Ease Of Use

[28user]

I was planning on getting the archos 5 internet media tablet ($450 for 250gb) when I came across the pandora ($330). I am trying to choose between the devices & want to make my decision before the preorders for the 2nd batch of Pandoras are being taken. I had a few questions about the pandora. I am interested in it as a A/V player as well as ebook reader & internet device (mainly for online video like hulu.com). How easy do we forsee being able to use this device for these features & will you be able to multi-task with it (i.e. listen to music while reading an ebook or surfing the web). Will there be a learning curve going from mainly Windows based devices to the Pandora & if so what can I expect? Does the pandora function as a laptop in the sense that you pretty much have the freedom to do whatever you want on it? (i.e. download files off the internet (i.e. bit torrent other peer-to-peer), install what software I want (linux based of course), play games I already have for my windows based emulators (nes, genesis, etc.)? Also, will I be able to connect the device to my home computer which runs windows & if so what will I be able to do with the device (access it as flash storage, use it as a gaming device, etc.) I like the archos, but it is very locked down & I would be very interested in the pandora if it is not that difficult to use. Any help in making this decision would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[bigtruck]

From what we've been told, you will need no knowledge of Linux to use the Pandora. My primary uses for the Pandora will be mp3 playing and as an internet device. You will be able to multi-task, both the examples you gave will be possible. As for installing stuff, anything that isn't too resource intensive, runs on Linux and can be ported to the Pandora will work (which is most things, as most, but not all, Linux apps are open-source). The official method will be zip files with a PXML file, which is sort of metadata. There will also be an installer which can download and update programs automatically. You will be able to download files from the internet, and there will almost certainly be a torrent client. I don't know much about other P2P (do people still use the gnutella network?). AFAIK all roms are OS-independent and can be run on any functional emulator for the system. You will be able to connect to a Windows computer with samba, chances are someone will make a simple GUI for it eventually.

Oh by the way you mentioned hulu. I've never used it but I believe it's flash video, which should work through open-source flash implementations. More complex flash, such as games, will probably not work, at least for a while.

 

[Niros]

A/V Player:
Codecs missing to begin with due to legal issues, but all the common ones will appear at release or soon after.
VLC may get ported eventually which will play just about anything

Ebook Reader:
It would depend on format, for the common ones like txt and pdf, I would assume they would be working at release. For the more obscure ones, a possible short wait.

Internet Device:
Firefox 3 working with no flash/java yet, but both look promising

Multi Tasking:
The hardware supports it, It depends on the interface, Gmenu2x I don't think supports it, but xwindow systems do, which could be implemented (see Ubuntu on Pandora)

Learning Curve:
It would depend on what you wanted to do with it, browsing, playing games and downloading applications off the archive would require no Linux knowledge. Its only if you wanted to, for example; Port BackTrack 3 and get packet injection running, that you would need to know the ins and outs of Linux. Now there's and idea...

Roms:
Yep, roms are fairly universal. You can run the roms on any suitable emulator, regardless of hardware.

I would only recommend the Archos over the Pandora if you really needed the extra space, and didn't want to buy an external hard drive.

 

[TaG]

I would only recommend the Archos over the Pandora if you really needed the extra space, and didn't want to buy an external hard drive.
I would only recommend the Archos if it does exacly what you want. If you want a 250gb media player / browser, the Archos might suit your needs. Also don't forget the $330 Pandora price is before shipping, does not include tax/duties and requires sd cards, so the pice gap narrows.

If you want to do any of the other things Pandora can do then it is no contest. Emulators and homebrew games with proper gaming controls; a fully open linux under the hood (this is an ARM device so it will not just let you download desktop Ubuntu apps, you will need specific ARM apps that have possibly been optimised for the 128mb of RAM available.

They really are very different devices, they just happen to be a similar form factor and do some similar things.

I have pre-ordered a Pandora as it fits most of my requirements. I also think it will be fun to get involved and learn stuff along the way. If not knowing linux is any sort of barrier, download a copy of Linux Mint or Ubuntu and burn it to a CD - you can then run it as a live CD so that it doesn't touch your hard drive at all and you can have a play. If you like it you can install it in a separate partition if you have space - and it is as easy as falling of a log as it is all guided installation.