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OpenSource Handheld News - Gp2X, Dingoo, Wiz, Pandora, GCW Zero and Caanoo is a News and downloads site for Open Source Handhelds, We have all the latest emulators, hack, homebrew, commercial games and all the downloads on this site, the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
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December 4th, 2008, 21:07 Posted By: wraggster
News from Skeezix:
Hey my friends ..
We're all hungry for our release units, and we all know everyone is dieing for more info and news, and we all know the boys are too busy to fill our demands But there are a few of us devkit lads on board now, so likely some more info will get leaked.
This is unofficial; I'm not speaking for the devs, and may make errors. I'm not intending to step on the toes of any of the very fine devs for any of the devices (disclosure, I've got dev units of all of them!). Craigs statement about saying something that is true for only 3 days being bandied about for 3 months is ever so true It is also tough to post performance numbers without people thinking its a diss to the non-topmost machine. I don't want to say that, since there are other factors (price, portability, screen preferences, add-ons, support, controls, weight, and so on.)
You might recall my past thread http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php...opic=44373&hl= comparing gp2x to GP2x Wiz. See that for some commentary on what is accurate or inaccurate for those tests (ie: optimized code on gp2 versus unoptimized code on the Wiz, including SDL versus framebuffer, meaning the Wiz numbers are artificially lower and the gp2x ones are pretty high, so the Wiz should actually perform higher in relation to the gp2x than I showed.) Defining a 'fair' benchmark is hard since everyone has a different idea (all running at their best or worst? the type of test.. be it math, graphics, bus intensive .. it is easy to have a test that hits a weakness in one but a strenght in another, and is that a fair thing (typical use) or a cheat (atypical use)? Hard questions.)
Suffice to say my number is a _SINGLE_ (yet repeatable) test; a good benchmark is comprised of many benchmark tests so you can get a good picture from many perspectives.. not just a 'throwing this out there' number.
Still, it is a pretty telling number sometimes as well!
All that said..
Given OutcaST (an emu for which many of you have seen and used for some 6+ years from me in various forms), in a emulated CPU-torture test. (ie: Atari ST sitting at the GEM desktop with a stock TOS image will be in a tight CPU grind loop.) Doesn't really hit the ST's graphic system hard or the like, but the ST wasn't really a complex machine for graphics anyway. So it tests the emulation pretty well, in a situation that makes the mu perform worse than average. (ie: If it normally woudl run 60fps for a game, it'd run this GEM situation at 40-45fps at a guess.) Its also easy to auto-boot into, so no keyboard or audio or the like making the test more situational.. its pure out emulation with the machine not even trying to play audio.
GP2x stock F100, 200MHz IIRC. Highly optimized code.
GP2x Wiz dev unit (not final hardware but pretty close); The code is on GPH slow software only SDL. (no acceleration.) 533MHz.
Pandora Mk2 (version 1.1) devboard; 500MHz. Notaz quick SDL port using framebuffer. ie: Not optimized, but I think its prolly better than the GPH version on the Wiz. (GPH stuff tends to be slower for some reason, perhaps they don't compile with optimizatoins on in the compiler, or add debugging stuff, or the mouse support is in the way, or something.)
Sony PSP original FAT version. Not optimized for multi-cpu core, not really using the separate GPU for anything in this test. (ie: alpha blendsing UIs and such are in the code, but not during this test.) Essentially the PSP is chugging along at 333MHz if memory serves.. I don't recall if I'm clocking down or not in this case .. didn't loo back at the code to see.
Latest version of Outcast fro mthe gp2x, converted crappily to SDL on the non-F100 machines.
GP2x 49fps
GP2x Wiz 70fps
Pandora dev board mk2 180fps
Sony PSP 53fps
During actual game emulation the numbers are all higher by about 20-25%, but thats out of scope for this.
It is hard to explain the pandora being so far out in front of the others; my guess is the less congested bus, the processor being a multigenerational gap (the Pandora CPU is a far far newer design than in the GP2x), and the big cache on the CPU in the pandora.
