"built In" Online Support Function?


Holokauston

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What I'm thinking of is more or less a wiki/DB/forum like function that can be both manually and automatically reached from the Pandora itself .

Let me try to explain:

Much like a crash reporter (but not really cause I hate them^^) it would pop up (optional) when something crashes and connect the error to a report and ask if it should do a quick search.

EX.
User Pingu tries any emulator for SNES but something goes wrong and it crashes, error 12345 is to blame but poor little Pingu doesn't have a clue what error 12345 is or why he got it, a small dialog pops up and asks if Pandora should look at "Pandora DB/wiki/forum" to see if it can find something related.
Pingu aswers yes (would require Pandora to be online or to connect)
Pandora then seraches the DB for error 12345 and the name of the SNES emulator and pling it found something, if it's a common problem then perhaps it offers a solution(or points to where the user might find one) and if not then asks the user to describe what happened and make a new "post".

Also including in this a manual help function where you can search for apps and how to make them work (maybe like appdb.winehq.org?) etc as well as having a forum that you can look at and post in to get help.

just an idea but I would really like it and would help people a lot I think, specially with common problems and people that doesn't speak binary machine code in their sleep ;)
 
Holokauston said:
What I'm thinking of is more or less a wiki/DB/forum like function that can be both manually and automatically reached from the Pandora itself .

Let me try to explain:

Much like a crash reporter (but not really cause I hate them^^) it would pop up (optional) when something crashes and connect the error to a report and ask if it should do a quick search.

EX.
User Pingu tries any emulator for SNES but something goes wrong and it crashes, error 12345 is to blame but poor little Pingu doesn't have a clue what error 12345 is or why he got it, a small dialog pops up and asks if Pandora should look at "Pandora DB/wiki/forum" to see if it can find something related.
Pingu aswers yes (would require Pandora to be online or to connect)
Pandora then seraches the DB for error 12345 and the name of the SNES emulator and pling it found something, if it's a common problem then perhaps it offers a solution(or points to where the user might find one) and if not then asks the user to describe what happened and make a new "post".

Also including in this a manual help function where you can search for apps and how to make them work (maybe like appdb.winehq.org?) etc as well as having a forum that you can look at and post in to get help.

just an idea but I would really like it and would help people a lot I think, specially with common problems and people that doesn't speak binary machine code in their sleep ;)
You must be using Windows, eh? :) Same OS on lots of different hardware (combinations). Pandora will be the same Linux OS on the same hardware, and apps/games will be made (and optimized) specificially for that OS+hardware. And a good linux distro shouldn't crash, at all. And if it crashes, it's most likely due the software, not the OS (file missing, etc). Games should have built in a decent (error) log, so you can just try to fix it from there or upload the stderr(.txt) to the forums. And they should contain a decent manual/instalation instructions.

Understandable idea, but afaik, unpracitcal. And besides, with error codes and stuff, everyone has to build that in in their games/programs. It's more practical to receive a description of what's wrong so you can try to fix it without the help of online support.

At least that's what I think.
 
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If you have net access to use a theoretical error database, then you have net access to use these forums. It is no more dificult to search for your error code here than it would be somewhere else, and the forums will always have the most up to date info.

It's not that it is a bad idea, it's just that it would require a lot of effort to maintain and wouldn't give you anything you can't already get here.
 
SharQueDo said:
You must be using Windows, eh? :) Same OS on lots of different hardware (combinations). Pandora will be the same Linux OS on the same hardware, and apps/games will be made (and optimized) specificially for that OS+hardware. And a good linux distro shouldn't crash, at all. And if it crashes, it's most likely due the software, not the OS (file missing, etc). Games should have built in a decent (error) log, so you can just try to fix it from there or upload the stderr(.txt) to the forums. And they should contain a decent manual/instalation instructions.

Understandable idea, but afaik, unpracitcal. And besides, with error codes and stuff, everyone has to build that in in their games/programs. It's more practical to receive a description of what's wrong so you can try to fix it without the help of online support.

At least that's what I think.
Nope don't use Windows and haven't for the last few years, btw Linux isn't the same OS on lots of different hardware combos? people with linux all use compaq? :p Only Mac I think could use that argument in that meaning.

