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wraggster
February 24th, 2008, 01:46
The Homebrew scene is bigger now than its ever been, when i first got really into homebrew we just had the Dreamcast and Gameboy Scenes but now we have homebrew scenes for PSP, Nintendo DS, GP2X, Xbox, Wii, PS3, PS2, Dreamcast, GBA, Sega Saturn, GP32, Gizmondo and many others.

Homebrew is so big now that thousands of sites are posting news on it and even the major sites such as Slashdot, Digg, Engadget and even BBC News have posted interviews and articles about homebrew.

A few years ago saw the release of the GP2X a linux based console that was to revolutionize the homebrew scene, it was and is a good console but the build quality of the first units was not so good and the problems of firmware updates bricking the console didnt help either not to mention the crap battery life. Also problems with the company making the console didnt help either, however the F200 Version of the GP2X addressed some of the problems and gave a touchscreen option which is selling well.

The Pandora Console

Last year i was told of a new project to bring a console that would be as powerful as the PSP and maybe even have Nintendo DS Emulation on it, a big boast if ever there was one.

That project was given the name Pandora and a few months ago it transpired that it would look like a Nintendo DS in shape with a keyboard on, the first version was white and didnt impress but a new photo of the design has been released and it looks much better in black.

Heres the photo:

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/dcemupandora.jpg

Heres the specs:


ARM® Cortex™-A8 CPU running Linux
800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
OpenGL 2.0 compliant 3D hardware
Wifi 802.11b/g
Dual SDHC card slots
Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
TV output
High Speed USB Host

Heres some more details about the console:


When and where can I buy it?
Sometime around April/May 2008 via UK, USA, Germany and Turkey.

How much will it cost?
Around £199 (inc VAT), $330, Euro212 (Ex.VAT).

What is the device designed for?
It is designed as an ultra portable open source computer with gaming controls.

Why such a radical design?
The design is actually a simple clamshell which gives maximum protection and maximum control layout, it is around the same size as a DS.

From the photograph you can see it borrows a lot from the Nintendo DS with the clam style and body shape but improves on it with the dual SD card slots.

The screen is a rather big 800x480 which may be problematic for some emulators, the Wifi part should be awesome for playing emulators and games against people worldwide.

The qwerty keyboard, tv out and USB mean you have a portable console that could double as a mini laptop.

Is Pandora the Future of Homebrew?

Personally i hope that Pandora will be a major success, lets hope the build quality is professional and that battery life is comparable with the likes of the Nintendo DS.

Its unlikely the console will ever be a console that major commercial games will be released on but it could be a great bed for indie developers looking to impress the likes of EA and the many major companies out there.

Thats my feelings but what do you think about the design and if it will be a success, will it challenge the likes of the PSP and Nintendo DS who have very strong Homebrew scenes.

Give us your views via Comments

masterchief929
February 24th, 2008, 01:56
that looks amazing. if the graphics are as good as they look on the picture then i think this is the best handheld ever. i think it might be the future of homebrew.

one winged angel
February 24th, 2008, 02:23
if there are coming some decent emus on it i would highly likely buy it:thumbup::thumbup:

ps: found some more specs:
# Dimensions: 140 x 83 x 27 mm
# Core: Texas Instrument's OMAP3430 System-on-chip.

* PowerVR SGX GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0, several million polygons per second).
* 128MB of DDR SDRAM.
* Real Time Clock (RTC) built in, to keep track of time.
* 256MB of internal flash memory.[8]

# Display: 800x480 touchscreen LCD.

* Dimensions: 93.6 x 56.2 mm (4.3 inches, 5:3 widescreen aspect ratio).
* Response Time: 15ms (30ms total for a full black-white-black cycle)
* TV-out included in hardware.
o Separate TV-out signals, picture-in-picture capabilities.
* Powerful 2D and 3D hardware acceleration, see above.

# Input: Buttons, keyboard, microphone, and touchscreen.

* Directional pad will be a D-pad - not a pseudo-analog GP2X-style device.
* Two real analog nubs, which will have a click function and a rubber grip.
* QWERTY keyboard.
* Built-In Microphone

# Connectivity: 802.11g (Wi-fi) included. USB host included.

* The USB will be fully powered (500 milliamps). You'll be able to use anything that has drivers.
* RS-232 will be included, but a level converter will be needed for the UART.

# Software: Open2X-type Linux firmware.

* One-click install system - Debian ARM packages will be accepted.

# Misc. Hardware.

* Lithium-ion battery. Standard for easy replacement.
o Can charge through USB.
* Twin SDHC slots.
* Potentiometer based slider for volume control.
* Case will be a bit smaller the GP2X, and will be a mix of metal and plastic.
* Advanced power management capabilities: only need to set a max clockspeed, when the CPU is not doing anything it automatically HALTs and does nothing to save a lot of power.

pas
February 24th, 2008, 02:37
Looks like a mini laptop if you ask me ;(.... I don't care about bulky things like this...

Airdevil
February 24th, 2008, 02:51
Looks like a mini laptop if you ask me ;(.... I don't care about bulky things like this...

Can you neither read or look at pictures properly?

It says its about the same size as a DS, and the picture has a 10p coin in the picture for comparison.

It is hardly bulky.... at all...

IMO this console looks awesome, but lets hope it gets the dev support it needs.

gtgpeople
February 24th, 2008, 03:03
how much ram does this have?

ExcruciationX
February 24th, 2008, 03:15
I would buy one, but I'm saving up for a modded Xbox.

urherenow
February 24th, 2008, 04:42
DS emulation? on a SINGLE 4.3" screen?

Laughable.

bah
February 24th, 2008, 04:49
I was sceptical when I first saw the earlier drawings of the thing, but when I learnt it was about the size of the DS and tried holding mine in the way you would the pandora. The layout seems to work pretty well.

