Pandora (Open Hardware) now available to pre-order

[woody57]

I really like the look of the Pandora...

and it seems to have drawn enthusiastic orders from across the emulator fan communty ..each with their own specific area of interest.


BUT it's very clear that one solution is not going to idealy fit ALL customers...


There is no launch title to identify it from just another emulator project...it is not going to be commercial competition for anything from the big 3.

I suspect it will become just another footnote handheld......

OK as cruel as I sound let me say

I want to be proven wrong in ALL my concerns ...the community deserves that !

But I suspect reality will yet again step in

[john4p]

Originally Posted by woody57

it is not going to be commercial competition for anything from the big 3.

Absolutely correct. But that's not its purpose. It's just a device for a few thousands retro gaming enthusiasts. Still it will be a commercial success for Craig, EvilDragon and Co..

Originally Posted by woody57

I suspect it will become just another footnote handheld......

Yes - that will happen. And that's fine. It's just a toy for the next 3-4 years...

[woody57]

Of course there deserves to be big PROPS for the creators of this project...

They deserve accolades for a real achievement this is a finished MKI product well beyond basic beta's....but is it really ready to be produced by the thousand ?

Will the production run & component availlabilty stay within the time scale projected costs ?

Making the test machines is one thing.....but promising nearly 3000....any calculation in there,for board testing & component failures ?

I do not doubt the team have done their predictions....but maybe they would have been better waiting for a MKII production model before promising thousands.

I fully understand this is a cross-platform geek machine not a dedicated anything box.....

Nows the time to wait and see if the end of November 2008 that "3000 statisfied customer orders " can be achieved

[john4p]

Originally Posted by woody57

Nows the time to wait and see if the end of November 2008 that "3000 satisfied customer orders" can be achieved

Only god knows...

[Thorham]

Cool piece of kit. Just a big shame on them for equiping it with such a useless keyboard

[coze]

I'm looking at the specs and can't see a HDD or fixed flash media. So you the SD you buy becomes your HDD ?

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by coze

I'm looking at the specs and can't see a HDD or fixed flash media. So you the SD you buy becomes your HDD ?

From http://pandorawiki.org/Pandora

The first revision of the console will include 128MB of DDR RAM, and 256MB of onboard flash memory. Storage space will be available through 2 Secure Digital card slots since the internal memory is not designed for storage and via USB host capabilities for connecting any standard USB flash drive and hard drive.

Yes, the SD cards will become your HDD. Mine will have 64gb (2x32gb) of space, which should be plenty for my needs. I'm assuming that AROS can be ported to it.

D.

[coze]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I'm assuming that AROS can be ported to it.

D.

I think you assume too much, young padawan.

[Samurai_Crow]

@coze

See Power2People.org for more information about the ARM processor bounty for AROS.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by coze

I think you assume too much, young padawan.

I think it's a reasonable demand :-p

Would be quite cool, though it would seriously limit the amount of stuff I can run on it

D.

[Charlie]

Just a quick thought:
Who here has heard of RiscOS?
In a nut-shell it's a very low overhead, mature, easy-to-use, ARM-based OS. It would potentially make a wonderful defaco OS for this little box both for use as a 'small hand-held' and as a good enviorment in which to develop software specifically for it.
Better still, both main branches of RiscOS (5 & 6) are no-longer chipset dependant so making porting a doddle-ish...
...did I also mention RiscOS 5 is now itself OpenSource?

I'd absolutely buy one if it could run RiscOS - and develop software for it!

[Samurai_Crow]

@Charlie

Although the Linux OS used on the Pandora is open-source the device drivers are certainly NOT. Porting RiscOS to it would not be a possibility if you want 3d or anything of performance value. Although the Pandora can be reprogrammed easily at the application-level the OS contains device drivers that are covered by strict non-disclosure agreements. As such, the Pandora is not such an open system like the Natami prototype where you can write your own device drivers for it based on open documentation.

[Charlie]

Ahhh! No docs = no drivers...
...that IS a problem. Ho, hum - dreaming out loud.


Why's an 'open platform' got 'closed' drivers..?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by john4p

No, not yet. Only if neither notaz nor Gnostic nor anyone else implements control configurations and screen positioning to UAE4All I might do some modifications to it (as with the PSP version).

And...hi!

Doubt GnosTiC would do anything coding wise, as he is busy with his real life stuff.

[Smiley]

Wow. The Company headquaters is right near me!

OpenPandora LTD. 422 Denton Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 7HB England

[CHook/OTT]

Originally Posted by FOL

Doubt GnosTiC would do anything coding wise, as he is busy with his real life stuff.

Who is responsible for the Amiga port then that EvilDragon has been showing off? And it would be a bit more convincing if we heard sound too.

[T_hairy_bootson]

UAE4ALL on the pandora is just a quick and dirty port of the gp2x UAE4ALL by chui on the dreamcast / critical, notaz and one other guy on the gp2x, notaz is responsible for the pandora port. Notaz has been around the gp2x scene for a while and is also the one who is responsible for the pandora ubuntu + firefox. He also did the gp2x/psp and pocket pc ports of picodrive and added SVP support to picodrive across all formats.

At the time the UAE4ALL youtube vid was made none of the videos had proper sound, there are some vids on youtube now with sound of picodrive with SVP support for example. If the sound works on the gp2x port why wouldnt it work on the pandora?

edit: he is also responsible for improving the cyclone 68000 core written in ARM ASM that is probably the single reason why UAE4ALL blows pspuae out of the water for speed and compatibility. No offence to FOL I'm sure if he had an ASM core for PSPUAE that would be a lot better than UAE4ALL due to the awesome features.

[john4p]

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

he is also responsible for improving the cyclone 68000 core written in ARM ASM that is probably the single reason why UAE4ALL blows pspuae out of the water for speed and compatibility.

Compatibility of PSPUAE is very high.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by CHook/OTT

Who is responsible for the Amiga port then that EvilDragon has been showing off? And it would be a bit more convincing if we heard sound too.

GnosTiC released that E-UAE port to GP2X about 1 to 2 years ago. He since dropped it as real life became busy. He proberly released the source, or maybe pandora runs gp2x stuff?

Thats also 1 reason for him not continuing to help with PSPUAE. I have alot of respect for GnosTiC as he stuck around helping with PSPUAE after all the other devs left.

If someone took GnosTiC's port and updated it, it would be basically PSPUAE on Pandora, with HDD support. I remember GnosTiC saying he had it booting HDF files on UAE2x.

EDIT:- Just been checking that emu EvilDragon is showing is UAE4ALL, even the video title says so. GnosTiC's port is called UAE2x.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

No offence to FOL I'm sure if he had an ASM core for PSPUAE that would be a lot better than UAE4ALL due to the awesome features.

I cant comment at the moment, . As there is an ASM 68k core already for PSP. So it could be a possability in the near future. I will continue to look at all avenues to increase speed. The main problem I have is, im still learning by myself, and really need help with alot of idea's we have. No devs seem interested though.

EDIT:- Sorry, ill not post anymore in this thread as its a pandora thread not a uae4all or pspuae thread.