Pandora (Open Hardware) now available to pre-order

[john4p]

Here now the complete UAE4All vid in 5 parts (each also available in 720p HD-mode):

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Originally Posted by Baboon

I know little about the machine[...]

http://openpandora.org/index.php?lang=en

[john4p]

Originally Posted by john4p

These games don't work with this version of the emu:
Assassin SE, Lionheart, Lotus II, SuperCars I+II

Correction: found working ADFs for Lotus 2 and SuperCars I&II in TOSEC:

Lotus Turbo Challenge II (1991)(Gremlin)[cr CPY][a2]
Super Cars (1990)(Gremlin)[cr PNA](Disk 1 of 2)[f AGA Krypt][t +5 PNA]
Super Cars II (1991)(Gremlin)[cr HP][f AGA](Disk 1 of 2)

(disk 2 for Super Cars I&II can be any)

Super Cars I has broken colors in-game but Super Cars II and Lotus II look and play fine.


edit: Lotus III also didn't seem to work. This "AGA-fixed" ADF works fine:
Lotus III - The Ultimate Challenge (1992)(Gremlin)[cr FLT - Crack Inc](Disk 1 of 2)[f AGA][t +5]
(Disk 2-ADFs of Lotus 3 work all)

[chiark]

Excellent

Looks like they're not quite meeting their hopes for production, but batch 2 looks like it'll be this year so I might leap on that for Christmas... Just 2 years late!

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by chiark

Excellent

Looks like they're not quite meeting their hopes for production, but batch 2 looks like it'll be this year so I might leap on that for Christmas... Just 2 years late!

You reckon? Given past performance and current supply problems, alongside with the nasty case-cracking that's showing up (which will need fixing), I'd say we're another 6 - 9 months on the first batch, with batch 2 appearing next summer if we're really lucky.

D.

[chiark]

well, whenever they do make batch 2, I will only buy one that is in stock: I'm afraid I'm far too impatient and not "community spirited" enough to put up with the sort of wait that's been going on for the first batch...

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by Dunny

You reckon? Given past performance and current supply problems, alongside with the nasty case-cracking that's showing up (which will need fixing), I'd say we're another 6 - 9 months on the first batch, with batch 2 appearing next summer if we're really lucky.

D.

if you enquire about batch 2, you will be told its the only way to get a Pandora before christmas, that the expected release date is October, and that there are still a few unclaimed in batch 1.

i think you are being a bit pessimistic

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

if you enquire about batch 2, you will be told its the only way to get a Pandora before christmas, that the expected release date is October, and that there are still a few unclaimed in batch 1.

i think you are being a bit pessimistic

Lol. I'm afraid I'll have to go with available evidence - and that is that every single date given by Craig so far has been bollocks :-p

Have you seen that the early models now have a problem with cracks appearing in the case? More than a few of them have developed this, too. That will need to be sorted out, which will mean another round of talks with the Plastics company, then prototypes, then testing, then more prototypes... I mean, can you imagine any company, no matter how "indie", actually going ahead and not fixing it? They'd get slaughtered in the gadget press.

They said last september that they'd be out for xmas '09 - and I have as much faith in Craig as I did then.

D.

[Hungry Horace]

you must be referring to this:

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php...se-is-cracked/

i wouldnt say a report of 5-6 users, with a 'fix' of not tightening the screws seems that much of a major issue -largely something that can be fixed in the build-phase. Sure, it needs addressing for those pandoras that have already gone out, but to talk of this like a massive 12 month set-back to every unit is another thing.


I have been the first person to point out that previous dates have been spectacularly wrong, however, from what i can see, now the ball is rolling (as it were) things are becoming steadily more reliable.


we'll wait and see of course, i'm just saying that idle speculation is nothing to judge by. Taking the information given, and then taking it with a large pinch of saat, may prove more accurate

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

you must be referring to this:

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php...se-is-cracked/

i wouldnt say a report of 5-6 users, with a 'fix' of not tightening the screws seems that much of a major issue -largely something that can be fixed in the build-phase. Sure, it needs addressing for those pandoras that have already gone out, but to talk of this like a massive 12 month set-back to every unit is another thing.

One guy has stated that if the screws aren't tightened the issue does indeed go away, but would also introduce other issues (such as the case flopping about, I'd imagine). Given that only a very small percentage of actual Pandora owners post on the forums then statistically this is likely to be more prevalent than just 5-6 people. You could be right though.

I'm not sure I implied that fixing it would be a 12 month delay. Fixing the case the first time around only took 8 months, I'd expect more like 4 months for a reasonably simple fix, assuming it's the plastic at fault and not craig's hired help ;-)

I have been the first person to point out that previous dates have been spectacularly wrong, however, from what i can see, now the ball is rolling (as it were) things are becoming steadily more reliable.

we'll wait and see of course, i'm just saying that idle speculation is nothing to judge by. Taking the information given, and then taking it with a large pinch of saat, may prove more accurate

I've tried to avoid "idle" speculation and base it on past performance... :-)

So: Given current production speed, I'd say that yes, we should see a significant portion of batch 1 shipped by 31st December this year, with the remaining couple of hundred done by mid-february.

