Update:
All developers get an extra month to brew up something awesome:

Okay, [deadline] extended until end of March.

Source

Also erico and quatercast have been working hard on a banner (top image) and all sorts of other graphics for the competition, which you can check out here – this is not officially approved yet, though.

Meanwhile this topic is to collect ideas/wishes for software you want to see from the competition.

Original post:
It’s ON!
EvilDragon just announced an official OpenPandora software competition with the first price being a new and shiny Pandora right off the prototype production run in a unique golden or pearl-white case (photos to be uploaded soon).
Everything is good in this competition, may it be an original game, a port, new software, ported software, an emulator, a whole OS or a digitalized unicorn spreading love and peace, as long as it follows the rules posted by EvilDragon (see below).
You can enter alone or as a team, but hurry, the deadline is the 29th of February! That is not as much time as it might seem now, so better get started immediately!

If you are good friends with pixels, listen up as EvilDragon is looking for someone to create a nice banner and splash screen for the submissions. Head to the forum thread for more details.

Here is the full quote with all prices and rules (read them if you are considering submitting anything):

I mentioned it a couple of times, but it’s finally time to officially announce it:

The Pandora Rebirth Competition – Deadline: End of February 29th (UTC)

The prizes of the competition are the following:

1st prize:
One of the fully working Pandora PCBs from the German prototype production run in a special edition case!
You can either choose a golden or pearl white case (I will post pictures soon), signed by EvilDragon.
Both cases only exist one time worldwide!

2nd prize:
A fully working Pandora straight from the German production starting in February, signed by EvilDragon.

3rd prize:
A classic 1st Edition Pandora (PCB from Texas).

4th and 5th prize:
A 32GB SDHC card, tested to work with the Pandora

6th and 7th prize:
A 16 GB SDHC card from Samsung, tested to work with the Pandora

The rules:

1. The program you submit can be virtually anything: A game, an application, a tool, an alternative OS, an OS extend, etc.
2. The entry can be a port of an existing program or a completely new development.
3. The entry HAS to work on the Pandora. It does not have to be in PND format, but it should run and start on the Pandora.
4. The entry must NOT be released to the public before the competition is over. It is possible to submit an entry where an early version or demo has already been released before January 9th, but no further public releases should happen if you plan on entering.
5. The entry can of course be released to selected betatesters.
6. The entry CAN be an engine or port for an existing commercial game (similar to ScummVM or the VVVVVV-port). Be sure you own all the needed licenses though!
7. You are welcome to post pictures or share your project ideas with the community (and get suggestions and/or help from them). The judgement will be done by the community, so this is a good way to find out what they’d love to get
8. One person can submit an unlimited number of entries – however, each entrant can only win one prize.
9. Team projects are possible, but the prize can only be won by one person in the team. I will throw in small prizes for the rest of the team (up to 5 members) though, like T-Shirts, signed cases, etc.
10. You MUST have the full rights and licenses to use and release all graphics, sounds, music, code and or anything else you supply with your entry. No copyrighted material (unless you license it from the copyright holder – proof needed) is allowed.
11. No illegal content or pornography is allowed.
12. Voting will happen through polls on the official Pandora Boards (http://boards.openpandora.org/).
13. We will release a splashscreen and small banners which needs to be included somewhere in your entry (startup, main menu, etc.)
14. The rules can be changed and / or optimized within the next couple of days (also based on community input) until January 15th.

If you don’t follow the rules, your entry might be disqualified – so be sure to read these carefully.

You are free to share this competition on any websites, forums, IRC, social media, etc. you like.
To get help with coding, cross-compiling or setting up a dev environment, you can ask for help at the Development Section on the boards or by visiting #openpandora on Freenode.

Finally, I’m also asking for help from the community here:
Please read and review the rules and let me know any suggestions you have.
Also, I know we got some pretty talented graphic designers here: If anyone wants to create a splashscreen and / or banners in various sizes, I’d be very happy about it

(last updated here 09.01.2012 21:10)
Source

Link throws in some extra cases (as in carrying cases) from his shop for the first two places.

SteaK already gets started submitting software with an “Online Selling assistant” and “Pandora BookShelf”.

Good luck to all entrants, may the best one win.

In case Replay Expo was not near you, there is another opportunity coming up to meet the team behind OpenPandora (okay, so far only EvilDragon): The Free And Open-Source Software Developers’ European Meeting or FOSDEM in short.
It will take place in Brussels, Belgium on the 4th and 5th of February.
EvilDragon will hold a talk about the Pandora on Sunday the 5th (12:40 to 13:25) and you will also have the opportunity to meet Ivanovic and several other people of the Wesnoth and Frogatto development team in the Hackers Room.
Several other community members will surely be there, too (the crowd is just gathering).

