How About Using This Thing For Powerpoint?

[plupp]

Im thinking that the pandora might be the ideal machine for displaying powerpoint slides.

It is small enough to bring in your pocket, but it has good enough processing power that you can use it to display powerpoint slides in real time.

HOWEVER... only one thing is missing.....

VGA output. A nice DSUB output connector that can be connected to beamers at conferences or other locations where you do not have access to composite/S-video inputs.

Does anyone in the forum know of a way to convert the composite/s-video signal to dsub without having to bring a converter box much bigger than the pandora that require mains power???

There are adapter cables but it seems those things do not work if the projector does not support composite video over dsub.

Are there plans from the devs to release any kind of battery powered dsub converter or perhaps in the future a VGA capable pandora unit??? (id DID do a forum search, but I did not see this specific question covered in any detail in another thread)

I can easily imagine the ease of carrying a pandora sized unit and not a big bulky laptop with me to conferences.....

 

[Pleng]

It is mentioned elsewhere in the forum but there are design issues which mean VGA and HDMI/DVI output is not possible.

 

[gruso]

How about a USB powered converter? B)

http://www.thegametrain.com/compositesvide...rter-p-357.html

 

[hessiess]

wouldn't work, power point only runs on windows, which only runs on X86 hardware. unless someone ported O

 

[sindbad]

OpenOffice.org will be available. If not, KOffice will be. If not, Agnubis will be.

 

[gruso]

[edit- @ Hessiess]

For a Windows hater, you're sure out of touch with what Linux can do. Open Office has a PowerPoint equivalent. I used an EeePC for a presentation just the other week (running a .pps file from a USB stick, created in MS PowerPoint). It rocked.

 

[ashdjones]

I love hearing about all the different ways people are going to use this thing.

 

[hessiess]

[edit- @ Hessiess]

For a Windows hater, you're sure out of touch with what Linux can do. Open Office has a PowerPoint equivalent. I used an EeePC for a presentation just the other week (running a .pps file from a USB stick, created in MS PowerPoint). It rocked.

I do know what Open office can show power point presentations, hence:
QUOTE
unless someone ported O

however I don't know whither its been ported to ARM or not.

 

[plupp]

The actual display of the document isnt the main problem....

there are all of these nice options (Koffice/Openoffice/PDF etc etc) to show powerpoint on the pandora....

the dealbreaker for me is whether I can get a dsub output from the pandora....

Any chance that the developers will create a bundle with a USB dsub adapter that we know will work with the general config and battery of the pandora?

---

Craig are you listening?

It would be really nice to have the option to have an official adapter for dsub connector sanctioned/sold by openpandora/gbax so we KNOW that it will work well with the rather adorable pandora.

 

[mindlord]

I haven't seen a lcd projector in the past several years that didn't have a svideo input even the cheapest of the cheap. I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find one without it.

 

[oblivioner]

I love hearing about all the different ways people are going to use this thing.

I thought the same thing. I'm way more into the gaming side with browsing and light office stuff also considered, but we're getting ppl here asking for pandora to do so many things, and most of the times, it's plausible Pandora will be able to do most of those. I think Pandora is going to be a huge success, though it will take time, probably once the apps get released.

 

[Kings]

Most projectors have S-video, I generally like low res for presentations.

 

[kloplop321]

SVideo also makes things a bit blurry

 

[mindlord]

SVideo also makes things a bit blurry

For the purposes of a powerpoint presentation, "a little blurry" is usually preferable since extra sharp edges on really large fonts and images tend to look like crap.

 

[plupp]

Most projectors have S-video, I generally like low res for presentations.

Well that is not the problem.

In a conference location the projector is mounted in the ceiling, 15 feet (5 meters for the metric fans) or more up in the air and the only cable coming from the projector is a single dsub connector that terminates somewhere near the podium.

Or are you suggesting that I bring a ladder to the conference, scale it to reach the ceiling and connect the pandora up there and use a bluetooth mouse to change slides?

... I think that I am better off with my big bulky lenovo laptop rather than the pandora+ladder solution...

Hopefully craig and the boys will provide some kind of official addon that allows battery driven dsub connection directly from the pandora.

It would be nice to hear from the devs as to which officially sanctioned addons that planed for the pandora.

 

[Karel Jansens]

Well that is not the problem.

In a conference location the projector is mounted in the ceiling, 15 feet (5 meters for the metric fans) or more up in the air and the only cable coming from the projector is a single dsub connector that terminates somewhere near the podium.

Or are you suggesting that I bring a ladder to the conference, scale it to reach the ceiling and connect the pandora up there and use a bluetooth mouse to change slides?

... I think that I am better off with my big bulky lenovo laptop rather than the pandora+ladder solution...

Hopefully craig and the boys will provide some kind of official addon that allows battery driven dsub connection directly from the pandora.

It would be nice to hear from the devs as to which officially sanctioned addons that planed for the pandora.

Use a tv.

 

[Chip]

Hopefully craig and the boys will provide some kind of official addon that allows battery driven dsub connection directly from the pandora.

The chances of this happening are virtually nil. Since converting s-video to vga would not improve the video quality at all, an adapter like this would be useless for anybody who wasn't in your specific situation. How many adapters might they sell - two or three? S-video to vga converter boxes exist already. Just bite the bullet and buy one of those.

 

[plupp]

Well, not knowing if it works with the pandora is a big stopping point for me....

I would like to know FOR SURE if it works or not.

An official usb dsub adapter would fit the ticket, and they only need to sell them to the people that need them, the pandora does not need to be bundled with it.

But I do think that there are others that would want to carry only a pandora to a remote location and not having to lug around a big and heavy laptop, so I do think there is a market for an official dsub converter addon.

 

[Megamixman]

The Problem with everyone wanting an official adapter for X to Y is that they can't make them very cheap unless they have a large base to sell to. Hence if there's a 100 people who want to buy them, expect the adapters to be on the order of 10x what some other company will be selling them. Secondly, official or not, Svideo to Dsub is pretty much the same thing. If you have a Svideo signal, a Svideo to Dsub converter WILL convert it. There are no compatibility issues, drivers, etc.

 

[plupp]

The Problem with everyone wanting an official adapter for X to Y is that they can't make them very cheap unless they have a large base to sell to. Hence if there's a 100 people who want to buy them, expect the adapters to be on the order of 10x what some other company will be selling them. Secondly, official or not, Svideo to Dsub is pretty much the same thing. If you have a Svideo signal, a Svideo to Dsub converter WILL convert it. There are no compatibility issues, drivers, etc.

I dont want craig and the boys to make the adapters, just to resell an adapter that they have tested and is guaranteed to work with the pandora.

As for a simple passive adapter, I do believe that they only work if your projector is made to accept composite or s-video over the dsub connector and not for general use. Some projectors support this while others do not.

I would not want to be presenting something at a conference somewhere and finding out that my passive adapter is not compatible with the beamer in the ceiling.

I would pay a premium for something that is guaranteed to work with the pandora.