That has to be a render not a photo, the keyboard still looks at fake as ever. Still, it looks quite nice.

masterchief929: I seriously doubt the image on the screen in that render is anything more than a screenshot from another system copied/pasted there to give a rough impression that its going to be 'powerful'.

gtgpeople: 128MB of DDR SDRAM. (from one winged angel's post).

wind_mill
February 24th, 2008, 04:50
If people would make a linux client on this, or get something like ubuntu running on it, this thing might be able to rival the eeepc, maybe even surpass it with its homebrew and emulation capabilities.
I mite consider buying this, but if it had an inbuilt mic i would totally get this. Skype-ing on this thing would be badass.

aznflameboy
February 24th, 2008, 04:59
I wonder wat game systems it can emulate. hmm. Yea i dont think DS emulation is possible for that. Thats the reason y i have a M3 Simply. lol

pimp12
February 24th, 2008, 05:09
Not really portable.......looks like a laptop...if they managed to some how make it a bit smaller..........sold.

geise69
February 24th, 2008, 05:09
Just so most people over here in DCEMU know, a lot of the dev's that already have contributed to the GP2X scene are working on stuff for this already. From what I read on the gp32x.com forums some "early" builds of the unit have or are already being given to developers. Most basic emulation like genesis/megadrive, nes, Amiga, Atari ST, C64, NeoGeo, MAME and so on are going to be a given. Probably not all right when this comes out but it will eventually. SNES fullspeed with all transparencies and effects is going to be one of the biggest attractions for a lot of homebrew people. Also adding real keyboard and touchscreen for c64, Amiga, Atari ST and other computer emulators like DOSBox are what is going to make this system a real gem. This this is barely bigger than a DS and has the same PowerVR chip that is in the Sega Dreamcast. This is going to be nice for homebrew games. I can't wait to see what dev's are going to do with this machine. There already has been some really amazing stuff in the DS, PSP, and GP2X sceen. Now with this kind of kit some people are going to be making some nice apps. I also wanted to add that FireFox I believe is going to be the web browser for this. This will also have the standard (be able to play movies and listen to music) stuff as well. Just check out the wiki on this from time to time for more info.

abeisgreat
February 24th, 2008, 05:16
I want one of these badly

osgeld
February 24th, 2008, 05:22
the photograph is still a 3d rendering
the keyboard looks scary to type on, altho functional
the controls are still in a awkward position

if this thing comes to light it will defiantly be interesting, but im not sure it knows what it wants to be

right now its just concept art that looks like a funky laptop and less of a portable console

and how is it goning to compete with something like this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00114T9WY), which is already available, and uses pc standards

abeisgreat
February 24th, 2008, 05:24
the photograph is still a 3d rendering
the keyboard looks scary to type on, altho functional
the controls are still in a awkward position

if this thing comes to light it will defiantly be interesting, but im not sure it knows what it wants to be

right now its just concept art that looks like a funky laptop and less of a portable console

They say April so Id expect it in june, im gonna put away $400 just in case this actually comes out

I will admit right now it looks a bit off, but Im sure theyll get it worked out

Nikolaos
February 24th, 2008, 05:31
This is ugly, bulky, pricey... this is definately not the future of homebrew.. the psp remains the king for now.

Markzilla
February 24th, 2008, 05:36
This is ugly, bulky, pricey... this is definately not the future of homebrew.. the psp remains the king for now.

Everything you just said was wrong.

osgeld
February 24th, 2008, 06:06
it is abit ugly toss in some toggle switches and 1980 called, really more cheap looking than anything, the screen looks like a knockoff xbox screen

bulky? nah its still pretty small

pricey? not much more than a psp or gp

and psp is still king in the mainstream market, getting into hobby and nerd land (gp32, and this thing) its a close race

bah
February 24th, 2008, 06:12
pinp12: (from the first post) '..it is around the same size as a DS.'
You actually want it smaller or just didn't read the post?

Markzilla: I'd say he has a point about it being pricey for a handheld with no commercial developer backing (I guess we have to wait and see what it can do before judging if it is worth the cost or not), and I would agree it's ugly compared to the PSP.
Granted the clamshell design is better for protecting the screen and it is hard to make a keyboard pretty.

The PSP has commercial games but had downgrading hassles, this has no commercial games but the potential to be better for homebrew (especially computer emulation,due to the keyboard) if it gets enough dev support and the build quality is a lot better than the gp2x.

Apples and Oranges.

JadaBloom
February 24th, 2008, 06:33
See I'm sorry I can't buy into this till I see it. Anyone remember the XGP? Yea well just goes to show could be worked out or just vaporware again. Is craigx maintaining this by any chance?

Dull Blade
February 24th, 2008, 06:56
personally, I beleive this will be the way of the future, its way more powerfull than the psp, and I'm sure what ever sony will replace the psp with will be as solis as iron where hacking comes into play, kinda how like the 360 was the number 1 homebrew machine in terms of power and emulation, it replacement has been hard as hell to hack for homebrew needs.

pkmaximum
February 24th, 2008, 07:08
Isn't this old news?

geise69
February 24th, 2008, 07:27
I knew a lot of people here in the psp community were not going to embrace it because of how it looks, and that's fine. Just remember form over function isn't always the way to go. Craigix is maintaining this yes. Game Park Holdings has nothing to do with this what so ever. This isn't bulky, yes it's a 3d rendering, but devs, Craigix and MWeston (main designer/builder of this thing) have given it's size. It's right around the size of the DS. The new Texas Instruments OMAP3430 System-on-chip is pretty impressive and blows what the psp does out of the water. Plus this has OpenGL ES 2.0 support. Also the 800x480 screen resolution of this is way larger than the psp. I would rather pull this out and impress people with what it can do rather than saying "Hey look at this sleek looking system that has no touchscreen, needs to use a digital keypad for computer emulation, slow ass internet browser with memory issues" I could care less what this looks like on the outside. I know I can do way more with this than I can with my psp. I love my psp, but I'm very excited about this. This also isn't something that's "supposedly" being made. It is, and some dev's are already working with early prototypes. Mainly so we can have some things running by the time this is out. Just wait and see. It will be worth checking out.

Mini Moose
February 24th, 2008, 08:23
I heard that it was GP2X backwards compatible. This is incorrect isn't it?

I also saw that there was a red color. Will they be releasing a red color? (cause I want the red color)

pkmaximum
February 24th, 2008, 08:44
Lets just see it get released first =P

Exophase
February 24th, 2008, 08:50
I wish I knew why people think it's so huge, especially with the coins thrown in for scale.


DS emulation? on a SINGLE 4.3" screen?

Laughable.

You heard the man, better delete your DS emulators for PC, unless you have a dual monitor setup. Having just ONE screen would make the experience completely worthless!

*cough*

DS's screens are about 3 inches diagonally, or about 9 square inches each, 18 total. Pandora's, at 4.3 inches diagonally, is about 18.5 square inches total.

I haven't played a lot of DS games myself, but from what I've seen and what I've heard it seems like most of them don't require that the screens are vertically oriented one on top of the other (with a few exceptions like Contra 4 and Sonic Rush), meaning that putting them side by side will work fine. What's more, a lot of games don't have much going on on one of the screens so you can have one screen emulated larger than the other, to where it'd probably be larger than a single DS screen. For games that don't use one of the screens at all you can show only one.

Not ideal for all games but the DS itself isn't always that great either - games that pretend it's one screen split in two (which are the only ones that'd really suffer and have to be rendered in lower resolution screens to fit vertically) are met with this obtrusive bar through the middle, sometimes completely unaccounted for.

urherenow
February 24th, 2008, 10:02
and psp is still king in the mainstream market,


Do you have a clue what you're talking about? Don't get me wrong... I Love the PSP. I own a Phat and a Slim... but it has NEVER been King. Nintendo DS has been on top since it's release. As far as Game AND Hardware sales... PSP is still second best.

musti
February 24th, 2008, 10:47
"When and where can I buy it?
Sometime around April/May 2008 via UK, USA, Germany and Turkey."