More details here:
Announcement post (OP board)
FOSDEM website

…aaand we are back. Sorry for the prolonged downtime, seems like I jinxed it in my last update (and everyone was busy with Christmas to fix it).
A lot of stuff has happened in the last week and as I am in a rush to get some things done before the New Year, I won’t summarize it here, but redirect you to the forum (which we always just copied anyway…).
Let’s just say the prototype run in Germany appears to be complete success, even after some initial problems and hick-ups.

Following are two news posts by EvilDragon on the official boards, as well as a video giving you insight into the production facility.

Finally, rom everyone here at PandoraPress, we wish you a good celebration of the passing year and an even better start into the new one. See you guys in 2012!

Production diary #1
Production diary #2

Click here to view the embedded video.

There also have been a few software releases, highly recommended for every Pandora owner:
Notaz and Exophase dream-team up to take PSX Emulation to a new level
Pickle ports indie-game-megahit VVVVVV
New HotFix released in alpha version (HF7a) containing a few nice fixes

First of all, sorry about the recent downtimes, the WordPress set-up was getting old and unstable and needed a reset every now in a while. Admin atomicthumbs now upgraded to a new version (thanks!), so those problems are hopefully a thing of the past.

In the meantime we missed two blog posts by EvilDragon, which I will try to summarize in the following. You can find the full quotes after the break.
The preparation for the prototype run are full steam ahead, the parts being held back at CC’s finally passed customs and are on their way to a new destination: GC. Other parts needed for the mass production run are on their way, too and should arrive over Christmas and New Year. With them there should be enough for the first run of 1000 Pandoras.
He also got a sample of the new version of the case, which should prevent the cracks users have been reporting – another 4000 will be ordered of those, they will be used when he runs out of the remaining ones (Source).
Concerning TV-out cables he is still waiting for a quotation and a sample before New Year, so fingers crossed on that.

Sadly this was followed by some bad news, some less, but still bad news and some very bad news.
First of all the RAM did not arrive as ordered, so ED had to get a quick replacement, which will arrive Friday or Monday pushing the prototype run back to that date.
Loading the machines with the parts (minus RAM) was still done and during that GC noticed that the Pick and Place files (data telling the machine which parts got on on which position) were incompatible, MWeston is contacted to make some slight (and easy) changes to them.
This quick line of communication is also a nice change as EvilDragon is now in direct contact with all necessary people and information has not travel over multiple stations (like it did before).

Last there is the mentioned very bad news, which is not production related:
A member of the community, jonai, has been murdered a few weeks ago. He was active on the German and gp32x.com boards as well as in ICQ contact with EvilDragon.
His death was cruel and inhuman and sadly the police has no clue so far, in case you knew him closely and might have important information contact EvilDragon who is in contact with the police about this.
My sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victim. Let’s think about him for a minute.

Whew, finally.
The parts from CC have passed customs and will arrive tomorrow at Global Components.
All the other parts for the prototype run are already there, so we’re planning to do the prototype run on Thursday.
This will be an exciting day for me – hopefully, we’ll be able to produce working Pandora boards.

I will do some hardcore tests with some of the working PCBs then, like running N64 emulation overclocked with full brightness for 48 hours during the weekend, to see that everything works stable.
Once that has happened, it’s time to order the PCBs for the mass production run!

Speaking of the mass production:
With the parts that arrive from CC, we’ve got most of the TI parts for 2000 Pandoras ready.
4000 nubs (for 2000 Pandoras) will be ready on December 30th, 1000 WiFi modules will ship on January 10th.
The RAM will ship about christmas.
All other parts are already here.
So we’ve got everything needed for the mass production PCB run.

And the rest of the parts needed for Pandoras?
Well, I bought off the remaining cases, batteries, keymats, etc. from Craig, which should be enough for the first 1000 units (well, actually 4000 batteries are more than enough).
Hopefully, he’ll ship them within the next days so I’ve got them here on Friday.

I’ll also get a new sample of the revised case (which hopefully will prevent some annoying cracks from appearing) from DSW within the next days.
Then it’s time to order the next 4000 cases as well.

I still got 1200 LCD cables left, so it’s also time getting more LCD Cables for February / March.

I still have to buy some LCDs and AC Adaptors for the first run, but we’re working on that.
I don’t know how many LCDs Craig will include in the package to me, so I don’t know how many I need to buy for Batch 1.

And the TV Out Cables? Well, still waiting for a quotation and hopefully a sample before the end of the year.
Chinese New Year is in January, so we’ll hope we have done most of that before that.