Note my comments above; the 70 versus 49 (Wiz to gp2x) may not seem so impressive in relation to the pandora, but going back to the origiunal post I was pretty impressed. The Wiz _IS_ a snappy beasty (and this is a bit of a torture test, not a typical emu gameplay test!), so it is a very exciting device.
The Pandora is freaking goddamned fast.
jeff
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December 2nd, 2008, 20:57 Posted By: wraggster
News from Craigix:
Hello everyone,
Craig here, I know some of you must be choking for news at the moment, so I thought I'd write another status update for you.
As you may be aware, in terms of the economy there could not be a worse time to be building the worlds first community driven
hand held device;
No credit on parts, banks who say 'no thanks' to your 4000 orders, long lead times on parts which only a few months ago were
plentiful, currency collapses and lots more.
But we prevail, the project must go on!
One of the saving graces of this project is of course you guys - the community, thanks to you we have no debts, continuing
support and a ready and willing user base. We are very aware of how lucky this situation is - especially in the current climate,
if we had done this with a loan from a bank we are well aware the loan would have been called in by now and the project canceled.
And it is your support which is making us try to make the Pandora as perfect as it can possibly be. I know some of you want us to
just release it already, some of you hackers would not care if it had flaws, but as some of you will remember the whole point of
the Pandora was to not make the mistakes of previous open consoles.
On that note I'm pleased to say next weekend we will be building the first fully working Pandora with controls and keyboard and
making some videos of it for you to see - this does not mean the work is finished - there is bound to be something which needs
adjusting, but it is a major near final milestone.
Also we know some of you are frustrated by the slow refund and reorder process - believe me so are we - this situation could not
be more of a nightmare for us especially as we had no idea it would happen, it's a good thing we now have a bank who understands
this project and supports us with it.
Those of you who are angry about the situation please understand that what happened was not our choice, someone who was clueless
to the project saw our bank balance, paniced without speaking to us, and set the wheels in motion for a pointless refund process.
Those of you who might think we could discuss this like adults with the bank in question are very mistaken - you may as well try
to talk to a brick wall, the whole banking world is in panic mode and we are small fry to them.
But even after all this we are still working away, finding routes around the problems all with one goal still in mind - making the
best and most powerful handheld ever.
As for new things to see some of you might like this render of the case top we went with:
It addresses the boxyness of the case which some of you didn't like, making the Pandora slimmer and more rounded, this is the
design we will be going with unless a major flaw is found.
On another note, those of you emailing asking if there will be any space for new orders after the refund process is complete I
can say there will be some available - I will post information when you can place a new order.
As for a shipping date - until we get the final delivery dates for some parts we still can't give an accurate time line but we
are working as hard as we can for it to happen as SOON AS POSSIBLE, it may be comforting for you to know another ~15 dev kits
went out to some of the best developers on the scene in the last few weeks who are furiously working on software as we speak.
One of the main problems with production is that parts are not available as easily as they were a few months ago - companies are
not keeping stock and only manufacturing to order, another pitfall of the global economy right now.
In slightly better news it's possible we might be able to ship some units reasonably soon to those of you who are more the hacker
type, these units may come without a battery and with a beta OS installed, the battery could be sent on at a later date at the
postage cost.
I hope to have more news for you soon.
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=45540
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December 2nd, 2008, 19:29 Posted By: wraggster
DVD Catalyst 3 converts movies quickly and easily into a format that can be played on a portable device (Apple iPod, Apple iPhone, Sony PSP, Creative Zen, Smartphone, PocketPC and more) It offers a multitude of different video types it can create, allowing it to even create video files for non-listed or brand-new devices. DVD Catalyst 3 incorporates an extensive feature list, with many unique, handy and industry-first options to make your conversions as easy as possible, while providing you with the best possible quality. DVD Catalyst 3 uses the award-winning open source mplayer/mencoder projects for detection and conversion, which allows DVD Catalyst to convert just about anything to any format without the need of having codec's installed on your computer.
http://software.smartphonethoughts.c...for-any-device
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December 1st, 2008, 21:42 Posted By: wraggster
News from EvilD
Hiya folks, I'm here for the weekly report!
