Release First Gmenu Pandora Preview

[PokeParadox]

gmenu will be the default launcher in SIMPLE MODE.

In fully desktop mode, it starts kdrive (an XServer) with Windows, etc.
That's Angström

Thanks for clarifying ED... it seemed a lot of people were missing that point. I suspected that it would be a case of Advanced and simple Nice to have it confirmed.

 

[torpor]

This is just a technology demo - it shows that there is in fact something running on the Pandora dev boards which can be - rather quickly, I might say - transformed into something a lot slicker.

There are a few things you have to note about this video, from a *developers* perspective, which are interesting .. First, ED has his display in 16bpp mode, the menu graphic assets are set for 32bpp, the fact that there is a difference is due to the development state of ED's setup.

Second, and don't overlook this in your rush to crap on the progress because its not Pepsi-packaged for you, the basics are all there for easy skinning now. GMENU2X *works* on the Pandora. The fact that ED is using shitty graphics files that don't really show anything off is really pretty un-important - from a pure development perspective, all it would take is a nice, sexy graphics artist lady, (fantasizing here coz frankly its a boring topic, heh heh) to sit down on her pretty little bottom, fire up Inkscape, and export a few PNG's .. then oila!!! Instantly sexy GMENU2X skin.

Basically, its about 2 hours work away from being done. Just needs: a properly configured display driver (probably quite easy), larger icons, and some sexily-bottom'ed design talent. No further programming necessary: and *THAT* IS THE POINT!

 

[craigix]

Anyone expecting a PSP like experience 'out of the box' on day one should request a refund and reorder from batch 2.

As GP32 and GP2X'ers know these things take time to mature, with the Pandora the time to mature should be a lot less than the GP2X but it will still take a while for us all to get comfortable with a setup which everyone likes.

We will have Ubuntu in a download SD form for those of you who want to skip straight to that kind of set up, but a lot of GP2X'ers will want a more simple solution so they can max the performance, which gmenu should provide.

 

[Phawx]

Nice. That's all I need.


*edit* thought I should clarify because my sentence could be taken the wrong way. I wanted to play with an ubuntu version of Pandora first, and than when I wanted more speed out of my system, switch to Gmenu. In conclusion, this is awesome news.

 

[TaG]

Anyone expecting a PSP like experience 'out of the box' on day one should request a refund and reorder from batch 2.

As GP32 and GP2X'ers know these things take time to mature, with the Pandora the time to mature should be a lot less than the GP2X but it will still take a while for us all to get comfortable with a setup which everyone likes.

We will have Ubuntu in a download SD form for those of you who want to skip straight to that kind of set up, but a lot of GP2X'ers will want a more simple solution so they can max the performance, which gmenu should provide.

Nice and clear - thx craigix. Part of the fun of the first batch is being involved whilst it is developing.

We should also see this as two operating systems for the price of one - you get the best of both worlds and can use one or the other or use both depending upon needs.

 

[PoisonedV]

Will applications and games be compatible no matter what OS you use?

 

[dockthepod]

Will we need to be running a full blown linux (eg ubuntu) in order to have access to firefox or the like or will the gmenu boot have enough stuff to run that?

 

[verm71]

Nice and clear - thx craigix. Part of the fun of the first batch is being involved whilst it is developing.

We should also see this as two operating systems for the price of one - you get the best of both worlds and can use one or the other or use both depending upon needs.

Agreed. There's nothing more thrilling than being in the middle of the vortex of new developments, updates, improvements, bug fixes, AND being able to try them first hand, as opposed to sitting on the sidelines and watching it all happen!

 

[MarkoeZ]

Im confused here. EvilDragon keeps talking about gmenu-simple/angstrom-advanced and Craig is talking about gmenu/ubuntu.

I could be mistaken, but do we have 3 (?!?) os's on release? That might be confusing when downloading software. Me downloading some amazing program, only to discover that i should have ubuntu unstead of amstrom.

But i might be wrong ofc.

 

[ingrin]

Im confused here. EvilDragon keeps talking about gmenu-simple/angstrom-advanced and Craig is talking about gmenu/ubuntu.

I could be mistaken, but do we have 3 (?!?) os's on release? That might be confusing when downloading software. Me downloading some amazing program, only to discover that i should have ubuntu unstead of amstrom.

But i might be wrong ofc.