I’ll keep you posted

Source

In another post in the thread ED also explains some simple (not entirely accurate) calculations about the money needed to start production runs. This also shows how Premium Pandoras actually help to get more unit of one batch out to regular customers waiting in line (granted the production is running smooth, which it did not in the past causing this idea to fail).

[...]Basically, it’s like this:

When the first 1000 have been produced, the goal is to gain enough money for the next 1000.
This money either comes from sales to new customers, premium upgrades, investors, etc.

However, there are some other aspects: Some parts cannot be bought in small quantities, so I need to buy 4000 at once. And there are some refunds as well.

So I have no idea how many need to be sold to new users and how many will go to old preorders from the first batch right now.
However, half of these remaining units will go to Craig, half of the remaining units to my customers.

BTW: If two customers upgrade to Premium, enough money is made to send one more unit to an early preorderer as well.

So here’s an example:

Let’s assume, producing the next 1000 Pandoras would cost 250,000 EUR.
With a sales price of 375 EUR, 667 of the first 1000 Pandoras would have to be sold to new customers to have the needed amount of money.
The remaining 300 would split up to old preorderes.

If there’s 30,000 EUR from investments left, we’d only need to sell 586 Pandoras to new customers.
And if 100 of the remaining preorders would go Premium, only 400 Pandoras would need to go to new customers, meaning that 600 would go to old customers.

It’s a pretty complex calculation I’ve got there… it’s more complex than I mentioned here, as USD / EUR conversion also needs to be included, etc.

Source

Whew – what a day.

Prototype production run
It started with some bad news: Micron didn’t deliver the samples of the RAM as promised (should’ve been delivered last week), and without the RAM, we couldn’t do the prototype run.
So both Global Components and me had our hands full to organize that RAM chip to be able to do the prototype run.
And we managed to get some.
Global Components found a distributor in US who had some parts left and ordered them express. They should arrive on Friday, latest Monday.
Well, and I contacted Nikolaus from the GTA04 team – they are using the same memory as we are and I know their production run starts early next week as well.
He has some spare RAM chips for us – so they’re being picked up tomorrow morning (the company where he is doing the production isn’t that far away, thankfully).
The parts from Texas have arrived at EBV / AVNet (the distributor) in the meantime and will be delivered tomorrow morning between 9 and 10 am at GC as well.
I think AVNet already checked the parts for completeness, so we should have all we need tomorrow.

As programming and loading the machines with parts takes quite a while (about 8 hours), the production run itself has been rescheduled for Friday, but preparing and loading will happen tomorrow.
My contact from Global Components will visit me tonight to grab some of the PCBs from GC, as that will speed up the programming and creating the solder profile.
(It’s 8pm here, and it’s a 1 hour drive, so I think it’s pretty awesome he does that!).

So, whew, this was one fast solution. It did cost us some nerves, but we managed to get it done so far.

Even more bad news

While this caused me quite some stress today, it wasn’t the worst message I received.
The worst message I received today was from an ICQ contact.
One of our fellow Pandora community members has been murdered a few weeks ago.
He already had a GP2X and was one of the very first preorderers from Germany.
He didn’t have an account at these boards, but he was known as jonai on the German boards and on GP32x.com.

The (german) article about his death can be found here.

So, why am I posting this?
Not just because it makes me very sad – but also because the police is currently looking for clues to find out who did it.
While I am supporting them as good as I can, I didn’t have much contact with him.

But maybe someone from the community was in close contact with him or has any other information where he can help out?
Please do contact me in case you might have some information, as I’m in contact with the police in Leipzig already to try to help them.

Thanks.

Let’s think about him for a minute. As far as I was in contact with him, he was a very nice and helpful person. And it’s always a loss seeing someone leave us early.
Especially if it was such a horryfing death like this.

Source

Well, as I’m now directly in contact with the production company, I can give you these details
Was a bit hard before, when information had to be passed from Michael to Craig and / or me, etc.

Had some more phonecalls and now know what the issue is:

There are different ways exporting Pick & Place files from your CAD program.
What MWeston exported is that the coordinates for each part defines where Pin 1 of that part is and it defines the orientation.
Usually, this is enough to define the exact location of each part.

HOWEVER: Not with the machine GC uses.
The reason is simple: The machine doesn’t pick up the part at Pin 1 and places it onto the PCB, it picks up the part in the CENTER and places it on the PCB.
It doesn’t know the size of the part, so it doesn’t know where Pin 1 is located.
(Some machines have databases with parts and sizes, but as there are so many custom parts nowadays, a lot of machines don’t have one).

