OpenPandora (Successor to GP2X + Open source handheld!) shipping soon! (Tons of info)

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lobski

Limp Gawd
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Some of you may have heard of a little open source handheld called GP2x. This thing is entirely open source, with hundreds of homebrew applications for it. But the best part is the emulators, and the ability to have hundreds of legally backed up ROMS in the palm of your hand. It even emulates PSX at fullspeed for most games. Most people ask "Why not get the PSP?" First of all, the PSP is not an open source handheld, and there is a small homebrew community, but they don't get the constant update treatments the GP2x does. The GP2x scene in a sense, is for the "real" homebrew hackers ;). I loved having an entire libraries of MAME, SNES, NES, etc. in my palm. Did I mention it also plays a wide variety of video and music files? Oh, and you can overclock this baby too. The latest version comes with a touchscreen too! Imagine playing old SCUMMVM (Monkey Island, the Dig, etc) sitting in a bus! (The DS has touchscreen and SCUMMVM too, but it doesn't hold a stick to the GP2x)

A small group of people have decided to build a better machine built on the idea of the GP2x. Thus, the Pandora was born. It's built on hundreds of feedback from the community, and built with "open source" in mind. Apparently, it's the most powerful handheld system that exists. It's due to ship very soon, and I encourage anyone interested in open source hacking, or oldschool gaming on the go, to check out the GP2x and the Pandora.

Since it's very close to launch, Craig (Leader) of the project sent the community an email, and I wish to share with H.

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==========================================
Thank you all for signing up to the openPandora.org newsletter, this project has been going
on for an amazing and exhausting 2 years and is finally reaching the launch. It's been a very
long time - but with your help we have produced the most powerful, cutting edge handheld in
the world:

* ARM Cortex-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
* 430-MHz TMS320C64x+ DSP Core
* PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
* 800x480 4.3inch 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
* Wifi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth & High Speed USB 2.0 Host
* Dual SDHC card slots & SVideo TV output
* Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
* 43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
* Around 10+ Hours battery life
* GUI: gMenu, various X based desktops, Ubuntu etc. or make your own.

If you have not had the chance to see some of the videos we have posted, we have included
some of the highlights here, oh, and we will be posting more videos before the preorder date.

Pandora Prototype overview (Emus, Quake etc.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0YGgQ3S_X8
Ubuntu on the OMAP3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i9cWOK1spw
Amiga Emulator on a Pandora prototype: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwuI6_zCjxY
The custom made analogue controller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEdJ2V7ltxg
Pandora devboard arcade compilation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbPQJUOsQBQ
OMAP3 Graphics demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evJ0Vr8LjYk

See more and get up to date via our blog at: http://openpandora.org/blog.php

The preorder date for the Pandora is the 30th of September, the Pandora will start shipping
at the end of November.

The first batch will be limited to 3000 units worldwide. The next batch will be made in
2009.

Orders will be on a first come first served basis. If demand is too high we will start to
limit the orders to one Pandora per person, although any multiple orders recieved before
that would still be honoured.

The price is $329.99 / £199.99 (Inc VAT) / E249.99 (Inc VAT).

Anyone from anywhere in the world can order a Pandora, and we have special distribution
arrangements for USA, Canada, Spain, UK, Ireland, Germany & Turkey.

You can pay via US$, £GPB or Euro.

Spanish orders must be ordered via the UK but the shipping charge will be normal internal
Spanish rates, after this Hardcore Gamer will be the Spanish distributor.

We will also be setting up an affiliate system, we are offering a version for news sites and
a version for you, the regular customer, if you want to promote the Pandora to your friends.

If you run a news site please get in touch so we can work with you in advance on promotion.

As many of you know we have made the Pandora and done all the work on a tiny budget, so we
need your help to spread news and sell the Pandora, this is a system made by the users, we hope
it can be sold by you guys too.

If you run a news site please post news about the Pandora and the history behind it, join
our affiliate system so we can work together to promote it. There are no middle men with
this system, you will be speaking directly to us, we hope this is a unique situation and
will work out well.

Developers, Linux guys, hackers - we will be putting up everything you need to know over the
next month - join the dev forum at www.gp32x.com

That goes for everyone else too - if you want to ask something or get involved join us at the
forum - www.gp32x.com/board - but remember to read the FAQ first!

There will be another newsletter on the 30th with ordering information, but first we would
like to say thinks to you all for all your input, dedication to the project, ideas, arguments,
bitching, emails of support, news posts, help and everything else.

You can be sure we will look after all you preorder people in the best possible way and all of
you will be able to email or phone us directly - see you on the 30th!

Thanks,

Craig & the http://www.OpenPandora.org team.

PS you can email us on [email protected]
==========================================


That's it! Hopefully, this will poke interest at fellow users wanting to try an open-source handheld...
 
sorry to be skeptical but if this is vapor-ware, a 2 month gap between order and ship is to get past the 30 day limit on most chargeback policies.

If they charge you only when it ships then shoot me down and sign me up for one.:eek:
 
omega-x said:
sorry to be skeptical but if this is vapor-ware, a 2 month gap between order and ship is to get past the 30 day limit on most chargeback policies.

If they charge you only when it ships then shoot me down and sign me up for one.:eek:
Click to expand...

