AV Cables and July Release?
June 5, 2009Posted by: PlopperZ
From MWeston:
I’m told production samples of the A/V cable are being built next week so whenever they are done, some will be shipped to me to review and destroy (well one of them for sure to check the internals and make sure they followed my guidelines). It doesn’t look like there will be a problem shipping these cables with your initial orders and as I mentioned before, we had to place a minimum order of 5000 cables so there are plenty out there if anyone wants to add it to their order.
I wish we could have just thrown these in for free like you get with those Chinese MP4 players but this thing was pretty expensive to make using the custom connector and the price even went up after the initial quote because they were obligated to use more expensive materials that meet environmental safety/recycling rules or something like that. At least the Pandora project is doing its best not to destroy the environment with its product!
From Craig: (add the usual grain of salt)
I’m prepared to say July.
Update: More July talk.
I’m pretty sure on July. Unless something goes wrong with the dpad redesign we will be good to go.
Edit: What I can’t promise is 100% wifi compatibility, that’s still a work in progress, but it won’t stop us shipping as I’m pretty sure you are all capable of installing an updated driver.
mazza558
PlopperZ
TaG
gruso
Butterman
tovmas
The unofficial Pandora Blog 
july?!
i dont know whether to be flip the F out, or completely ignore it as if i never read that.
Nice to hear about the cables tho.
So, just the usual 2 more months to go then!
No, that’s the point! July is not two months away, It’s blasphemy!
Just kidding, it would be great. 😉
I didn’t know there was ever an issue with shipping the accessories with the device. I guess the only other thing is the case. Is there any issue with that?
Craig’s estimate should be more accurate now that the initial board testing was complete and turned out well, I’m guessing.
Getting really excited now. Can’t wait.
I might order the av cables after the the release cause I don’t think my dad is ready to trust the team yet cause of all te delays.
“I’m pretty sure on July. Unless something goes wrong…”
I stopped holding my breath when I read that part. 🙂
Well… They haven’t made any estimations on release lately, so I’m at least a little bit optimistic
Bad news for people who hate good news.
“july?!
i dont know whether to be flip the F out, or completely ignore it as if i never read that.”
Yeah, I feel the same way o.O. Well good to hear I get my cables at the same time. Whoo! Two months away still holds true just because even if it comes out July, I’m probably in the middle of the queue so I still have to wait for shipping.
Just pretend you didn’t even see anything about a July release date: it’s better that way.
Me, I’m pretending he said Christmas. That way if it arrives sooner it’ll be like “wow! It came out months before I thought it would!”.
You know it makes sense.
Chances are anyone in north america will actually receive it in august if this is true, simply because they’re being made in NA, being sent to Europe, then being shipped to customers. So even if they’re mass assembled in July, most likely there will be another month added just for shipping time.
finally some progress
Wow. This is less than 2 months away as an official estimate; so long as the official estimate time keeps on shrinking progress is being made! 😀
reading craigs posts which are indefinite as usually (though this time it’s not that bad):
hah hah hah
ergh
A July release would be cool, although I didn’t order one, I will wait for the second batch.
Awesome…glad they’ve taken all this time to get it right…how disappointing would it be to finally get our Pandora’s, only to have the nubs or something snap off after a couple hours of gameplay!
Yeah. The kind of news I like 🙂
Great news, hope it sticks
Fingers crossed this is the FINAL two months!!
Right now I have a vision of that poster from the X-Files reading ‘I want to believe’ only with a picture of a Pandora instead of flying saucer.
“I’m pretty sure on July. Unless something goes wrong…”
So August in reality then! And once packing, shipping & customs are added to that probably September… But best say October to prevent disappointment in “worst case” (ha ha).
Great news! In July I’m having a break for a couple of weeks; would be awesome if it arrived by then ;).
MAN by the time im done with basic training and im in technical training it should come out. I cant wait sony will have to step up their game even tho they made the psp go which is still not that great. Why no dual nubs its the future…
Sex. I really wanna add a tv-out to my order now actually.
@Ryan
The PSP can’t add dual nubs because no games would support it anyway.
Wi-fi incompatibility? When did that happen?