The solution should be pretty simple:
MWeston needs to load up the PCB design file and export the Pick & Place file with the setting that the coordinates should be in the center of each part.
That’s it.
It’s not a big deal, but the timezone is our enemy

I don’t care about 2 – 3 days delay in the prototype run – however, the bare PCBs are being produced in China (like most PCBs worldwide), and Chinese New Year is approaching in January.
We need to get the PCBs before Chinese New Year, otherwise the production will start early February (and I WANT to have them out in January )

Global Components is in good contact with that company. Most (if not all) of their PCBs are being produced there. They know this is time critical and urgent, so they are discussing with them about this, telling them that they should reserve a production slot before CNY.

I’ll keep posting here whenever I get some news.
Right now, I’m both happy and sad at the same time… happy that all the parts from Texas arrived and the memory chips arrived (so everything needed is here) and sad that we are still missing two simple text files

Source

Here is something we failed to mention so far: There is an online shop solely dedicated to the Pandora.
Community member Link has set up a site for you to get all kinds of accessories on, from earphones to cases (he claims those to be bombproof, mcobit, B-Zar and I can confirm that), from cables to solar chargers, he got it all and everything is suited for the Pandora.
The idea of the shop is not to make as much profit as possible, rather to “give something back to the community” which Link started to like over the years he has been waiting for his device.

iThic.com is the name of the shop and it’s based in the USA, so as a citizen of the US this might also be a good place to actually get your Pandora as Link sells those at their official price (though due to the production relocation he is out of stock at the time of writing). You can also get EXT connectors (including a tiny BoB) from him you can use to build your own TV-out cable in case you don’t want to wait until that situation is resolved.

International orders are also gladly accepted, but you will have to pay some additional shipping costs.

Last but not least and probably best of all, Link is currently having a solstice sale running until the 21st of December with the following conditions:
i-Ecko earbuds, earclips, and speakers are buy 1 get 1 Free
40% OFF ALL Pelican Products, buy any Pelican case and get a choice of a FREE i-Ecko product (earbuds, earclips, or speakers)
25 % OFF All Underwater Kinetic UltraBoxes, buy any UnderWater Kinetics case and get your pick of a FREE i-Ecko product (earbuds, earclips, or speakers)

Following is an interview with the owner of iThic.com, Link:

PandoraPress: How and when did you hear about the Pandora and how did you get into the community?

Link: Back in February of 2008 I hacked my iPhone and quickly became disheartened by the lack of control with emulation and touchscreens. After researching Zod briefly I came across the GP2X Boards. It was there that people helped me with the GP2X and where I learned of the mythical Pandora.

What sparked you to set up the shop?

Luck is what sparked the fire for the shop, I’m hoping this article and the community will kindle (I can still use that word right?) it further. I was ecstatic to be one of the first people to receive a Pandora. At this early point, I found myself ripping open this thing I waited 600 days to receive to fix some minor issues with the shoulder buttons that plagued many early Pandoras. I didn’t want to part with my beloved Pandora for an RMA and at the same time I didn’t want to further damage the Pandora either.

After 3 months my LCD went and I had to send the Pandora back to the UK. The RMA was handled professionally and the Pandora that returned was an evolved creature. Shoulder buttons were solid, my wonky “A” button was a thing of the past.

My hope was that production was going to run smooth and as the team seemed to be hurting for liquid capital, I purchased a few extra Pandora when I had the luck and resources to do so. There was a time when I was a Power Seller on Ebay but I abandoned Ebay after some health problems about this time 10 years ago. The Power Seller was something new back then and Ebay was the wild west, it wasn’t as locked down.

After seeing some of the ridiculous amounts early Pandoras were fetching on Ebay, I decided I DIDN’T want to go that route. It just made sense to replicate what Craig and ED were doing.

I didn’t want to go the route of GP2X Store and offer GP2X products as well. I wanted something strictly dedicated to the Pandora, a one stop shop for anyone looking to buy a Pandora.

What are your principles and goals with the shop?

My principles are not typical of most businesses. People & Planet over profit. I think that whether people want to admit it or not, that is also what this device is about. Without the people making up this community, this project would be dead. As an investor in the project on an array of levels, my goal is not to get rich. My goal is to share the Pandora with anyone willing to see its potential and support this community.

Do you have any prior experience running a site like this?

This all goes back to Japan and Germany in the late 1990s when I was stationed there in the US Army. I picked up a minidisc recorder to consolidate my music collection into something easily portable and to preserve CDs. Upon returning to the US, it was interesting to see how electronics varied from continent to continent and country to country, at least regarding Sony, Sharp, Aiwa, and the various companies marketing blank Minidiscs. Upon research and several email correspondence, I found someone in Japan that was willing to send me blank minidiscs from a small subway shop in Japan. Minidisc was huge in Japan in the late 1990s but it never really took off in the US and then Apple killed it commercially with iPods even though the recording process was trumped by syncing audio, iPods lacked digital recording capability and a niche market remained for audiophiles and studios using the minidisc format.

