2 Software Ideas

[DASD]

First of all: I've just discovered Pandora (thanks to the GC-interview) and I don't really know much about it (or the organization in the forum). I don't know much about electronics, either. If I state something that was already discussed elsewhere, seems plain stupid, or if I am in the wrong topic, please don't take this post as trolling.


Ma ideas:

1. I am lately somewhat addicted to flash-games, so: I think it's realistic to make arrangements with Kongregate.com and similar sites so that the flash games can be accessed directly with pandora. In the case of Kongregate (and that is just an example) all flash-games are embedded in an standardized area with a chat to the right. If you fit that area to the height of the pandora-screen and adjust the size of the chat, it should be (nearly) perfect. If not by direct access, a Firefox-plug-in could do the trick. Newgrounds and others would most probably cooperate, too.

2. Despite the obviously very potent battery Energy-profiles could be a useful feature: When you run an emulator and play an old rpg, you usually don't need wlan/bluetooth/other stuff, so, to safe some energy, you would chose the "single-player-profile" (before starting the emulator) and all those things would be turned off. Possible other profiles would be:

"music-only-profile" -> turns pandora into a music-player, buttons on the outside function as media-keys ("play/pause" and "fast forward") - I don't even know whether pandora has buttons that are on the outside (can be bushed while pandora is closed)

"online-music-profile" -> listen to online-radio via wlan (the rest is like in the music-only-profile)

"normal-profile" -> rests the settings to basics

... I guess people can come up with more ...

 

[quote]

I'm liking the second one, the profiles are a nice idea, but most programs will probably deal with unused features/clockspeed on startup.

 

[Chip]

1. I am lately somewhat addicted to flash-games, so: I think it's realistic to make arrangements with Kongregate.com and similar sites so that the flash games can be accessed directly with pandora.

...

2. Despite the obviously very potent battery Energy-profiles could be a useful feature:...

Flash support is technically possible, but at the moment there is no fully-featured open flash players. There are open-source flash plugins for Linux that will allow playback of flash video from sites like Youtube, but they do not handle complex flash applets like the games you're talking about. Adobe has recently released the specifications for the Flash standard, as well as removing licensing requirements for Flash players. This will hopefully lead to full Linux (and soon after, Pandora) Flash support, but there is no guarantee that it will happen soon.

The Pandora hardware (specifically the OMAP SoC) has a lot of power saving features built in. The firmware and OS will be designed with battery conservation in mind, and the clock speed of the CPU can be easily lowered through software for programs that do not need the full 500MHz. Both the Wifi and BT radios can be turned off at any time, so you may easily conserve power when you do not need those features.

I hope I have answered your questions. For more info, please read the FAQ and use the search fucntion on these boards.

 

[Squidge]

1. Flash is unlikely to work out of the box.
2. Wifi/BT can be turned off easily via keypress or by software. LCD will be turned off if you close the lid. Processor power can be automatically reduced if not all of it is required.

 

[MilanC]

Idea 1 would need gnash (linux flash player), but it is quite memory-hungry.
[ gnash + firefox ] just killed my 128MB RAM pIII. OutOfMemory error. Flash runs ok on my 1.6GHz 512MB laptop, and even there, performance could be better.
Besides, I doubt they'd spend the time to modify every single game to adapt it to small screens. If the size isn't already right (i.e. less than 800x480), then... too bad.

The second idea was planned long ago. In fact, each of those parameters can be set very easily through command-line.
And yes, some programs will set those things at startup.
There should be an option to disable that feature, though. What if I want to continue downloading something while playing a game? So it'll be up to the user to remember about shutting down eg. wifi and bluetooth if he has enabled them. (they should by default be disabled at bootup)

 

[MagicPants]

Idea 1 would need gnash (linux flash player), but it is quite memory-hungry.
[ gnash + firefox ] just killed my 128MB RAM pIII. OutOfMemory error. Flash runs ok on my 1.6GHz 512MB laptop, and even there, performance could be better.

Having a stand alone flash player would help. I find about 2/3 of flash games can be played in off line mode and most of those look fine at 800x480. Seems unlikely that flash will run fast, it's cpu intensive.

There was a big flash topic a while back...

 

[Chip]

There was a big flash topic a while back...

There have been at least five: 1 2 3 4 5

 

[DASD]

What about the music-player-features of pandora? Can I have pandora in a pocket and control the player via shoulder-pad-buttons (or something similar)?

Also, will the quwerty-key-board be like in this http://www.chip.de/ii/170887024_dfd29e5fc2.jpg or like in this http://www.border-town.net/stuff/2007-12-22/pandora.jpg picture?

