Open Pandora is another great example of cool innovations coming to life when enthusiasts meets open source code. Open Pandora is like a mobile video game console and is designed like Nintendo DS. The unit is powered by an ARM-based CPU and ships with the operating system Pandora, which can do everything from browse the web to emulate Quake.
Open Pandora isn’t made by any big manufacturer or system builder, the mobile computer/game console was developed through suggestions and requests on the Pandora-geared forum GP32X.com. The result is a unique unit that is a bit of a hybrid, some parts netbooks, some smartphones and some video game console.
The open Linux operating system Ångström-Linux is the base of the project and with Pandora-specific optimizations the system has been tied together with hardware very similar to that found in modern smartphones.
The system processor is an ARM Cortex-A8 model from Texas Instruments at 600 MHz and house a PowerVR SGX GPU with OpenGL 2.0 ES support. The foldable top has a 4.3″ display with touch technology. The monitor has a resolution of 800×480 pixels and supports up to 16.7 million colors.
The otherwise most important part of the console is the input levers. Here we find dual analog sticks, digital D-pad, QWERTY keyboard, but also USB 2.0, SD memory card slot, Bluetooth, 802.11g WiFi and up to 10 hour battery time.
Besides being a fully fledged Linux PC, Open Pandora is also a capable game console. The hardware is powerful enough to emulate thousands of classical games and even “newer” creations like Quake works well.
Open Pandora costs 500 USD and is currently available through openpandora.org, even if the anticipated launch has caused the site to slow down a bit.
Those who wants to know more about the console we can recommend a 47 minute long Youtube review from Ashens.com.
