Pandora's box: The open source handheld gaming console

It looks a bit like a handheld games console from the 80s (which might explain the presence of the floppy disk?), but technophiles have been singing Pandora's praises across the web for the past few months now, indicating it's not just an unattractive old skool Nintendo DS aspirant. Pandora is an open source gaming platform with the potential to bring much joy and excitement to retro gamers everywhere. As it's Linux based, it supports a variety of browsers, and developers are saying it's a capable platform for running emulators. So if you've missed the good old Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis/Playstation 1/Amiga days (this is not an exhaustive list - there are more), Pandora can rekindle those childhood/teenage memories.

The actual clamshell console itself packs a 4.3-inch 800 x 400 LCD screen, QWERTY keyboard, 128MB RAM and WiFi capabilities. It also includes dual SD card slots, TV out and a USB port.

So it's got a bit of a retro thing going on, has the potential to put open source portable gaming on the map, and is apparently the most powerful handheld in the world. It's available for pre-order right now (£199), with shipping due to begin at the end of November.

Interested? Find out more here

[via Idiot Toys via Retro Thing]

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