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.
Ease of Use
- Thread starter 28user
- Start date
- Out of the box, the Pandora will use a very lightweight and simple interface, similar to most phones in terms of icons. Something vaguely similar to this:
someone's working on something a little more attractive:
- There may also be some kind of desktop, where you have taskbars etc.
- Pandora will definitely be able to multitask - it's a mini-laptop.
- You should be able to do most of that with no problems, except online video may be a bit iffy due to flash and things. Its very design is completely open, you can do whatever you want with it. There's no question there will be a ton of software available pretty soon after release
- If you connected it to a Windows PC, I expect it'll appear as another disk (though I'm not sure how this would work with 2 SD cards)
someone's working on something a little more attractive:
- There may also be some kind of desktop, where you have taskbars etc.
- Pandora will definitely be able to multitask - it's a mini-laptop.
- You should be able to do most of that with no problems, except online video may be a bit iffy due to flash and things. Its very design is completely open, you can do whatever you want with it. There's no question there will be a ton of software available pretty soon after release
- If you connected it to a Windows PC, I expect it'll appear as another disk (though I'm not sure how this would work with 2 SD cards)
TaG
Fau-fau-faulty software.
xGunCrazyx
Still Fresh
Wow, Firefox 3 can't run java/flash yet...?
Hopefully it will be fixed soon, it'd be lame to not be able to use youtube or hulu
Hopefully it will be fixed soon, it'd be lame to not be able to use youtube or hulu
Tor
Active Member
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This works fine for 2 SD cards with the Nokia N800, they'll show up on the PC as 2 separate disks. So I assume this should not be a problem on the Pandora either, as long as it can do it in the first place.mazza558 said:
(Note that as soon as you connect the cable on the Nokias they will unmount the card to let it be visible for the PC. Unless you somehow use an internal NFS- or SMB server this is necessary. But it also means that if the card can't be unmounted, say because you have a file open (or swap space enabled on a card, then the card won't be available for the PC. Short version: Cards with files open on them will not be visible on the PC. I think the situation will have to be the same on the Pandora.)
Pleng
Well-Known Member
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28user said:
I think people make too much of the Pandora being 'Linux based'. All that means is there is an army of software ready to be ported to the system. For people who 'have never used anything other than windows', take a look around your house. Does your TV run windows? How about your phone (well, maybe)? I'll bet you have an iPod or some other non-Windows MP3 player? Got a DVD player or recorder? Sky or Cable TV? Playstation or Wii, anyone?
All of these are examples of non-windows based devices that you have had to learn at some point! They all run an operating system of some kind, they just don't advertise the name of it! Some you would have even learned to use before Windows.
28user, you actually state that you were planning on getting an archos 5. Well, that is also a non-Windows based device! Once the software is written for Pandora (give it a week or two from the launch date), the learning curve should be no more than that of the archos. Linux will be well enough hidden for the casual user unless you specifically decide to uncover it!
Pleng said:
I was talking about the learning curve in relation as to using the Pandora as a laptop in comparison to using my Compaq for instance. I know all of the above devices have their own operation system & that the Archos 5 uses a closed source linux distro, I am just talking about being able to do day to day laptop activities on the Pandora instead of my Windows Media Center based laptop, just to clarify myself.
maciek_urbanski
Member
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Comparing Pandora to laptop is misleading. Pandora is a game console, and everything else is an extra (hence - it has lower priority than gaming). Laptop itself is a (more or less) general purpose machine "by design". So it would seem natural that laptop would be better/easier in laptop-ish tasks than Pandora...28user said:
Similarly - Pandora will be better in mobile gaming.
There is no such thing like 'closed source Linux distro'. License of Linux kernel itself prohibits this, and you cannot create distro without kernel. Sources to Archos 5 distro are here(link). Click button 'show' at the bottom of page (just under Notice of GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public Licence).28user said:
Keep both. Pandora for gaming, laptop for other tasks.28user said:
mali
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I think, the Pandora has yet to find its place among those computing devices. It was designed to be a gaming handheld in the first place, but there are already many people interested in its UMPC capabilities and some talented devs, who will push development in that direction. For gaming it will be the best you can get at the moment, there is no doubt. To say, that it won't be able to compete with notebooks in certain areas is a little early, especially on the go
For me the Pandora is exactly a general purpose machine by design Edit:
@28user
You should take the Pandora intead of the Archos, and I will tell you why.
1.The features, you desire, will be implemented by the community developers, sooner or later. It is open by design.
2.If you don't like it, you will still get enough money back, if you sell it, because there will only be a limited number of devices out there, even after the second batch.
3.The most important factor in the long run, is an active community that provides improvements over years for your device. The Archos might be considered dead, when Pandora just starts to get warm.
RavenX
Still Fresh
To be honest, I have had little interest in handheld gaming lately (although I do have a large collection of ROMs). I mainly intend to use the Pandora for mobile web surfing, email, sshing to the servers I administer, VNC to other computers, viewing pictures from my digital camera and playing videos. It would, however, be great if it had the ability to open Excel and Word docs for viewing on the run, so something like OpenOffice would be great as well. And yes, probably some gaming. I still love old 2D side scrolling shooters.
Thanks gerd you have definitely help me make my decision. I still have one question though, when can we expect them to take orders for the 2nd batch? Beginning or end of December? Christmas is coming up & I want to plan accordingly.gerd said:
I think, the Pandora has yet to find its place among those computing devices. It was designed to be a gaming handheld in the first place, but there are already many people interested in its UMPC capabilities and some talented devs, who will push development in that direction. For gaming it will be the best you can get at the moment, there is no doubt. To say, that it won't be able to compete with notebooks in certain areas is a little early, especially on the go
Edit:
@28user
You should take the Pandora intead of the Archos, and I will tell you why.
1.The features, you desire, will be implemented by the community developers, sooner or later. It is open by design.
2.If you don't like it, you will still get enough money back, if you sell it, because there will only be a limited number of devices out there, even after the second batch.
3.The most important factor in the long run, is an active community that provides improvements over years for your device. The Archos might be considered dead, when Pandora just starts to get warm.
mali
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ED(one of the developers) said on the german forum, that the second batch will be ordered soon after the first has arrived, but it depends on the suppliers. So, to say it short, there is no definite date, yet.
javaJake
Jacob Godserv
There has been mention that the second batch will begin in March of 2009. I think Craig "Himself" might have said 2009. However, both are vague thoughts bouncing around in my head, and I have no sources to link you to at the moment.
cosam
Active Member
javaJake
Jacob Godserv
Thanks SteveM!