Mind you, and this is idle speculation, Craig is a business man and a small trick like... oh, I dunno, maybe announcing that all 4,000 are done and shipped, and that batch2 is underway... when in actual fact only 2,500 were actually ordered after all the cancellations... and "batch2" are in fact the remaining non-taken batch1 orders would make things look better. And it would give them time to get the real batch2 going.

I'm not saying this will happen, but Craig is the kind of guy who would do that judging by the way he treats his current customers, and they've been very reticent in saying exactly how many of batch1 are available - we were told that they'd all gone, and now he's saying that there's "still a few available".

A while ago I held Craig in very high regard. Now, I just want my Pandora so I don't have to listen to his lies and evasion anymore. I've asked him some very pointed questions before now, and instead of answering I tend to get called a troll.

D.

[Hungry Horace]

well i definitely see where you are coming from on this Dunny, especially with regards to a "phantom" batch 2... that's seems quite probable to me.

On a side note, I assume you will be developing Panda-Spin? or Maybe FusePanda? (if you are feeling lazy!)

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

well i definitely see where you are coming from on this Dunny, especially with regards to a "phantom" batch 2... that's seems quite probable to me.

On a side note, I assume you will be developing Panda-Spin? or Maybe FusePanda? (if you are feeling lazy!)

Not quite - Speccy emulation is pretty boring to me now. I am, however, working on something else (definitely speccy related) which is causing me headaches as I'm trying to be as platform agnostic as I can

Can't wait for my pandora!

D.

[john4p]

At eBay you can "buy now" Pandoras for £280 (€337) + shipping.

Item number: 260720116091

Currently 11 of 20 are left.

[tonyyeb]

Love it! Either wait in line for 2+ years with your money paid upfront or wait for them to be sold on eBay at launch.

[john4p]

Great, isn't it?

Don't understand it either. Someone said those 20 Pandoras are "refurbs". But I'm sure some of the preorderers wouldn't mind a refurbished unit.

[chiark]

HMm. I'm really in two minds about buying one.

There were a lot of problems with nubs failing on the first batch, along with LCD cable troubles. These will have been warranty returns for the first 500 or so...

They do come with a warranty, and I am sorely tempted but at the moment I don't have 300 quid to blow on one of these.

Whatever, the way they've sold them could have been handled more sensitively considering thousands (I guess) of people are still waiting for theirs.

...unless everyone has cancelled their order?

[Leffmann]

It's a pretty cool device, but with so much time having passed since it was specced and announced it feels like a pretty steep price for a 3 year old device. There has to be much better and cheaper Linux devices on the market today?

[Konrad]

Can you prove your assumption ? I don't know any other device which
a) is open (and runs linux) AND
b) has enough cpu power to emulate as many consoles AND
c) has a full keyboard AND
d) has such good controller options AND
e) is cheaper.

I'm reading the pandora forums on a regular basis. Production is FINALLY progressing fine. Guess I'll wait a few more month before I'll place an order.

The devices on eBay are/were indeed refurbished devices btw. There are differences to the newest batch, which I can't remember at the moment.

[cv643d]

Time marches on, my Sony Ericsson X10 mini got a keyboard and lots of emulators on the android app store. If I want to I can play them with BT joypad too

The one area that is going to sell the Pandora is emulators, if it had full speed 99% compatible DC emulation systems would fly off the shelf. But you cant put demand on emu creator because he is coding in spare time etc etc...

Its back to 2001 again, to when people where expecting full speed SNES emu on the DC and it never came, when people asked when it should arrive they where called lamers and to shut up or code it themself. I feel similar scenario coming again to this device.

[Konrad]

I'm definately not going to use my Android phone to play emulators with touch controls (god, I HATE those) or a BT joypad. This isn't an option for a handheld console. I don't see me carrying a BT gamepad with me, just to play emulators on my mobile phone (with a much smaller screen).

Of course there are other ways to play emulators. Android, PSP, Dangoo, GP2X, ... My point was that they all don't compare with the Pandora.

Leffmann said:

There has to be much better and cheaper Linux devices on the market today?

My point was to say that there isn't any.

I know I'm sounding like a fanboy. Fact is that I'm looking for a handheld console for about 1,5 years now. There are good handhelds, but when you not just want to emulate consoles (NES,SNES,GBC,MD) but also home computers like Amiga, Atari and C64 you NEED a keyboard. NO handheld console offers that.

That said, there ARE already alot of emulators for Pandora (Amiga included). Just check the forums and available videos on the blog.

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by Konrad

home computers like Amiga, Atari and C64 you NEED a keyboard.

actually, i'd disagree that the amiga needs keyboard controls to play games - you can either patch the game (WHDload adding CD32 controls for example) or map a number of keyboard buttons to joypad buttons/combinations.

On the ZX Spectrum, few games used the joystick at all, and so some games use tonnes and tonnes of keys, (e.g. Skool Daze) - for these, i've found ZX-DS to be a perfect with its touch-on-lower-screen keyboard.

Originally Posted by Konrad

NO handheld console offers that.

except the DS *does* offer a keyboard through the second screen!

A two-screen system like that would work for the Miggy too without a "proper" keyboard, but i really dont think it needs it as much.

i like the idea of the Pandora, i do... i'm just unsure because it's taken so long. They really should ahve kept upping the spec a bit more.