We have a lot of good news here, a lot of major stuff has been solved, few issues remain, but you can be sure we'll solve them soon.
1. Craig's bank problem: ALL orders have been refunded now and cen be reordered. After that has happened, the bank stuff should be finished. Thank god!
2. Most devboards have been sent out to some nice devs. The secret discussion area is bustling with activity since a few days, as we're all working together to create a very nice firmware for you. One important dev is still waiting for his board (which is on the way already): The maintainer of the Pandora Angström distribution. Once he got it, it shouldn't be too long until the first NAND Images for the Pandora appear and we can show videos of the ongoing progess of developing the firmware.
skeezix made some nice unpacking pictures of his devboard on his site here.
zodttd got an MK2 board and did a quick recompile of PSX4ALL (including sound!). No hardware acceleration used yet (no 3D and not even 2D), so expect major speed increases once we finished coding the libraries.
A video running FF7 can be seen here (and YES, it HAS sound, it's just very very quiet as Zoddy only did connect small mobile speakers to the board...)
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November 29th, 2008, 15:45 Posted By: wraggster
StrmnNrmn this week returned for near on a year off and gave this rather interesting hint:
For what it's worth, I'm currently working on a new port of Daedalus. I'm going to keep the target platform secret for now, but I think it's very exciting.
Is it Pandora, lets bloody hope so, near full speed emulation on the Pandora of a N64 emu is im sure what we all want 
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November 29th, 2008, 12:09 Posted By: wraggster
skeezix] has got his hands on one of the first Pandora dev kits to make it out the door and took a few photos. This is 1 of the 20 MK2 devboards that were produced. Although, not final it certainly is close to the version they’ll be shipping. Pandora is a Linux based portable game console. The main chip in the clamshell device is a TI OMAP3530. It has OpenGL hardware acceleration and an 800×480 touchscreen. A QWERTY keyboard is included along with analog and digital game controls. WiFi, bluetooth, USB host, TV-out, and dual SDHC card slots round out the package. The team has already presold 4000 devices.
http://hackaday.com/2008/11/28/pando...-unit-unboxed/
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November 25th, 2008, 01:45 Posted By: wraggster
News from Evil Dragon:
Hi folks!
The last weeks have been crazy. There's so much we learnt: Worldwide Financial crisis' are not good - banks go crazy, which lead to the huge 'refund and repay'-issue (which is still going on...). It's also not good for all the part manufactures - as they tend to become very cautious which leads to delays. And state-of-the-art products are complicated to produce (the mass production companies are still optimizing to be able to produce the Pandora without having too many broken boards!)
Yep, we learnt a lot and it is already much we achieved. But there's still some things to do.
You've all been waiting for a status update, eh? Well, here it comes:
1. Almost ALL drivers have been finished and work fine so far!
2. 20 MK2 devboards have been produced and have been sent out to some devs!
3. PXML Fileformat definition is finished.
4. Prototype keypad and case have been ordered (nope, we don't know yet exactly when they're finished)
5. Chip from the GP32x.com boards is now officially helping us with tiny news and informations. Thanks a bunch and welcome to the team!
So, as you might've guessed, we can't deliver the final units end of November. It might even take until 2009 - but we won't say any date yet. With all those delays the various manufacturers had, it's nigh impossible to give out a date. But we're really working hard to make it as soon as possible! Promised!
We're really sorry about that - but because of that financial crise, everything in the world seems to have gone crazy (heck, even my Pandora-Poloshirts have been delayed for over a week already!). Without that, we had a very good chance to finish in-time - but that crisis was something we didn't expect. Nobody did, I guess. We also like to THANK YOU VERY MUCH for supporting us! We won't let you down - and this is another promise!
Now, to show you guys we've been working on some stuff:
The most recent kernel source can be downloaded using our GIT server:
git://git.openpandora.org/pandora-kernel.git
Use the pandora-27-omap1 branch for the moment, there will soon be a 2.6.28.
Get the latest definition of the PXML format here.
Oh, and if you need a subdomain, webspace or GIT Server for any Pandora-Project, be sure to send me (EvilDragon) an eMail (EvilDragon_at_openpandora.org). We will host it for free!
