pandora: open source linux gaming handheld
April 12th, 2008 comments (20) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
While the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS have cornered the mainstream handheld video game market, there’s still plenty of room for systems for those of us who don’t mind getting our hands a little bit dirty. Fresh on the scene is the Pandora, a portable game console that’s designed from the ground up as an open source system.
The compact handheld will run a customized Linux distro in firmware, and is targeted to assume the throne from the aging GP2X platform.
The Pandora’s clamshell case will be roughly the size of a Nintendo DS, and will offer a substantial color LCD touchscreen display. To further support its gaming chops, the Pandora will sport dual analog joypads, a digital D-pad, A-B-X-Y buttons and a QWERTY keyboard just for kicks (or if you want to do more than play games).
The CPU under the hood is said to be powerful enough to emulate everything from the NES to the Super Nintendo to the Sony PlayStation all at full speed. Full specs are listed below:
- ARM® Cortex™-A8 CPU running Linux
- 800×480 4.3″ 16.7 million color touchscreen LCD
- OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
- Dual SDHC card slots
- Dual analog and digital gaming controls
- 43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
- TV output
- High Speed USB Host
The Pandora development team expects to start releasing developer kit in the next couple of months, with a goal of a full-on consumer launch this Summer. Retail pricing is expected to be around £199 (inc VAT) / $330 USD / €212 (Ex.VAT).
[OpenPandora via Retro Thing]
filed under: computing mobile tech video games
tags: consoleemulationhandheldlinuxopen sourcepandoraportable
April 12th, 2008 comments (20): stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
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Now let’s see some games! Yeah!
[...] Via Technabob
now if i could only program some cool action rpgs … and a good video hockey game … I’d be in heaven
Nice article, it’s good to see the Pandora is getting more and more noticed, but you’ve made a mistake – it is not definite, nor is it likely, we will see Sega Saturn emulation at full speed. I doubt the creators want people getting the wrong idea about the Pandora, so perhaps you should remove the Sega Saturn from the article?
Barnaby: I don’t recall exactly where I read that about the Saturn — I thought it was on the FAQ page. Regardless, I’ll strike it from the article.
Seems like it trying too hard to be all things to all people.
Imagine using that keyboard for more than a few lines…
[shudder]
Yeah, I don’t think a Handheld like this really needs a keyboard. I’d rather see those analog sticks on that place instead so they are easier to reach. Can you imagine using the A-B-X-Y buttons and the 2 analog sticks at the same time? I can’t ….
Anyhow, I’d love to see this lil machine, as there really isn’t anything like it on the market. All I want is Quake 3 at full speed and decent controls on a handheld
(they’ve gotten it to run on an iPod Touch, but still no decent controls)
How hard could it be to make a handheld game console that runs either Windows Mobile or Linux. Much like a PDA with a decent button layout like the Zodiac, why aren’t there more (powerful) machines like the Zodiac.
Try inputting a console command for a game without one
(Experience with hacked psp’s will do you some good)
Zoop: how would you use both analogs AND a-b-x-y buttons at the same time anyway, regardless of their position? Do you have more than 2 thumbs?
The NDS still kicks ass .. but who knows, maybe this one will actually have some success.
haha it will kick nintendos ass xD nitendo ds is for pussies
you said it man!!!!! Right now the psp is kicking ass!! until the pandora becomes widely used… NDS IS FOR PUSSIES!!!!!!
This machine will be best of Asus EEPC !!!
This is so beautiful. I have a GP2X (among other systems) and love the thing but it does not have quite the oomph of the PSP or DS. I love what people have done for GP2X but it has some serious limitations. The dual analog control is enough to make me salivate.
The keyboard is a GREAT idea (try entering URL’s on your phone for example, or network ID’s on the DS), it’s not meant for wordprocessing it’s meant as a convenience, IM’ing and such like. This machine is looking awesome, and it’s open! OPEN! That means hacks like me can actually write whatever I like on a really top specced machine without having to pay Sony or Nintendo a small for tune for dev kits (assuming they would even let a solo coder have a dev kit). The potential for this machine is huge, it’s a really community project, it just coming into being is so inspiring…I just can’t wait.
The keyboard isn’t meant for word processing or even chatting necessarily. It is meant for URL entry, but mainly emulation of old gaming computers that require keyboards.
This is also meant to be the most powerful handheld every built (yes, more horsepower than the PSP). This is also built by the combined communities behind the GP2X, Zodiac, and other open-source handhelds.
And the controls are almost exactly the same as a Dualshock controller. You have a d-pad on the left, four buttons on the right, two analog sticks and shoulder buttons. The only difference is the keyboard (see above).
That keyboard is gonna be handy homebrew to add button otherwise not available. Not to mention the possibility of customized macros for in game. I may be thinking to out of specs here, but for any decent shooter / simulation, there’s alot more actions that are generally done that can be mapped to the keyboard. Plus there’s going to be apps such as a PDA and Something close to Trillien, i’d hate to use the touch screen interface with that.
They have started to take pre-orders look here:
http://gp2x.co.uk/go.pl?A216
To see emulators in action look here:
http://gp2xwiznpandora.blog.co.uk/
I am SO porting Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing to this.
I also plan to develop games on this. With it being able to support flash, java, and other languages, it will be a snap. Plus if you make a web-based game that plays on it, it will also play on a webpage for regular PC users too, so you can have people without an OpenPandora playing along with their friends who do… for example, the PushButton Engine, or many other open source game engines like cube2 or quake
Just some thoughts