Octobers New Status, It Means?


chuckr

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I hate to be bothering you again about the schedule, but I can't make sense of the meanings of the current stuff in the "Current status" page. First, I can't tell for sure if the string describing the mould creation means that the moulds are done, done enough to finish *some*of the Pandoras, or are we still waiting (I'm not asking how long, just what that string means, because the color is saying it's "Currently Active" but the string is just confusing me).

Second point in that same page, the same "currently Active" part says that MP has finally started. From previous history, I'd had the idea that once MP was started, then the trickle to shipping would immediately start (possibly very slowly, but definitely, they were directly linked). I don't want to put words in your mouth (I've been and will continue to be very patient) but has that relationship (MP to actual shipping) changed? Or has shipping quietly started?

I am strongly considering getting a Pandora for my VERY non-techie son, but I can't tell for sure until I get it into my hands and verify that I can get an editor there which understands a Mac-portable protocol like RTF, and that the browser will allow playing full motion videos. Wonder just how hard it's going to be, within the first month after I get my Pandora, to get another? Any guess what the price might be?

Still mean my thanks for all the hard work... and I *do* have an idea of just how hard it's been.
 
The molds are not done. There are no MP cases, and as far as I know, no MP boards.

I assume you mean RTF as in Rich Text Format, just about anything can read that. Abiword is probably the best option.
As for "full-motion video", it's certainly possible for the built-in Firefox to do that, but since Adobe are retards, it might be a while before you get full-motion Flash video. Which is basically what all Internet videos are in. :-||

It is already quite difficult to even get one Pandora. The order service is swamped, I suspect all of the first batch of 4000 are spoken for or will be soon.

When the second batch comes out in late 2010, you can try for a second one then.
 
In a nutshell, mass production is split into two areas: the PCBs/motherboards (being done in Texas) and the injection moulded cases (being done in China, then shipped to Texas for assembly).

Following the recent CE test, mass production of the PCBs in Texas has commenced. We're still waiting on China to start producing the cases, which will begin as soon as the case moulds are done. The cases aren't actually a bottleneck at this stage, because thousands of them can be stamped out in a matter of days. By the time the cases are made, I think the PCBs will still be playing catchup. But they'll be assembling, testing, and shipping as they go, so shipments will start to trickle out on the fly.

But no, shipping has not started, we're still waiting on the first cases. :)

Software wise, any text editing tools will be covered. Linux does it better than anything. Full motion video in the web browser (I'm assuming flash) might take a while to perfect, but we will probably have something working out of the box. Linux offers Gnash, the open alernative to Flash, which isn't perfect but is still pretty good. It looks like an official version of Flash 10 for ARM is going to be accessible to us too, but I don't know how soon.

As for buying another one, if you do manage to get in on the last of the first batch, it'll probably be your last chance to get one for another few months. There will be a little break between batches so the team can focus on software development and user support.
 
Green indicates finished. Yellow indicates in progress. Orange indicates not started.
 
lulzfish said:
As for "full-motion video", it's certainly possible for the built-in Firefox to do that, but since Adobe are retards, it might be a while before you get full-motion Flash video. Which is basically what all Internet videos are in. > :(

That said, you should be able to download them with DownloadHelper (Firefox plugin) then play them with MPlayer.
 
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Hi everyone,

Just wondering how MP of boards could have started if burn in tests of the first 105 boards is still showing as 'currently active'. I searched the site via google 'site:' but couldn't find anything.
 
Dunno, it just has. :p It's possible that tests are continuing. We know that some (if not most) of them have been given the thumbs up, and it was one of them that went off for CE testing.

Bear in mind that the tests are mostly being done to determine how solid the manufacturing process is, not how solid the circuit design is. The design itself is final and has just been given the green light by the CE test - so mass production can begin, whether or not they're still doing stress tests on some of the first 105.

The roadmap itself could probably use some clarification. Make sure you check the official blog for the status as well, ED can describe things in more detail there.
 
I think part of the point of the stress testing is to know how much testing needs to be done on the remaining 4895. If all of the first 105 pass testing with no failures, they might just need to do quick burn-in tests to make sure nothing critically fails, and from there assume that everything else'll work fine. If there are some issues that show up in prolonged testing, the testing process for new boards might be longer.
 
Enverex said:
lulzfish said:
As for "full-motion video", it's certainly possible for the built-in Firefox to do that, but since Adobe are retards, it might be a while before you get full-motion Flash video. Which is basically what all Internet videos are in. > :(
That said, you should be able to download them with DownloadHelper (Firefox plugin) then play them with MPlayer.
Likely you could even make an extension to replace youtube vids with a gstreamer player in the browser.
 