Hmm,Is this is an April Fool ???

Musti

bah
February 24th, 2008, 10:58
urherenow: I think he meant king (as in best for homebrew) out of the mainstream consoles, not that it dominated the market (most of which mainly uses the devices for commercial games).

The DS obviously has far more market share.

pas
February 24th, 2008, 11:36
Can you neither read or look at pictures properly?

It says its about the same size as a DS, and the picture has a 10p coin in the picture for comparison.

It is hardly bulky.... at all...

IMO this console looks awesome, but lets hope it gets the dev support it needs.


Ahem... can't you think ? IF and I mean IF it was the same size than the DS + having this keyboardlayout, what would be the point of a keyborad as tiny as this at all ? It is a mini laptop no matter how you look at it.


DS emulation? on a SINGLE 4.3" screen?

thats the other point that makes i unattractive to me.
Laughable.

Exophase
February 24th, 2008, 12:02
Ahem... can't you think ? IF and I mean IF it was the same size than the DS + having this keyboardlayout, what would be the point of a keyborad as tiny as this at all ? It is a mini laptop no matter how you look at it.

Welcome to the world of handhelds, where small keyboards are everywhere (and although not as efficient as laptop ones, which are in turn less efficient than desktop ones, they still get the job done). Go look at a Nokia N810. Even better, look at the iPhone and its onscreen keyboard, that people seem to tolerate. Or any number of texting devices or UMPCs. Even cellphones are used to (clumsily) enter messages, and people do it all the time.

Pandora has a keyboard mainly to assist in web browsing, chatting, and for emulating old computers (think about it for a minute, if you just need to press a key to enter a menu or start the game then wouldn't you want a keyboard there for that, as opposed to having to pull one up on the screen?).

The form factor is also locked at this point, and no amount of "logic" will change that. Several mockups have been sent out which show exactly what dimensions it'll have and where everything will be placed. It's only slightly larger than a DS or a GP2X. Relatively small size is an important design goal for the team.

See for yourself: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AwPb_vunkQY

Here's another one that has a bunch of size comparisons, and you can see that it's very similar to the size of a GP2X:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=alP_l62wPsU

bah
February 24th, 2008, 13:12
Exophase: Any idea of the potential of the TI OMAP3430 relative to the PSP's CPU/GPU?

Layman's terms appreciated. :)

pas
February 24th, 2008, 13:18
you're right, it looks nice and is powerful at the same time.

I would but it, if official devs would support it like they support DS and PSP.

Nice youtube vids.

robman84
February 24th, 2008, 13:23
Released in April you say? Hmm, I'll come back on the FIRST day of APRIL to see iF there are any mOre announcements abOut this great consoLe.

Exophase
February 24th, 2008, 13:24
Exophase: Any idea of the potential of the TI OMAP3430 relative to the PSP's CPU/GPU?

Layman's terms appreciated. :)

We don't really know exactly what clock speed these will be able to do, except 625MHz at least. We also know that they can get their test units at 750MHz, but not much higher than that (it's expected that the versions we'll be getting will be better though).

If clocked at the same speed as PSP its CPU would be quite a bit faster than PSP's main CPU. This is largely due to three things:

- It can execute up to two instructions per clock cycle, whereas PSP's CPUs can only do one at a time. How much this will actually happen depends on how good the code written for it is though (big burden on compilers)

- Twice the L1 cache, 32KB/32KB instead of 16KB/16KB (instruction/data cache)

- L2 cache. It hasn't been announced how much but my guess is that it'll be 128KB.

For 3D stuff it's hard to beat PSP's VFPU, but Pandora's CPU has a "NEON" unit which is also a VFPU, and looks pretty good.

So if it were clocked at 2x PSP's speed (667MHz) it's a given that it'll be over 2x faster. How much, who knows; it'll depend on the app.

I wish I could tell you more about the GPU. It looks great on paper but we know too little about it. If it means anything to anyone it's PowerVR tech, which is what was in the Dreamcast. Its predecessor, PowerVR MBX, was in the Dell Axim x50v (and other handhelds)

bah
February 24th, 2008, 13:35
Seems like this thing will certainly be worth looking into.
I just hope the build quality is better than the GP2Xs. A friend has one of the earlier ones and it's pretty poor (headphone jack pushes into the console etc), I think the later ones were supposed to be better.

Thanks for the info mate.

EDIT: Mentioning the similarity of the GPU to that of the dreamcast may come back to haunt you: "where's our DC emulator, where's our DC emulator....." :)

FaIIen
February 24th, 2008, 15:01
u realise that this is a cgi mockup :rolleyes:

Platt
February 24th, 2008, 15:36
Is there any details as to what memory cards this takes or whether it will have a build in hard drive or anything? Because if it gets a PSX emulator and each game is about 700 mb then you'll need alot of memory to fit the games on it. I am mainly looking to purchase this for a fully working n64 emulator seeing as daedalus for the PSP is making such slow progress, also n64 games are only about 8, 32 or 64 mbs each so you could fit alot on it.

Nevermind ive found out that it has dual SD HC card slots, this is good news seeing as you can get these cards with big storage capacity for quite cheap. Here is the webpage with all of the devices details http://openpandora.ca/

sci-fisteve
February 24th, 2008, 15:43
Render everyday of the week if i ever saw it, if this thing ever makes it to market in the time stated some real photo's and or video should be out too.

____anders____
February 24th, 2008, 15:52
damn that's cool!

i will buy this if some cool emus are released on it, very cool if nds emu will come to it..

i want it! :D

pkmaximum
February 24th, 2008, 17:48
It seems Exophase has some confidence in its release, or he KNOWS its going to be released. That is really good cause the design of this hand held to me looks ugly as hell, but its an amazing design imo. Small keyboard (yes I know its not for like big time typing) but it gets the job done like Exophase said. Duel analog sticks (OMG that is where the PSP went wrong!) SD Cards are so cheap and we get to ports for those, so that is kind of nice on storage capacity. The power behind the consul is very strong, I wish we had a more set in stone mhz speed to be expecting. Wifi will be amazing, I can picture it now N64 online like Killera =) (maybe thats just wishful thinking)

Anyway I just hope the price doesn't bump up way passed $350, or they're forced to milk down the system to keep prices low enough.

IndianCheese
February 24th, 2008, 18:17
ARM® Cortex™-A8 CPU running Linux
800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
OpenGL 2.0 compliant 3D hardware
Wifi 802.11b/g
Dual SDHC card slots
Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
TV output
High Speed USB Host
Well, something like this is going to need a rather large reply.

