Pandora Help with running pandora applications on the raspberry pi 2

[forgotten01]

Hello all, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this...


Since the raspberry pi 2 has a ARMv7 processor, it should be able to run basically anything that the pandora can. Now what I'd like to do is simple, bring the pandora's great library of games and applications to the pi 2, however I have little knowledge on how the pandora runs its applications so I need some help.... The main apps I want to get working on the pi are Minecraft and Enemy territory legacy, the main problems I run into is that enemy territory gives an error saying that it cannot find libGLES_CM.so, and minecraft cannot find libjli.so


That may just be the tip of the iceberg but I'm willing to work this out, I just need some guidance

 

[skeezix]

Well, first off. there are numerous builds of Minecraft native to r-pi; I don't use my rpi for gaming, nor do I play MC, but google turns up piles of hits.. first one being:

http://pi.minecraft.net

As to running Pandora compiled binaries on an r-pi, there are numerous challenges that make it unlikely unless you realy seriously know your business and write some code wrappers, and even then it depends on how the Pandora binary was compiled. ie: Most Pandora binaries make many assumptions, such as that Pandora native controls are present, and assumptions about the display size and paramaters, about how SD cards will be used, and so forth.

There are RTCW projects for pi (see youtube), and there is at least one project to port ET IIRC; I've never bpthered, but I've seen it come up. So .. google up

jeff

 

[forgotten01]

First of all, minecraft pi is just an old version of the pocket edition, second, there is no working multiplayer port of rtcw or ET that works on the pi. I wonder how much work it would take to port super zaxxon to the pi......... Of course I'm not a programmer, just a guy with some free time and a knack for gadgets

 

[skeezix]

No clue about MC itself, so fair enough Desktop MC is java with some GL stuff going on, and doesn't perform super well on higher speed machines; the Pandora version I think was just the regular desktop version, with some GL wrappers to make it work (never looked into it, but that's my guess.) Assuming its not a sneaky repack of any mobile versions binary. I'm not sure how well the Pandora one performs .. but similar process should be doable on pi I'd imagine.

You could suck down the Pandora firmware (just another Linux distro, really, with a lot of customizations); extract some libs from /usr/lib and so forth, and see how lucky you get; I'm not too on top of the r-pi-2 ye (mine still in transit), bu IIRC it is a same-base class of CPU (A7 versus A8, but both are variations of the ARM 7 right?)  I don't recall if the A7 has NEON and such, but seems likely. Still, a lot of binaries are likely compiled in compatible fashion, at that level

So your biggest obstacle would still be that most Pandora builds make assumptions about screen and controllers; they typically assume the Pandora d-pads, which aren't the same as (say) usb d-pads on a pi. So if you got some binaries to run, the chances are you'd not get any controls out of them.

Most binaries on the Pandora are either native games/apps, or ports; something like ET would be a port, obviously; it would be likely you could get the Pandora builds code if you wanted, and attempt to compile it; more to point, given the Pandora version is a port, and to similar architecture, you know another port from original source to r-pi is also doable; the r-pi-2 is a pretty solid little beastie.

Heck, have you tried just installing (apt-get/etc) the gcc toolchains (make, binutils, etc, if not already present) and tried compiling some of these apps? (Start small, pick something easy, so you get the hang of it) . like a ./configure && make sort of sequence to build something simple .. or just jump in, try RTCW etc.

(compiling, porting, etc is an enormous topic; whether the codebases in question have support for the right kind of GL you're asking for, or controls via USB etc, is what you'd need to look for.)

Sorry, in a rush, got whiny sick small kids here, so permit me to be vague

jeff

Step 1: Draw eyes

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Monalisa!

 

 

[levi]

I'm honestly not sure how far you'll get without a lot of work due to the reasons outlined above, but it should be relatively easy to unpack a Pandora app and attempt to run the binaries within.

First, get a pandora app (.pnd file) from the repo or elsewhere.  Then, attempt to mount it - you shouldn't need to specify a format type, just 'sudo mount file.pnd mnt_point' should so the trick.  Then, cd to the mount point, and see what you can do from there.

 

[ptitSeb]

Minecraft & RTCW / ET are two (three) of my projects.

For Minecraft, you will need a working glshim. So, you need to fork my glshim repo and adapt it for the RPi2. I don't have a RPi2, so I cannot do it really myself (may be I'll try later, blindly, but it's not fun without the machine).

For RTCW / Enemy Territorie : Thoses are native GLES port, so no glshim here. But you'll probably need to adapt the context creation, that is different from RPi(2) to Pandora. Also, I still haven't worked yet on the latest verison of ET, but it use SDL2, and I don't know the status of SDL2 on the RPi2.

 

[rygD]

Buy him a RPi2 and he might consider working on them (Minecraft).  Sounds like a good idea to me.  Maybe I will get one for myself if he starts releasing a lot of stuff for it.

Have we started a "buy ptitSeb a Pyra" collection yet?  I think this should be a priority.  I am somewhat stingy (and perpetually broke) and would donate.

 

[skeezix]

That's a good plan r-pi2's aren't too pricey (say $40-$60 they seem around here), so a few donations would take care of it. A fund for a pyra is a cute idea

jeff

 

[levi]

Well I'd suggest finishing the Pyra development donations first, so we can be sure the Pyra will actually come about, before donating to send one to ptitSeb or others.

 

[rygD]

According to ED he has the funds needed for everything for the Pyra until the first run.  He added the donation button because people kept asking about it.  If more funds are needed to get the Pyra to the point where he can accept preorders I hope he makes it known.