^ Think of it the other way round. It’s not that incompatibility happened, it’s that full compatibility hasn’t happened yet. 😉 It’s just part of the development process – it can take a long time to iron out all the wrinkles when you’re developing drivers for brand new hardware. All manufacturers have to deal with it. OpenPandora actually tells us about it.
Well then, July is fine by me. I am glad that I opted for UPS shipping though, as it should cut additional wait time by quite a bit. And as someone who already placed the order for tv outs, I am indeed glad to hear that there won’t be any additional waiting.
This is nothing but good news.
Yes but there’s been a looooooong time to iron out basic driver issues like that. The wifi chip hasn’t changed recently, has it? That’s practically 1/3 the reason I want to have a pandora, gone. I’m waiting to order from the second batch but if there are still basic issues like this by then, forget it.
Just what kind of incompatibility are we talking about?
We don’t know. You’d have to ask in the forums, and expect that if you get an answer from a dev, it’s going to be in very complex language. It’s nothing to worry about; it’s no different to when you buy some new hardware for your PC and have to get the latest drivers online instead of using the shitty outdated ones in the box. 😉
Chances are the complete driver will be in the file archive by the time all first batch units have shipped. It’s part of the fun process that us first batchers signed up for. Second batchers will not have to worry about it.
[edit] Check out this post from Skeezix which gives you an insight into just how laborious it is to develop this stuff:
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?s=&showtopic=48179&view=findpost&p=732143
I can take complex explanations, I’m a programmer. Small things like this should have been prioritized and finished by now under more competent management. Can you imagine the outcry in the reviews if this isn’t resolved by the time the units start shipping? The damage to its reputation could very well kill the project.
… also, that thread seems to have devolved into musings on jam,jello,marmelade and conserves. I stopped frequenting the forums around the time this blog came online and have no intention of returning until they start shipping Pandoras. There’s just too much irrelevant, annoying *censored* to wade through.
Sorry, but the idea that the project will be harmed just because users -might- have to update a driver is ridiculous. This is an open platform, not an iPod. System updates are par for the course. Any reviewer who knows what they’re on about will understand that.
As for why the driver isn’t finished, I really recommend that you ask in the forums and get direct answers. It’s not fair to accuse them of being incompetent without knowing the whole story.
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=62
Sorry, but I don’t need to ask. I don’t need the details because I have no intention of working on the drivers without being paid. All I’m interested in are the results.
Also, the idea that non-working day 0 drivers will be accepted by reviewers is very naive. “Mini netbook wannabe can’t even connect to the net”. Just wait and see.
ok negative nancy, but im with gruso. Still, i will wait and see like you said.
Besides, he said that he can’t promise 100% wifi compatibility. He didn’t say that the wifi will not work at all.
@2010
stop being ridiculous. No one’s going to side with you here, you’re on a *blog* about a product that’s been delayed for 10 months already with 4000 people who still haven’t cancelled their preorders.
There are, and always were, going to be negative reviews by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Expect some “huge PSP wannabe can’t even play commercial games” reviews as well. That’s not the issue and the target audience of this product won’t be affected by some negative reviews. I’m not expecting everything to work perfectly right out of the box. I’m fine with updates. Heck, my roommate’s Android phone, by Google, who probably have a slightly larger budget than OP, is still shitty, even after a year of updates. He hates how slow it is, and can probably name at least a fistful of bugs off the top of his head that have been around for that long.
They said they weren’t going to guarantee 100% wifi compatibility. This may mean that it just doesn’t work with WPA2 or something, not that it doesn’t work at all. You know, the Nintendo DS advertises WiFi support, but it only has 802.11b and doesn’t support WPA at all. And we all know that console crashed and burned, right?
Rabidpoobear, first of all you are misinformed. A non-insignificant portion of those 4000 people DID cancel their orders. But that doesn’t matter. There is a core group of enthusiasts who have preordered and a second group of people who are interested in the product but wisely chose not to take a chance. If the Pandora’s to be a financial success, it HAS TO grow beyond those two groups, because judging by online reactions the second group may not be even as big as the first.
The NDS isn’t really a PDA or a pocket computer. The browser addons etc. are novelty items, not really that useful. The limitations are irritating, but not that important in the context of what the machine is. Pandora’s not like that – I would be very pissed if I couldn’t use it with WPA2.