 

[Chip]

What about the music-player-features of pandora? Can I have pandora in a pocket and control the player via shoulder-pad-buttons (or something similar)?

Also, will the quwerty-key-board be like in this http://www.chip.de/ii/170887024_dfd29e5fc2.jpg or like in this http://www.border-town.net/stuff/2007-12-22/pandora.jpg picture?



The keypad will most closely resemble the latest renders. Control of the media player (or any program) is up to whoever does the porting. There is no reason why it cannot be controlled as you suggest.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Most Flash things are done in vector graphics, so scaling ought not to be a problem.

 

[nubie]

[offtopic]

Are the mini wanna be gangsters invading now? Who told them about this place?

First "pandora is gangsta" registers a username, and now "Ma" has some ideas?

"I've just discovered Pandora (thanks to the GC-interview)" I guess that explains it, but what is a GameCube interview?

Apologies if you are a real gangsta, or that was a typo.
[/offtopic]

On to the news. I am expecting that "profiles" will not be necessary, if it is like Gmenu2X on the GP2X then you can press a button and configure how the application will run (how fast in mhz), and probably configure the speed of the processor while in the menu as well.

Properly written applications will probably manage the clock on their own for optimal battery life, or allow you to configure the clock speed yourself.

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

nubie, people don't think you are more important just because you keep making fun of other people (their nicknames, what they ask, etc), so stop beeing childish and making a fool of yourself

and yes, it's sad that it won't have flash support at first, because it definitely has the raw power it needs, it would be a hell of a great addition to a system with this gorgeous screen.
here's hope for good flash support soon.

 

[mechanizeddeath]

"I've just discovered Pandora (thanks to the GC-interview)" I guess that explains it, but what is a GameCube interview?

i'm sure he's referring to the Games Convention. the logos for the Games Convention actually say GC.

 

[christo930]

[offtopic]

Are the mini wanna be gangsters invading now? Who told them about this place?

First "pandora is gangsta" registers a username, and now "Ma" has some ideas?

"I've just discovered Pandora (thanks to the GC-interview)" I guess that explains it, but what is a GameCube interview?

Apologies if you are a real gangsta, or that was a typo.
[/offtopic]





Comes with the territory. Games and game systems attract young people, and now that young people idolize wanna-be criminals and thugs... I wonder what will happen in 15-20 years when this young generation looks back? What will they be thinking "what was I thinking? What did I ever see in that?"

Chris

 

[sold]

Hey nubie, it'snot necessary ta pick on peeps just cuz dey like rap rap. It iz however uh concern when peeps iz effected by it ta da extent where dey talk like idiots. What 'chew trippin foo' ? If ya need some he`p understanding deez wanna be gangstaz, google some ebonix translators Ya' dig? :lol:

Don't let it get you down. Some people thinks it's cool to act like stooges. That doesn't mean CraigIX and Co. wont sell 'em a pandora

EDIT: No offence or racism intended.

EDIT 2: I like the profile idea. It might not be necessary, but it would be a neat feature. Especially if you could have a feature that triggers either a music mode or a sort of hibernate mode when closing the lid, depending on the profile you select.

 

[waffles]

Dont mess with gangsters, their chicago typewriters will mess you up.

 

[plopperz]

nubie, people don't think you are more important just because you keep making fun of other people (their nicknames, what they ask, etc)

I do :huh:


Flash support would be nice, if it was possible to have it work at decent speeds. I just got rid of my 500mHz/512MB iBook and it couldn't even play YouTube videos.
Java would be much more useful, and probably more realistic, IMO.

 

[ashdjones]

Why won't the Pandora be cabable of doing Flash if the PSP can do it?

 

[WizardStan]

Why won't the Pandora be cabable of doing Flash if the PSP can do it?

Because the PSP has a big company backing it, Adobe wrote the player, and it isn't even full featured either.
Adobe will not write a player for Pandora. Too small of a market. That's why they opened the specs, so anyone can (in theory) write their own player for anything. That will take time, however.
Gnash is a reverse engineering attempt on the format from before Adobe opened the spec, so it's not full featured either, and full of bugs. It is reasonable for many things, and open source, so it shouldn't be too short of a time before it's released. Someone just needs to get a Pandora first, though, as I'm sure the devs who already have one have more important things on their mind.

 

[TaG]

Pandora and BeagleBoard are 'backed' by a big company - TI. Given how they want the OMAP to be a success in a lot of embedded products they could show their faith in their range by getting flash ported in a way that it could be utilized by various products.