This is the first non-big name company video game system I have ever been excited about. Seriously, this thing is ****ing awesome. Allow me to go through the specs:

ARM® Cortex™-A8 CPU running Linux - Well, I don't know much about the processor, nor do I know much about Linux, but I know it's open source so we should be seeing a lot of good stuff without having to actually hack this thing.

800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD - All I can say is "wow". That is the largest screen I have seen on any portable device (besides laptops) ever. And touchscreen? Hey, if this thing hits major stores, the screen alone could be enough to trump both the DS and PSP.

OpenGL 2.0 compliant 3D hardware - And it's even going to have some kick-ass 3D. I'm hoping this upper-gen emulators, like PSX or Saturn, because not too many handhelds can do those very well.

Wifi 802.11b/g - This is what worries me...will we have a decent web browser? Now, obviously people will use this for its amazing multiplayer capabilities, but the web browser is what we all will end up using. Remember how excited everyone was around the time of the release of PSP firmware version 2.00? I'm hoping we'll get to experience something similar with the Pandora.

Dual SDHC card slots - To tell you the truth, I have never heard of a device with dual SD slots, but it can only mean one thing--an assload of storage.

Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls - The analog stick (and to an extent, the D-pad) on the PSP and DS were disappointments. The PSP analog stick was too small and slide-y, the D-pad sucked for free-roaming 3D games, and the DS D-pad was waaay to clicky. Hopefully we will get some nice controls on this.

43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad - LOL now we're talking! This is truly a unique idea. There's never going to be a problem with control mapping again, and it will be nice to finally chat normally.

TV output - Not much to say here, except it's a nice add-on.

High Speed USB Host - USB hosting? I guess that means we would be able to use a laptop or external hard drive for storage rather than just the SD cards, which would be pretty cool.

Overall - I'm hoping this device will find a happy medium between kick-ass original 3D games and a rich selection of emulators. And the technology here is amazing. I'm really looking forward to seeing one of these in action.

And does anyone know if this is going to be an "online-only" deal or will we actually see this baby retailing in GameStop?

Jeric
February 24th, 2008, 18:32
Ok...128MB ddr ram, if its expandable, AWSOME! if not, eh well no big loss given what homebrew's out for the ds with only 4MB ram.

$330 bucks american? Uh sorry, I could pick up a EEE for just a little more, so why would I buy this instead of something a little bigger with alot more ram, and a full desktop os installed?

If the price dropps I'll be all over it like a fat man on a cupcake.

pkmaximum
February 24th, 2008, 18:47
Ok...128MB ddr ram, if its expandable, AWSOME! if not, eh well no big loss given what homebrew's out for the ds with only 4MB ram.

$330 bucks american? Uh sorry, I could pick up a EEE for just a little more, so why would I buy this instead of something a little bigger with alot more ram, and a full desktop os installed?

If the price dropps I'll be all over it like a fat man on a cupcake.

The price behind hardware like this is beyond exceptional. Remember your talking about a portable device not some desktop that sits in your room. So "no" you won't be upping the ram, rather you really don't need to anyway, 128mb of ram is commendable for any portable device. Put it in the perspective the PSP only has 32mb of ram, and that hand held is capable of a lot. The price is extremely low in my eyes, I just hope it doesn't raise.

mike_jmg
February 24th, 2008, 18:52
I don't know, this looks like it's too good to be true

But if they can fit all those ports, keyboard, gaming controls and touchscreen. I'll definitely get one

How is the memory capacity, I mean Hard drive, memory stick or what? (if it was on the specs I missed it, and I'm too lazy to go back :p)

edit: lol sorry, Dual SDHC card slots

abeisgreat
February 24th, 2008, 19:30
Assuming this thing really comes out (Which I think it will, historically CraigX hasn't been one to make jokes) I think it will sell over the web only just like Gp2x. This device is amazing, I really hope the price doesnt rise. I mean really Dual SDHC that means you can get up to 64 gig in there! I have an 8 gig SDHC I have yet to fill so Ill pry use that and another 8 gig. I really hope this device has a bit more commercial devlopers than Gp2x but its not necessary. And the CPU wow, according to ARM it can go up to over 1ghz which is pretty damn impressive. If this gets released and stays this price It will be king!

Jeric
February 24th, 2008, 19:52
About the desktop/portable comment. the EEE is a subnotebook that, while small, is stil lbigger than this and has a few other belsl n whistles. Me personally, I WANT this. Its pocket portible, meaning I don't have ot have a shoulder tote or the like, just grab n go. For me this's good as my handwriting is utter Fail and being albe to take notes, or flat out write(i'm tryng to get a bit of fiction work done for a deadline in may) would be a godsend as the DS's been....less than satisfying on that count(dso, the best app for the ds Fails, constaintly eats my work, and has no text formatting capability).


Ideas on battery life? I'm guessing roughly a three hour span if we're lucky, but even so thats' a decent battery life for something of this capability.

USB, I'll definately want to know more on usb as i could see lots of uses on that one(2nd player when hooking it up to a tv, or attaching a fullsized keyboard, or an external drive, ect ect we've heard this before).

TV out. Wait is this going to be the old red/yellow/white cabling or is there so mway to hook this to newer tvs(I don't own a new hd set so i don't know if they have the red/yellow leads out anymore).

OS: Linux is a good thing. The problem is things like flash and the like on non-x86 processers are handled by open apps like gnash and such(which a friend of mine that runs linux off an imac constaintly complains about being non-working and or glitchy). So I'm not expecting youtubing or thel ike(though that would be awsome). Still, so long as the basic word processing/media player(and picture viewing)/web browsing is covered I'll be happy even if NO console specific games get put out.

Naitive Games: How're htye gonna be handled, downloadable content onto your microsd card? Pripritary flash carts? I personally ee the former since asthey don't have the ability to compete in brick and morter with the big buys they have to do a digital distribution model. The question then becomes how to stop piracy for the commercial titles, an in-built steamlike app?

JKKDARK
February 24th, 2008, 19:56
This handheld looks awesome, I just hope it sells well :)

slypie
February 24th, 2008, 20:04
Is this the handheld that was talked about months ago that Craig and co were working on?

The only negative I can see from this is the positioning of the gaming controls. They seem a little high up and possibly uncomfortable to use. Apart from that this looks excellent. I never bought a GP2X after thinking long and hard I was put off by being powered by AA batteries so this could be the homebrew console I've been waiting for.

pkmaximum
February 24th, 2008, 20:18
About the desktop/portable comment. the EEE is a subnotebook that, while small, is stil lbigger than this and has a few other belsl n whistles. Me personally, I WANT this. Its pocket portible, meaning I don't have ot have a shoulder tote or the like, just grab n go. For me this's good as my handwriting is utter Fail and being albe to take notes, or flat out write(i'm tryng to get a bit of fiction work done for a deadline in may) would be a godsend as the DS's been....less than satisfying on that count(dso, the best app for the ds Fails, constaintly eats my work, and has no text formatting capability).


