OpenPandora (InstanceTopic, 8)

From Compile Worlds

Only two more months now!

The Pandora is a handheld computer, built to run Linux on ARM. It's as capable as most netbooks, but is only slightly larger than a DS! It has an 800x480 resolution touchscreen, a full set of gaming controls and dual analog sticks, and a stripped down QWERTY keyboard, so you can use it for pretty much anything you'd do on just about any other piece of hardware, provided the CPU and RAM requirements work out.

It's also completely open - yes, probably the first time the term "open source" was applied to hardware. But how could such a thing possibly exist? Of course: it's made not by a company, but by a small organisation that set themselves up out of their dream to see such a thing made. But since it's not by a company, there's the downside that all sorts of manufacturing issues crop up, so the sad reality is that 90% of people who ordered a Pandora still haven't gotten theirs yet - and they've been waiting since 2008!

Recently, Craigix decided to offer a deal to raise money so that they could hire extra people and get the damn things made faster: $500 (or $170 if you've already bought it) to jump the queue and get your Pandora within 7 days! This offer was very quickly retracted, presumably after they raised however much money they were aiming for.

Oh well, it'll still be really awesome when it finally arrives... and it's only two more months now~!

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