Sometimes EvilDragon says a bit, and other times he says a lot. This is one of those times where he must have spent his night up, making a post.

Let’s see… The current nubs are working great, the latest hotfix is looking pretty good. The team is very happy with the last hundred boards, and there and many more on the way. What more is there to say?

As usual, I’ll let EvilDragon do the talking:

Moving forward!

Hardware Production

We were really pleased with the last 100 boards! Only a few failed for different reasons, but the nubs were working fine! So it seems the mechanical testing is a fine solution until the next batch of nubs will be produced with added accuracy.
170 more boards are already on the way to UK, so expect more units to be delivered soon.

Hopefully, now that the nub problem seems to be sold, the production will speed soon! As usual, we’re working on getting there!
The next 4000 cases should also be ready soon – all of them have been produced and most of them are already painted. They should just arrive in time when we are passing the first 1000 units mark!

Software updates

Softwarewise, some nice things have happened: With Ginge (which should be ready for release soon), you can play GP2X games (even commercial games like Payback and Wind & Water) on the Pandora! While it still is work in progress, it already has pretty good compatibility. Thanks to notaz for that incredible piece of software work.

Also, Hotfix 4 Beta 1 is out. Thanks to the guys that tried it, I already fixed a few errors and will release a Beta 2 within the next days.
The biggest improvement is probably that HF4 is using IPKs for the update: This is the first major step to properly upgrade the system, via a package manager.
Another test I did worked fine: I installed the very first OS version on my Pandora, changed the config files to use our feeds and upgraded the system using opkg update and opkg upgrade – and 10 minutes later, I had a working up-to-date OS on my system!

Soon you will be able to update your unit by either downloading the latest HotFix and running it or by directly update the Pandora while connected to the internet.
The brave ones among you will also be able to use unstable feeds to get the latest changes to the system a few minutes after they have been committed! Of course, bug reports are welcome.

Help us improve the unit!

So, all in all, while things are not going perfect, we’re still moving forward and getting there.
Basically, I could be happy with that – but there is one thing that makes me sad: And that is the current mood on the boards. There are some people who seem to try to bash the unit for whatever reason.
This is really demotivating and won’t help anyone get anywhere – since it’s no constructive criticism.

Yes, we know there have been some problems with the first produced units like shoulder buttons, nubs, LCD cables. And we are working hard to get them all fixed (and most seem already be fixed).
Yes, we know there have been slowdowns in the production – mainly because we had problems with the nubs (we couldn’t magically fix them, this takes some time).

Please don’t forget: We are not a big company, we are just some guys trying to achieve something. Something major – and I think we didn’t do too bad so far.
We are NOT trying to cover or deny any faults, but are trying to fix and prevent them in the future.
According to most people we talked to who already received the unit: They love it and think it’s the best device they ever owned.

So far, we only had about 50 RMAs out of 700 – while the boards currently make it sound as if almost EVERY unit is unusable.
Some people do claim that there are more broken units but the users do not want to ship it back to us since they are waiting for production to speed up.

I can imagine this might be true for some people, but not for all.

Please: Even if you do not want to return your unit right now, let us know if you have any serious issues like a dead nub or a failed LCD cable or anything else.
Why? Well, we’re trying to fix all problems and prevent them from happening. But if we DON’T KNOW about these issues, we can’t fix them. Telling us what fails will help us to improve the quality and increase the production speed.

Also, of course, if you have a Pandora and like it – spread the word! Show it to friends, colleagues, post on boards. Tell them the story behind it, that it’s a device made by a small company, not by Sony, etc.

One thing you can be sure about:
If you encounter any real problems with your unit, we’ll fix it for you! AND use the information to improve further produced units!

Let’s all work together to improve the mood at the boards again. We all do share something: The love for niche products. Be it for gaming, for hacking, for coding – we all gathered to make the Pandora happen. For some, the Pandora is already reality – and for the rest, this reality is coming closer and closer!

Thanks to all guys that do support us – it’s never been easy, but you keep us going!

source

Well, there’s not much for me to say. This is an excellent and long update from EvilDragon that many of us have been waiting for. It answers a lot of questions about the hardware status, current build state, and everything in-between.

Enjoy:

EvilDragon on the official blog:

Preparing the big run

It’s been kinda quiet in here lately, hasn’t it?

Well, I hope this will change in the near future and I’ll find more time keeping you up-to-date with what’s happening.
During the last days, it has been so incredibly hot in here… 30°C in my room at night… it was really hard to concentrate on what you’re doing.