Now, back to work for me... and sorry again about any delays. I know how you feel... I had to wait for my PSP, eeePC, mobile phone... hmm. Is there ANY device today that is being released the day it has been announced for? Hmmm...
http://openpandora.org/blog.php
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November 23rd, 2008, 23:12 Posted By: wraggster
An interesting article from t3online:
When game and software developers talk about ‘open source’ software, they generally cite widely-understood examples such as Mozilla’s superb Firefox internet browser or the Linux operating system. The Open Source movement’s philosophy is based on developing projects that are ‘self-organizing’, which generally means building stuff that is iteratively improved by a network of volunteer programmers. It is a ‘hive mind’ and decentralised way of developing software, as opposed to the bigger commercial developers’ more traditionally centralised and ‘top-down’ way of organising things. More simply put, it’s a DIY ‘punk’ ethic, almost in direct opposition to the ways of the megacorps such as Microsoft and Sony.
So when T3 heard recently that there is not only one, but TWO new open source handheld gaming consoles – the nattily named Gamepark Wiz and the Pandora – heading our way early next year, we of course wanted to know more. What will we be able to do with these shiny new toys? Will we finally be able to make that game about the flying monkeys we dreamed up while tripping on mushrooms at Glastonbury in 1993? Or is this all going to be a bit ‘hobbyist’ for us?
The first new handheld that caught our eye was Gamepark’s Wiz system, the successor to its (now-discontinued) GP2X, pictures of which first leaked into our eyes (via the internet) back in the summer. The Wiz rocks a 2.8inch OLED QVGA touchscreen at 320x240 pixels and a 533mhz CPU, which means it is technically faster than the PSP's 333mhz processor. On top of that, you get a built-in microphone, SD memory slot, 64MB RAM, 1GB of internal storage and an intriguing-sounding "3D Acceleration" listed by the manufacturer.
Aside from its impressive spec-sheet, the Wiz’s USP is Gamepark’s promise of commercial game releases for the system. Which means that it could well appeal to a wider market than the usual homebrew crowd and the harder-than-hardcore fans of arcade and retro game emulators. Indeed, the boxed console comes with 12 built-in games, including a shooter called Myride and the rather awesomely entitled Snake on Dope.
Talking about the open source gaming development scene, Canadian game designer (and creator of BattleJewels) Jeff Mitchell, told TechRadar recently that, “the scene in general is one of the best around; the public at large is smaller than with your mainstream devices and so attracts people who are more interested in the devices and are a little willing to tinker - like your aftermarket car folks would be.
“The development scene itself has often been compared in spirit to the roaring days of the early 90s (Atari ST and Amiga and whatnot); suffice to say I think it's one of the best communities of homebrewers and retro-developers around.”
For Mitchell, the key thing, in true open source style, is that “if you need some help there's a hand usually around to assist… people who are not only willing but dying to help out, to beta test, to help with artwork for your emulator front-end or whatever. The PSP scene, the DS scene and so on. They're lively as well, but larger and less pulled together.”
The real question for more mainstream gamers is: “will the Wiz make any kind of dint on the commercial handheld gaming scene?” Might it even (*whisper it*) begin to compete with the mega-successful Nintendo DS and Sony’s sleekly powerful PSP?
“The Wiz will be enormously popular for emulation and homebrew fans,” says Mitchell, “and I expect people will buy a title or two of commercial-ware if it is priced well, and is priced to the quality…the trick is finding the balance.”
But in Mitchell’s mind, comparing the Wiz with the DS and the PSP is kind of missing the point, “just like SanDisk selling mp3 players doesn't dent the iPod market - but it keeps SanDisk going.”
Let’s not forget that hobbyist developers sometimes hit paydirt, though. “This is how Quake mod teams suddenly end up being game developers themselves,” says Mitchell. “Ten years of bottom feeding and finally getting their break.”