I worked directly with the company in the subway in Japan over time, and then found companies I could buy bulk minidiscs from in the US that were also importing from Japan. These folks were also selling the electronics. After developing a relationship with the US company, they gave me access to their entire inventory and I was basically tasked with auctioning off whatever I wanted to list. When we received a huge stock of Sharp closeouts, I unloaded them by the dozens both inside and outside of auction. Bandwidth was my biggest issue during these times, as loading TCP/IP databases from FIlemaker Pro over dialup long distance to California was painful.

So now having my own site just makes sense.

How do you select what products to sell and what can we expect in the future?

Locally sourced and green products are chosen if possible for the shop. Quality, ruggedness, portability, and durability are all factors considered as well as community input. The community has been very helpful with polling both on the forums and the webshop/blog.

Future expectations:

Long term: I’d love to make a mold and case out of PVC clay. If I can do so efficiently, I might offer case parts custom made. This is an art I would need to learn and perfect before I try selling something inferior. Also there is some controversy regarding resins/toxins so I would want to find a green alternative if possible. This came to mind after my battery cover broke and I was looking at this amazing artwork in an airport made of PVC clay. I think that as long as we aren’t eating these PVC clay cases, we can use them, but my concern is any possible toxin absorption through the skin over prolonged contact.

I’d like to see a Pandora 2 and this community thriving in new and innovative ideas around portable handheld computers.

Short term: Let’s see what happens with production in Germany. Please keep an eye on my site and support iThic.com
The next Two Months™ are going to be exciting.

Thanks for taking the time.

Milkshake has brought something to the pandora that has been aspired by quite a few for a while, which is to have commercial games.
Note: All the funds go to the publisher, no one, not OpenPandora GmbH, Ltd. or Milkshake gets any of the funds, it all goes to the developer. Except the cut that Paypal takes out for their services.

The first commercial title is also available already: Arora Rift 32X

Hi Everyone,
I have been working hard since I got back from replay and the fruits of my labour have come to bare at last.

If you wish to sell your applications it is now possible to do so via paypal and their Instant Payment Notification API (which I have integrated into the repo).

The best thing about it is (as EvilDragon wished it), OpenPandora GmbH or OpenPandora ltd do not take any share of the money you make from selling applications on the repo (Paypal take their cut but that’s it).

So if anyone knows of any developers (maybe including yourself) that have been holding of releasing any apps for Pandora as there was no revenue stream, you can tell them that this situation has now changed.

of course it all has to be above board so there are some simple terms and conditions that must be respected.

• You may only sell applications you have the full legal rights to do so (including the rights to use any graphics and audio you may have used).
• You must provide all relevant license information in your PXML (both license type and URL to the source code if required). If your software includes intellectual propery that is not your own (including audio, graphics and video), you must have acquired a license to use them in your software and include that license as well.
• We will provide distribution of your commercial application at no charge. We only act as an agent for you. Therefore, you (the Seller/Vendor) are responsible for any problems or disputes between you (the Seller/Vendor) and the customer (buyer) and have to solve them.
• Any illegal content provided within your application will result in removal of your application from the repo and appropriate action taken (informing the relevant parties i.e. copyright holders of infringement).

I have also put together a simple PDF guide to help developers set up their Paypal account to work with the repo, it also guides you through the process of uploading and enabling the application to be sold on the repo.

As a developer you can also download your transactions as a CSV file, but that isn’t in the pdf guide, you can do this for individual apps only by going to the application administration page and clicking the download link, or for all applications by going into your account details page and clicking the download link.

of course the link will only appear if you have had any sales.

If you find any errors or bugs please let me know asap so I can squash them 

source
For developers aspiring to put their creations up, Milkshake has provided a handy PDF with a guide to set up the payment system in a way to accept only payments which would clear instantly, unlike eChecks, et al. Currently Repo apps do not support commercial PNDs. Once you buy an application on the repo, it as associated to your account(You must be logged in to buy one), and you can redownload if you have to restore, or your card gets corrupted. The ability for developers to release an associated demo is in the works.

Lastly, someone has already put their game up on the Repo, called Arora Rift 32X, with its genius new 32 bit graphics! That’s an extra 8 bit of awesome added on top of a screen that doesn’t support transparency(it would be cool to see through the pandora) on its 24 bit screen!
According to the description, it has crisp, intense, colorful effects with “beatiful” explosions! (No implosions?)

