[craigix]

After having a complete unit for a few days now I can say that using the stylus on the LCD feels completely natural. I actually forgot that people thought there would be an issue with it.

I''ve let a few people have a go on the Pandora, ie non-geeks, and they picked it up and played minesweeper (plus the other built in touch games) without issue.

I think it feels more natural than if the LCD was on the lower half (DS style). I''d be very surprised if anyone had an issue with it. The screen does not move if you push it with the stylus, you would have to push it so hard to do that you would probably damage the LCD before it moved.

All in all I now think the Pandora is even better than we expected, it''s a gadget like no other I''ve ever had, it really is like having a laptop, PDA and games console all in one. The weirdness of messing around on a paint program, typing in terminal and playing Quake all on one system is fantastic. It''s something about being able to go from touch screen to keyboard to game controls, nothing feels forced, it''s all very natural.

You are *REALLY* going to like this.

[Prometheus]

I look forward to it, Craig!

This is the machine I''ve been waiting for ever since I was a kid.

[lulzfish]

All in all I now think the Pandora is even better than we expected, it''''s a gadget like no other I''''ve ever had, it really is like having a laptop, PDA and games console all in one... It''''s something about being able to go from touch screen to keyboard to game controls, nothing feels forced, it''''s all very natural.

You are *REALLY* going to like this.

What? better than I expected??
What am I going to do with all that coolness??

[craigix]

All in all I now think the Pandora is even better than we expected, it''s a gadget like no other I''ve ever had, it really is like having a laptop, PDA and games console all in one... It''s something about being able to go from touch screen to keyboard to game controls, nothing feels forced, it''s all very natural.

You are *REALLY* going to like this.

What? better than I expected??
What am I going to do with all that coolness??

Probably just get less productive than ever!

[Phawx]

Who was worried about the touchscreen?

Craigix, could you demo Street Fighter being played with the d-pad? I am really interested in seeing it in action.

Or would it be best to wait for the final unit?

[Vorporeal]

Shit, gotta go change my pants.

It just keeps getting better and better. I''m just waiting for the day that I can actually experience one.

[lippy]

even better than you though!!? .... For once I hope the Pandora doesn''t ship too soon, otherwise it''ll appear on my doorstep right bang in the middle of uni exams & make me fail. Nice and easy Craig... end of May will do. cheers lol

[MrBlais]

So what''s left than, Craig? It seems to me that if you''re impressed by the machine already it would be likely that it is pretty much finished, am I right? Aside from getting CE and FCC testing done, is the Pandora complete?

2009 is going to be kick ass!

[craigix]

It''s pretty much done, yes.

There are some firmware issues with the nubs to be solved, the wifi and bluetooth need some proper GUI based set up tools.

But that said what I have here some of you would probably be happy with.

The membrane is still prototype so the dpad is stiff, but I was able to play quake3 and complete the first level, but for the likes of SF2 we will need the production one.

The thing I''m most happy about is that I can hand the Pandora to someone and they just know how to use it, that goes a long way to making me very happy about the design

[Phawx]

@Craigix

I had a feeling that might be the case. Understandable and I can''t wait to see the final unit!

[EvilDragon]

I agree on the Touchscreen, I didn''t really notice any inconvenience when I held the Panda in the left hand and used the stylus on the screen.

It felt very comfortable

[MrBlais]

That''s really cool to hear people took to it right off the bat. Did you see any fans of the Pandora there; people that were familiar with your work?

If you don''t mind me asking, do you know how far testing has come? I heard the Pandora was already sent out for CE testing ''as is''.

[magicman5421]

mere words cannot describe how excited i am right now.


and i would be one of those who would be happy with what you have there. no fancy gui tools necessary, give me a cli and i''ll be happy.

[Balzac2m]

Nice to hear indeed! Gotta be an overwhelming feeling to create something which works as intended.
Firmware and other software issues can be solved anytime. What I couldn''t make out until now, is the mould already in production, is the case finalized?
I read the forums and the blogs everyday but I seem to have missed that.

[Vorporeal]

For graphical WiFi config, take a look at WiFi Radar. It''s got a nice interface for doing configuration, it might work well with the Pandora. It uses Python/PyGTK2 and iwconfig. Looks promising (we just need Python and PyGTK support).

CODE

http://wifi-radar.berlios.de/