The other new open source handheld due to make some noise in 2009 is the ARM Cortex A80-powered Pandora, developed by an off-shoot team of the guys and girls behind Gamepark’s GP2X. The photos T3 has seen on the OpenPandora.org website are of a device which looks like a mash-up of DS-style clamshell design with (home console style) dual analogue controllers and a full QWERTY keyboard.
You want specs? They got specs. The ARM Cortex A80 processor runs at an impressive 600mhz. To put this in some kind of context, this is almost double the PSP's 333mhz. The graphics are powered by PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 hardware presented in all their glory on the Pandora’s 800x480 4.3in 16.7 million colour LCD touch-screen.
And if you want to hook up to the internet or to your PC or Mac, then the in-built 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and High Speed USB 2.0, dual SDHC card slots and S-Video TV-out should sort you right out!
However, before we get too much of a hard-on for what this makers of this baby CLAIM it can do, we have to consider that this could all be so much ‘vapourware’ because we have yet to actually see a unit in existence. While units are rumoured to have gone out to a few developers, proper release dates are hazy and T3’s attempts to get in touch with the guys behind the device have, to date, fallen on deaf ears.
What we do know is that a £199 UK price tag has been mooted and that the developers claim that Pandora is "by far the most powerful handheld in the world both in terms of raw CPU power and 3D graphics capability" and that it should also be able to handle things such as Mozilla’s Firefox 3 internet browser or classic 3D shooters such as Quake 3 with ease.
Play-Asia – our favourite website for importing kit – currently lists the Wiz at £123.24 (exactly!) and has the release date penned in for February 2009. T3 will of course bring you more news on both the Wiz and the Pandora as we get it.
For now, we’re trying to rack our brains to try to remember exactly what it was those flying monkeys were doing in our imaginary game. Does anybody have any mushrooms?
http://www.t3.com/feature/open-source-gaming-uncovered
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November 22nd, 2008, 11:34 Posted By: wraggster
Chip over at GP32x posted a Pandora Update for those thirsty for some news:
It's been two weeks since the last big update. I've been working on this new one for a while now, so don't think all the activity on the board lately has made this happen any faster than it would have. Squeaky wheels do not always get the grease.
Banking issues
As you may have noticed, the refund and reorder plan has not gone as smoothly as originally anticipated. The short version, which I have been given permission to relate to you now, is thus: Our bank, for reasons of its own, decided not to honor the bulk of credit card orders placed for Pandoras. They insisted that we refund them. As we have been filing refunds, they have (again, for reasons of their own) been incredibly reluctant to process them.
We are doing everything in our power to get this resolved as quickly as possible. All UK and European orders have now been processed and refunds for North America and the rest of the world are continuing. Everybody who placed an order is still secure in their place in line, and your money is still secure in our bank until such time as it is returned to your bank. You are at no risk of anything except waiting. The project as a whole is at no financial risk.
The good news is that none of this affects production. These banking problems are causing no end of headaches for Craig and his office staff, but they have not put Openpandora in any financial trouble. All parts have been ordered and the factory is getting everything together.
Manufacturing
MWeston has just posted a very informative update pertaining to the manufacturing process. As you can see, we are gearing up for production despite the ordering kerfuffle.
At this time, we have 20 very nearly finished Pandoras on hand. By "very nearly", I mean we still only have FDM cases, and they are still waiting for the final keypad / control membrane. Once the membranes are sorted out, we will have plenty of pictures (and probably video) of these units for you. These are obviously still test units. Some have the old 128MB RAM part, some have the new 256MB part. All will be tested extensively and then passed on to software devs. Everything in these units is 100% finalized (except the cases, and the units with 128MB RAM, obviously). There will not be any more board revisions, aside from maybe a new battery connection.
We still only have approximately 400 LCD panels on hand right now (more on the way), but as MWeston said, we're doing small batches to start out. The batch sizes will probably be something like 400, 800, 1000, 1000+. We would like to hold on to this first finished batch of 400 for a bit for extensive testing. Once the manufacturing process has been perfected and we have all the LCD panels, the factory can spit out the rest of the order in less than a month.
