Caanoo - A Fail Console?

[CKeichel]

I agree with Torpor on this one. However this just reminds me of a past irc conversations with vimacs where we elaborated the idea of an auto-installer (my preference would have been a apt-based on with additional hooks for post installation). He strongly prefered his idea of pnd-style. While i still somewhat like pnd's i think an automated repository would be the win. I haven't found a partner for this yet and i won't go alone on this road.

To be honest, I don't see the use of an installer for the Caanoo, I don't see any advantages, cause setting up is a program is done by simply copying the contents of an archive to the SD card. It's not like dmenu on the Dingoo, where you have to edit the files of the menu software to get things running, it's a simple drag and drop procedure.

 

[torpor]

I still think an App store frontend that runs *on* the Caanoo would be very, very beneficial. Imagine booting up your Caanoo, opening the App Store app, selecting new software to install, and then going straight to the app from the menu .. its the 21st Century, this is how things should be done! I'm happy to support any effort to create this, because I vow never to boot into Windows to make my Caanoo collection grow!

 

[CKeichel]

I still think an App store frontend that runs *on* the Caanoo would be very, very beneficial. Imagine booting up your Caanoo, opening the App Store app, selecting new software to install, and then going straight to the app from the menu .. its the 21st Century, this is how things should be done! I'm happy to support any effort to create this, because I vow never to boot into Windows to make my Caanoo collection grow!

Sounds useless to me, unless you have an App Store, to which you connect via Internet and download the apps from there, you would still need to copy the install files to your Caanoo in one way or the other, and this would be the same effort, as copying the program files to your Caanoo, no advantage here. It would just add additional steps to the installation process (starting the App installer, installing the App), that are not necessary now. In short. it would be more complicated to install programs, then it is now.
It would be different, if you had something, you can connect via internet to, like the homebrew browser on the Wii, but I don't see anybody setting up something like this and besides, I think maximal 5% of all Caanoo are connected to the internet.

 

[crow_riot]

I still think an App store frontend that runs *on* the Caanoo would be very, very beneficial. Imagine booting up your Caanoo, opening the App Store app, selecting new software to install, and then going straight to the app from the menu .. its the 21st Century, this is how things should be done! I'm happy to support any effort to create this, because I vow never to boot into Windows to make my Caanoo collection grow!

Sounds useless to me, unless you have an App Store, to which you connect via Internet and download the apps from there, you would still need to copy the install files to your Caanoo in one way or the other, and this would be the same effort, as copying the program files to your Caanoo, no advantage here. It would just add additional steps to the installation process (starting the App installer, installing the App), that are not necessary now. In short. it would be more complicated to install programs, then it is now.
It would be different, if you had something, you can connect via internet to, like the homebrew browser on the Wii, but I don't see anybody setting up something like this and besides, I think maximal 5% of all Caanoo are connected to the internet.

well i was betatesting such a thing for rodolfo, but he lost interest in it, because there were some real oddities with bash scripts he was using on the wiz. it could've turned out really nice, it was a frontend for the openhandhelds archive that downloaded applications and installed them into the right directory. maybe someone of you could convince him giving you the source and finish it for the caanoo.

 

[RetroVortex]

From the looks of things, the Caanoo hasn't reached its full potential yet.

I just wish that we had a better music player (or media player in general), and that we had some sort of Game-maker like program that would make it much easier to make games for, (I want to make games, but I'm certainly not a code-monkey! I need a graphical interface).

That being said, has anyone tried to see if they could make a game made with GameEditor, then try to get it working via GINGE?
If it works, then I might try to use that...

 

[qbertaddict]

I agree with Torpor on this one. However this just reminds me of a past irc conversations with vimacs where we elaborated the idea of an auto-installer (my preference would have been a apt-based on with additional hooks for post installation). He strongly prefered his idea of pnd-style. While i still somewhat like pnd's i think an automated repository would be the win. I haven't found a partner for this yet and i won't go alone on this road.