Ideas on battery life? I'm guessing roughly a three hour span if we're lucky, but even so thats' a decent battery life for something of this capability.

USB, I'll definately want to know more on usb as i could see lots of uses on that one(2nd player when hooking it up to a tv, or attaching a fullsized keyboard, or an external drive, ect ect we've heard this before).

TV out. Wait is this going to be the old red/yellow/white cabling or is there so mway to hook this to newer tvs(I don't own a new hd set so i don't know if they have the red/yellow leads out anymore).

OS: Linux is a good thing. The problem is things like flash and the like on non-x86 processers are handled by open apps like gnash and such(which a friend of mine that runs linux off an imac constaintly complains about being non-working and or glitchy). So I'm not expecting youtubing or thel ike(though that would be awsome). Still, so long as the basic word processing/media player(and picture viewing)/web browsing is covered I'll be happy even if NO console specific games get put out.

Naitive Games: How're htye gonna be handled, downloadable content onto your microsd card? Pripritary flash carts? I personally ee the former since asthey don't have the ability to compete in brick and morter with the big buys they have to do a digital distribution model. The question then becomes how to stop piracy for the commercial titles, an in-built steamlike app?

Oh my bad then I misinterpreted what you said =P I get what your saying, but still the price on this I still consider great =)

krakenx
February 24th, 2008, 20:36
The real Pandora is the ASUS EEE. It's out now, it's cheaper, it's much more powerful, pretty much the same size, and flawlessly handles emulation of PS1 and below. The controls are also quite comfortable if you map them properly.

But saying that the future of homebrew is either of these is stupid. They are just x86 based ultraportable PCs, nothing more.

Veskgar
February 24th, 2008, 20:59
Call me crazy but I still consider the Slim PSP to be the best homebrew device. A lot of emulators may not yet be perfect (rarely are emulators perfect) but the PSP still has untapped potential. We should continue to encourage new releases on the PSP instead of look for an alternative hardware solution.

Ewin24
February 24th, 2008, 23:01
This isn't meant to be a PC, people. And yes, I own a PSP... it is a nice homebrew device, but it wasn't designed to be. It's a commercial device, no matter how much you want it not to be... that's just how it crumbles. A nice toy? Yes. But I've yet to find anything amazing for my PSP that isn't a port (ex. rRootage) or just a commercial aspect that's been tweaked (commercial games, PS1 emu, custom firmware...). Also, there is not a single practical aspect of the PSP. Take notes? No. Basic design? No. Basic art? No. Basic text entry? Not even that. The closest thing we get is iRShell, which is still just a GAME organizer.

The DS, on the flipside, has a lot of practical purpose. DSOrganize, Colors, Phidias, DSNotes... many a practical program there, which I use on a regular basis on my Cyclo + DSlite Onyx. But the DS lacks two things which the PSP has-- power, and a unified OS. The DS can launch .nds's. Once launched, that NDS is what the system is running. No "returning to home". Even the "return to menu" function on the Cyclo Evo is just resetting the device. And the lack of power limits us to no end... we just can't achieve certain things without more power.

So. We need a device that has 1) a touch screen [NDS] 2) Power [PSP] 3) Unified OS [PSP] 4) Text input [NEITHER!] 5) & open to the public domain of homebrew, with no ridiculous limits [gp2x].

And what does this thing have? 1) A touch screen. Check. 2) As much power as a PSP. Check. 3) Linux. Can you get a more open & unified OS? Check. 4) A thumb keyboard? Check. 5) It's a homebrew-designed device. Mr. Gp2x has shown us what Linux is capable of, homebrew wise. This is good.

This is not a computer, people. This is a portable. Look at the article... "the size of a NDS". Now look at the render, compared to the coins.... good sign.

That render is ugly. Damn ugly. But they've got 3 months to shape this thing up. And if it works, then this is what the homebrew scene has been looking for. Stay hopeful.
This is not an EE. This is not DS, a PSP, or a gp2x. This is a new device. That's a good sign.

Now, the only thing that could make it 100% perfect is 3G phone capabilities...

Jeric
February 24th, 2008, 23:11
As I said. I'd buy it. I know me too well. It would see daily use both for practical and 'fun' stuff as everyone knows The Internet is

Exophase
February 25th, 2008, 01:23
The real Pandora is the ASUS EEE.

Hm... no.


It's out now, it's cheaper,

No it isn't. EEE is $400, Pandora is estimated to be $320-$340.


it's much more powerful

You don't really know that. The CPU might end up being more powerful (when clocked all the way on EEE), but I'm going to bet on the GPU on Pandora (it has shaders for one thing)

The thing is, because of all the ARM based handhelds that have been out a lot of high performance ARM code has been written. I imagine that no one is going to bother writing a DS emulator that's fast enough to run well on EEE. On Pandora it's a totally different story.


, pretty much the same size,

Wow. No.

EEE dimensions:

225mm × 165mm × 21~35mm

Pandora dimensions:

140mm × 83mm × 27mm

I assume the EEE depth is open vs closed, so we'll go with closed. EEE takes up 1300 cubic meters, Pandora takes up under 314. That's less than a fourth of the volume.


and flawlessly handles emulation of PS1 and below.

You can practically say the same thing about PSP.


The controls are also quite comfortable if you map them properly.

Let's see. I've emulated console games on a PC keyboard before and there's no way I'd ever use it over a gamepad, especially if analog is involved. I've used laptop keyboards, and they're much less comfortable than desktop ones. And finally, EEE's keyboard is supposed to be even less comfortable. I think I'll pass, give me a d-pad, face buttons, shoulder buttons, and analog for emulation and 2D games.


But saying that the future of homebrew is either of these is stupid. They are just x86 based ultraportable PCs, nothing more.

Pandora isn't that at all. For one thing it's ARM (like GP2X, Nintendo DS), NOT x86 - therefore it doesn't run PC software. It really is a homebrew oriented handheld, much unlike the EEE which really is just a small laptop (not even really a UMPC by formfactor). People are getting confused here because they're seeing a keyboard. This is a gaming device and an internet tablet, not a laptop. The keyboard helps for emulation as well as doing other things (emulating any computer. Think DOS PCs, C64, Amiga..), and for providing extra functionality for programs. It's going to be much easier to have a unified interface when you have a ton of keys to throw at it that most programs won't need to use.

One thing you didn't mention is battery life - because EEE is an x86 design (and not even using an especially low power x86 CPU, although those are quite a bit less powerful) I can promise you that the battery life will be much worse than it will be on Pandora.

Please try to research more before saying these things, you were wrong on several counts.