Other News
As many of you already know, I have officially been brought into the Pandora project as sort of public relations liaison. I am not "employed" by Openpandora, I am only helping out on a voluntary basis. This means that I have better access to more accurate (direct from the horse's mouth, so to speak) information. I will be relaying these updates the same way I always have - via stickies in this forum. I may occasionally post news or blog updates to openpandora.org as well, but that is more an outlet for the actual developers. They post milestones there. Here is where I post the minor day-to-day and week-to-week stuff for which everybody has been clamoring.
In addition to better access to information, my position with Openpandora might lead to some other perks, like videos, interviews, photos and more. There is also a chance I might get one of the very early Pandoras for demonstration purposes. Not one of the 20 we have now (those will be more useful in the hands of software devs), but one of the first final units to come off the assembly line. Possibly before testing and before anything else ships. This means I might be able to post extensive photo and video documentation of the device, weeks before they start shipping. Nothing is carved in stone, just something we're batting around.
That is pretty much the state of everything right now. As things change, I'll keep you updated.
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November 18th, 2008, 21:47 Posted By: wraggster
CraigIx posted this:
Hello everyone,
Sorry I've not been as active on the forums as usual in the last week - it's been a lot of real world things and I'm actually sleeping normal hours these days so I can't hang out here for a few hours at night at the moment (I'm sure that will change back to normal soon though!).
Essentially as you know there is a lot going on, we had to change banks when our old one just decided they didn't want us any more, we took too much money too fast and in the 'current climate' they didn't want this kind of account. Yes it is as bizarre as it sounds.
We are having to deal with it - it's not a good idea to try to fight a bank.
At the same time production had to be organised, more software development, the case moulds, sourcing parts.
As you also know the LCD supplier let us down by not delivering the full amount at once but they are coming.
These are the frustrating parts of setting up production of a new system. But as we have always said we won't cut corners to bring this to you faster at a lower quality, let me give you an example:
We can get those LCDs from another supplier but they throw in 'used' or 'second grade' LCDs - we won't deal with them, we will only get them from the best source even if we have to wait a little longer.
We think this will make you overall happy in the long term along with the extra RAM and NAND.
So please try to stay relaxed we have devoted the last 2 years to this project so we want to make sure it is as good as possible.
Chip is going to take over more of the day to day forum Q&A to give us more time on the project.
That's it for now, hope to have some tasty photos of the Pandora with its controls in soon.
-Craig
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November 18th, 2008, 19:17 Posted By: wraggster
Some resourceful folks at the #android IRC channel and RyeBrye, after realizing that the G1's Synaptic touch screen might be able to handle multiple inputs, say they managed to re-enable some commented-out code in the phone's touchscreen driver and log some multitouch gestures. The lack of multitouch in the first Android phone was a minor disappointment, albeit an understandable one — encroaching on Apple's software patent territory probably wasn't on the top of Google's to-do list. But this wouldn't be the first time HTC has released a phone with hidden multitouch, and it is without a doubt the most intriguing.
http://gizmodo.com/5091705/the-g1s-d...den-multitouch
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November 13th, 2008, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
News from CraigIX:
We also hope to have all the banking problems sorted out this week. Very frustrating situation. Hope the 256MB of RAM and 512MB of NAND makes up for it!
We are looking for a few more people to get prerelease Pandora consoles who want to work on applications or the kernel. You should be able and willing to devote a lot of time to it, do not apply if you don't have the time to work on it before Christmas.
http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php
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November 12th, 2008, 00:43 Posted By: wraggster
Minor status update: There was a bit of a glitch with posting refunds. It has been resolved, and all refunds should be posted by the end of this week (Nov 14). This hold up was, as most have been, beyond the control of Openpandora. I will post a new sticky when all refund emails have been sent. Until then, watch your inbox.
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php...0&#entry667690
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November 11th, 2008, 20:34 Posted By: Shrygue
via Kotaku
Today Japanese cell phone games are little better, because today Square Enix is releasing Final Fantasy VII: Snowboarding. Priced at ¥315 (US$3), the game is available on carrier DoCoMo's FOMA 703i/902i series handsets. The mini-game has three levels of difficulty and one level of awesome. Screw that rumored FFVII PS3 remake, Square Enix needs to put this snowboarding on the Nintendo DS and pronto! Screens of Cloud snowboarding with balloons below. No, really. It's not April First. We already checked several times.
