Turks in the lead!
March 11, 2009
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Archive
Archive for the ‘Official’ Category
Official blog: The last missing pieces are coming together
March 5, 2009
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New blog update from EvilDragon :
Well, all the errors of the case files have been fixed — and the final prototype cases are now in production!
They will be finished and shipped out on Friday, huzzah!After that happened, we need to do stability and CE tests as quickly as possible, and if everything is fine, the moulds will be produced.
The production of the moulds will take about 30 — 35 days, however, once they are finished, the company can produce 50.000 units a day... should be enough for us. The good thing is, that the company that produces the moulds and the case is exactly the same company that made the prototype cases, so we won't have any file export errors this time.
The last pieces missing for the board productions have also been shipped and are on their way. This means that everything should be ready for the mass production of the boards. If everything goes well, we can start producing the boards shortly before the cases are finished so we can begin to ship early / middle of April!
Oh, I (EvilDragon) am at the Olymptronica this weekend — with Pandora devboard as well as with a WIZ prototype. So, if you want to come over and have a little chat or test some stuff on the prototypes, you're welcome. I hoped I could take the case with me, but as the show starts one day after the cases are finished, there's no chance getting one to me in time.
Official blog: Sneak Peek at the menu and some case stuff
March 2, 2009
A new post from EvilDragon on the official blog…
Hi,
I told you, cpasjuste is currently working on a simple and clear launcher, using skeezix libpnd to work with PXML.
cpasjuste just posted a small sneak preview of the menu, you can see how PXML works (showing icons in categories, preview pictures, etc.).
skeezix libpnd is already pretty advanced. Together with vimacs, he made it possible for EVERY dev to easily use PXML and therefore, automatically add games and programs into the right categories as soon as you put an SD card into the slot!
We will show a video with that feature included into the matchbox UI as well soon!
Now onto some news on the case: The company is working on it already, however, a few files got errors while exporting them. We are working together to fix them, should only take a couple of days.
Watch video after the jump.
Viridior and the Gentoo team now have their own news blog. Check it out.
We started our own news/blogs site to help us keep track of Gentoo Pandora development. We are charging forward at full speed to get a nice small and functional image well before the Pandora ships, if your interested check out http://gentoo.openpandora.org, it has a RSS feed.
PXML, the ‘ID Card’ of all Pandora applications, has just been updated.
skeezix together with cpasjuste implemented PXML into his lib_pnd (yep, every dev can use that lib and easily read out all PXML stuff).
PXML has changed slightly to be more easily read by his library, so I updated the specs.
For those who have no idea what PXML is:
It is basically a file which devs include within their games archive. The Pandora menu reads out that file and can automatically sort the game into the correct category, show descriptions or preview pictures and associate filetypes with. So basically, the user puts all his games onto the SD Card, inserts that into the Pandora, and the menu becomes automatically populated.
Official blog: Mixing up Buttons
February 16, 2009
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New blog update from EvilDragon :
While the mould for the keymat is currently being produced, we're concentrating on working more on the keyboard layout.
We mostly scrapped out old layout since we had too many important keys missing — so there are no Umlauts or language specific keys on the layout, it's a plain English keyboard with a compose key to do special characters.
That layout is not final yet, it's our current WIP.
It might look weird and mixed up at first sight, but there's one major difference with a standard PC Keyboard: You only use two thumbs for typing on that one, so it's much more important that the most used characters are convenient to reach (which can be a problem when using the Fn Button).
And a new video demonstration of 3D hardware after the jump.
Official blog: One more ;)
February 6, 2009
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New Blog update fron EvilDragon :
Yeah, I know you gotta be fed up with renderings already... however, this one might be interesting for you:
This time, you can see the Pandora including the stylus.
The keyboard layout is nearly finished, we're still discussing about some keys and the font, however, I don't think much will change.
Fn+ [1 - 0]are the F-Keys, SELECT will be used for CTRL.
Official blog: Another Sneak Pic
February 5, 2009
New blog update from EvilDragon :
Yup, I found a bit of time... not that much, so there's not that much to see on this picture.
Basically, it shows the back of the Pandora with all the ports (which we haven't finished designing in that render).
From left to right:
Mini USB, EXT Port (where TV Out, etc. will be connected), USB 2.0 and DC in.
Of course, in the finished version those ports will have their names or symbols printed below.
Again, click on the pic for a bigger few. See you next time! :)
Some minor news
February 4, 2009
Since it's slow week here is some minor news :
Chip talked about production timeline :
Official guestimate: Four to six weeks from the first to the last of the first batch Pandoras. Give or take a couple weeks for testing and tweaking the assembly process.
Once the manufacturing process is 100% nailed down (2nd batch onwards) the plant can make ~5000 per month, though they can only make them as fast as we can get parts. Second batch will probably start up about two months after the first is finished (again, depending on parts availability).
So at least 3-4 weeks before first batch starts, 4-6 weeks after that it finishes, then ~8 weeks until the 2nd batch starts. If you want a Pandora soon, order from the first batch. Otherwise you'll be waiting a while.
And about microbatches :
It's more to keep a close eye on the manufacturing process and tweak it where necessary than anything else. We already have all the necessary parts, but we can't afford to re-do huge numbers of boards if there is an issue. That's why we're doing them in smaller batches.
We already have a test program that will verify whether a board is «good» or not before it gets flashed and assembled so any boards that do have problems can be fixed. It just costs time and money to fix problem boards, and that is what we're trying to keep to a minimum.
Additionally there is Craigx reporting about sending new wave of devboards :
We are working on getting another round of consoles out to devs (cased in some cases, ah see what i did there? Lame.) so you will still see new stuff before the launch.
Official blog: Nothing for a while
February 3, 2009
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A new post has appeared on the official blog, which won’t make the slow news day any faster, but does offer a concise state of the nation and the promise of good things to come.
Hi!
I know you’re all waiting for news… well, here are some tiny tidbits, but nothing major YET. And there won’t be as much stuff to post as I did last week, since we’re now all waiting for the CNC case.Well, and that brings us to on topic:
The CNC case has been ordered and while we don’t know yet how long it’ll take, it should hopefully be finished within the next two weeks.
During that time, we won’t have much to show you — well, except for some more polished videos of the prototype case you’ve seen already since Michael will probably send it to me.
Also, I’ll show you some emulators on it, running directly from Matchbox!I’ll also try to do more renderings from various views as well.
Stay tuned!
?ngstr?m on the prototype
February 1, 2009
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Craigx posted MWeston's video :
As requested here is a little video showing the Pandora Angstrom build doing a few fun things.
It’s not very optimised and there is no hardware acceleration yet but I think you will agree it runs rather well anyway — and don’t forget this is on a device the size of a DS.
Video after the jump.
Photo: ?ngstr?m running on FDM prototype and a new game
January 31, 2009
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MWeston made an update according new demo video :
I finally got Angstrom running this afternoon. I just couldn't get an SD card loaded with multi-partitions so I could have the FAT boot partition and the EXT2 filesystem on one card so I had to make them separate. After almost a day of fighting with that, it's working!
I don't have time for a video just yet. I must be off to a family get together in about 10 minutes, so I offer a quick snapshot:
It still needs a mouse attached, but it uses the internal keyboard.
In addition to that we have a video for a new Pandora game Super Lumenal. Video is after the jump.