I think its Gmenu (simple)/Angstrom(complex) on the NAND at release, with the option to DL Ubuntu (Complex-big footprint) to an SD card.
I suspect Angstrom and Gmenu will be day 1, while Ubuntu *could* be, but since it doesn't have to be loaded on the NAND, it could trail the others.

 

[mali]

Im confused here. EvilDragon keeps talking about gmenu-simple/angstrom-advanced and Craig is talking about gmenu/ubuntu.

I could be mistaken, but do we have 3 (?!?) os's on release? That might be confusing when downloading software. Me downloading some amazing program, only to discover that i should have ubuntu unstead of amstrom.

But i might be wrong ofc.

Gmenu is just the GUI running on top of Angström. Gmenu isn't the OS itself, as I understand it.

 

[WizardStan]

I believe GMenu is just the launcher- a program layered on top of the OS. The way Win3.1 was just a shell that ran on top of DOS. Angstrom is the default OS that will be running it.
Full blown Ubuntu (or stripped down, however you want to call it) will be downloadable for your SD card.

 

[hedwards]

Anyone expecting a PSP like experience 'out of the box' on day one should request a refund and reorder from batch 2.

As GP32 and GP2X'ers know these things take time to mature, with the Pandora the time to mature should be a lot less than the GP2X but it will still take a while for us all to get comfortable with a setup which everyone likes.

We will have Ubuntu in a download SD form for those of you who want to skip straight to that kind of set up, but a lot of GP2X'ers will want a more simple solution so they can max the performance, which gmenu should provide.

I think I understand here, but is it a fair assumption to make that the programs we've seen running as demos are going to work at launch? I don't really need a huge number of apps or anything like that to make the purchase worthwhile. A few emulators, firefox and a mail client would be more than enough. Not necessarily immediately, but a bit further down the road.

 

[MarkoeZ]

Ah ok, i get it.

Thanks for explaining guys. (and gals perhaps )

Cheers!!

p.s. I think most of the fun in the pre-orders is that everyday there is a discovery of a brand new game/emu/app that someone ported/improved

 

[socket]

Sweet, I was wondering about that myself. I didn't realize that Angstrom was what gmenu was running on top of. That rules. Also, I'll surely download that Ubuntu image, too.

 

[Username]

Will we need to be running a full blown linux (eg ubuntu) in order to have access to firefox or the like or will the gmenu boot have enough stuff to run that?

I was wondering this as well.

 

[mali]

Will we need to be running a full blown linux (eg ubuntu) in order to have access to firefox or the like or will the gmenu boot have enough stuff to run that?

I was wondering this as well.


Firefox(gecko) is available in Angstrom. And Epiphany(webkit), too.

 

[nubie]

If all you confused people would go check the sticky in the Pandora general thread you could learn a lot. http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=43063 Or if that doesn't get you enough info you can look up all of the EvilDragon, Mweston, and Craig posts.

kdrive is on for Gmenu2X. kdrive is not the same as full Angstrom, it is just a launcher. (kdrive is light, and it accelerates the menu, nothing wrong here, an app can kill X and then restart it with a runlevel).

As far as the "Icon" comments, the problem is not the icons, it is the size of the text, we have more than quadrupled the screen resolution from the GP2X and that means we need a new font, as ED has mentioned before.

Gmenu2X is much more powerful than that video shows, a single keystroke can open the link properties or the readme. Shoulder buttons can swap to the different menu sections, and the d-pad can select the program to run.

I was a bit surprised, but also glad to see that it was very fast, quite high resolution, and could load picodrive already

 

[Dunny]

I'd be happy enough with a small launcher like the '2x had - I tried GMenu2x and really didn't like it, and there was noticeable performance decreases in MAME and GBASP when launching from GMenu. Hence, I'm not that happy that it's being used again.

In my opinion, the launcher should be just that - if I want to read something, I'll launch a reader. and when it launches, it should get out of the way. Preferably by terminating itself, so I get the best performance I can

Looks like I'm going to have to find something else. Or roll my own, which I'm not really looking forward to...

D.

 

[hells_dark]

Will we need to be running a full blown linux (eg ubuntu) in order to have access to firefox or the like or will the gmenu boot have enough stuff to run that?

I was wondering this as well.

And Epiphany(webkit), too.

Ho yeah, i didn't think about epiphany !
But i think it has some gnome dependencies, no ? :unsure:
And about webkit, i thought epiphany was not working yet with it (not well enough i mean)..