Not vaporware ;)
 
sounds like an awesome machine, i may well pick one up.
 
sign me up, im getting this specially if it runs ubuntu as well as that video shows...
 
scared:
no external video
i doubt the keyboard is usable
would much rather it not be a flip unit and instead rely on some kind of fold-away bluetooth keyboard
it looks effin huge for a handheld
i'm terrified the powervr chipset wont be usable via OpenGL for lack of drivers. nokia for example doesnt make use of any of the powervr hardware their units have onboard.

awesome:
replacement for my p1120 8.9" crusoe touchscreen laptop with better connectivity & 3d
analog controls (seriously gp2x wtf?)
dual sdhc makes it a portable media center. 16gb cards are ~$38.
good screen res, hopefully it looks good otherwise
touchscreen
given that everyone and their mother is using it, there is some hope (among the list: Intel, whose replacing their absolutely worthless power hungry GMA 9xx graphics with a version of this in their mobile GMA 5xx chipset).

i dont think i can avoid buying this.
 
Just looks like a good device to play psp games on. It would be much more interesting if it could play more than nostalgia games.
Put Civ4 on there and I'll buy two right now.
 
omega-x said:
sorry to be skeptical but if this is vapor-ware, a 2 month gap between order and ship is to get past the 30 day limit on most chargeback policies.
Click to expand...
This is critical. It's very odd they're going to allow preorders over 30 days before the ship date and I have not seen any indication that this thing is real.

Looks like a cool device and I may pick one up one day if it turns out to be real but I'd advise everyone to be very careful when signing up for a preorder.
lobski said:
PSP games will probably never work on the Pandora... Why would you need UMD to work on a Pandora?
Click to expand...
Because then it would be a useful gaming device?

It's great it plays PSX, SNES, NES, etc but what about modern games? Are those only homebrew? If that's the case then there is nothing my PSP can't do that this thing can.

If this device does not have a way to play major titles or cannot get any major titles released for it, then it will die a quick or slow death (depending on how much resources there are to burn through).
 
Kris said:
It's great it plays PSX, SNES, NES, etc but what about modern games? Are those only homebrew? If that's the case then there is nothing my PSP can't do that this thing can.

If this device does not have a way to play major titles or cannot get any major titles released for it, then it will die a quick or slow death (depending on how much resources there are to burn through).
Click to expand...

Hah, no. The GP2x was very successful, and it STILL has a very strong homebew team. And it came out many years ago. It has the strongest homebrew community between the PSP, DS, and GBA. Updates and new games/apps are released nearly on a daily basis, etc.

If you want modern games, with the best looking graphics and PSP games, get the PSP. The Pandora's purpose is not this.
 
so ive been reading alot about this and it just sounds like heaven, only problem is, is it the same kind of preorder where you only pay a little then the rest gets deducted when it ships? I dont wanna pre order it and pay full and then watch as it gets delayed by manufacturing problems, shortage of materials, ect I mean we havent even seen the final product, much less a prototype, all we have seen are renders and dev kits...and by prototype i dont mean the motherboard and stuff, but the actual unit incased in plastic

Anyone else feel the same way?
 
Eragon Dragonslayer said:
so ive been reading alot about this and it just sounds like heaven, only problem is, is it the same kind of preorder where you only pay a little then the rest gets deducted when it ships? I dont wanna pre order it and pay full and then watch as it gets delayed by manufacturing problems, shortage of materials, ect I mean we havent even seen the final product, much less a prototype, all we have seen are renders and dev kits...and by prototype i dont mean the motherboard and stuff, but the actual unit incased in plastic

Anyone else feel the same way?
Click to expand...

A little but sure. If you're uncomfortable, you can always wait for the second batch.
 
lobski said:
I'm not sure if XP can be installed, but Win9x, most likely.
Click to expand...
Most likely not since this uses an ARM processor. Bochs/gsagers/whatever would probably run Win9x OK, but definitely no Windows gaming. gsagers can run Win98 on my Nokia 770 (which is tinier, has an 800x480 touch screen, BT, WiFi, SCUMMVM and other emulators ;)).
------

I wonder if any Atom-based competitors will be coming out. I'd definitely be interested in something similar based on x86.
 
pxc said:
Most likely not since this uses an ARM processor. Bochs/gsagers/whatever would probably run Win9x OK, but definitely no Windows gaming. gsagers can run Win98 on my Nokia 770 (which is tinier, has an 800x480 touch screen, BT, WiFi, SCUMMVM and other emulators ;)).
------

I wonder if any Atom-based competitors will be coming out. I'd definitely be interested in something similar based on x86.
Click to expand...

I thought a new x86 emulator had made it onto the scene, but it turns out the user "gsagers" on the Internet Tablet Talk forums ported bochs.

As for an Intel Atom competitor to the Pandora, it seems unlikely. Though, it'd be rather cool.
 
Unlikely in the short term perhaps but intel supposedly is planning to have the atom ride dieshrinks into the mobile phone arena. The 35nm shrink might be enough to get into the handheld market, especially if a new chipset is released at the same time.
 
its vapor and now theyre trying to double charge people


"In order for you to accept this upgrade we will need to refund your
order and ask you to reorder, this is due to our credit/debit card
processor being difficult with us about this. The refund has already
been processed and should be back in your account now or within the
next 3 days."
 
nvm. i actually received the refund.

BUT..

i paid initially. 350 dollars


the refund i got was 290 dollars.


Fucking bunch of scammers.
 
omega-x said:
nvm. i actually received the refund.

BUT..

i paid initially. 350 dollars


the refund i got was 290 dollars.


Fucking bunch of scammers.
Click to expand...

This is due to currency fluctuations. The money you sent was converted to GBP and when converted back for the refund, the value of the dollar changed. Definitely not a nice way of doing things, IMO.
 
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