A few final questions.

[Fluff]

I've been planning on buying an Open Pandora for a while now. After countless issues with my bank I have finally received my new debit card so that I have the ability to make the purchase.


I've got some last minute questions and am looking for opinions before I fork over $500 though.


I'm fully away of the hardware pros of the system.


Physical keyboard, game controls, yada yada. My questions though are more revolved around what you can do with said system and the community behind it.


I'm only 18, 19 next month. I grew up playing a Sega Genesis and Dreamcast though. Then went back and purchased a NES and SNES as well as a Turbografx 16. I have a fairly strong love for older games. So I know I would more than enjoy the retro gaming aspect..but does it really impress? As if it


you were playing the real thing?


I don't know much about the porting and homebrews though. Is there a good selection? Are they actually any good? And as far as web browsing and what not goes is there anything that sets it apart from say an IPad or any other tablet that can also web browse, and on a similar note audio.. I've heard it's amazing but is it really worth using as a mp3 player?


I find this device amazing. I'm a tech nerd and love open source things. I'm just really afraid of making a purchase I'll regret. I don't want it to be a device I play with for a week then shelve. I just want some convincing I suppose.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Genesis/Megadrive, and Turbografx 16/PC-engine rocks on Pandora. Their main emulators (i use) are Picodrive and Temper, and there's others.


Well, if you want to feel the impression to play the real console, yes it's the same feelings ^^.


I play less SNES, but the Snes9x emulator also runs all i need.


There's plenty of homebrew, check the repo, and make your own selection ^^:


http://repo.openpandora.org/


OP is a mini PC, so yes you browse as usual. The difference is just the screen size. Don't expect a good rendering of flash in Firefox, but you can use Minitube aside, which is great to browse youtube.


I think most users that brings OP everywhere use it as an audio player. The sound is awesome, there's many different audio players, and you have an enormous autonomy. Not to explain how much music you can bring on a SD card or two.


As you describe yourself, you can _only_ love this unit ^^.

 

[Fluff]

Thank you for the reply, as I said I was really just looking for some reassurance of purchasing a fairly unknown $500ish unit, not doubting it in any way.


It's good to know that the emulation is rock solid, at least for the systems I care most about. I'm not majorly concerned about flash. If I really wanted to watch a YouTube video or something I'd most likely do it on a bigger screen anyway. (Not saying that being able to do it on a Pandora wouldn't be nice as well though) and its good to know that it's audio reputation holds true as that's something I would definitely like to use mine for.


Also I enjoy generally pointless tinkering to fill my free time and amuse me.. And I figured an open source Linux based unit would be great for that.

 

[teknotoast]

I think I've spent far too much money on this gadget myself, but I think it's worth every penny.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Indeed.


I like the fact that OP costs less than a high end smartphone, and is smarter :^).

 

[asimov-solensan]

By the way the experience is like browsing on a PC without flahs installed.


If web browsing is a concern I would say that any other gadget wil do a better job. I can use it for this matter daily (manly with midori) and it's my opinion, I have heard a lot of people complaining about a bad rsponse of all browsers (I guess sometimes paired with a bad wifi behaviour). So we can only hope that someones makes a browser thats fit better in the pandora.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Mmm when using firefox with a swap file and a good internet connection, it's smooth. Not that much people is aware about swap, that's probably linked to the complains.


Fortunately, the zram compression will help in the next releases (can already be used but has to be manually activated).


Anyway i think a sd-based (or usb) swap is mandatory if you want to be on the safe side, as for any Linux, especially embedded.

 

[FaeMinx]

I far far prefer browsing with FireFox on my Pandora than using my qHD HTC Sensation to browse the internet (it's Damn irritating imo).


I have a really crappy internet connection, but with swap and the latest FireFox browsing is quite pleasant (but of course not on par with a laptop)... I haven't tried a tablet, but if it's anything like using a smartphone, I know I won't like it.


Emulation is simply fantastic! The first time i tried a Playstation game (Final Fantasy 9) a tear literally came to my eye.


Keep in mind the brilliant sound quality isn't just good for mp3s... It makes all your old games sound fantastic too!