Screenshots at Kotaku
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November 7th, 2008, 03:02 Posted By: wraggster
Well, I got quite a few news for you... yeah, I know: They're late and you know a lot of them through the boards already. Sorry for not posting here, it was a really busy time lately.
Now onto the news:
The Good: Because of the bank issue (see below), we have decided to give the Pandora some more RAM. It will now have 256MB! And 512MB NAND, which is quite nice, eh? And nope, that won't delay the production.
Another very good thing is that basically all drivers are working already on the new MK2 boards! We also have a GIT setup for the kernel - so as soon as we release the Pandora, you can easily grab the latest kernel source. With drivers and MK2 boards working already, it's time to report the base OS (Angström Linux) and tweak it.
The Bad: Well, one thing we're not very happy about is the LCD delivery. We're most probably having problems getting all the LCDs in time, so not all Pandoras can be delivered right away... we're trying all we can to get it to you, but basically, it can even take until 2009 until we get all LCDs. Nobody knows yet - not even the manufacturer. It reminds me of the European launch of the PSP back in 2005... planned for March, it had to be delayed for a few months because LCDs were not finished in time. Funny, eh?
Another bad news is some Credit Card issue with the UK Store: Credit Cards have to be refunded and transferred anew somehow. If you are affected, you'll get your money back and more information about this soon. To compensate you for all you troubles (first PayPal, now CreditCards), we decided to give you more RAM.
The Ugly: You might think "I wanna have more videos, NOW!". Yep. I'd love to show you more videos - however, the latest kernel with all the drivers support (keyboard, etc.) only works on MK2, and at the moment I only have an MK1-Board. I should get an MK2 board soon, then I can show you more videos. DOSBox is already running, I hope I can show some games as soon as possible!
So basically: The boards are in production, the case is currently being prototyped, drivers are working, Angström is basically working, GIT server has been setup already. All we need to do is wait for those LCDs - and then the fun begins
http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php
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November 5th, 2008, 01:47 Posted By: wraggster
Spb Software, world's leading Windows Mobile software developer releases Spb Traveler 2.0 - an expert mobile travel assistant application that is a pleasure to handle. The new Spb Traveler 2.0 offers a revolutionary animated finger-friendly user interface, a subscription-free flight search engine (powered by OAG), an animated 3D Globe with real satellite image of the sky, and a Geo Game for fun and learning. Winner in Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's Best Software Awards, Spb Traveler provides valuable tools and information to travelers such as world time and global weather service (powered by Foreca, the trusted provider of msn.com), tip calculator and multilanguage phrase book, as well as currency, unit, and clothing size converters. In all it does, Spb Traveler 2.0 has the speed and usability of an Spb Mobile Shell-powered interface, topped off with high-class 3D animation and gestures
http://spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/traveler/?en
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November 4th, 2008, 21:57 Posted By: wraggster
Chip posted this news:
I've had a nice chat with Craig today about the Pandora project status. He's gone off to bed (it's 2AM there, I think), but I'm going to try to give you a condensed state of affairs.
Credit Card Orders
As you know, some (not all) credit card orders will have to be refunded and the orders re-placed with the new bank. This process will begin tomorrow (or today, if it is already Nov. 4 when you red this). The orders are being refunded geographically - UK, then continental Europe, then North America. The whole process should take about a week. If your card is being refunded, you will receive an email with instructions for re-ordering. No, I don't know what those instructions are. The emails will go out when the refunds are processed, but because different banks process things differently, you may not see the money in your account immediately. Personally, if I'm affected, I won't be re-ordering until the money shows up in my account. I suggest you do the same, but it's your call.
I don't know if there is any sort of time limit on re-ordering. I don't know about "places in line". I'll find out.
If you don't get an email in the next week, then your credit card order was processed successfully before the bank went wonky. Your order is secure and you don't need to do anything.
