OpenPandora Handheld Console discussion

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#1

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This is the Pandora (Although to avoid connections to Avatar or the mystical box, most call it Open Pandora.)

It’s tagline? Ultra Portability Without Sacrificing Capability - And it’s not lying. The Pandora is everything you’d want in a laptop ~ That’s about the size of a DS. It’s main purpose, however, is Gaming. You can tell from the D-Pad, 2 analogue nubs, and the A,B,X,Y buttons in the picture above. I suppose you could be asking “what exactly does this thing offer?” Well:

If your technical about things like myself, these specs will speak volumes:
* ARM® Cortex™-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
* 430-MHz TMS320C64x+™ DSP Core
* PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
* 800x480 4.3" 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

But if your not, let me explain a little better. This is a gaming console running as 600Mhz, which is about as powerful as a Nintendo Gamecube. It’s also got a 800 by 600 pixel screen and a 3D Video card to back it up. If you want to browse the Internet, no problem. It’s got both Wifi AND Bluetooth built in, and if you’d prefer to use an external Wifi stick, there’s always a USB Port. It’s got 2 SD Card slots to put all of your music, pictures, movies and Games one, and it even comes with a TV Out port so you can view it all on a big screen! And in case you need to look something up, it’s got a nifty QWERTY Keyboard for easy typing. Oh, and all of this doesn’t come at the expense of battery life, which has been reported to last 10 or MORE hours, depending on what your doing on the device.

I guess the next question is why you’d need one. Well, you don’t. But if your REALLY into older games like me, you’ll think you need it. Why? Well, It emulates everything up to and including Dreamcast! (With the exeption of some handhelds that came after the Dreamcast like the Game Boy Advance and PSP.) Have you ever wanted to play Paper Mario on the go, but couldin’t? Now you can! How about the original Sonic’s, or maybe some Super Metroid? No problem! THIS is what’s so cool about the device - it does an amazing amount of stuff for it’s size and price.

So as you can see, I REALLY, REALLY want one of these. They cost $330, which is a pretty good price from where I’m standing. But I wanted to see what you guys thought about this. It just started shipping to consumers a few weeks ago and it’s been really exiting (at least for me) to watch them opening them and showing what it’s already capable of.

If there’s any developers out there, this thing is for you. It’s Open-Source, (after all, why else call it an Open Pandora?) so you can develop for it freely and publish it to the Pandora App Store when it’s ready for thousands of end users to play on a real console. Developers have already been taking advantage of this, and we’ve already got games like Commander Keen, Quake 2, and even Hexen 1 & 2! Of course, there’s also more original titles, like Pandora Panic! (A WarioWare-like game), Angry, Drunken Dwarfs (an interesting take on games like Tetris and Poyo Poyo), and Giana’s Return (A Fan-made remake of the Great Giana Sisters for the Commodore).

So to end my rant, here’s some external links that you might be interested in:

A early version of the Nintendo 64 Emulator running Zelda: OoT:
[url]- YouTube

Curse Of Monkey Island running on a Scumm Emulator:
[url]- YouTube

The original Pandora game PandoraPanic!:
[url]- YouTube

Pretty much all of the latest info about the Pandora is posted here:
[url]pandorapress.net

A website that’s actually well-known reporting on the device!:
[url]Three Years Late, The Badass Pandora Handheld Hits The Market

So if anyone’s out there, I’d like to know your thoughts on this. I, for one, can’t wait until I get the opportunity to order mine. :slight_smile:

#2

There’s already a ‘Gadget and Gizmos’ thread… but I think it should be alright to discuss this exclusively.

Questions:

  1. Who’s the manufacturer?

  2. How do I get this (is it available only online or at retail shops?)

  3. How do I play emulated games? Is there a cartridge slot, or does this involve some form of ‘questionable’ downloading?

  4. What OS does it run on? Are you able to run other applications, surf the web?

But yeah, thanks for sharing it with us. I have a PSP, but I’ve always wanted to try retro games, so this might just give it a run for its money!