Good news: The Cases

4000 new cases have been produced and are being painted at the moment. Over 1000 of them will ship using UPS, the rest will probably go by sea (takes a bit longer, but is way cheaper… and we will be busy with the first 1000 cases until they arrive).
And yes, you read correct: It will be 4000 cases. We will need some for replacements ourselves – and I guess quite a few of you will want to be able to buy replacement cases for modding, etc. yourselves.
Thank god, case production seems to work fine now.

What’s up with the nub?

Our challenges seem to continue – Murphy must really hate us, and I have no idea why. I’m not THAT evil, am I?

Well, as you might have seen on the boards, some nubs fail. While it was no catastrophic number (so far, 20 out of 600 units had to be replaced), combined with the ones that failed while testing, the failed number is too high.
We don’t want to deliver units with broken nubs we have to replace after a while. This would not only lead to more delays (as working boards would go into replacement units instead to new customers), it would also mean A LOT of additional costs for us. Also, testing all the boards and sending them back to get the nubs desoldered and exchanged eats a lot of time and cost.

Thank god the nub manufacturing company is really helpful. They even followed the threads on the GP32x.com boards to see what problems occured and are now testing all the nubs. They admitted that something went wrong in the manufacturing process – and they know it’s really urgent. Therefore, the first 400 fully working tested nubs should be ready to be soldered onto the waiting Panda-Boards in next week! The rest will follow soon after.
As we have 13.000 nubs (8000 for the Pandora and 5000 for the iControlpad – however, the Pandora has priority), there should be enough working nubs for the first batch. The failed ones will either be repaired or reproduced.

So the good thing is: This (last) issue is also being solved right now – the rest of the production works flawlessly now, so this is the last challenge for us it seems.

Still, we really want to apologize for the inconveniences some of you experienced there. That definately was NOT our plan. We will try to resolve this as soon as possible.

But what does that mean for further production? More delays?

Well, it will take a while until the next Pandoras will be shipped. Even the ones that should’ve been build this week (those 400 Craig mentioned) will have to be delayed since the nubs won’t arrive before next week. We don’t want to ship any more units where the nubs will break after a few days!

However, even with this break, it will speed things up. Why?
Well, because we don’t just sit around: We prepare all the lids and base parts, so basically all units will be ready and simply need a board.

Building a single Pandora (with all the testing, etc. we do) takes about 16 – 17 minutes per unit at the moment. Also, we needed addtional 5 – 6 minutes to extensively test the nubs!

These are the steps needed to build a Pandora:

1. Solder the speakers to the LCD cables.
2. Put the LCDs into the lid. Connect the cables.
3. Place a few layers on top of the LCD cable to shield it (needed for CE).
4. Put the Antenna into the lid.
5. Roll the LCD cable and place it in the hinge. Put the antenna through the rolled cable.
6. Close the lid carefully to not kill the LCD cable.
7. Put the hinge in the base part.
8. Carefully pull the LCD cable through the base part, putting together the lid and the base and engage the hinge.
9. Put each button in (ABXY) as well as the left and right light pipes and the microphone holder into the base part.
10. Place the keymat into the base part.
11. Put the stylus holder into the bottom part.
12. Screw the lid together and put the screw covers on top of it.
13. Put the board into the the unit, connect LCD cable and antenna.
14. Put in the power switch, L and R buttons and screw the unit together.
15. Do a quick test (WiFi, controls, keyboard) and flash the firmware.

So, even if the boards arrive later – as long as we have the cases (which should arrive soon) and the LCD cables (where 3000 are on the way to me to be soldered), we can do most of the steps needed for assembly. Once everything is prepared and the boards arrive, the time needed per Pandora shouldn’t be more than 5 minutes (instead of the 16 – 17 or even 22 – 24 when he had to test the nubs).

While those five minutes nub testing we needed didn’t sound like much, it adds up: Testing the remaining 3600 would’ve taken 300 hours! Even if all four people were working on it, it would still take over a week for simply testing the nubs… and if 10% fail and have to go back, be desoldered, resoldered, etc. This would eat more and more time…
The company can test a nub in 30 seconds – so it won’t take long until we have enough to build Pandoras. We are ready to assemble 200 a day – let’s hope is that the board productions speeds up!

I know there will probably be a some ranting going on after I publish that blog post… but what should we do? The prototypes of the nubs were working, now too many fail.
The only option we have is to get this solved before shipping the Pandoras.

We will manage this last issue – we solved so many before You guys have proven to be the best customers out there so far. Thanks a lot! It really helps me ease my mind a bit…

I’ll keep you informed – and one thing you can be sure about: We’ll continue with all our effort to finish the remaining units as soon as possible!
The feedback from the customers who already got a unit was better than I ever imagined – a lot of them are using the unit each day and love it!
And I do hope that ALL of you will have the same meaning about it, too!

