One queue cleared, TV Out cables finally coming and some other tidbits (2013-03-20)


EvilDragon

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Wow, it has been quite some time since the last official news post - and quite a few good things happened since then.
I'll try to do a summary and hope I won't forget anything important.
 
 
One queue cleared - let's clear the next one as well!
 
Thanks to some generous customers in my queue who upgraded to the 1GHz version, my queue advanced a lot faster than I imagined... and is now CLEAR! Thanks a lot!
 
I just finished sending the remaining address confirmation emails to my customers.
However, some emails have not been answered. So if you ordered from me (gp2x Shop) and haven't received your email or unit let, please head over to www.dragonbox.de and use the contact form to let me know your order number.

Let's hope we'll be able to clear Craigs queue as well. We don't know an exact amount of customers left, but I will do my best to keep the deliveries going.
There are some ways to speed things up... for example...
 
 
Support us and the investors by upgrading to a 1GHz unit
 
I know quite a lot of you are sad, angry and disappointed for having waited so long and still didn't get your unit.
I want to personally support you as good as possible and will do so by sending out units I can afford from my profit.
 
But I'm limited to what I can do and I sure do not have unlimited funds (unless someone wants to sponsor me a few 100K EUR ;) ))
 
So if you can afford it and want to support me and others waiting in Craigs queue, it would really be helpful if you upgrade your preorder to an instant-delivery-1GHz-one.

This would not only get you a faster unit immediately, but it would also clear the queue... and help me get the money quicker to pay the investors back.
 
I would personally be thankful, but I can also understand if you don't want to put more money into the Pandora.
The upgrade price would be 270 EUR (without VAT). That is the mere production costs, I'd love to give it to you cheaper, but I can't afford to make debts here.
 
If you want to upgrade, please send an email with the upgrade wish and your order number to openpandorasales@gmail.com
They'll send you a voucher and an information how to upgrade. Don't worry, the full upgrade process (incl. payment) and shipping will be handled by me, so you can be sure the unit will REALLY ship right away.
 
 
The preorder donation fund
 
The preorder fund has also been a great success so far:
Community members are helping out to clear the queue by donating money - either to fund full units or allow a limited amount of customers a cheaper preorder-upgrade.
Thanks to everyone donating so far!
 
If every regular visitor would donate 1 EUR per day, we could ship 3 Pandoras each 2 days - that would be amazing (but highly unlikely, of course).
But it shows that even small donations can help a lot :)
 
If you haven't seen it, check it out here.
 
 
Support us and get a signed, fully populated defective PCB
 
As some of you would get something back for their donation, here's something special:
I've got a few defective Pandora PCBs, fully populated but non-booting, signed by me.
 
This might be interesting for some collectors out there.
If you want to check it out, head over to my shop.

I hope to add more merchandising accessories soon as well.
Thanks for the support!
 
 
The TV Out Cables
 
It has been quiet for quite a while for the TV out Cables.
That's because it was really hard to find a company that can produce the cables in quantities below 10,000 for an affordable price.
But Global Components did it once again - they found acompany and I'll receive the prototype in about 4 weeks.
If that cable is fine, the mass production will be finished after 7 weeks.
 
If you are interested in getting the cable, please head over to my shop and put yourself on the notification list. This will help me knowing how many cables I actually need to order.

Promotion and Sales

Quite a few blogs and other press news sites have currently a Pandora for a review.

I agreed witht them to take their time, as the Pandora is not an item that can be reviewed within a few hours.

I rather have it they keep it for about 2 weeks before writing their review - otherwise, it's not really possible to give it a fair review.

So expect some more publicity soon. ekianjo also did a great start with his new blog!

Software developments

A lot of amazing developments have happened.

We've got a great Nintendo DS emulator now, a lot of new games and other software has been released with the DragonBox Coding Competition, and lunixbochs libGL (OpenGL wrapper) is becoming better and better, so we'll probably see quite a few more OpenGL games heading to the Pandora soon.

skeezix also created something awesome: Compo4All.

It combines modern leaderboard-online-gaming with classic Hiscore-Arcade-Competitions.

Play classic MAME games like Bubble Bobble, Ms. Pac Man, Mr. Do, Donkey Kong and more against other community members in an online leaderboard battle.

You should really try it out, it's a lot of fun!

Amazing times ahead!

I think that's enough for a current summary.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks to you all for your great support - without you, the Pandora would've been dead already, that's for sure.
 
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Hear hear!

Hope you have a good beer after finally clearing the finish line, ED. And you march on to clear the other queue as well -- that's just boss.

I have a defective pcb lying around that freezes on boot, would you mind if I sent it to you to sign and sell in your shop?
 
50 defective pcbs at dragonbox? Looks like stuff from Circuit Co :( .
 
  1. Excellent news. Well done everybody.
  2. 'Good' is an adjective, 'well' is an adverb, so it would be better English to say 'personally support you as well as possible'
  3. I'm in the mood for some linguistic pedantry
If ED (and community) can pull a project like this one out of as metaphorical dung as it was in, imagine what could be done from a fresh start.
 
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Small query; for those that have already paid for the TV out cable with their original order, will the cable be sent out as and when they become available, or, given everything that has happened thus far, would said customers have to make a separate purchase for the cable? This is not a loaded question, just a straight up query.

EDIT: Oh and lots of great news too - good work with everything achieved so far!
 
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Wow, that's some very cool news Ed. Can't say it enough, thanks Ed for your hard work with Pandora, to the community, and the rest of the OP team. Yes we really look forward to TV out!
 
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Yeah excellent news. I see this as one step closer to the mythical dragonfly (p2). Which is funny, since ive only had my pandora for 7mths yet already looking forward to the next more powerful version of it.

I'll hide it from the missus but I'll be adding funds to the donation queue come payday ;) .

On a side note, I'm enjoying the irony of sending money to Germany, seems to be going against the grain in this day n age :D . Keep up the excellent work ED!
 
Good stuff - just a cautionary note, based on years of witnessing discussions here and human nature in general, it'd probably be wise to be more explicit about the nature of the TV-Out cable on the site - you're otherwise bound to have a few angry luddites complain they've received the wrong thing. Strictly speaking the connections are 'sockets' (female connectors) rather than 'plugs' (male) - it's inevitable that some will assume the cable is the only thing they need if they aren't given a graphic description (a picture and mention that ordinary cables you already should have will be necessary).

Even then it's inevitable a few will one day arrive asking how they are supposed to use this strange thing with unfamilar connectors that have holes instead of pins... best get there first!
 
Great news, well done clearing the OP GmbH pre order queue. That is a huge milestone in the Pandora Project IMHO.  :D

For those wondering if they want a TV out cable the cost will be €20 + delivery and the specs are as follows :

The cable works with PAL and NTSC and offers the following connections:

* Stereo Audio-Out (Cinch)
* Stereo Audio-In (Cinch)
* Composite Video Out (Cinch)
* S-Video Output (S-Video-Plug)
The cable has a length of 20cm which is perfect as it keeps it portable.
The connection plugs are all female, so you can use a normal AV-Cable with your favourite length to connect it to the TV.

All info from Dragonbox Shop

Not sure what Cinch means in this context.

Also, 3 months for the TV out cables? Surely some mistake?  ;)   :p
 
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CONGRATULATIONS!

Really great to hear that your queue is cleared.
Good times ahead!
 
I may buy more cables than i need.

People around Paris, tell me (PM). I can sell them to you let's say, in the geek bar, so the grouped shipping costs will be lower.
 
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