#3

Hmm… I guess your right, there is a Gizmo thread. Didin’t know about that…

Anyway, you have good questions that I probably should have answered in the first post, but I’ll do it here instead.

  1. The manufacturer is OpenPandora, Ltd. It’s basicly a group of guys who used to sell the Pandora’s spiritual predecessor, GP2X. They took on the project because they knew that although the idea of the GP2X was good, it wasn’t executed well.

  2. Currently you can’t get one, because they’re still sending out the first batch of 4000 to the 4000 costumers who paid for them, but according to one of the OpenPandora’s staff (Via Twitter) they’ll probably be taking orders for the second batch at the end of the month, which you should be able to apply for when the time comes at the official site, http://www.open-pandora.org. If otherwise, I’ll be sure to post about it here to let those interested know. :slight_smile:
    Oh, and I know someone’s gonna ask, so let me answer before hand: No, this won’t make it into any US Stores. It’s purpose is not to compete with big-names like Nintendo or Sony, it’s mostly for a small niche - Open-Source Developers and retro-gamers. So if your looking to get this thing to play something like Uncharted 2, you should start walking away, because this thing’s not for you.

  3. The Pandora comes with 2 SD Card slots, which means you’ll use a SD to download the content from this site: [url]http://apps.open-pandora.org/[/url]. You can ether download the files from your browser on your Windows, Mac or Linux computers and load them on to the SD card, or you can download them directly to the Pandora using the browser it comes with. Of course, when you talk about emulated games, there’s always going to be ‘questionable’ downloading. I personally follow the rule of “Don’t download it until you own it.”,
    But to each their own, I suppose. So yes, you’ll need to download the ROMs of the games you want to play, but the emulators are provided and updated via the store link I provided earlier.

  4. The OS is a modified version of Ångström-Linux and comes with two GUI’s - XFCE4 (A Full desktop) and MiniMenu (A Simple menu for accessing apps.). other GUI’s are also in the works, in case you don’t like the provided ones. However, the OS is a lot like Windows - 99% of the time, all you have to do is start the emulator or game up, and if using an emulator, select a ROM. It comes with all the stuff you get when you buy windows, just under different names. So yes, there’s a web browser, a music and video player, and so on. Any more additional applications will be on the Pandora App Store I linked to earlier. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: Everything (well, outside of your console & Accessories purchase(s)) is Free. :slight_smile:

I actually thought about the PSP before buying a GP2X (Kinda like this system, but a lot less powerful). The only reason I chose GP2X over it was because I was getting something Open Source instead of cracking a closed system. That means no worries about unknowingly bricking your PSP or having compatibility issues with other software.

Glad someone has taken some interest in this device besides me! :slight_smile:

EDIT: OOPS, gave you some misinformation in answer #4, so I fixed it.

#4

Though it isn’t something I personally would buy (I’m not particularly into retro gaming, nor do I have the funds even if I was) I do like the retro look of it. It actually reminds me of this sort of spell/grammar checker thing I have (though this device is obviously bigger and for a different purpose). The specs are very good, especially considering the price. I have to say, it really is quite a unique piece of technology.

#5

The OS is not Multi-boot. It uses Ångström as the base, but there are gui layout options. From desktop layout, to more out a console style layout.

However, there will be people who will port other OS’s to the device. But out of the box, The Pandora does not multi-boot.

#6

nightwheel: Umm… I was almost sure it comes with the Ångström-Linux and MiniMenu, as seen in this video (At 3:15):
youtube.com/user/astewardson … lzRrOkGdQ0
But maybe I’m confusing something with something else… it’s not like I haven’t before. :stuck_out_tongue:

So I’m assuming you don’t have anything else to say about the device?

lizardgirl: LOL, I know what you mean when you say it looks like a spell checker. I have one that has a similar layout.

Oh, and another video. This one makes me drool; because I could never do any of this on my GP2X:
youtube.com/watch?v=PASSasmvZwU
Kirby Super Star, Super Mario RPG, Yoshi’s Island, Zelda: Link To The Past, Megaman X 2 and Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior all running on an early Super Nintendo emulator at full speed!