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Gruso said:
In a nutshell, mass production is split into two areas: the PCBs/motherboards (being done in Texas) and the injection moulded cases (being done in China, then shipped to Texas for assembly).

Following the recent CE test, mass production of the PCBs in Texas has commenced. We're still waiting on China to start producing the cases, which will begin as soon as the case moulds are done. The cases aren't actually a bottleneck at this stage, because thousands of them can be stamped out in a matter of days. By the time the cases are made, I think the PCBs will still be playing catchup. But they'll be assembling, testing, and shipping as they go, so shipments will start to trickle out on the fly.

But no, shipping has not started, we're still waiting on the first cases. :)

Software wise, any text editing tools will be covered. Linux does it better than anything. Full motion video in the web browser (I'm assuming flash) might take a while to perfect, but we will probably have something working out of the box. Linux offers Gnash, the open alernative to Flash, which isn't perfect but is still pretty good. It looks like an official version of Flash 10 for ARM is going to be accessible to us too, but I don't know how soon.

As for buying another one, if you do manage to get in on the last of the first batch, it'll probably be your last chance to get one for another few months. There will be a little break between batches so the team can focus on software development and user support.

First, with all the pressure on you, it's an absolute wonder that your replies continue to be polite and informative. A lot of us really appreciate that. Really.

Summary: questions about when to ordermy other Pandora, and questions about my usage of bettery. Read on.

Second, about my wanting to get a 2nd Pandora, just as soon as I've verified that the applications that are on my son's pre-req list are covered, I WILL be wanting that 2nd Pandora. I'll probably simply give the first Pandora (the one I think of as "mine") to my son, so I want to ask about that 2nd one (so I know the best time for me to order it, and you need to understand that my finances aren't the best). Is it likely that there will be any upgrades (from the first 4K to the 2nd run) which I might care to wait on? Is the price (I pay in US $) firmed up yet? Are there any other reasons I should do it NOW, or would I be just as well off waiting until the 2nd run is a reality? I know you can't guarantee things, I'm asking (as I did maybe a year back when I paid for the first one) for your best guesses, that's good enough for me.

Third, I really think that Pandora is fantastic. Oh, maybe one point, even though I'm not sure it will help any: I intend to use a very nice USB-connected battery for power (has a LOT of current-draw), relying only on the internal power if I want to swap the external battery. Need that big extra battery because of the external USB hard drive I will be using. Points that concern me are (1) is it possible that some kind of hardware "clip" might be necessary to velcro-connect the Pandora to the external battery and external drive? 2nd,is there any way that I could make any use of the fact that I don't need the full internal battery? I mean, would that make more room for something else, maybe?
 
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chuckr said:
Oh, maybe one point, even though I'm not sure it will help any: I intend to use a very nice USB-connected battery for power (has a LOT of current-draw), relying only on the internal power if I want to swap the external battery. Need that big extra battery because of the external USB hard drive I will be using. Points that concern me are (1) is it possible that some kind of hardware "clip" might be necessary to velcro-connect the Pandora to the external battery and external drive? 2nd,is there any way that I could make any use of the fact that I don't need the full internal battery? I mean, would that make more room for something else, maybe?

its been said that the USB OTG port cannot supply the Pandora enough current while running to keep the battery charged, even less if you have an extra USB HDD (it might make the battery last longer tho), you'd need to plug the extra battery pack into the 5V 2A plug to supply enough current to completely run off the external battery.

another solution would be to power the USB HUB using the extra battery so the HDD is not powered by the Pandora but by the extra battery pack through the HUB.
its possible then that the USB HUB will switch to Pandora's USB power if the extra battery goes empty, keeping the drive running, but that depends on the HUB's circuit.
 
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I saw that about the USB OTG port not having the capacity to charge as well as run, but since I intend to run directly from the *outboard* USB battery, and only recharge the internal battery in the rare instance that it grows towards empty directly from the Pandora power connection, and chanrge my external battery via it's own 5 volt external connection, so I'm not particularly worried about that USB OTG power limitation. My question was if I could somehow maybe use a physically smaller internal battery, and capitalize on the saved internal space? The external battery is pretty much the same size as the Pandora itself (as is the external hard drive I'm going to use). That's why I also asked about any attachment points that might be possible to use, to attach the battery and the hard drive via some kind of velcro setup.

That's all. All my intended charging would be via external power supplies (the Pandora's or the one that comes with the external battery). I haven't even given any thought to how I might use that 5 volt external USB hookup (intended for my extrnal battery) to power the Pandora directly. Hmm ...
 
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