A coding competition


sandwhich

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Not following the forum posts very active I was wondering if something happened about a pandora coding competition I recall ED mentioning a while ago.


While there are a lot of great ports I somehow miss the original work that made me love the GP2x. Sure, there is some homebrew on the pandora as well, but to be honest I hoped for more, a competition probably could help to get some heat in there... and the past communityorganised contests have proven to deliver great material imo.


So, any news I missed, thoughts, whatever? :)
 
yes, if you recall, one of the prizes for said competition is a test run build of germany pcb pandora, as those arent even made yet, no compo yet, and as the new pandoras arent shipping yet, its best to hold off advertisements until then
 
Yes, that compo is still planned to happen :)


It will start and be announced when the first prototype unit is finished - and will end end of January, when the new Pandoras will be delivered :)
 
What kind of software will be accepted in the competition?


New games, remakes, ports, new emulators, enhancements of the existing ones, applications ...
 
Basically, anything will be accepted (that runs on the Pandora).


The community will vote, so the one thing that the community likes best, will win.


This can be an awesome port, some polished emulator, a cool new game, a polished videoplayer or something completely different like a bootable and fully working Debian image, a wrapper for Android apps, an update for the OS that allows a proper sleep / standby mode, etc.


Even simple games could win - as some of the most addictive and greatest games are pretty simple.


So it's as open as can be :)
 
bootable and fully working Debian image, a wrapper for Android apps, an update for the OS that allows a proper sleep / standby mode, etc.
I really doubt anyone can come up with something like that until end of January, unless larger part of this work is already done by now.
 
Why not start it after the new batch of Pandoras have been delivered? Might be some new devs waiting for their unit (hint hint :) )
 
bootable and fully working Debian image, a wrapper for Android apps, an update for the OS that allows a proper sleep / standby mode, etc.
I really doubt anyone can come up with something like that until end of January, unless larger part of this work is already done by now.

It doesn't have to be finished until them.


If something works and the community likes it... why not :)


These are just some ideas right now, nothing is fixed yet.

Why not start it after the new batch of Pandoras have been delivered? Might be some new devs waiting for their unit (hint hint :) )

Hm, probably a good idea as well.


Maybe end it when the second 1000 Pandoras are produced?
 
The voting mechanism should be coded to only allow voting from a Pandora and should require your serial number. :)
 
The voting mechanism should be coded to only allow voting from a Pandora and should require your serial number. :)
Voting from the Pandora would be a bit wacky, but a web script that requires you to enter your serial number (assuming those aren't easily predictable, ie in order) could be possible.


But would cheating be a big concern? I'm too trusting.
 
would games that have been in past competitions be allowed to take part? the obvious one being Rainy Day of course
 
Why not distribute a voting app which would send (encrypted):

  1. confirmation that you are using a Pandora (check various aspects of hardware, e.g. how big is the screen, is there a 512MB disk, 2 analogue nubby inputs, ID from internal chips, are suitable drivers installed or something)
  2. serial numbers from parts of the Pandora which make them accessible to software
  3. Your forum name & password.
  4. And the voting server would check your IP address


It would then write to a file that you voted in "The Pandora Germany launch coding competition 2012"


As it would be a pain bypassing all of these, it would be sufficiently hard to cheat that I doubt anyone would bother.
 
Why not distribute a voting app which would send (encrypted):

  1. confirmation that you are using a Pandora (check various aspects of hardware, e.g. how big is the screen, is there a 512MB disk, 2 analogue nubby inputs, ID from internal chips, are suitable drivers installed or something)
  2. serial numbers from parts of the Pandora which make them accessible to software
  3. Your forum name & password.
  4. And the voting server would check your IP address


It would then write to a file that you voted in "The Pandora Germany launch coding competition 2012"


As it would be a pain bypassing all of these, it would be sufficiently hard to cheat that I doubt anyone would bother.

That sounds like a lot of coding effort for little to no gain. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather see coding time go to projects that people will enjoy or find useful on an ongoing basis.


Is it really that important that only people who currently have access to a pandora can vote? That seems needlessly restrictive if you ask me, especially since not all those participating in these coding competitions necessarily have one to begin with, and many who would have an interest are still waiting for theirs to be either delivered or returned from RMA.


- Neelix
 
Basically, anything will be accepted (that runs on the Pandora).


The community will vote, so the one thing that the community likes best, will win.


This can be an awesome port, some polished emulator, a cool new game, a polished videoplayer or something completely different like a bootable and fully working Debian image, a wrapper for Android apps, an update for the OS that allows a proper sleep / standby mode, etc.


Even simple games could win - as some of the most addictive and greatest games are pretty simple.


So it's as open as can be :)
+1 for polished Video Player. :) There should be an general competition about making/improving basic Pandora Software (no Games or Emulators etc...). Pandora MPlayer still has some annoying bugs, Pickels alternative works good but also can need some serious overhaul in interface, Options, usability etc... stuff like this. ^^
 
Yeah, it's that odd world of trying to be especially secure vs actual usability.


Idea from left field: Give milkshake a wink and a nudge and add a 'Competition' category to the repo? Could even add a special voting feature. Very similar to the rating system in place, just uses a different column in the database to keep track of the special competition votes, only available between date X and Y?
 
wouldt really need a sperate column could just use the existing one, the category would need to be a valid one though and there are no categories under freedesktop standards for competition, also im kinda having a xmas break from coding the repo apart from any bug fixes that may crop up.
 
wouldt really need a sperate column could just use the existing one, the category would need to be a valid one though and there are no categories under freedesktop standards for competition, also im kinda having a xmas break from coding the repo apart from any bug fixes that may crop up.
Hmm, well I don't know if you'd want the typical voting to conflict with the competition, that's all.


Also, how do you denote the 'commercial' applications in database, then?


Ha, and don't worry, I'm not trying to make extra work for you. Just an idea. :)
 
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