The Pandora

[death_squad]

Rendered picture, not an actual unit but will be similar..

I've mentioned that I'm gonna get a Pandora so I thought I'd show you what it is. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these but I'll have to wait a few more weeks. Hopefully I'll get one before christmas. I'd like to thank the guys behind this little gem. Here's a load of info about it...


Check out this video

Good quality version
http://www.gp2x.de/video/720p.avi
Low quality copy version
http://www.gp2x.de/video/Small.avi

How did this system come to be?
The Pandora is a unique machine. It was designed based on the input of thousands of forum users with one goal in mind - to make the ultimate open source handheld device.

How powerful is it?
It is by far the most powerful handheld in the world both in terms of raw CPU power and 3D graphics capability, it will be able to handle things such as Firefox3 or Quake3 with ease.

When and where can I buy it?
It is already available to selected developers and preorders in approximately August(It's been delayed) for casual users via UK, USA, Canada, Germany and Turkey. Probably november'ish.

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, it is very small, around about the same size as a DS. It can easily fit in your pocket.

Why such a radical design?
The design is actually a simple clamshell which gives maximum protection, maximum control layout and of course maximum battery size.


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




Overview

The Pandora is a seventh-generation handheld game console. When it is released, estimated for November'ish 2008, it will be the most powerful handheld games console available.

The Pandora will run a Linux distribution. There will be no fees for developer tools and hence anyone will be free to develop and release games for the system.

Core

The Pandora uses a Texas Instruments OMAP 3530 System-on-Chip. This includes the ARM Cortex-A8 processor, the TI C64X programmable DSP, the PowerVR SGX 530 3D accelerator and supporting components.

Storage

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

Input and output

The Pandora includes two analog pads, a directional pad, 4 action buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 3 function buttons (start/select/home), and a QWERTY keyboard.

Display

The Pandora's display will be a 800*480 display, which additionally will have touchscreen functionality.

TV-out

The Pandora will have the ability to output S-video and composite signals to television sets. In addition, picture-in-picture and seperate signals for the TV and LCD will be supported.

Sound

The Pandora will have a high-quality sound DAC, and an ADC and internal microphone for recording. A pair of stereo speakers is built into the display. The volume control is a wheel.

Keyboard

The Pandora will have an almost-full QWERTY keyboard, with additional keys using Function. Control will likely be mapped onto one of the action or shoulder buttons.
more here.


Full Specs


These are constantly changing. Hopefully, this page will be updated with them. When adding information please remember to correctly reference the new information to a reliable source.

• General
  • The name: Pandora [1]
  • Dimensions: 140 x 83 x 27 mm (slightly larger than a DS Lite: vs 133 mm × 73.9 mm × 21.5 mm)
  • Price: 199 GBP(incl. VAT) (approx. $330 USD, 212 € (excl. VAT)
  • Release date: April/May 2008 for dev units, november'ish 2008 for full production units (can and will be changed if needed)
  • Case will be a bit smaller the GP2X, and will be a mix of metal and plastic. [2]

• Core Hardware:
  • Texas Instrument's OMAP3530 System-on-chip. [3][4] Specifications can be found at this link: [5]
  • PowerVR SGX GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0, several million polygons per second). OpenGL ES demonstrated: [6]
  • 128MB of DDR SDRAM.
  • Real Time Clock (RTC) built in, to keep track of time. [7]
  • 256MB of internal flash memory.
  • Will be "unbrickable".

• Display: 800x480 widescreen (5:3), 4.3 inches, touchscreen LCD.[8]
  • Brightness:300 cd/m2, Contrast ratio:450:1, Response time:tr+tf=30ms[9]
  • Dimensions: 93.6 x 56.2 mm (4.3 inches, 5:3 aspect ratio).
  • TV-out included in hardware, A/V-OUT Port (similar in appearance to a large USB OTG port) outputs S-Video and Composite and inputs 3,5mm Headphone/Microphone cables..
    • Separate TV-out signals, picture-in-picture capabilities. [10]
  • Powerful 2D and 3D hardware acceleration, see above. [11]

• Input:
  • Buttons, keyboard, microphone, and touchscreen. [12]
  • Directional pad will be a D-pad. [13]
  • Two real analog nubs, will have click function. Will have a rubber grip.
    A video of the analog nub to be used in Pandora's construction." target="_blank">A video of the analog nub to be used in Pandora's construction.

    A video of the analog nub to be used in Pandora's construction." target="_blank">A video of the analog nub to be used in Pandora's construction.

    Update: a custom designed plastic nub is now being used and will remain in the previously planned location.
  • QWERTY keyboard cellphone like thumb typeable. [14]
  • Built-In Microphone [15]

• Connectivity:
  • 802.11g (Wi-fi) included. USB host included. USB-on-the-go (one-port host and client) included. [16]
  • Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (3Mbps)[17]
  • The USB will be fully powered (500 milliamps). You'll be able to use anything that has drivers. [18]
  • RS-232 will be included, but a level converter will be needed for the UART. [19]
  • Twin SDHC slots.