Hopefully the commercial feature of the repo will bring more indie developers interested in the system and the community. Third party and First party ports are awesome, but some dedicated titles would be great too! (Note the above example is a Caanoo port to the OpenPandora by the original developer, Black Curtain Studio)

Note to Black Curtain Studio: use a spell checker, also, don’t use a number of bits as a selling point, are you in the 80s when the C64 was hip?

Update 2:

The packages have finally been picked up in Texas and according to FedEx tracking, they should arrive tomorrow in Germany.
I guess it will be Friday or Monday (never trusted FedEx estimations ), but that means we only got a slight delay with the prototype run and we’re still planning the full production to happen in January

Source
Update:
EvilDragon posted an update on the situation with CircuitCo.
It seems like all documents had been prepared actually, but there was confusion about how to handle them (or what they are for) on CC’s side.
If this does not work out, ED will simply contact EBV/AVNet to pick up the parts and export them.
Here is the full post
Original post:
This time, we might have reason to celebrate in under Two Months!
A prototype run has been scheduled to happen next week on Thursday or Friday (However, drama changes that).
Mass production at Global Components is scheduled at January 16th in Germany. There should not be any changes to this date, unless there are issues!
Additionally, there’s some progress on TV Cables, currently EvilDragon is waiting for quotes to come back.
Many parts (cases, batteries, LCDs, etc.) are still with Craig, and need to be transported to Germany.

See the full text after the jump!

1. Parts

I already got some parts lying at my office (like the EXT Ports, USB ports, battery contacts, WiFi Modules, etc.), the parts that were lying at CC in Texas have been picked up early last week and should arrive within the next few days, the bare PCBs will arrive today and all remaining needed parts have been organized by Global Components as well.
Well, almost: One part, a coil, is causing a small headache: While the manufacturer can deliver as many as we need until the mass production, they cannot deliver the needed samples until next week. Therefore, GC is looking for a third party source for this coil or a replacement part we can use. Well, in worst case we will rip them from broken CC boards.
As said: We will have them for the full production run. We’re only doing 20 units for the prototype run.

2. Prototype and Mass Production Run

The prototype production run has been scheduled to happen next week Thursday or Friday.
Until then all parts should’ve arrived, so we’re ready to go.

The mass production run is scheduled to start January 16th. Of course, this depends on the prototype production run. If the PCBs have some issues, we first need to find out what and why and fix that.
But if they are working properly and without issues, we’re set 

3. Other tidbits

We found some companies that could produce the TV Out Cables and are currently waiting for quotations.
We’ll most probably also have proper AC Adaptors with Pandora stickers on them.
The case mold has been modified a bit to prevent some of the most popular crackings, a sample should be finished tomorrow.

I still need to move some needed parts (like cases, batteries, LCDs, etc.) from Craigs place to my company. Craig packaged that up already and we should be able to move them soon as well.

So, where’s the drama?

Argh – just got some bad news right in.
As promised, I want to be open about everything, so I’m also telling you bad news.

EBV (the distributor who helps me to handle the movement of the parts from CircuitCo to Germany) just got an eMail from FedEx.
Last week FedEx said the pickup date is set and everything is fine – and as we didn’t here anything else, we all assumed FedEx picked them up as planned.

However, it seems FedEx has been trying to get the packages, but CircuitCo refused to cooperate.
EBV is now actively working on this. They’ve got some other plans to get the parts. They still own a large amount of the parts (I agreed to pay them once we’ve got the parts here in Germany), so they will have ways to get these parts back.
As all the parts that we need from CC are parts that EBV delivered, we’re also checking the current stock at EBV if they have enough of the parts here for the prototype production run.

I’ll keep you all updated!

Always drama if CircuitCo is involved…

But, its not as bad, with some elevation from EvilDragon

Okay, got some more information, things are not as bad as they looked like.

CC does not seize the parts or refuse to give them to us.
But as the parts will be transported from them to Germany, they’d need to fill out an export document for FedEx. And that’s what they don’t cooperate with.
That’s your perfect customer service there, isn’t it?

Well, EBV is now creating those documents so that FedEx can pick them up ASAP.
Might even work out today, as US is behind us quite a few hours, but it might be tomorrow or even Monday.

I already made a phone call with Global Components and they have no problem delaying the prototype run for a few days.
Whenever the parts are there, we’ll do it immediately.

We also try to keep the mass production run in time, the only issue could be the bare PCBs as they need 4 – 6 weeks after the prototype production run, but in worst case the mass production will start 1 – 2 weeks later which would still be January.

That last part means less than Two Months!

