You might have noticed the lack of updates this week. Well, good news! There aren’t any now either. The case moulds are reportedly going smoothly, and all we can really do is wait for them to finish. But a quiet blog is a cold, dark hell, so a little forum trawling was in order. Below are some questions, answers and pieces of banter from the last week on GP32X. Consume slowly. You need to conserve your strength.
posted by: PlopperZ
Andrewe1 has been hard at work on his embroidery machine making some very nice Pandora and Wiz softcases. He plans to sell some in small quantities, assuming he gets permission from GPH and the Pandora team.
These are just prototypes he whipped up in a day, and he’s looking for input, so post in that thread (source link) if you’ve got any ideas!
More pics and Wiz case after the break.
Posted by: PlopperZ
Craig uploaded a neat video showing off an unrelated Chinese PSP clone and an early cardboard mockup Pandora (starting at ~1:40)
EDIT: Oh yeah, and there’s also an assembled (real) Pandora in there too 
Video after the break.
All of the forums at gp32x.com have mysteriously disappeared. You can still use the other forums (forum.openpandora.org) until everything is sorted out.
Shortly after the second prototype video was posted, it looks like the community have taken it upon themselves to spread the news far and wide – the video currently enjoys front-page slots on several technology blogs and websites, and is very close to reaching the front page of Digg. So, here’s a round-up, as well as an interesting mistake that one of them made:
Engadget Coverage
OSNews Coverage – Why do they insist it’s the design team that’s posted the video and suggested the release date?
Currently, the team estimates the release date to be somewhere around April 7th, 2009.
Ars Technica Article (the author of that article thought that my estimated release date was what the developer team themselves had said)
Though the current build is still missing its internal components, the team ensures those awaiting the device that the project is coming together and has posted an “unofficial estimated” launch date of April 7.
Gizmodo Article (not really worth the click – it’s a negative, sarcastic article)
Are there any more that people know about?
There’s a half page article on the Pandora in this month’s issue of ‘gamedeveloper’. The article just gives a bit of an overview on what it’s about, some history, and specs. Good to see some more publicity, I expect we’ll see a lot in the coming months.
If you want to read the article, you purchase a digital copy of the magazine here.
Here’s a video of the new 3D drivers running on the Beagleboard – something with very similar specs to the Pandora. The user who posted this on youtube notes that:
The crappy quality is caused by the iSight, not the DLP
Forcen linked us to this presentation, which, according to the German blog was made in Hong Kong. From the tags in the video it was made by OAKA (Opensource Applications Knowledge Association), and was presented at their “Netbook: the Gathering” function on November 29th.
Anyone speak Chinese to provide a translation?
EDIT:Thanks to OpenTheBox for the translation (below)
Anyhow, video after the break, in all its 10 minute glory.
Clean3d has released the .blend file for his renders. Download it here (zipped).
Just a few conditions to make note of:
1. Renders/models created from this file cannot be portrayed as official or from the OpenPandora team.
2. Don’t pretend that you created the original model provided in this file.
3. Attribution is nice, but not required.
4. I (Clean3d) cannot/will not be held liable if this file becomes the source of damages or dispute.
5. The OpenPandora logo and other associated intellectual property is under the ownership of the OpenPandora team. Please respect their rules and regulations concerning the use of their work.
mazza558
PlopperZ
TaG
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Butterman
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