By the way, to those who think the renders are ugly: I agree, but they're renders. Does anyone remember how ugly the first PSP renders looked?

Look at this plastic model: http://youtube.com/watch?v=djt2uLnJk6g

That's much closer to how the actual Pandora will look, and IMO it looks quite good.

argor
February 25th, 2008, 02:12
"When and where can I buy it?
Sometime around April/May 2008 via UK, USA, Germany and Turkey."

Hmm,Is this is an April Fool ???

Musti
nop this not a April Fools

if you just wait cople of days you may see some pix of it

from http://www.openpandora.org/

Hello everyone,

We will be at the TIDC (February 26-28) in Dallas, Texas, we hope to have a prototype Pandora with us. :D

Selected devs from the GP32/GP2X/Zodiac scene will receive a Devboard free of charge very soon (some already have these).

Ordering for the 'First edition' Pandora may start in March, note that these will be beta versions of the console mostly for devs or hackers to try out and report back on.

insurgentstain
February 25th, 2008, 03:30
It seems to have an exponential amount of power for a portable, I love the touch screen, and the gaming controls seem about right, but...

Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly.

This thing looks like a prop for a straight to video 80's sci-fi movie. It says it's portable, but I wouldn't dare bring that thing out in public.

I really agree typing sucks on the psp, but one thing I'll give the psp is it looks like a console, not a damn english translator.

Yes I am glad that they are paying attention to the fact that we need a good way to access things online, but common hide that shit somehow. Make it slide out of the bottom or something.

LeprechaunIV
February 25th, 2008, 03:44
Drooling.

the_eternal_dark
February 25th, 2008, 04:08
Come on people, you are complaining on how it looks as opposed to how it will function? What the f*ck, are you all Paris Hilton clones? Who gives a flying shit if it is uglier than a PSP or NDS, as long as the functionality is better, why worry?

I can't wait to see what is coming for this system, in terms of emulation. N64 full speed, PS1 full speed (an actual emulator, not one offered in the PSP firmware, since there is no open source code to play with). Marathon would be nice, the one for GP2X is good, but buggy.

wolfpack
February 25th, 2008, 05:08
could you imagine playing unreal gold on this thing? heheheh

im pretty sure the source code is out for unreal 1 anyways, correct me if im wrong, but if its out, this thing would be awesome to play on even though the keyboard is kinda ugly on it, but oh well, im pretty sure if a source code was out it would be ported to psp, but the problem would be lack of buttons, pandora however......well if its gonna look pretty close to this pic, then this is a possible psp killer...

krakenx
February 25th, 2008, 05:32
For all the people saying that this isn't supposed to be a PC, I quote from the original post
What is the device designed for?
It is designed as an ultra portable open source computer with gaming controls.




Hm... no.



No it isn't. EEE is $400, Pandora is estimated to be $320-$340.
I paid $346 shipped for a 4g surf EEE, which is about the same price as a Pandora. Thats the mid grade model, I could have gotten a 2g surf for $296 shipped, which is cheaper.



You don't really know that. The CPU might end up being more powerful (when clocked all the way on EEE), but I'm going to bet on the GPU on Pandora (it has shaders for one thing)

The thing is, because of all the ARM based handhelds that have been out a lot of high performance ARM code has been written. I imagine that no one is going to bother writing a DS emulator that's fast enough to run well on EEE. On Pandora it's a totally different story.


I didn't realize that the Pandora had an ARM. That's even worse. As far as I know, very few emulators have even been made for the ARM, and those that have are very slow and inefficient. I have a cell phone with a 333mhz ARM and it struggles to emulate an SNES. Ditto for emus on the DS. On the upside, GBA emulation should be easy, but without two screens, DS emulation is infeasible even if the system was powerful enough, which it isn't.

But power is more than just the processor, and 128MB of RAM is very small nowdays. Much like an XBox, you would probably have to use special tricks to emulate larger roms, and forget running multiple things at once. The 3D card, if it has one and doesn't just do openGL in software rendering could be huge, but there are no details given.


You can practically say the same thing about PSP.
True, but we weren't really discussing that. At half the price, with tons of existing homebrew, and with the ability to play fully 3D retail games too, neither this nor the EEE is better for purely gaming.



Let's see. I've emulated console games on a PC keyboard before and there's no way I'd ever use it over a gamepad, especially if analog is involved. I've used laptop keyboards, and they're much less comfortable than desktop ones. And finally, EEE's keyboard is supposed to be even less comfortable. I think I'll pass, give me a d-pad, face buttons, shoulder buttons, and analog for emulation and 2D games.


Very true about normal desktop/laptop keyboards, but the EEE's keyboard is actually quite different. Its small enough such that you can hold the whole computer like a gamepad, and the keys, unlike a normal keyboard, line up vertically. Thus you can actually map it like a D-pad and it feels like a D-pad. It does lack shoulder buttons, but I think the Pandora does also?




One thing you didn't mention is battery life - because EEE is an x86 design (and not even using an especially low power x86 CPU, although those are quite a bit less powerful) I can promise you that the battery life will be much worse than it will be on Pandora.

My EEE gets around 3.5 hours with heavy use (wifi on, max brightness, playing SNES). My PSP gets around 2 hours(max brightness), and my DS around 4.5 (supercard slot 2...). I imagine the Pandora to be 3-5 hours, which is the same basic range.

pkmaximum
February 25th, 2008, 07:05
Are ARM processors really not that good?

one winged angel
February 25th, 2008, 07:17
Are ARM processors really not that good?

no, you can compare them to a mips which si a risc cpu too they are not bad or worse

bah
February 25th, 2008, 07:24
krakenx: The DS has a 67mhz ARM processor, and has some amazingly impressive emulators, quake, and now freaking quake2 (thats due to the pure skill and dedication of the coder, simonjhall, though).
The GBA has a 16.8 MHz ARM processor and I was playing Master system games on it perfectly ffs.

It's about graphics hardware (which Exophase has said appears to be better in the pandora) and optimisation, phones are the worst platform for that as they are all different, so devs have to make speed sacrifices for compatibility.

The gp2x is ARM based, and not only has a lot of great emulators it's a platform that is pretty damn relevant seeings as its the direct predecessor of the pandora.



Exophase: 1300 cubic meters ?
Dang that is kind of bulky. :)

6 orders of magnitude or 5 letters (centi) off.

Ok I'm just being a smartarse with this one, sorry. :P

Eyedunno
February 25th, 2008, 07:54
Is this the handheld that was talked about months ago that Craig and co were working on?

The only negative I can see from this is the positioning of the gaming controls. They seem a little high up and possibly uncomfortable to use. Apart from that this looks excellent. I never bought a GP2X after thinking long and hard I was put off by being powered by AA batteries so this could be the homebrew console I've been waiting for.
Ditto, the batteries, the d-pad, and the design flaws in terms of dual processor use turned me off to the GP2X. This appears to correct all three things, so I want one.