• Software:
  • Open2X-type Linux firmware. [20]
  • One-click install system - Debian ARMEL packages probably compatible with minor work.
  • Potential Emulation: Nearly any game console which predates the Playstation for which an open-source emulator exists. Nearly any 8 or 16 bit computer system for which an open-source emulator exists.
    • Atari 2600, 7800, 5200, and Lynx
    • Nintendo NES, SNES, Gameboy, and GBA
    • Sega Master System and Genesis
    • NEC PCEngine (TurboGrafx-16)
    • SNK NeoGeo, NeoGeo Pocket, and Pocket Color
    • Sony Playstation [21]
    • Atari 400, 800, and ST
    • Amiga
    • PC (DOSBox)
    • Apple II
  • Possible Software:
    • Will be capable of running X11 with a window manager and desktop environment, and probably will by default.
    • There should be the ability to run normal programs you can run on Modern Linux builds as well, provided it does not exceed 128MB of RAM (excluding any virtual memory for performance reasons) and is ported. This includes a full build of Firefox! Firefox 3.0 uses much less memory and resources, and should run fine on the Pandora.
    • Macromedia Flash is possible on the Pandora with web browsers with some work. Maybe not full Flash support though, but http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/ can be ported to the Pandora and run up to FlashV7 guaranteed, play Youtube videos (mplayer and VLC can play FLV files just fine, play other movie files from Firefox, and VLC can stream FLV easily) and can work with Firefox or as a standalone program.
    • Advanced multimedia support, including streaming: mplayer, VLC, xine and any other program that is open source is possible. For a general idea of file support for VLC see http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html, and for xine see http://xinehq.de/index.php/features.

• Power:
  • Lithium-polymer battery, ~4000mAH.
  • Up to 10 hours battery life under reasonable load 8.5 hours under max cpu load. Up to 100 hours playing MP3s. [22]
  • Can charge through AC adapter or USB. [23]
  • 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.[24]
  • Will be able to suspend to RAM or suspend to disk for longer battery life and faster start up.

OpenPandora website http://openpandora.org/
Source http://pandorawiki.org/Pandora

wow

i've never been a massive fan of handheld games due to the fact i wouldn't use them all that much. But this is something different.

Infact this could make one hell of a xmas present for someone (my brother), oh and wonder if i'd use it much

Nice post and thanks for the info

[Stevie]

Well , I dont play many games at all these days .. but .. you just solved me a present problem looks nice and just the thing for a budding IT specialist and fanatical gamer , nice post DS cheers

[death_squad]

Originally Posted by Killashark

Well , I dont play many games at all these days .. but .. you just solved me a present problem looks nice and just the thing for a budding IT specialist and fanatical gamer , nice post DS cheers

Wow, thanks. I wouldn't call myself a budding IT specialist and fanatical gamer but no need to wrap it up for me, I'll come in person to pick it up. Merry Christmas killashark and don't forget to pm me your address good buddy

lol
you wish

[death_squad]

YouTube - Open Pandora EvilDragon Interview at IFA 2008

YouTube - Open Pandora EvilDragon Interview at IFA 2008

Here's an interview of EvilDragon the creator of the Pandora at the 2008 IFA in Berlin on September 1st. The guy giving the interview is ace, lol..

Sounds good. If it can run Quake 3
also like the sound of emulating N64 and Amiga games

ok another question :nerd:i'm now thinking of buying a handheld device. But i'm not sure which to get. It's either this Pandora or the PSP.
Which would you go for?
I would buy the Pandora but for the fact no real games are being made for it. Is there going to be a way to convert PSP games to play on it ie; a PSP emulator

[death_squad]

If you want to play all the latest games then probably go for a psp. I would of thought Pandora could emulate the psp but I think an emulator would be a long way off if it's possible. I just like the idea of the pandora with it being open source. I woundn't be surprised if some of the software companies end up doing games for the pandora with it having a mighty power plant under the hood. It can emulate loads of systems so there's millions of games out there. But like i say the psp will have the latest games, maybe even the Pandora I hope. With the pandora having a small keyboard, wireless and bluetooth it's a very small portable little laptop aswell that's why i like it so much. You could always get both

Have a look at what's availible for the GP2X since all that would technically run on the Pandora and the pandora is way more powerful than the GP2X http://archive.gp2x.de/

[player1]

Looks kool and I'm sure a homebrew psp add-on will follow along with the cease and desist actions from sony ! I have a PSP and went thru the moding process (worth the effort). I have over 20gb of free games. Also just bought DS which is also very good phun. Currently looking at making roms.