I’m not saying they’ll never fix the driver – I’m saying it should have been fixed by now. How long have they had? 1.5 years? 2? How long will it take after the Pandora is released?
@2010
The Pandora is what it is, its a group effort and a lot of the devs work on it in their spare time. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to buy it =) It’s not being made to compete in any market. I’s made to fill a niche for homebrew gamers and developers. There are extra solder pads on the PCB for hacking even. The UMPC part about the pandora is just a bonus, seeing that this is like a replacement for the gp2x etc. Please be patient, it’s almost done and the devs really are working hard on this. Also i’m sure the wifi is just a driver issue since the dev team always tries to use the highest quality components.
@2010
It’s not that we don’t want the driver fixed, it’s just that most people at this point only care that the hardware is as close to perfect as possible, as software is updatable and hardware isn’t. Yes, some people did cancel their orders, but they allowed second-batch people to come in early and fulfill the missing spots. There are still 4000 units in the first shipment, as far as I know.
I disagree that it HAS to grow beyond those groups of people, though I’m confident it will. There are only a handful of core devs and they all have other jobs. Even if only the second batch ships and then no one ever buys a Pandora again, I don’t think anyone will have lost money, just their time. I think they can recoup expenses really quickly. Although I guess that wouldn’t be considered “financial success” but it would at least not be “financial ruin”.
Also, have you looked at the GPH numbers? Their previous system (gp2x) sold 60,000 systems, and it filled a LOT smaller of a niche than Pandora does. And Pandora’s priced pretty reasonably for the features it has. I would be incredibly surprised if Pandora didn’t at least meet those numbers, and I suspect it’ll sell higher than that, even.
Sure, I’d prefer fully-working WiFi but I don’t think they should delay Pandora until they get it that way, if that’s the only holdup. Besides, the quicker they get it into our hands, the quicker devs can tweak things. If WiFi doesn’t work completely on launch, I’m sure someone will fix it shortly thereafter.
Yeah, you’d think that they’d have fixed the driver by now, but you’d also have expected them to ship the units by now. It’s frustrating but it’s par for the Pandora project, unfortunately.
Also, just one more example of a missing launch feature, the G1, google’s Android phone, still doesn’t support A2DP. A2DP is used in such situations as playing music to a wireless headset or to a car radio via Bluetooth. Yet they claim the phone has Bluetooth support. I feel bad for people who expect they can use their phone in these situations.
Also I apologize about the tone of my previous response, I was in a hurry and I feel I failed to be courteous. I’m just trying to say that it’s not necessarily the end of the world. If it worries you too much you can always just wait until batch 2 and see if they finalize the WiFi drivers. 🙂
Now + 61 days = July ??? Doesn’t not compute! The most reliable law in the whole field of computing since Moore’s is looking decidedly shaky. Hoorah!
The big worry for me is what am I going to wait for next, so the wifi drives give me hope. I need something to bring back to the forums daily. Are there any killer apps out there with Now+2Months lead I could track?
@rabidpoobear, there is no need to apologize. Even if I seem antagonistic, I would love to see this project finished and successfull.
@WhiteBat, we are talking about 330×4000=1320000$ at stake here. Regardless of what anyone thinks, we are a little beyond amateur group project stage. That description’s for the open source software developer scene, NOT the hardware developers who are in it for financial gain (besides whatever non-financial goals they may have). Also, the UMPC part is NOT just a bonus or an afterthought. I wouldn’t even be looking at the Pandora if that were the case, there are much cheaper emulation and gaming devices available. It’s an integral part of the product.
I personally find the wait incredibly painful and although a fully working Wi-Fi is what I would like, I can easily live with the fact that it is not fully compatible or even not functional AT LAUNCH.
I was originally from the first batch and I did cancel because of the original payments screwups. I never stopped looking at the project’s progress and recently order again knowing there was some quantities left from 1st batch.
I could say I’d like videos of differents apps every week and so on. But really what I want the most right now is that the device is complete and in my hands. And like someone said, the sooner it is shipped, the faster the devs will bring support to Pandora.
I want my Pandora…sniff sniff
Hey, did anyone else notice that Craig didn’t mention which year? I mean July is great – but which July?
