Source Code for the SDL tutorial of the German Pandora Wiki

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/pandora.cgi?0,0,0,0,46,33

Most of you might be happy to read, that the mass production for the motherboard of the Pandora has begun.

3895 boards on the way!

http://openpandora.org/

The Pandora is comming closer and closer to a release. This also requires the device to pass the CE tests. So here are some fresh news, directly from the source.

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Hiya folks!

I guess you’ve been waiting for me to post, eh? Looks like it, browsing the boards 😉

We just did some CE (EMV) measurements today. First, we have some pics for you which show some of the testing setup and site.

Now, onto some test results, shall we?

Well, the tests went good so far, we have peaks that shouldn’t be there. BUT the guy who did the test was really nice and helped me to find out what caused those peaks. And it’s a pretty simple thing: The LCD Ribbon cable needs to be shielded. So the BOARDS are fine, we can start mass production 🙂 The only thing we need to do is shielding the ribbon cable, and that’s it. Since the cable is not part of the boards, it doesn’t affect the board production. Craig was basically right when he said our friend metal tape would help here. 😉 (okay, it’s not THAT easy, but there are various shields for ribbon cables out there ;))

Another interesting thing is what he did tell me about FCC.
According to him, we don’t even need FCC. FCC is only for radio devices (like wireless microphones, etc.), but not stuff like computers or gaming devices like ours here. They’re running an FCC certified testing site, so they should know.
I’m gonna find out more about it, but it seems to be true – I did check my mobile phone, some gaming devices, etc. They don’t have any FCC sign on there. And the REAL certified devices have the certificate number beneath the FCC symbol. Everything else isn’t really certified… so check out your devices. If there’s just something like “FCC Approved”, it’s no certification…

Good thing, eh? 🙂

Anyways, I’m getting the exact testing results tomorrow as PDF (I got them as printed copy, but I don’t want to scan all in), so I’ll post more details about that in the next days.

http://openpandora.org/

News from the Pandora front by EvilDragon!

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It already has more content than the old one – and we really do hope you like it!

As we’re nearing release, we thought we could revamp it a bit – it should make it easier for newcomers to find out what the Pandora is.

We also added status page, which had been a request for months by a lot of people.

There will be more content added during the next weeks, new pictures, articles, infos, etc.

Just stay tuned, there’s still a lot of work to be done here.

Now, you’re also waiting for some official development news, right?

Well, as you’ve seen on the last blog post, the prototype TV Out cables and the first mass produced boards have arrived at Michaels place. And guess what: We haven’t encountered any problems so far with those! So the boards and the cables have already become a reality. Yay!

Now the only thing we need to wait for are the cases. The mould is still in production – the Pandora apparently is more complex than the company at first thought. They try to finish it before the Chinese Autumn Holidays (which are in October), let’s all hope they manage to do this. We’ll keep you informed. We’re also still trying to get WIP pictures from the mould creation. Would certainly look interesting!

Recently, I’ve seen a quite a few threads on the boards which were about “how long are you still gonna wait” or other disappointments about the long delays or the currently quiet time without any updates…

Well, I know it’s hard – but there’s not much we can update at the moment. Everything is finished except for the case mould, and all we can do is wait until the company finishes it. Once they finish it, it’s just a matter of days until we have the first REAL final Pandoras in our hands – and then the real fun begins: Mass production. And no, I don’t think it will be two months ™ until the mass production starts… it could start a few days after we have the first real Pandora… and that should be the case within the next weeks!

And as some guy asked at the boards how we handle the situation… well, I can only speak for myself, but I have really mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I’m happy that we have a community like you, following our progress and waiting sooooo patiently. On the other hand, I feel bad because we had so many delays and have your money… then again, I see that the only tiny thing missing is the case, which should also be finished soon, which makes me happy, as it means there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!

For me, it’s a real rollercoaster ride. And while I’m eagerly awaiting putting this project behind me, I think I’ll also miss something when we delivered it. Really weird feelings.
I hope that does answer your questions 🙂

See you soon!

http://www.openpandora.org/

The final keymat prototype did arrive a few days ago!

http://www.openpandora.org/

EvilDragon has posted the current progress of the Pandora development.

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You’ve seen some requested videos during the last days, now it’s time for some more facts and information, eh?

Well, the review of the complete case and the keymat is finished. There were a few small issues that we already corrected and on Monday the company did tell us “Everything is ready, we can start when you are ready”.
And guess what – we were ready! Finally all issues of the case and keymat have been resolved and they are now working on the mould.

DJWillis has also made some progress with WiFi. Basically, he can communicate with the Module, only calibration doesn’t work yet. As soon as he gets this to work, WiFi will work completely – including WPA, etc.

Regarding software, we were discussing about using cpasjuste’s GUI as minimal launcher, since it is so much nicer than matchbox and it’s just a program you run, not a complete WindowManager.
So we’re currently thinking about using E17 as fully fledged desktop and cpasjuste’s GUI as minimal mode for the gamers who don’t want to use a complete desktop.
That way we don’t need two window manager and starting the minimal GUI is easy – just use it as autostart program.

I know there are still plenty of things to do – and the worst thing is that there won’t be many pictures while waiting for all companies to finish… but we’re still getting there, step by step.

http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php

The Pandora is getting more and more complete. Als the TV-Out cables are ready now!

http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php

Craig has the first pictures of the mass production Pandora for us. Here we go:

http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php

Pickle is obviously working on a port of DOSBox for Pandora!

Here are a few videos in action:
Dosbox: Commander Keen 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIoFwMs8xVs
Dosbox: Duke 1 and Airborne Ranger – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpFi847kZeo
Dosbox: Blake Stone and Dark Forces – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY_6I3kMXko

http://www.youtube.com/user/Pickle136

Super Mario War is a Super Mario multiplayer game, which is currently beeing ported to the Pandora by Pickle.

The goal is to stomp as many other Marios as possible to win the game. It’s a tribute to Nintendo and the game Mario War by Samuele Poletto.

Check the video for this game running on hardware. There is no (public) binary yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBh9IfgCgXQ