.

So it looks like units won't ship to customers in large numbers until (probably) after Christmas.

I'm sure Michael will make up more units, but it's going to be small numbers before Christmas, probably for devs.

When you get your Pandora and see just how perfected it is you will understand the delays.

Hopefully several of you will drop by my house to try one out before then.

are we no longer looking at 1,000 by xmas then?

 

[skyeyemachine]

Because I don't own any PSX games I'd rather leave that to someone else.

I do own an N64 + Games and those are what I'd like to demo.

The cases will probably arrive with Michael at the weekend if we are lucky. They should be the final ones.

So it looks like units won't ship to customers in large numbers until (probably) after Christmas.

I'm sure Michael will make up more units, but it's going to be small numbers before Christmas, probably for devs.

When you get your Pandora and see just how perfected it is you will understand the delays.

Hopefully several of you will drop by my house to try one out before then.

Regarding Nintendo games, if you have it, I would be interested to know how 'The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask' handles on the machine. I've been wondering if its need for an expantion cartridge and all that implies put it out of the Pandora's league.

I'm really looking forwards to getting the final unit in my hands, considering how excited you seem about it, Craig.

 

[greendots]

The holidays will put a halt to assembly in texas until after the new year I assume...
Is it going to be possible to get pandora 'kits' sooner?

 

[Nintendo]

When you get your Pandora and see just how perfected it is you will understand the delays.

I think I just jizzed in my pants.

 

[Jumpman]

So Craig, if the new case parts arrive over the weekend, and Michael gives the green light by next monday the 21st of december, what is a realistic time frame for the complete cases w/silkscreen to start arriving in the US for assembly? Keeping in mind the holidays at the end of december and what ever holidays the Chinese may be taking within the next month!


Jumpman

 

[Vorporeal]

You know he's not going to answer that. He's (hopefully) learned his lesson that if he gives out an estimated date, something will go wrong and there'll be another delay.

DAMNIT MURPHY!!!

 

[skyeyemachine]

Firstly, There's more overhead and complexity mostly due to maintaining perfect compatibility for 25 years, and bolting on more and more stuff in the process.
But the biggest reason is simply that low power-consumption is not really a necessity for desktop-computers, and pure speed for as low a cost as possible is much more important for selling them. This means that AMD and intel focus far less on power-management than typical ARM-developers do. Furthermore, the X86-platform is highly modular, with lots of long-lasting standards that are also primarily designed for speed, and any power-management in those standards is typically only bolted on later on. After which devices need to implement those features, or it'll stay disabled... (f.ex afaik, pci-express only learned how to power off lanes in V2...). And all devices are separate parts, developed individually, and need to work together with a wide range of other parts.
Simply put, the whole platform is geared towards speed and cheapness, and doesn't really bother with power-consumption.

Mm, interesting. Thank you, Laurencevde. Just so I'm clear, are you saying the ARM architecture is subtantially less modular (as in more tightly integrated, I guess)? It's funny, but I've never really thought about how software might need to maintain compatibility with a CPU over time - I always (erroniously, it seems) assumed that a CPU was more-or-less neutral in regards to whatever it was processing, so long as the all the inputs and outputs were set up properly. Shows how little I know about computer chip design...! So, if I understand correctly, I could in theory run pretty much any program compiled for the earliest X86 chips within the last 25 years (according to your estimate) on modern hardware without recompiling it - and perhaps vice-versa, to some extent? And that would likely not work in most cases with ARM software, since those designers care less about compatibility?

 

[stephen0205]

Dosent look like it but should be worth the wait, i still have hope

 

[kloplop321]

The holidays will put a halt to assembly in texas until after the new year I assume...
Is it going to be possible to get pandora 'kits' sooner?

Still means someone has to package them, and you still have the holidays' load of shipments right now.

 

[Chip]

Please don't forget that WIFI chips can get VERY warm, so is this part checked over a longer time Period?

The Pandora uses the same wifi/BT chip as the G1. I have a G1, and the only time it gets noticeably warm is on long cell calls. I can browse over wifi for hours and it never gets warm.

 

[Tensuke]

Does anyone really want to come and see the Pandora(s)? They are so cool you are welcome to come and see them.

It's expected to last over 10 hours.

We didn't lie with our battery stats like so many other companies do.

When you get your Pandora and see just how perfected it is you will understand the delays.

Hopefully several of you will drop by my house to try one out before then.

This, this, and this. These are the reasons the Pandora project is so great; the people behind it are approachable and friendly, don't lie, and overall are pretty cool guys. You would never get the same level of satisfaction from a big name company as you do with OpenPandora.
Cheers!

 

[Yoyobuae]

ARM chips have been in embedded/low power devices for a long time now. x86 chips have been powering most power hungry desktops (and laptop near equivalents) for a long time now.

The environment each has been exposed to has molded their caracteristics. The companies behind each adapted the best to their respective markets. Intel/AMD developed the platform ideal for each increasingly resource hungry Windows incarnation. ARM made their chips fit, both in size and power envelop, the embedded devices (cellphones).

At this point in time, with computers shrinking in size (and price) with netbooks and UMPC, each chip show the caracteristics of their pedigree. x86 compatibility (ie. Windows) and muscle vs ARM low power and cheapness.

Now, neither arquitecture is forced to be one way or another. But change takes time. ARM has simply invested far more time and research in low power than Intel/AMD has done so far. At this point Intel/AMD can only try play catch up to ARM, in this respect.

That's probably what makes the big difference.

EDIT: I found this inspiring :

Asked if he could describe what an ARM powered netbook might be like, Morris described something akin to a portable DVD player like, a clamshell device, but with web surfing and WiFi enabled and enough battery life to deliver three entire HD films, back to back.

We're a bit over the price, and not quite HD capable (for now). But seems OpenPandora were pretty spot on all along.

 

[Tokiopop]

I do own an N64 + Games and those are what I'd like to demo.

Yes please.

 

[skyeyemachine]

ARM chips have been in embedded/low power devices for a long time now. x86 chips have been powering most power hungry desktops (and laptop near equivalents) for a long time now.

The environment each has been exposed to has molded their caracteristics. The companies behind each adapted the best to their respective markets. Intel/AMD developed the platform ideal for each increasingly resource hungry Windows incarnation. ARM made their chips fit, both in size and power envelop, the embedded devices (cellphones).

At this point in time, with computers shrinking in size (and price) with netbooks and UMPC, each chip show the caracteristics of their pedigree. x86 compatibility (ie. Windows) and muscle vs ARM low power and cheapness.

Now, neither arquitecture is forced to be one way or another. But change takes time. ARM has simply invested far more time and research in low power than Intel/AMD has done so far. At this point Intel/AMD can only try play catch up to ARM, in this respect.

That's probably what makes the big difference.

Yes, I quickly gathered that I'm much more familiar with ARM than I ever realized; but it amuses me that I've never actually heard about it until I started looking through the forums and so on around here. There's probably an ARM chip in my cell phone for all I know. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the two ideologies adapt now that their paths are beginning to cross in the marketplace. Somehow the ARM style appeals to me more than the X86 one, although really, I know so little about either from a technical perspective...

 

[may88]

This, this, and this. These are the reasons the Pandora project is so great; the people behind it are approachable and friendly, don't lie, and overall are pretty cool guys. You would never get the same level of satisfaction from a big name company as you do with OpenPandora.
Cheers!

Here here! +1 from me.