Open source gaming console Pandora shows up on video
A video of a working prototype of the open-source gaming handheld Pandora, nearly complete in its fabricated case, has emerged. The device has been in the later stages of development since late last year.
Pandora is like the mutant offspring of a Fujitsu Lifebook u2010 and a Nintendo DS with mitochondrial DNA from the Sony PSP. It is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP3 system on a chip and Linux-based OS and has been regarded as a sort of abandonware, open source, and PC gaming console-slash-PDA-slash-portable media player. Perhaps it would be best described as a GP2x with a keyboard and touchscreen.
The 65 nm OMAP 3430 is based around the ARM Cortex A8 core, and includes Imagination Technology's PowerVR SGX graphics chip. It supports OpenGL ES 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0. Additionally, it can play 1280 x 720 video, and can support up to XGA display resolution. It is the same system on a chip that Nokia pledged to support with its 3G Internet tablets last year.
Pre-orders began to be accepted on openpandora.org in October, and today, the first prototype complete with fabricated case was unveiled in a humble YouTube demo.
The device has no official release date as of yet, and the initial 3,000 pre-ordered units cost $329 each.