#7

If you watch that video again, you can see on that window that says “select default gui”. And the choices are XFCE4 and MiniMenu.

And I have plenty to say about this device. I’ve been keeping close tabs on it even before it went for pre-order back in 2008. So I know a thing or two about the device.

The system underwent a minor spec just between when the system went up for pre-order and when the first one shipped to a customer. It went from having 128mb of ram, to 256mb of ram. And went from having 256mb of on-board memory, to 512mb of on-board memory.

Given whats in the Pandora. And comparing it to device such as the Nokia N900. The Pandora is rather cheap. (Not cheap in a bad way).

Here’s some price comparisons of devices with similar specs to the Pandora:

Pandora: $330, though the second batch may cost $349 to help recover from the costs of developing the Pandora.

Nokia N900 (no 2 year contract): $479
(The N900 seems to be on sale on Nokia site. They have the price $649 with a line through it out on their site.)

iPhone 3GS (no 2 year contract): $599 (16 GB) and $699 (32 GB)

Motorola Droid (no 2 year contract): $559.99

Keep in mind the Pandora is not a Phone. Just using a few for comparsion sake.

#8

Ya, okay, so I’m the clutz here. Lemme fix that comment in the post to reflect that - XD

I’ve been watching it on and off since I discovered it’s existence before the pre-orders. I distinctly remember when I found out about it, there was a lot of discussion about what the logo should be.

I remember when the RAM went up. There was some dispute over it - some thought it was just extra fluff, while others saw the added potential for it. :stuck_out_tongue:

And thanks for providing comparisons. Most of the Gaming public’s biggest argument is that it’s no longer a revolutionary device because the one’s you listed are just as powerful, and therefore is no longer worth a purchase. I think quite the contrary, all of the devices you’ve listed aren’t focused to be Gaming consoles, nor or they nearly as affordable. Plus, I won’t have to spend another buck on games for it. :slight_smile:

And regarding the price, I just found out about that this afternoon. I guess I’ll need to scavenge another 20 bucks up. Oh, and I’m a little dissapointed at the batch speed. I mean, I know it saves money and such, but why linger the second batch orders until September? (And by that, I mean, Orders for batch 2 will be taken from the end of June to early September) Maybe it’s just my own impatience to actually own one (Waiting 2+ Years for the thing to actually come out doesn’t help…), I donno. Maybe if my GP2X Was still fully functioning I wouldn’t be so desperate to own a Pandora. :stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT: Just for proof’s sake, here’s Craig’s post about the second batch:
[url]gp32x.com
(For anyone curious, Craig is part of the OpenPandora staff and is seen by a lot of people as the face of OpenPandora.)

EDIT 2: It was revealed late yesterday why there will be such a long wait for batch 2: The parts probably won’t even be in for it until September. This is mostly because of the Chinese factory who produces the cases, who are unreliable with keeping production up-to-speed. You can read the proof of this in an official post made by one of OpanPandora’s Staff, who goes by Evil Dragon:
[url]OpenPandora

#9

Hey guys,

I don’t know if there’s still any interest in this on these boards, but I promised I’d provide an update so here it is:

Second batch pre-orders started and have been going for about a month now. There’s still a lot of room left, so if you’ll like to order one, you can email openpandorasales@gmail.com and they’ll E-mail you with a list of different prices and how to order. If you want one, your looking at spending at least $375 - $350 for the unit and $25 for shipping. It will cost more the more accessories you purchase. The unit comes with a stylus, an AC Adaptor and Battery, so buying extras is entirely optional. The second batch is expected to start shipping in October.

If your still curious but don’t want to put that kind of money out, it’s okay, I understand. I bought one early off the second batch, so once I have one I’ll let you know. At that point, you’ll be able to ask me any questions you have and I’ll be able to answer most of them accurately. :slight_smile:

Until than, I’ll update you on any important news, but other than that this topic is pretty much open to discussion. :slight_smile: