Hellollo! :D

As promised, here is just some more footage of the current status of the Pandora OS, based on Angström.

It's now using Matchbox already (the Window Manager we want to use) and I'm connected to the net using USBNet.

We didn't design a Pandora-specific theme yet, so it looks very basic. But I'll concentrate on that soon. The folders could ALL have different icons, so navigating is quite easy and cool.

Now: Enjoy! :)



Note: The video is encoded in 720p on YouTube. Enjoy a full 1280x720 video!

You can actually download the full video (over 100MB!) in H.264 here.

And if you don't like H.264, you can download a smaller xvid video here"

Yay! I got something to show you: Our very first, freshly bitbaken Angström build on the Pandora!
So, I'm gonna show you the desktop (the FULL DESKTOP MODE, not the minimal mode) with some apps. No Pandora-Customized theme (or fonts) yet, that's what I'm gonna do during the next time.
This boots off a single speed SD Card, so it will be much faster on the final unit. It's also not using any accelerated SDL yet (it's just for testing, customizing and selecting the apps we want on the stock Pandora. So while the other devs are enhancing the drivers and making that thing faster, I can already concentrate on the functionality and look-and-feel!)
Oh, and if you think I speak weird stuff on that video... I'm from Germany and just spoke what came to my mind :)

If you want it big, you can download an XVID here!

Oh, and the first prototype keymat did arrive!



The top of the keys will be hardened, but it already works :)

Hiya folks, I'm here for the weekly report!

We have a lot of good news here, a lot of major stuff has been solved, few issues remain, but you can be sure we'll solve them soon.

1. Craig's bank problem: ALL orders have been refunded now and cen be reordered. After that has happened, the bank stuff should be finished. Thank god!

2. Most devboards have been sent out to some nice devs. The secret discussion area is bustling with activity since a few days, as we're all working together to create a very nice firmware for you. One important dev is still waiting for his board (which is on the way already): The maintainer of the Pandora Angström distribution. Once he got it, it shouldn't be too long until the first NAND Images for the Pandora appear and we can show videos of the ongoing progess of developing the firmware.
skeezix made some nice unpacking pictures of his devboard on his site here.

zodttd got an MK2 board and did a quick recompile of PSX4ALL (including sound!). No hardware acceleration used yet (no 3D and not even 2D), so expect major speed increases once we finished coding the libraries.

A video running FF7 can be seen here (and YES, it HAS sound, it's just very very quiet as Zoddy only did connect small mobile speakers to the board...)

3. The mass production facility is still working on optimizing the production process so that there will be minimal faults on the boards. This does take a while, but as we're still waiting for some parts anyways, it's not much of a problem, and we're also waiting for the prototype cases to be finished. We'll use that waiting time on enhancing the OS.

Well, that's all for now. Expect more videos from me as soon as the first Angström Pandora images are baken.

Hi folks!

The last weeks have been crazy. There's so much we learnt: Worldwide Financial crisis' are not good - banks go crazy, which lead to the huge 'refund and repay'-issue (which is still going on...). It's also not good for all the part manufactures - as they tend to become very cautious which leads to delays. And state-of-the-art products are complicated to produce (the mass production companies are still optimizing to be able to produce the Pandora without having too many broken boards!)
Yep, we learnt a lot and it is already much we achieved. But there's still some things to do.

You've all been waiting for a status update, eh? Well, here it comes:

1. Almost ALL drivers have been finished and work fine so far!
2. 20 MK2 devboards have been produced and have been sent out to some devs!
3. PXML Fileformat definition is finished.
4. Prototype keypad and case have been ordered (nope, we don't know yet exactly when they're finished)
5. Chip from the GP32x.com boards is now officially helping us with tiny news and informations. Thanks a bunch and welcome to the team!

So, as you might've guessed, we can't deliver the final units end of November. It might even take until 2009 - but we won't say any date yet. With all those delays the various manufacturers had, it's nigh impossible to give out a date. But we're really working hard to make it as soon as possible! Promised!
We're really sorry about that - but because of that financial crise, everything in the world seems to have gone crazy (heck, even my Pandora-Poloshirts have been delayed for over a week already!). Without that, we had a very good chance to finish in-time - but that crisis was something we didn't expect. Nobody did, I guess. We also like to THANK YOU VERY MUCH for supporting us! We won't let you down - and this is another promise!

Now, to show you guys we've been working on some stuff:
The most recent kernel source can be downloaded using our GIT server:
git://git.openpandora.org/pandora-kernel.git
Use the pandora-27-omap1 branch for the moment, there will soon be a 2.6.28.

Get the latest definition of the PXML format here.


Here is also a picture that shows that Bluetooth is working.

Oh, and if you need a subdomain, webspace or GIT Server for any Pandora-Project, be sure to send me (EvilDragon) an eMail (EvilDragon_at_openpandora.org). We will host it for free!

Now, back to work for me... and sorry again about any delays. I know how you feel... I had to wait for my PSP, eeePC, mobile phone... hmm. Is there ANY device today that is being released the day it has been announced for? Hmmm...

Right, this photo might excite you:



We also hope to have all the banking problems sorted out this week. Very frustrating situation. Hope the 256MB of RAM and 512MB of NAND makes up for it!

We are looking for a few more people to get prerelease Pandora consoles who want to work on applications or the kernel. You should be able and willing to devote a lot of time to it, do not apply if you don't have the time to work on it before Christmas.