Thanks for your ongoing support – now onto the last steps. And Murphy: We should DEFINATELY have a talk about your stupid law once we meet…

Oh, before I forget: As some asked about the TV Out cables and spare batteries: We are already delivering the spare batteries, however, the TV Out Cables will probably have to wait until October. We’re currently concentrating on getting all the Pandoras out – there’s not much time left to do anything else. Don’t worry, they’re not cancelled, just delayed – but the main units definately are our main priority right now.

source

Click here to view the embedded video.

Expleo explevi expletvm. Caution: video involves lifting and benches.

The first images of the final Pandora cases have arrived. More will be posted as they appear. Click for embiggened size.

Unfortunately, this is not quite how the final Pandoras will look:

The finish on this small run cannot be as good as the finish on the 4000 run. I don’t know why.

You get a sort of oily effect on small runs. But it does not effect the actual structure of the parts or the feel of them. The MP run will be a matte finish.

Craig has posted new photos of the parts from the Pandora test injection. Keep in mind that these are test parts, and so aren’t as shiny as the final parts. Here you see the top of the Pandora’s case, with holes for everything. Read more for more photos.

The battery cover.

Screen front, with speaker holes.

The SD cover and stylii.

And finally, the shoulder buttons.

Recently posted to MWeston’s Photobucket account were these renders of the planned labels to be printed onto the Pandora cases. Highlights include a snazzy “First Batch” text and a Pandora logo. Rear labels after the break.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you may or may not know, the Beagleboard is a OMAP powered micro-computer. Its hardware specifications are almost identical to the Pandora, it is used by many Pandora developers who do not have Pandora development boards, like the Gentoo Pandora developers. This is OGRE (the 3d engine) running a few tests on a Beagleboard using the powerVR SGX core (the exact same one avaliable on the Pandora). It looks like those 3d drivers are finnaly coming into circulation!

Quote from craigix:

Good stuff, we are hoping to show off more 3D on the Pandora in the coming weeks too now that the drivers are working.

Source

According to Evil Dragon, the remaining LCDs have arrived.

“Nein, die restlichen LCDs liegen mittlerweile bereit.”

“No, the remaining LCDs are there and ready.”

(In response to a remark that the first production batch could not exceed 400 units as there were only 400 LCDs in stock)

Link:

http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=24&am…13&start=45

Kloplop321 provides this update/clarification:

ED has said different when posting back
“Not yet arrived, but ready to ship from the manufacturer – and completely paid ”

EvilDragon
Faktisch weiß ich aber, dass die Pandora in den Produktionsendzügen liegt

Es gab noch eine Verzögerung vom Akkuhersteller (der hat das Design nochmals überarbeitet, deswegen mussten wir das Prototyp-Gehäuse verschieben (gibt ja keinen Sinn, wenn der Akku nicht passt ).
Vom finalen Akku wird derzeit ein Prototyp erstellt, der die nächsten Tage fertig wird – und kurz drauf ist das quasi fertige Gehäuse auf den neuen Akku angepasst. Und dann kommt WIRKLICH endlich das Prototyp-Gehäuse – denn dann haben wir alles, was dazu nötig ist.

Eine Auslieferung in den nächsten zwei Monaten ist in jedem Fall sehr wahrscheinlich.

Translation:
Pandora’s production just needs the last steps. There was another delay because the battery manufacturer refined the design an so we had to delay the prototype case, too(it doesn’t make any sense, when the battery doesn’t fit). At the moment a prototype of the final battery is being made and will be finished in the next days – shortly after that the final case will be adapted to the new battery. And then we REALLY will have the final prototype case – because we will have everything what is needed.

A delivery of Pandora in the next two months is very likely.

Original Source

viridior has posted an update on Gentoo for Pandora.

Great News!

The gentoo.pandora.devs have been able to build enough of an image that we will be able to start exporting it to dev’s with hardware for testing very soon.  Checkout gentoo.openpandora.org and specifically gentoo.openpandora.org/index.php/Gentoo-pandora-0.0.1_rc4 to see our current base image software list.

This image is ONLY intended for basic functionality and use.  You will be able to add your own software easily by using emerge <software name>.  (We are using pre-compiled binaries)  That means that you can use potentially anything in gentoo-portage.com/Browse

We will also have our own custom Gentoo Pandora Portage library for Pandora community projects and custom builds to maintain compatibility with the official distro release(s).

Squidge has confirmed that you can only charge via USB when the Pandora is off – I don’t think this is totally new but it’s worth knowing.

It should be noted however that you will only be able to charge the Pandora via USB when the device is Off. USB doesn’t supply enough power (~500mA) to both charge the battery and power the system at the same time.