“I’m pretty sure on July. Unless something goes wrong…”
something will go wrong.. xD
330×4000=13200000$?? come on, there are more than 5 people working on pandora, for more than 2 years, from the 330$ i wont think they will get more than 100 $ for each pandora they sell(hardware, shipping, other costs.. ), so if you calculate what are they going to earn for 2 years of very, very hard work it isn’t as much as you think.
> “something will go wrong.. xD”
That’s the spirit!
@william
i don’t think 2010 is saying that they will be making $$$’s out of this project. Only that what we have goes beyond a little community project since “the community” has pumped in $1.3 million and the devs or OP Ltd have no doubt spent some of their own money (which we hope is recouped and of course extended on) and as such it goes beyond amateur level where we can excuse some of the issues we have seen so far.
IIRC, craig said that they aren’t going to be making any money off of this batch, so that’s why they are raising the price for the second batch. (like $9 or something xD)
Looking at the definitions of “amateur” and “professional” it seems to me that either is applicable, depending on what aspect you wish to highlight. But both are applicable.
Personally, I’m just feeling slightly happier that I might – MIGHT – actually be able to get this thing in time for the Summer Holidays. Maybe. And that would be a good thing 😀
As a certain Scottish starship engineer once remarked, the key to being a miracle maker is to say the design limitations are %20 below what the device will actually do.
I’m taking the July date with a grain of salt, and I’m a firm believer that Murphy got a “Law” for a reason. I’m expecting late autumn/early winter unless I see something definitive in a shipping date, or another massive run on financial institutions that make them pull out of funding OPLtd. again. Then if it does ship in July, they’ll be miracle workers.
WiFi issues: If it’s a hardware problem, fix it first, I’ll wait. If it’s a software issue, I’ve been around computers long enough to be able to install a driver patch, and given the state of the technology industry these days so have most computer users.
Funny… I JUST wonder if we’re about to see the ZX Spectrum come back to life? Love or hate we are on the verge now !
@midget35 yeah, it’d be cool if the Pandora earned Craigix a knighthood for “services to British industry” wait, he’s not in britain though! Maybe “Services to European Industry” or they could declare him king of Europe! (that way he could give people European knighthoods)
And I personally don’t find the irrelevancies on the board annoying. Especially as I don’t like to think what they’d be replaced with… *shivers*
i’m not a geography teacher but last time i checked Newcastle was in the first division, sorry i mean England never mind Great Britain.
Perhaps Newcastle has gone one better after the latest election results and have declared indipendance from the rest of Great Britain to avoid being run by Labour?
I knew that.
yes. That’s right. And I’m never wrong so don’t even consider that possibility. I’m sure Newcastle’s not part of the UK now, if for no other reason then I said so. Or maybe I got ahead of myself, maybe it’s _going_ to be seperate, and I was just wrong on the timing. There has to be some explanation.
Where’s Al when you need him? He usually sorts these things out for you.
That must be some video to take this long to make.
I bet it includes a musical number along with dancing girls(and who doesn’t like dancing girls eh?). 🙂
Yeah, I was disappointed that Movie Monday was cancelled. 😦
Hey, if it’s a choice between the Movie or the Pandora to be late I’ll let the movie be late to let them work on the Pandora.
Maybe they are putting together a really well-edited piece that can serve as a full ad for the product in the future, or putting together a ‘making of’… etc.
Speaking of, I wonder when “Craigination: The Story of Pandora” comes out. I hope I get to play the villain. 🙂
” Maybe they are putting together a really well-edited piece that can serve as a full ad for the product in the future, or putting together a ‘making of’… etc. ”
I wouldn’t be shocked if they were. Some of the most recent posts with the movies mentioned that “A better movie was coming soon” and if they’re nearing mass production then they’ll need appropriate marketing materials.
I would love to see a quality video, but i don’t know how far they could get when the case is still CNC plastic.
We all know it’ll be a video of my pandora coming off the production line, boxed with a little note from craig thanking me for pre-ordering and actually hand delivering my Pandora so it doesn’t get f$$ked in the post. Hmm, ok maybe not but it would be nice tho craig if your reading 🙂
I don’t believe it will be July. I mean, if it really had a chance of happening, wouldn’t there be more updates in rapid succession then? I won’t fall for any more of that “Now we only have to wait for XYZ to arrive”-crap any longer.