Some of you, who like me, have been on the ride since the genesis would quickly dismiss this statement, but I’m confident like EvilDragon is here.

And lastly, Craigix is being pestered by newbies/lurkers, as usual, on the forums. This community comic relief is getting old now at the frustration of Craigix, I’m sure some readers’ opinion may differ though.

Sources: Main, Drama Queen, Relief.

Update:
If you are like me wondering what out-of-production parts ED was talking about, here is the answer:

Some Diodes (no big deal) and only one important part: The Memory.
But Micron (the manufacturer of the memory we used) has replacements for those as well, so nothing serious, nope.

Source

Original post:
In short: Production in Germany is still in schedule with the different parts needed being shiped from all over the world (Parts from CircuitCo are being handled as we speak and proper replacements for parts already out of production have already been ordered).
The TV-Out cables, which ED promised to order after production at GC is fully set-up, are the new troublemaker, though.
For some reason the company making those is now refusing to take the order, which means that the already produced tools have to be shipped to another manufacturer, which obviously has to be found first. As the cables are not that much more expensive to produce over here in Germany, ED is looking into that possibility as well.

Some random news bits: Socket-able nubs are currently off the table as the new and improved nubs seem to perform nicely so far.
If your Pandora is currently in RMA you should expect a bit of wait, a user recently reported getting his Pandora back after about one month. ED currently fixes about 8 Pandoras a week in his spare time (between his regular job, organizing the production, sending out contracts and actually getting some sleep).

Here is the full quote with all the gory bits:

Well – almost!
Everything was going WELL too well for the last few weeks, therefore something HAD to go wrong.
I’m happy to tell you it’s nothing too serious – but just read on, and you’ll know

1. Prototype production

Prototype production is still planned to happen in November, it might also be early December though (depending on the speed of FedEx and the customs).
These few days delays don’t change the January full production run which is scheduled to start January 16th.
The only thing that could REALLY delay the production run would be problems with the prototype run – but we’ll hope (and expect) everything goes well here.

Quite a few parts are currently being shipped to me: USB Ports, volume wheels and soon the parts that are lying at CircuitCo as well. It was quite an act to prepare proper documentation for customs, but FedEx has already been given the confirmation to pick up the parts.

Some Pandora parts are already out of production, so we had to find some equivalents but that’s already been taken care of as well.

So everything here is still in schedule.

2. TV Out Cable production

Well, I mentioned not everything is still going smooth as it should.
As soon as I got the confirmation for all the investments, I placed the order for the TV Out Cables – but suddenly the company doesn’t want to do this anymore.
This is totally weird – they produce the samples, they created the needed tools and now when they only need to PRODUCE them, they don’t want to do it.
They don’t want to get our money? Weird. Well, that’s China.

As said: It’s not serious, as it won’t affect the Pandora production and it’s not hard to find another company. Such a cable is nothing complicated.
It’s just annoying. I would’ve been happy to ship you the TV Out cables for christmas… but sadly, that didn’t work out

That’s all I have for now
I’ll keep you updated with anything that happens

Source

Evildragon and Craig(who was cursed with a moldy ceiling), went to Blackpool to the Replay Expo 2011!
That means they are done now
Many team members, including our repo guy, milkshake, and our friend who lost his name badge along the way, PokeParadox, met and made it on camera!
Furthermore, many visitors found the device quite interesting.
May88′s impressions, photos, videos and more can be found in this article!

Regarding the movement of parts from the dastardly CircuitCo(In Texas) to GlobalComponents(In Germany), the customs documents have been completed.
A prototype run of the PCB is anticipated during this month(November).

As resource costs, such as copper have changed, EvilDragon has requested a quote so that we may soon get the Yet-To-Be TV Cables! Maybe this time Iceland’s volcanoes and South America’s tectonic plates won’t screw us over.

Lastly, an individual that goes by Delicator will be helping busy EvilDragon with the main site with features like a croudsourced gallery, user generated content, and integration with the forum

Full post and source after the jump!

I was very busy preparing for the Replay Expo last week, therefore I didn’t find the time to post updates.
Of course, that doesn’t mean nothing has happened – so here’s a quick summary of the current situation.

1. The ReplayExpo – a very quick impression

Well, there are already a lot of posts about the ReplayExpo in Blackpool, so there’s no real need for a in-depth-post about it.
The ReplayExpo was great. We don’t have such a big retro-scene in Germany, so this was totally overwhelming for me. So many cool arcade machines, pinball machines and classic computers.
Awesome!

While the Pandora is no classic system, most visitors were amazed by it.
Our table was crowded most of the time, all five Pandoras I had with me were being played on most of the time.
Most thought the price was decent, which is a good sign.

