Well, since some guys only visit the boards once a week, I thought it might be a good idea summarizing things.
Batch 1:
Boards: According to the board production company in Texas, the boards should all be finished in time (when the nubs arrive). We hope this is true, but that's what they claim.
Nubs: Michael got the samples of the new version. So far they look fine. A mass production run is about to start on Monday, and those nubs will ALL be tested. If they pass, the real mass production run start. We expect the nubs to arrive in about 7 - 10 days at the board production company in Texas.
Cases: 2000 are lying in UK, ready to get stocked with the boards. The rest 1000 should be there within the next few weeks (so in time with the boards).
Batch 2:
Basically, everything for Batch 2 is prepared and ready to go right after Batch 1. So if the board company sticks to their promise, they should start soon, as well.
In case the board company is too slow with producing the units, we're also looking into another new company to produce Pandoras. Whether they both produce boards (faster) or only one will produce the boards in the future is something we'll find out (depending on reliability and speed). We'll keep you posted.
Other misc things:
We're looking in having the nubs socketed, so they can be easily replaced in the future. If the planned design works, they will be completely compatible with the current boards, so if any nubs fail on Batch 1 or 2 units, they can be replaced with the socketed versions.
The WiFi module manufacturer has just been sent a Pandora to help us find out what issues we have. Might be a calibration issue, which would be great, as then they only need to calibrate a unit, send us the files and we can tell the driver to load it. notaz has also been working on WiFi and fixed the stalls! So most units should work pretty good with this new driver (soon to be released).
We're also looking into making the LCD cables more robust. So far, except for about 5 (out of 600), only the ones if the first units have failed - but better be safe than sorry. The new cables will of course be compatible, so in case yours will ever fail, you'll get a new more robust one.
That's it for now
I'll try to keep you updated.
And thanks for sticking with us - we're trying hard improving all the issues we currently have
[via: OpenPandora.org]