FreeGameDev

(Hope this doesn't count as spam or whatnot)
There's a kickstarter project running to manufacture (from working prototypes) a user-programmable bluetooth gaming controller and keyboard, made by the same people who developed the openpandora console.
The idea being that you can use one device to control you phone, your media PC or almost anything else, and program it to operate as a mouse, or a joystick, or an iCade etc
Their video also features a mad guy with hats

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/170 ... ontroller/

Seems like the kind of product people 'round here would like

To be honest, I'm plugging this because I want a Pandora 2, which seems to depend on the iControlpad2 being successful!

Heh, so this is basically a OP without the main chip and the screen it seems. Seems like a good way to add controls to your mobile phone, especially with the clamp they want to include. For a PC I don't see the point though.

Personally, as a huge fan of the scene back in the day (I owned a GP32 and a GP2X) I was hugely underwhelmed by the OpenPandora however (didn't actually buy one, but was one click away from pre-ordering the first day and am happy that I didn't in retrospect), and while it was probably not mainly their fault, the handheld emu/homebrew scene is really not what it used to be

To be more exact, it's an OP2 without the screen and processor. (redesigned keyboard)
Would make a good control for a PC connected to a television, but is kinda pointless for desktop setups.

Again, plugging one of my favourite gadgets, I haven't really found any dealbreaking 'features' in my new (open)pandora.
Is has quirks, downsides, and certainly isn't suitable for the iCrowd - but then having a root shell at my fingertips makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
What disappointed you about it (apart from the huge &*£%-up from the PCB contractors)?

Well obviously due to the huge delays, by the time it was released it wasn't anywhere close to the promised "fastest handheld EVAR" (to paraphrase it)... and since people committed to the OP so early, most skipped the next generation from Gamepark, which basically made them exit the market all together.

Besides that... I really don't like how they tried to make their own flavor of an operating system, instead of collaborating with another existing open mobile platforms (Maemo/Meego, PlasmaActive etc.). Those could have found a refuge on the OP, while the OP would have not wasted so much time reinventing the wheel and going for a not really suited desktop like GUI.

I like, the xfce on my pandora, as a mostly-non-gamer, and I don't think plasma active was around back then.
I agree that writing a custom icon-grid UI was kinda pointless - Android should run on whatever processor they choose for the Pandora2 though.
I'd also say that "fastest handheld EVAR" was a really silly marketing move - the pandora is about real linux, emulation and physical controls - not specs for the sake of specs.

On the upside, the iControlPad2 has just passed 67% funding