To be honest, I don't see the use of an installer for the Caanoo, I don't see any advantages, cause setting up is a program is done by simply copying the contents of an archive to the SD card. It's not like dmenu on the Dingoo, where you have to edit the files of the menu software to get things running, it's a simple drag and drop procedure.

Dingux has gmenu2x no more editing anything Dmenu has been dead for well over a year! Dingux is just drag drop and point

 

[FreddyBoubil]

CKeichel: On the Pandora, I just click on the PND link, and oila! Installed, working software! (Okay, I've set my browser to put PND files in the right place, I admit that..)

On Caanoo .. I have to take the SD card out, find a PC, plug it in, download to the SD card, put it in the right place, put it all back together, and so on .. okay it may be different now, if I can browse with the Caanoo on my home network finally, maybe I can just click and load like on the Pandora.

If I'm not wrong, taking the SD cart out to put it in a PC is the same way for every GPH handheld or the Dingoo. Even if you want to use an modified XBox for emulation, you'll need a PC to ftp the roms and softs on the console And it will be the same for a DS with a linker or PSP : you'll have to take out the card, or connect the device with USB.

It's really great if you don't have to do this with the Pandora, but I don't really think that manipulating SD cards is so boring. And you do it mainly when you just have the console. Once it's well configured and you have what you want, the SD card remains in the handheld

To answer to the author of this topic, I bought the Caanoo a big month ago and for me it's really great. The big lakes are for me a good Amiga and SNes emulator (I haven't tried the last release yet).
The Caanoo was released six months ago, it's a little young so let it grow up a bit

 

[redlemon]

I just use gmenu2x and link to the gpe file. No hassle at all.

 

[CKeichel]

Dingux has gmenu2x no more editing anything Dmenu has been dead for well over a year! Dingux is just drag drop and point

I am fully aware of that, what I meant was, that only with a menu software like dmenu, an installer would make sense.

 

[CKeichel]

Dingux has gmenu2x no more editing anything Dmenu has been dead for well over a year! Dingux is just drag drop and point

I am fully aware of that, what I meant was, that only with a menu software like dmenu, an installer would make sense.

@FreddyBoubil

I am not really sure, what you mean, if you use emulators, you have to transfer files to your handheld anyway, mostly roms, how do you do that, when you don't connect the handheld to your computer or the SD card to an reader? Transfering Rom files for emulators is the most time consuming task in every emulator installation, using ftp to send them to the device may be possible, but I really don't want to ftp a complete Mame4All set, it would take ages. The installation of Mame4All or PocketSNES is done in a few seconds, the copying of a complete collection takes longer (and picking you favorite roms and copy them to your card takes even longer).
An web based installer would (maybe) reduce the 30 seconds emulator installation (including connecting the device via USB to your PC) to 15 seconds (if you ignore the possibility of network connection problems, which are not unlikely on an WiFi handheld device) , but it wouldn't help in any other regard.

 

[alyinsanfran]

Returning to the original post, I was an early adopter of the GP32, the GP2X(F100) and now the Caanoo.

And it's easily as good as the GP32 was in it's day, insomuch as it has an exceptional controller and is very very easy to load up with emulation goodness.

Although, apparently having to click 4 or 5 buttons, somehow 'find' a computer and OMG remove and replace an SD card is too much work for some, I believe I can find the 2 minutes in my day to make the latest release for and by the community work for me.

And I'm grateful.

 

[torpor]

I've become spoiled by iOS/Android. If it can be done on those devices, it can be done on Caanoo ..