And I don't care about DS emulation. As long as it can emulate SNES, Genesis, CPS1&2, and PSX, I'll be a VERY happy camper.

Exophase
February 25th, 2008, 09:05
For all the people saying that this isn't supposed to be a PC, I quote from the original post

It's not a PC because it isn't x86. Don't read so heavily into the marketing spin. Considering that several GP2X developers are getting free units it should tip you off that off the bat the Pandora is going to have software that's very similar to GP32/GP2X/etc which are most certainly not PCs.


I paid $346 shipped for a 4g surf EEE, which is about the same price as a Pandora. Thats the mid grade model, I could have gotten a 2g surf for $296 shipped, which is cheaper.

I didn't realize there were lower end models now, of course a difference in specs can totally throw off my comparisons... The 2G is supposed to be limited to 570MHz, which takes quite a lot off of your "much more powerful" remark.


I didn't realize that the Pandora had an ARM. That's even worse. As far as I know, very few emulators have even been made for the ARM, and those that have are very slow and inefficient.

You couldn't possibly be any more wrong. The number of optimized interpreter cores for ARM is staggering, not to mention recompilers for PS1 (MIPS) and GBA (ARM) (x86 doesn't even have a publicly available GBA emulator with a recompiler, much less a DS one...)

Just add up all the emulators made for GBA, DS, GP2X, it completely dwarfs the number of emulators made for PSP (for instance).


I have a cell phone with a 333mhz ARM and it struggles to emulate an SNES.

That's because your phone is probably Symbian based or has some other OS that people don't like developing for. Compare that to SNES running on GP2X.


Ditto for emus on the DS.

DS is a pathetic 67MHz ARM9 + 33MHz ARM7 and STILL manages to emulate SNES and Genesis at full speed for a large number of games, with sound (of course it helps that it has 2D graphics to shoulder the load)

Pandora's going to have at least 8-10x more useful CPU power than DS.


On the upside, GBA emulation should be easy,

Wrong, GBA emulation is much more demanding than SNES. Or are you one of those people who think that just because it's ARM it should be easy to emulate on another ARM platform? Should I go into my usual explanation for why virtualization doesn't work on ARM?


but without two screens, DS emulation is infeasible even if the system was powerful enough, which it isn't.

Sorry, but the "it doesn't have two screens!" argument is rubbish, as I've already pointed out in an earlier post. If you can't play the game without having two physically separate screens then something is wrong with you. I'd love to hear a coherent rebuttal to this.

And I happen to think that it's quite likely that Pandora WILL be powerful enough to handle DS emulation. I'd also love to hear your technical explanation as to why it isn't (warning: I have a much better technical understanding of what it'd take to emulate it than you do)


But power is more than just the processor, and 128MB of RAM is very small nowdays.

Not for a game and web browsing machine, which it is. It's perfectly standard for a handheld, which it also is. It's 2x what PSP and GP2X has, sounds like the right kind of step to me.


Much like an XBox, you would probably have to use special tricks to emulate larger roms,

Larger ROMs? What ROMs do you have in mind that are over 100MB? Or do you mean ISOs that are not directly mapped to begin with?

Boy, if only Linux had some kind of "virtual" memory to facilitate this. Sorry, I'll stop talking nonsense :rolleyes:


and forget running multiple things at once.

You must be suggesting that no one was multitasking anything until they had over 128MB of RAM...


The 3D card, if it has one and doesn't just do openGL in software rendering could be huge, but there are no details given.

Try doing some research. The OMAP3430 has a PowerVR SGX, which is a DirectX10 level chipset (with shaders) in PowerVR's line (there was a PowerVR chip in the Dreamcast. This is similar technology, but probably better).

And yes, it supports OpenGL 2.0 ES.


True, but we weren't really discussing that. At half the price, with tons of existing homebrew, and with the ability to play fully 3D retail games too, neither this nor the EEE is better for purely gaming.

On the other hand, this is much better at playing games than the EEE ever will be thanks to the control layout. When it comes to homebrew this has a lot more potential than PSP ever had.


Very true about normal desktop/laptop keyboards, but the EEE's keyboard is actually quite different. Its small enough such that you can hold the whole computer like a gamepad, and the keys, unlike a normal keyboard, line up vertically. Thus you can actually map it like a D-pad and it feels like a D-pad. It does lack shoulder buttons, but I think the Pandora does also?

Of course the Pandora has shoulder pads. Do you really think they'd give it analogs and not shoulder pads? I don't believe your EEE description for a minute. For a d-pad to be effective it has to have a unified pivot point, and not just be four buttons. That's why the GP2X F200 has a subpar d-pad.


My EEE gets around 3.5 hours with heavy use (wifi on, max brightness, playing SNES). My PSP gets around 2 hours(max brightness), and my DS around 4.5 (supercard slot 2...). I imagine the Pandora to be 3-5 hours, which is the same basic range.

Your EEE has 2.5x to 3.5x the battery capacity of a PSP (original vs Slim), and I think your numbers sound insane. My PSP gets 6+ hours on medium brightness and a bit worse on high brightness. This is without the UMD drive spinning, of course, but there wouldn't be any such thing going on in the Pandora either. Your DS numbers are also far lower than anything I've ever heard. In fact, your numbers in general sound extremely optimistic for EEE and extremely pessimistic for the other two, so you'll have to forgive me for thinking you're exaggerating the hell out of them. Wikipedia even says 2 hours 45 minutes for the Surf (that's a 4400 mAh battery)

Anyway, with a similar capacity battery to EEE the Pandora would completely blow it away in battery life, and craigix has said on several occasions that he's intent on putting in the highest capacity battery he can manage to.

bah
February 25th, 2008, 09:07
I was sceptical of the wisdom behind the button placements, but then I held a DS (fat) in the way you would to use the pandora's layout and it seemed quite comfortable.
Perhaps more so than using the DS's layout as my thumbs were more stretched out and less cramped.

Using a touch screen (especially now its on the top of the clamshell) while holding the thing in 1 hand for a long while may be uncomfortable though, just as it is with the DS (for me, anyway).

Exophase
February 25th, 2008, 09:51
I was skeptical of the wisdom behind the button placemtns, but then I held a DS (fat) in the way you would to use the pandora's layout and it seemed quite comfortable.

A lot of us (devs commenting on it behind the scenes) were/are worried about the control placement, and the keyboard layout and all that. I have very small hands, but I've been assured that a child will be able to use it comfortably. Right now I'm basically trusting the people who have said that they find the mockup(s) comfortable to use, including one person who is very critical of pretty much everything.

