Replace Cpu With Omap Successor?


thomasmes

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While the Pandora is still in production, new CPU's (SoC's) have come out. Can the CPU of the Pandora being replaced by an successor, like the Cortex A9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP) and keep the rest the same, or does this need a complete redesign of the board?
 
Not to mention that swapping hardware for something with different performance, and capabilities, would make it a "different" unit altogether, alienating first batch buyers.
Forget it, it's not going to be any big changes for a few batches. Stuff that might happen is replacing circuitry with cheaper to mount parts, smaller IC's and so on. Nothing that will be noticeable from a software/usage standpoint.
B!
 
Mr B said:
Not to mention that swapping hardware for something with different performance, and capabilities, would make it a "different" unit altogether, alienating first batch buyers.
Forget it, it's not going to be any big changes for a few batches. Stuff that might happen is replacing circuitry with cheaper to mount parts, smaller IC's and so on. Nothing that will be noticeable from a software/usage standpoint.
B!
Apple does it every year. :D Hopefully Pandora 2 will have 1.2 GHz CPU soon.
 
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mali said:
OMAP3 and OMAP4 aren't pin compatible, afaik.

...but the OMAP3640 is, isn't it? Plus at 1GHz it would nearly double the processing power and be faster than the maximum overclocking currently achieved. I would assume it would also leave more upward movement for additional overclocking as well.

I do agree, however, that the current emphasis should be to get a couple of batches out into the world before the design is changed and a new model is created.
 
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rsuryase said:
Mr B said:
Not to mention that swapping hardware for something with different performance, and capabilities, would make it a "different" unit altogether, alienating first batch buyers.
Forget it, it's not going to be any big changes for a few batches. Stuff that might happen is replacing circuitry with cheaper to mount parts, smaller IC's and so on. Nothing that will be noticeable from a software/usage standpoint.
Apple does it every year.
Apple sells enough phones to not make a small alienated group of buyers when they swap architecture. I mean, here we have a small dedicated group of people working to bring a few thousand units to the market. Compare numbers?

rsuryase said:
Hopefully Pandora 2 will have 1.2 GHz CPU soon.
Nope. Don't think so. It's going to be another 10 batches until anyone consider a rebuild. And thats hoping the rest of the units start coming together without issues. Build team has to make some money before they even can consider starting over. I don't think they want to start over taking a huge loan, risking house, and put it all on the line as long as the current hardware is sold out before they even have the stuff in production. When the team starts looking in to a second generation device, the current CPU's aren't going to be options.
B!
 
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For pandora 1 this is a bad idea... Also don't forget we've hardly done any overclocking of pandora yet, we are still using the voltage meant for 500MHz.
 
overvolting is getting stable 1ghz speeds for vitel and urjaman. So if its just mhz your after and you don't mind possibly shortening/damaging your cpu, you can already double the speed.

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/53863-overclocking-and-overvolting/
 
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Natro said:
mali said:
OMAP3 and OMAP4 aren't pin compatible, afaik.

...but the OMAP3640 is, isn't it? Plus at 1GHz it would nearly double the processing power and be faster than the maximum overclocking currently achieved. I would assume it would also leave more upward movement for additional overclocking as well.

I do agree, however, that the current emphasis should be to get a couple of batches out into the world before the design is changed and a new model is created.
But it might make it more expensive, and if something screws up they'll have to put in effort to fix it. Why would they bother?
 
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Mr B said:
Not to mention that swapping hardware for something with different performance, and capabilities, would make it a "different" unit altogether, alienating first batch buyers.
Forget it, it's not going to be any big changes for a few batches. Stuff that might happen is replacing circuitry with cheaper to mount parts, smaller IC's and so on. Nothing that will be noticeable from a software/usage standpoint.
B!
For a Pandora 2, that's possibly a reasonable thing to do, but between batches that would be a no no in my opinion. More likely than that would be for the price to decrease as the components decrease in price. Which is probably not going to be much.
 
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hedwards said:
For a Pandora 2, that's possibly a reasonable thing to do, but between batches that would be a no no in my opinion.
As i said. Nobody will start developing a second generation Panda for quite some time.At that time, the current generation ARM CPU's will be old, and outdated. Nothing says it's even going to use a ARM CPU even. At that point in time that might be a less interesting option compared to other low voltage units. So to be looking for a CPU to use then, now... Just not going to happen.
B!
 
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enough to keep this lady in business :D
15.jpg
 
Why does everybody want a new Pandora already? Don't forget that it took like years for a GP32 successor and now we have an unofficial GP2X successor that can emulate consoles that the GP2X can only dream of doing. I would wait 5-6 years before we pick new hardware for Pandora 2 I expect the next Pandora to be able to emulate the PS2, PSP, and DS. OMAP4 and 5 probably cannot do that.
 
I don't think "probably" is the right word for PS2 :p . More like Could NEVER. However, PSP, last I heard, had an emu being developed for the pandora, but I think that's dead. That doesn't mean it's impossible though. Heck, there's a DS emu for PSP! Yeah, it's slow, but it exists.
 
TylerAW said:
Why does everybody want a new Pandora already? Don't forget that it took like years for a GP32 successor and now we have an unofficial GP2X successor that can emulate consoles that the GP2X can only dream of doing. I would wait 5-6 years before we pick new hardware for Pandora 2 I expect the next Pandora to be able to emulate the PS2, PSP, and DS. OMAP4 and 5 probably cannot do that.
You have to keep up with technology or you'll become irrelevant soon. Considering the successor of Caanoo/Wiz will be released in a couple of years, so need Pandora 2.
 
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Willrandship said:
I don't think "probably" is the right word for PS2 :p . More like Could NEVER. However, PSP, last I heard, had an emu being developed for the pandora, but I think that's dead. That doesn't mean it's impossible though. Heck, there's a DS emu for PSP! Yeah, it's slow, but it exists.
Emulating a PS2 on a handheld would be hard but I read a portable PS3 is only 5 years away.
 
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TylerAW said:
Why does everybody want a new Pandora already?

Rest assured that not everybody feels this way. Of course there's going to be newer and faster CPUs and motherboards every 4-6 months, but I'd like to focus on what I have -- or will get. At the speed of technology, everything is "outdated" by the time one gets it in his hands. At this time, I speculate that almost everyone who ordered from batch 1 and is still waiting on the unit(s) to arrive is either going to sell it immediately (2%) or enjoy using it (98%). I'd imagine those who need to have the latest, fastest thing would have canceled by now rather than wait two years and continue to wait in order to receive an "outdated" device.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the Pandora as it is right now, and I don't care if there's a faster unit out there. Simply put, the Pandora is unique and special because it was designed with heart and sweat and blood (well, maybe not blood), like my Amiga 500 that fires up at will, my pawn shop Playstation 1 that I carefully pull out of the closet every month, and my 486 DX2/66 in the office that runs most of my DOS games just the way they were designed to be played. The way I see things, the Pandora is what it is and no new hardware can take anything away from it.


Edit: I know it's hard to believe, but the opinion in this post has absolutely nothing to do with ED's motivational speech -- I wrote my post here before reading his post.
 
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We have Apple to thanks for with new products EACH YEAR!!! Other companies are playing catchup. Those who can't will be left in the dust. Luckily the retro scene is pretty small, so we can be way behind.
 
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