 

[FreddyBoubil]

@FreddyBoubil

I am not really sure, what you mean, if you use emulators, you have to transfer files to your handheld anyway, mostly roms, how do you do that, when you don't connect the handheld to your computer or the SD card to an reader? Transfering Rom files for emulators is the most time consuming task in every emulator installation, using ftp to send them to the device may be possible, but I really don't want to ftp a complete Mame4All set, it would take ages. The installation of Mame4All or PocketSNES is done in a few seconds, the copying of a complete collection takes longer (and picking you favorite roms and copy them to your card takes even longer).
An web based installer would (maybe) reduce the 30 seconds emulator installation (including connecting the device via USB to your PC) to 15 seconds (if you ignore the possibility of network connection problems, which are not unlikely on an WiFi handheld device) , but it wouldn't help in any other regard.

I was just answering to torpor who was saying it's boring to manipulate sd cards. What I was writing is that it doesn't boring me. Copying full sets can take ages but I do it one time. I even copied my entire 16 Gb SD Card to my 32 Gb Sd Card. And I already "ftpied" full sets to my XBox, lol

 

[blues2]

buy the logic here consoles like the psp and ds are also failures because you have to buy the games and put them in the console?

 

[coldfish]

The Caanoo is easier to add apps to than my old GP2X.
But I have a WinPC on most of the time with the Caanoo's USB cable plugged in:

Download ZIP -> open -> drop contents into Caanoo Folder -> disconnect & use.

It's a shame the Caanoo doesnt have as much dev-love as the GP2X did, but Ive already got my money's worth out of it with the current library and using it as a PMP.

 

[CKeichel]

I've become spoiled by iOS/Android. If it can be done on those devices, it can be done on Caanoo ..

iOS and Android devices are smartphones, they are always connected to the internet, here it makes sense to use an internetbased installer, but a Caanoo isn't a smartphone.

On topic, the Caanoo already has a good library of emulators, here are only some gaps, that had to be filled (mainly C64/Amiga/Atari ST), it's another thing with games, here the GP2x clearly has much much more titles, then any other open handheld, I have ever seen. Even the Wiz never had this much titles. I don't see anybody porting this huge number of titles to the Caanoo, so here only a version of Ginge with better GP2x compability could help. But I don't understand the technical difficulties enough to see, if this even is possible.

 

[Popcorn Dave]

I wouldn't mind updating the Caanoo, except you have to open those awful flimsy covers to get to the SD card and USB port. Every time I open one of those I feel it's about to break off in my hand. :unsure:

 

[CKeichel]

I wouldn't mind updating the Caanoo, except you have to open those awful flimsy covers to get to the SD card and USB port. Every time I open one of those I feel it's about to break off in my hand. :unsure:

Can't understand the criticism here, the covers are one of the best ideas of the whole console, but honestly, if you don't like them, just cut them off, the result will be a console with all ports open to dust, like all the other handhelds on the market.

 

[monstercameron]

the real problem is that we need an exe or msi or deb, an installer, i too find myself tired of copying files, even with my 16gb class 10 takes forever, then getting everything to run isn't hard, long or confusing but tedious. it would be great if devs supported a universal rom folder and not one for every single emu.

 

[qbertaddict]

the real problem is that we need an exe or msi or deb, an installer, i too find myself tired of copying files, even with my 16gb class 10 takes forever, then getting everything to run isn't hard, long or confusing but tedious. it would be great if devs supported a universal rom folder and not one for every single emu.

Get a USB card reader. It makes the process 10 times faster. It is amazing how much people complain because they have to do a little work to get something done. I suspect that even if someone does a exe or msi installer people will complain that they have to click on it The Caanoo is far from a failure. It has lots of great software for it. The emulators are better than on most handhelds and I have had almost all of them. The dingoo, wiz, gp2x, psp, ds, and gba. Only the pandora has some emulators that I want and will never have on the caanoo but its not worth the money and wait to get it for 1 emulator. The psp version of vice is awesome but it will come to the caanoo soon enough. I love my dingoo but the caanoo gets most of my attention these days. The caanoo is becoming a hot item and since ginge was released we have a big back catalog of WIZ and gp2x titles. I am so happy that I can play temper on tvout with a regular gamepad plugged into the caanoo. That alone is worth the price I paid for the system.