Manufacturing Update
Apparently the last piece of the puzzle, the last item that needs to be finalized before we'll have a complete Pandora, is the wifi antenna. Good antenna design is the main distinguishing factor between good wifi reception and crappy reception. Having an antenna professionally designed would have cost something like $100K, so the design team had to go a different route. The testing has taken longer than expected, but the result will be excellent wifi range.
The good news is that the antenna probably won't have much of an effect on production times. The bad news is that the LCD panels probably will.
Delays
There are definite supply problems with the LCD panels. It is a simple matter of the manufacturer committing to a certain number in a certain time, and not being able to deliver on that time schedule. It is unfortunate, but it is not uncommon either. There is nothing that can be done about it.
They are shipping panels as they become available, and they will fill out the entire order. However, they will probably not fill the entire order by the end of this month. They may not have it filled by the end of next month. Yes, that means some people might not get their Pandoras until next year. It sucks, but like I said, there is nothing that can be done.
Refunds
As has been the policy from the beginning, you may have your pre-order refunded at any time. This is a community project, and I get the impression that some of you who are new to the community didn't understand what that meant when you placed your order. If you don't want to deal with problems like this, there are others who don't mind as much.
OK, not the best news, but we are moving forward. I'm going to do my best to keep everybody up to date with this stuff. I PMed ED to see about getting front page posting access on Openpandora.org so I can put big updates there. Until then, I'll just sticky anything really important for a couple days and then let if fall. And of course, I will add any significant dev update to my list.
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November 2nd, 2008, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster
Craigix posted this update today:
Hello everyone, Right we were going to mention this somewhere so it may as well go here.
The price of batch two will be $339. That will be converted in to pounds/euros when we are ready to take orders for the second batch.
So there you go, price fixed, in dollars, to $339 (ex taxes) which includes the upgraded RAM and NAND.
This is real bleeding edge tech for a very low price when compared to similar machines, we have done everything we can to get the price as low as we can - but one thing we won't drop is quality - we won't use chinese factories, cheap parts etc. almost everything (inc the pcb) is made in north America.
What does that mean for you? It means if anything goes wrong it's all guaranteed and it meets safety standards. It also means high quality not Chinese PMP style quality.
We have learnt that the reason Chinese stuff is cheap is because it IS cheap and nasty - So we could all save $80 but get a device which is made to the lowest standards or pay a little more and get something high quality.
6 months from now you will be happy we did that I hope and the extra cost will have been worth it.
I just don't want to deal with a GP2X First edition fiasco again. So we won't be running to the cheapest factory any time soon.
Lets hope the dollar rate comes down soon, sterling is crap against the dollar at the moment
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November 1st, 2008, 02:01 Posted By: wraggster
zeGouky posted this:
Hi there,
we have recently Rick Dangerous on the wii wich is a straight port from the 68k but with enhanced graphics, new musics, new starting sequence and an all new final. Some info here
Any way just wanted to let you know that you can count on it soon as i have my pandora in hand (ordered on the first batch) :-P for info the game is running on gp2x too but im not sure about releasing it (need to install back everything etc..) and my gp2x seems bricked (and i hate that stupid pad ...) :-/
We have also a couple of games that you can count on
Gouky
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October 30th, 2008, 21:48 Posted By: wraggster
The Pandora as i mentioned some time ago will have some updated features, heres the details posted over at gp32x
Just to confirm every Pandora will have the 256MB.
Any delays are still down to the LCDs, we have 640 and the rest are coming when ready.
The two main reasons for the upgrade were 1) being to give some compensation for any fuss we cause with asking some people to reorder and 2) being that we can see where this project (and ARM chipsets in general) might be going and the advantages the extra RAM will give us in this area.
We never really imagined running things like Ubuntu so 128MB seemed fine as 256MB was not available and when it was it was initially so expensive as to be impossible.
But then after the Ubuntu 'buzz' and many long late night chats about it we decided it was worth it, the price came down just enough (after some long negotiations) for us to do it in time.
As you all know we are now making no money on the first batch and it has become more of a love of what we are doing and getting the Pandora out there.
Doom3 anyone?
very interesting time for Pandora Preorderers
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