I grew bored with my smartphone after a couple of months. I've had my Pandora for over a year and it remains my most cherished possession...


My only sadness is knowing that no matter how I describe it to people I meet or know... They will fail to comprehend how awesome it is. This device is deeply personal for me.


Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Rob]

And as for open source/homebrew games, many are great. If you're not big into the open-source gaming scene, you may not have heard of many of these.


The big winner is the Battle for Wesnoth, a huge turn based strategy game with some fantastic art, sound, and game mechanics. Arcade games like Forget Me Not and Super Geometry Dust get wonderful reviews here, and don't forget Wind and Water Puzzle Battles and Cave Story. Oh, and VVVVVV.


In any case, look around the repo for some highly rated open source or homebrew games.

 

[Fluff]

Alright, thanks for the replys guys.


It has helped a lot.

 

[Prometheus]

There is one very minor negative about SNES emulation, which it appears that nobody has mentioned, and that's that Super FX support is not correct for some early Super FX games - notably, Star Fox (I am unsure if any others are affected - there may be other early Super FX games that used a clock-speed divider, as Star Fox does; The issue is that the emulator does not currently observe this, so the game runs twice as fast as it should, which breaks it quite badly - underclocking the Pandora, and the like, does not make a difference to this, as the issue is internal to the emulation). This is something inherited from the version of Snes9x on which Snes9x4P is based, and there's unfortunately no way around it if you want to play this game as it was actually designed to be played. But that's one down point compared to many, many uppers - it's damn near perfect for just about everything else! (For some games, the audio may seem slightly off, but there is an option to toggle in Snes9x4P's menu that will let you fix this for games where it's required.)


Also, I must second the statements about the audio quality - it's great for games as well as music and the like. I use my Pandora as an MP3-player quite often, and it's better at this than any dedicated MP3-player I've ever owned.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

I don't remember the average battery life when playing audio.


It's HUGE !

 

[Prometheus]

I don't remember the average battery life when playing audio.


It's HUGE !

Even on the "old" kernel, I found that I'd get about twelve hours straight without stopping, with the lid shut, at the stock clock-speed (I used it on a very long journey which took that long, and to avoid dealing with pausing it all the time, I simply used the inline control on my headphones to turn the volume down when required). Even that is more than I usually need!

 

[ibisum]

It is worth every penny to get yourself set up with the Pandora, on the Internet, put an SD card in, and browse the repos.


Check out the PNDManager thread, find all the PND systems you can, and spend time browsing. There are truly awesome apps out there in the repo's, including under the normal radar, and once you start installing and using various odd apps or so, and it starts to work together, you will see beyond Emulation and so on .. the homebrew scene is producing real gems, and the porting effort brings many interesting titles from beyond the mainstream.


My current Pandora has 16 different emulated systems on it, each with their own .. pretty extensive .. library. I confess that these are old and dying platforms, but I have owned each one of them and lay a claim to their continued adoration .. Amstrad CPC .. Speccy .. Oric-1/Atmos .. MSX .. and so on. I've hacked on all these machines in my life (planned diversity by the neighborhood kids during the 8-bit era meant we all had different machines..) and I am so, so happy to have them all, available, in my pocket. If you want to learn computing, or something like assembly, you can't do better than a fat card full of Emu's and ROM's and so on ..


Dig deep, and dig on, fellow Pandoran, the true gems are out there!

 

[Fluff]

Order has been placed, ordered through ithic.


I don't like spending money, wont lie.. so hitting accept on 525 was difficult for me.


I'm sure it will be well worth every penny though and cannot wait until I can officially call myself a proud pandora owner.

 

[Fzero]

May have already scanned through all ed's yt channel already but in case you missed it, in the pinned FAQs and previous pins thread Ed done a very nice series of videos which I'm sure will only get you more keen for your delivery day, covers loads of things and one video focuses on homebrew games and tbh worth seeing them all I'd say, here

 

[Fluff]

Alright thanks! Ive seen a few of them but not all. I'll definitely watch more if not the rest of them though. Now I wait the painful wait for my new toy.

 

[Link]

Thanks for the order. I'll get this out once the shipment arrives, hopefully later this coming week.

 

[Fluff]

No problem. I look forward to getting it.