A Viewpoint After 3 Months Of Lurking And Anticipation

[lucidchaos]

Thanks for the responses and the warm welcome. Summing up what i hear you saying:

Limited support for embedded web media because of no open-source flash. In other words it can do streaming video if the site (youtube) supports mobile phones, but not like I'm used to seeing on my PC.

Cellular phone as modem over bluetooth: I am still a bit sketchy over this one. I know it's possible, just unsure of how universal the bluetooth connection is. For example, my Palm TX cannot connect to the EVDO centro as a modem. It appears to be a driver limitation. And if it's a matter of a developer writing a driver for the pandora and a specific network/make/model of a phone, I can bet it's not going to happen.

Network sharing and streaming with samba: Confirmed. <grin>


Now maybe some of you can enlighten me as to where I will be able to get the software. Because the pandora is a whole new device catagory, I would love to know how the model works:

Will it be similar to wii homebrew, where a close-knit scene posts new software builds available in a single location? (wiiberw.org wiki)

Or will it be more like palm software, where from my experience scouring the net in it's entirety is the only way to find the best applications?

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

For the most part, apps and drivers will probably be confined within gp32x.de, as that's how it's worked for the GP2x and GP32. As for your bluetooth woes, I must remind you that, unlike your Palm, Pandora is 100% open-source. This kind of stuff will happen, it just may take a bit of time.

 

[Chip]

Limited support for embedded web media because of no open-source flash. In other words it can do streaming video if the site (youtube) supports mobile phones, but not like I'm used to seeing on my PC.

Not exactly. Gnash (what we're hoping to get on the Pandora) is a reverse-engineered open source flash equivalent that works just fine with streaming flash video. If Gnash works, then all flash-based streaming video should work. Where it fails is with complex flash applications (games) and some heavy flash-based websites.

QUOTE
Cellular phone as modem over bluetooth: I am still a bit sketchy over this one. I know it's possible, just unsure of how universal the bluetooth connection is. For example, my Palm TX cannot connect to the EVDO centro as a modem. It appears to be a driver limitation. And if it's a matter of a developer writing a driver for the pandora and a specific network/make/model of a phone, I can bet it's not going to happen.

The connection is universal. The method for enabling it on any given phone is not. Many phones require you to enter a secret service menu to enable tethering, and some require a special dialer program also. To find out if your phone is capable and how to enable BT tethering, check the FAQs on Howard Forums. The Linux BT stack already supports internet-over-BT, so there should not be any special requirements / drivers / etc. on the Pandora side.

 

[bustaballs]

Did Mozilla officially port Firefox to Linux?

 

[WizardStan]

Yes. Years ago. As I recall, the Mac, Linux, and Windows versions were all released simultaneously, though my memory from that far back is fuzzy at best.

 

[ma10]

Hello everyone!

Like lucidchaos, I've been lurking in the forums for quite a while now but only recently joined the forums. I've not owned any GPxx hardware before either and so have virtually no experience but I am still very interested in pre-ordering a Pandora!

I do have some experience in other stuff like the eeePC (pre-ordered that!), modding the hardware (e.g touchscreen, internal USB hub + flash storage) and changing the software like multi-booting XP and Linux. The only problem with the eee is that it's not pocketable, you can't just whip it out on the tube to play some games or you suddenly think of something, have a few minutes and quickly wanna test it out etc etc.... So, I'm thinking that Pandora will be perfect for my next "project".

Anyways, I do have some questions in mind but will try to search the forums for the answers first.... However, if I do post anything that has been answered before then many apologies in advance!!

Just a very quick general question to start off with and more like a "is it possible to do/work out?" kinda one...

Since most stuff is gonna be run from memory cards most people are likely to have several of them with varying capacities and for different usages. e.g. maybe one for games, another for music.... would it be possible to do a very simple "auto-run", like simply launch a new "file explorer" type window to then run the emu (pre-installed if required) with preconfigued games list that is on the inserted card perhaps?

This kinda setup is not for me (honest!) but just a random thought I had when browsing another topic (but forgotten which one) about Pandora's appeal to not very techie people....

 

[tazg]

would it be possible to do a very simple "auto-run", like simply launch a new "file explorer" type window to then run the emu (pre-installed if required) with preconfigued games list that is on the inserted card perhaps?
well having a filemanager show only a certain filetype would obviously be a simple matter, and there are background processes for monitoring hardware like that for Linux, so it's definitely possible... if running it doesn't cause noticeable overhead it would probably be worth doing

 

[grif]

Its not quite "embedded" but most media players can play .swf format

so i am thinking, if you could download embedded videos(on pandora), you could play them in VLC/Mplayer?

 

[WizardStan]

Most Linux media players can play FLV, not SWF. Biiiiiig difference.
But yes, downloading the FLV videos from Youtube et al should be theoretically possible.

 

[Accel]

Since this thread appears to be a 'Hi! I'm new...' thread of sorts - thought I'd say hi!

(Actually, completely forgot I had an account active from the days of my GP2X F-100)

I'm really not too sure about which one out of the Pandora or the Wiz I'll lay my money on...

BUT...

I think the Pandora could sway me initially due to how passionate the team behind the inception of this device, I'll probably end up getting a Wiz early December (Xmas gift....for ME!!!) but I want one of these first.

I do have some questions:

How much usable memory is there on the device? if I need SDHC cards for storage of ROMs etc. will I be able to get them from GBAX.com when I pre-order my Pandora? I have little experience in homebrew & don't want to waste money on compatibility issues...

Also, if (god forbid) anything DOES go wrong with the initial batch of Pandora units, I understand theres a warranty in place, but what are the exact procedures involved in the replacement process?

I understand my questions could have been covered elsewhere but after reading this thread I thought I'd just ask...

Anyways, after enjoying the GP2X ever such a lot - I have high hopes of the Pandora, & I'm looking forward to be (hopefully) part of a friendly community.

Thanks for your time.

 

[AireTamStorm]

Sorry Squidge.

If anybody wants to add something, please do so. Request editor access and I'll let you in. Or if you just have a list of questions that you feel should be added, post them here and I'll stick them up in the next couple days.
When I get a unit, I'll be writing a boatload of HOW-TOs for the device. If those would be relevant or helpful, I'll gladly put them there rather than on my own site / domain ( F^!!%*&S*@w.jp , boxed out because I don't have me indexes or content configured at the moment ). PM me if you feel like it.

 

[benjymous]

Most Linux media players can play FLV, not SWF. Biiiiiig difference.
But yes, downloading the FLV videos from Youtube et al should be theoretically possible.

It should be fairly straightforward to create a pandora specific ff plugin for SWF movies that just downloads the flv (there are plenty of web services that do this) and display it in an external player.

That way on a page with an embedded youtube video, you'd just see a "click to play" box where the video should be, which when clicked would start the video playing in an external app.

(Assuming we don't get Gnash working, that is!)