And just because you use the same OS on the same hardware doesn't mean your applications can't crash and emulators are often worked on for a long time running just because of optimization and to remove problems and crashes etc. and not application is flawless from start and all Linux Dists can crash and need updates as I said in the ex. it's not just crashes for the OS and also not just crashes but making things work etc.

"It's more practical to receive a description of what's wrong so you can try to fix it without the help of online support."
That's either a very naive statement or if you really can fix any problem that occurs no matter what then you don't really think of other people that might not be able to do that.



Chip:
As I said in the post not just a error db but a combo, like appdbwinehq.org for ex. making stuff work etc as well, also mentioned a forum and so on, just a help feature that I believe would benefit 90% or more of the users and the maintaining would be user based not the devs mainly so no real extra work, much like this forum only a bit more DB like when it comes to applications and problem.
 
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How about just reading the readme files, there's little software that could go beyond a simple drag and drop install & use, and those who do could just have a more comprehensive wiki page.
 
Alex. said:
How about just reading the readme files, there's little software that could go beyond a simple drag and drop install & use, and those who do could just have a more comprehensive wiki page.

Sadly not all applications has much information in their readme files, at least not in my experience, some have installations instructions, some have license stuff others just have the name of the app and so on and little software that could go beyond drag and drop installation? when it comes to games then maybe I can agree but Pandora is not just games?
Also I'm not just talking about standard applications or the OS, might have been unclear on that but I'm talking about everything that has to do with the Pandora in one place, easy to access and use / find.

What I'm trying to get at is a "merge" of for example this forum, pandora wiki and a error db in one, since there will probably be a lot of projects active on porting stuff etc, just enter the app you want a port for or you are having trubble with and see if there already is an active project on that or if there is a solution there for your problem etc, if so help out if you can or report your problem and so on but also including forum support (from other users) and an error db that you can look at.
It's not uncommon in forums to have a lot of threads about the same thing going wrong or happening and people are not that good at searching forums in general, also people who help get annoyed when they have to answer the same question 5times a day.
 
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This is the kind of idea that will get done if it is deemed suitable when the hardware is out. No point discussing it now really.
 
My 2 cents on useless readme's: if someone doesn't bother with writing a decent readme, let alone integrating something like this. I'd rather just write a decent readme :p

Lately there have been a lot of ideas on "centralizing" things and IMO that (centralization) is a terrible idea. OK, it's good for newbies and stuff, but the point of the Pandora is it being free to start with, and that means people won't like to follow standards of many kinds.

I mean, a centralized information repository about the Pandora and software (Wiki!) is great, by all means let it be, but asking software to behave in a specific way sounds like "Microsoft Windows guidelines" to me :p
 
Not asking software devs to behave or add something in anyway? just as you said a centralized repository of information about Pandora, the function would be when Pandora picks up a return that signals a error that's all more or less on the error side and not that programmers should build programs after a certain mold, don't really understand where you got that impression?

It's not a "build your program this way" but a just a helping hand for the users and devs. "Centralizing" in the MS way I agree is a negative thing but making it easy and fast to access the right information and sharing with the community etc I feel is a strong basis for a creative community.

The thing about the readme files was an answer to Alex because readme files are (specially in open source software) the last thing on the creators mind and often overlooked or very hastily put together.
 
Here's the simple solution. The wiki is probably going to have a page for each major program anyway. In the event of a program crash, if the programmer so desires, they can have a button in the error box that will bring up http://pandorawiki.org/Name_of_Program#Known_Bugs_and_Errors in the web browser.

If the bug is known, it will probably be listed there already. If it's not, the user can list it there and whoever figures it out can edit in the solution. Instead of creating a whole new information repository, just use a pre-existing one.
 
trooper said:
Who`s going to maintain it and keep it upto date, Or plan and develop it in the first place ?.

Trooper
Well in the wiki spirit it would be mostly user upkeep much like the appdb that wine has, plan and develop depends on who's interested in it, if there is no interest in it then no one but if there is I'll guess I and anyone that feels they want to help?
 
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