It was also awesome meeting some community members. And a VERY welcomed change from the daily organization work.
Thanks again to pmprog and sbt for the airport ride.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be back next year 

2. No break, everything going according to plan (that’s something new, eh?)

Signed contracts are arriving daily (yeah, we need to send them back and forth using snail mail ), and each day more investments arrive on my bank account.
This actually made it possible to pay and order some parts already, which is great, as we need them for the prototype run.
The documents for the customs that are needed to move some of the parts from CC to Germany are also finished, so the pickup will hopefully also happen within this week.
I already got the WiFi modules and nubs for the prototype run, so we’re pretty much set with the parts.

The bare PCBs have also entered production state. The company had 14 questions to Michael Weston which he all replied to.
The prototype run is still planned to happen in November, we’re perfectly following our timeframe right now.

3. TV Out Cables

I promised that one of the first things I will order as soon as the investments are there are the TV Out cables.
I instantly requested an updated quotation (copper price changed within the last months), and as soon as I get it, the order will be signed and the cables will go into production.

4. The Website

Delicator volunteered to update the website quite a bit.
Here’s what we’ve planned:

* Upgrade to latest Joomla Version (from 1.5 to 1.7)
* You can use your forum login on the site as well, which will enable you to do the following:
- Upload your own Pandora pictures into the user gallery (which will be public)
- Put your own videos (YouTube links) onto the user video gallery
- Post reviews
* Include a shop into the website (incl. Credit Card payment, etc.)
* Optimize the website (SEO, content, etc.)

When new users find out about the Pandora, they should find a plain and clean website that offers a wide variety of user commited content (videos, reviews and pictures) as well as links to the most important sites (repo, boards, wiki, etc.).

5. Some other things

Annette, a new employee I’ve got, will help me two hours a day with packaging and shipping, tax stuff and after a little while also with eMails.
This will help me catch up with all the mails and repairs I have to do, so things should get better soon (hopefully )

We’re also working on improving the cases a bit to prevent the most popular cracks from happening in the future.

That’s it for now 
Let me know if you have further questions 

Post Source

Following on from the previous article: Replay Expo (Arcade, Video Games, Retro) happened on 5th and 6th of November in Blackpool (UK) and part of the Pandora Team (Craig and EvilDragon) as well as a few members of the community attended.

Norbreck Castle Hotel provided a large main hall. Down one side there were a number of arcade machines including the likes of Pac-man, Pacland, Mr. Do!, Frogger, Operation Wolf, Space Panic, Robotron and Stargate. Sadly no Galaxian, Lady Bug nor Golden Axe. In the centre were a number of stands and tables with a whole host of different consoles. Towards the rear and along the top were a few vendors along with the main stage and behind that a corridor and the odd room full of pinball machines. Adjacent was the Tournament room where there were half-a-dozen or so tables of various consoles set-up for head-to-head battle. Back out towards the front of the hotel and to the left was a large lounge where an area was set aside for presentations and if I’d picked up a programme I would’ve been able to report on all the interesting speakers. Turning right instead, and wondering for a bit, you find the Community Meeting area where EvilDragon did his thing and where I totally failed to find until…later. Last but not least, there was a little area leading to the back of the hotel where a number of home computers were displayed and tables of other interests including the Pandora. When I popped out to say hi, I only found pmprog holding the fort. I did however see ED waving his shiny silver one in front of Jeff Minter, which was nice.

What can I say? As the only reporter from the PandoraPress to attend Replay Expo 2011 I am rubbish at my job. I forgot my camera. Only attending the Sunday, I enjoyed the event so much, with my son and daughter, I totally failed to bring you any juicy Pandora gossip or eat any cake. Luckily Craig, EvilDragon and our fellow Pandorians have been busy posting their views, pictures and videos on the forums. Plagiarism I can do.

Firstly Craig battled with a brOken Mac tO pOst a video that nicely captured the flavour of the event and the Norbreck (a tad unfair as it was an okay venue. Just a shame it was so far from civilisation).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Milkshake chips in with

Click here to view the embedded video.

And PokeParadox with

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ll let you read Miner49er’s nice little review here, and also Ian J’s impressions after a close encounter with a Pandora

Saturday night, Mr_Loon picked a beautiful example of a Blackpool pub for a little get together for those with the stamina and the schedule to attend. Craig + Sinead, EvilDragon, Milkshake + xBexy (I presume), Mr_Loon, Myself + Nick May and [pending edit] a quietly spoken chap whose name I failed to hear over the karaoke.

Topics on the official forum here and here, or if you’re wondering who’s who in the picture at the top then click here.