I think MWeston's plastic mockup looks the most convincing. It's also reassuring to know that a number of people are trying this out and that it has been tweaked so that it feels good, and isn't just a design slapped together with no real testing. I get the feeling that a lot of commercial designs suffer from this, putting all their effort into making it look nice and little effort into making it work the best it can.


Perhaps more so than using the DS's layout as my thumbs were more stretched out and less cramped.

Using a touch screen (especially now its on the top of the clamshess) while holding the thing in 1 hand for a long while may be uncomfortable though, just as it is with the DS (for me, anyway).

I think it could potentially be even worse than the DS, since you're pressing on the top instead of the bottom. I expect the hinge to be very sturdy (hopefully more so than the fragile DS ones) to help make this less of a problem. I don't really expect the touchscreen to get very heavy extended usage. To me it's more of a "nice to have" kind of thing, but if DS emulation happens then I hope it'll be at least somewhat in the same ballpark as using one.

bah
February 25th, 2008, 10:49
Yeah, the hinge needs to be pretty stiff or have some form of lock-in-place mechanism so you can tap the screen without unwanted movement.

I guess when your holding a hand-held like the DS the screen is normally fully opened (almost flat rather than the 90deg angle shown in the render) so it's more an issue of strength of the hinges than their stiffness.

If you were to use it sitting on a desk like a mini laptop for some reason then it would be a big deal though.

argor
February 25th, 2008, 11:33
If people would make a linux client on this, or get something like ubuntu running on it, this thing might be able to rival the eeepc, maybe even surpass it with its homebrew and emulation capabilities.
I mite consider buying this, but if it had an inbuilt mic i would totally get this. Skype-ing on this thing would be badass.
it has a Built-In Microphone http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=38155&st=4050&p=568882&#entry568882
:cool:

Jeric
February 25th, 2008, 16:18
Ok. I'm on board, and will be seriously considering getting one around christmass or next year(when finances look to allow it as bills're an issue). My concern isn't so much me, but you have to admit people will be comapring this to the EEE given theyr'e simmiler price points for portable devices. One could argue they're not intended for the same audiances, but I'll simply agree to disagree on the matter and leave it at that as I frankly suck at debating the finer points of an argument.

slypie
February 26th, 2008, 00:10
I do like the look of the console and I take my hat off to them doing something different I think the price maybe a little steep for some considering that you can get a PSP for less. When you add in a couple of 8GB SD cards it's knocking onto the price of a cheap laptop. I know a laptop and this are different but both are capable of doing the same type of things like emulation and web surfing etc so I do see a couple of people's point about comparing the Pandora to the EeePC.

I hope they hit the sweet point for the price cause at the moment I can see the price being the stumbling block. But I hope it's a success and if the price is right I would buy one.

Ewin24
February 26th, 2008, 04:32
I think a large part of it really comes down to an individual's perspective.

I get the feeling that for a casual gamer, I get the sense that the fact it costs more than a PSP and is anything similar to the EEE (which, in actuality, the only similarities are the fact both devices run good ol' Linux...) turns them off. Which is absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time, I understand... without research, the PSP looks like a better choice. And you really can't expect the modern gamer to research their purchases that much.

On the other end of the sword, however, I think that for more dedicated and knowledgeable gamers/Devs the Pandora looks absolutely fantastic. I know it does to me, and it seems to look the same to Exophase as well. And if there is anyone who is qualified to weigh the potential and emulation power of a system, I'd say it's Exophase.

People just need to respect the differences between each device. The DS & PSP are consoles, no matter how you look at it. They can be changed, as I've done to both mine, but all in all they are consoles. The gp32/gp2x are homebrew devices, but vastly underpowered & with some serious flaws. And the EEE is a computer people. It is not an UMPC. It is not a homebrew device. It is a laptop. A small laptop, but a laptop all the same. If you have a reasonably sized screen, a full keyboard, 512+ MB RAM, potentially 8GB onboard memory, and most importantly an x86 architecture, then you are a laptop. I really think the vast differences between the processor types are throwing off many people. It's not just apples and oranges, it's plums and pineapples.

I'm not saying the EEE is a bad device by any means. Quite the contrary... if my finances turn out very well this year, I hope to get both a Pandora & an EEE. But I am trying to get across the fact they are two completely different devices, with different purposes, each with their own niche.

I hope this thing gets an at least medium-sized fanbase relatively quickly. We've obviously got the support of the Devs, but without enough revenue, no device can survive for long.

P.S. Does anyone know exactly what variety of Linux the Pandora will tout? Or at least what variety the Pandora's OS is a spin-off of?

dark heart
February 26th, 2008, 07:11
oooh i might just buy it. :D

the_eternal_dark
February 26th, 2008, 12:33
oooh i might just buy it. :D

You will have to. It calls to you. :D

I'll be getting 2 when it finally releases. Don't ask why, because I'm not telling right now.

bah
February 26th, 2008, 14:36
Why?

KaliKot
February 26th, 2008, 18:55
Its great and its looking like a killer.

BUT the price tag is too much for an open-source gaming console which doesnt even have commercial games. Same problem with the GP32x and this will really keep me off these things until they go down to DS level

acn010
February 26th, 2008, 19:46
at the end...
-this device is for game emulation and web browsing.
-multimedia player
small enough to fit in your pocket (almost ds size)+ model types is clampshell type.
-most powerful emulating machine available.
ill buy it as soon it comes out

Duobix
February 26th, 2008, 22:23
This is something in the middle between dsl and eeepc. The eeepc is better than this cause it can be windowsed(and it does mean games/emus).

acn010
February 26th, 2008, 22:32
EEEPC is A COMPUTER and pandora is a emulating machine.... very different machines

argor
February 26th, 2008, 22:56
EEEPC is A COMPUTER and pandora is a emulating machine.... very different machines

pandora is a open handheld game console

pandora is not a emulating machine
it can be it :D

it is open just like a pc

so it can be thing you like
be it emulating machine ;)

yaustar
February 26th, 2008, 23:41
For those complaining about the price, don't forget to take into account that they have to profit from each handheld sold. Compare this to the fact that Sony and Microsoft sell their consoles are a lost and make up the price on games sold, £199 is reasonable for the hardware of the Pandora.

IndianCheese
March 5th, 2008, 22:33
The screen is a rather big 800x480 which may be problematic for some emulators.Why would a big screen be bad?

hammerhead13
March 6th, 2008, 22:42
It looks sweet, but it might be a little bulky.

arcadekidflo
April 18th, 2008, 19:21
That keyboard with letters in italics , i think it's design can be impoved . Can't you mkae it look more like a PDA or notebook keyboard ?

Kaeruyaki
May 5th, 2008, 00:00
This beats an Eee PC

Lodis
May 21st, 2008, 17:37
It looks sweet, but it might be a little bulky.


Yea, those two tiny coins next to it in the picture are totaly dwarfed.