"in fact most agree that a choice of sites is good"


I have to agree here. This is already the fourth repository that I know of, and this only adds confusion for people, whether they are insiders or outsiders of the Pandora community.


At the moment we have:

  • Wiki with listings of software (including external developer websites)
  • Craig's apps.openpandora.org (for which he pays someone to update the whole thingy)
  • EvilDragon's OpenHandhelds.org file archive
  • Sebt3's archive


In my opinion a fourth (or fifth, depends how you see the wiki) place to upload and download all the Pandora related stuff is completely useless, no matter how fancy it looks and how many extra functions it brings to the table. I still think OpenPandora should just take the file archive from EvilDragon, as that is probably the best known place for files across several open source handheld communities.


But hey, that's how it goes with Linux related stuff. Some people just like to build something of their own. But dividing an already small community is definitely not the way to go!


Now if someone made something like a Pandora-Mega-Torrent-Pack which included all things until a particular date and/or the latest stuff from a particular month or year, that would be something awesome from which everyone could get a little more happy.
 
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http://pandorapress....-to-the-public/


The more pnd sites, the more confusion.
that's how things work in a free environnement : you get many alternative, then peeps choose what they want to use (aka prefer) and the others one close their gate : no more customer.


Sure when communist idea mix in (gouvernement sponsorized alternative), then you still end-up with a working solution and a costy uneffective/useless one.


But that's like school for your kids : ignore the public solutions : they are not working.
 
Yeah it's not true. Especially if people rarely visit the forums. I visit them daily and usually miss the release of the latest PCSXRearmed. Then it takes 3 months to get onto the app store.


Seeing as Ed's hosting it I don't see why Craig can't do the decent thing with his App store and take it round back and shoot it in the face.


If you don't visit these forums much (I do every day, it's like an obsession now haha) then it must be so hard to keep up with whats new.
 
Maybe I should open up another forum.

Make sure to put a PND repository in it too :)


My typical app browse is :-


dl.openhandhelds. (The oldest and best + my 6 year old has a wiz :D )


these boards (Betas)


GP32x (upto date Betas)


Wiki (Before porting something)


App store. (Just in case)


I've looked at Milkshakes repo. And I've yet to see it be as upto date as the above sources, which was one of the big things about it being built in the first place. If it was kept auto updated it could concievably be somewhere to look first.
 
The more pnd sites, the more confusion.
True if the existing sites are feature complete, but when there are huge gaps in what is available and what people want, I don't see any problem with more choice. After all, if there hadn't been a demand for certain features, we wouldn't have the Pandora, right?
 
The statement that "most agree" I can say nothing about, since there is no public poll. But I like having many sites, that way you can choose the one/ones you like the most. Some may run competitions, some may run reviews, some may use 'thumbs up'/'thumbs down', some a 1-10 scale. It is impossible to please everyone with a single site, if it branch out, more are sure to be pleased in the long run.


I'm pro choice ;)
 
OP, this is a true and false statement.


initially it is at the expense of a uniform attitude however it also creates innovation. you will get a host of similar things but usually the most feature-filled or user friendly site will win out.


one example of this i see is social networking sites. we had a few and then one took off, then another competed and then we had facebook which more people seem to be satisfied with.


usually then weaker ones die out. the only problem with this is that innovation will explode to a point and often reach a limit and then stagnate.


the new repository brings a whole host of new things to the table so is in my mind nothing short of being incredibly positive.
 
Something like milkshake's repo should have been the only option from the very beginning. There is an app now that will keep track of updates for you, as long as they're updated on the repo or on any other sites that use the PND repository specification (Pandora Apps and the File Archive could possibly be upgraded to use it in the future):


http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/59148-pndstore/


If more effort had been made to keep dflemstr around and working on The Box, and if Craig hadn't insisted on doing everything HIS OWN WAY (yep, no way would the Pandora have been released without Craig, but he's also the main reason that this community is now split up into different forums and download sites), we could've had this long ago.


Also, I'm pretty sure that the guy Craig pays to update the Appstore just looks at the wiki edit history (I don't blame him, that's what I'd do). It's mostly me and a few other people who do the work of trawling through the different forums and file archives to keep things up to date (updated every few days or so). Little wiki mistakes have been reproduced, and it's usually updated shortly after the wiki updates. But I guess Craig feels more at ease having "control" over it, even though most of the real work happens elsewhere.


I hope that the other two file archives embrace the PND repository specification, then it won't matter which of the archives a dev uploads a file to, you'll still be able to be notified of the update.


The wiki is a different beast from any of them, since it doesn't directly host any of the files.
 
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Personally, I'd like to see one site. One site that's always up to date and easy to access. Something like the AUR from arch Linux. That way we don't have to go hunting for cool PNDs. Something like this could really mess up a community as small as the pandora's.
 
Personally, I'd like to see one site. One site that's always up to date and easy to access. Something like the AUR from arch Linux. That way we don't have to go hunting for cool PNDs. Something like this could really mess up a community as small as the pandora's.
Well, I think that was intended to be the point. milkshake and Tempel are picking up where dflemstr (and some others) left off. Please read the explanation here:


http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/55023-supa-simple-updater-for-pandora-applications/page__view__findpost__p__944154


Until then, the wiki lists are as close as you're going to get (see my signature). Or Craig's Pandora Apps site, which updates a little later and doesn't have links to discussion threads, but does have screenshots.
 
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Perhaps not everyone was around to see the reactions when it was suggested that the File Archive was closing and we were all moving to one place. Everyone wanted choice then, believe me. Personally I'm also an advocate of a single source for PNDs, always have been. It felt like few people were listening when this view was being pushed last year (around the time that dflemstr was trying to get The Box launched).


But single vs multiple sites is not an argument worth wasting energy on, because we're going to have multiple sites whether we like it or not. The good thing is that we're now in a position where multiple sites can, if they choose to implement the standard, access the same data as the the other sites to keep content consistent. Devs could upload to one location only, with their app becoming available through multiple portals. That's the kind of choice I'm taking about, not fragmentation.
 
@Gruso


Exactly. The reason people were so upset about the File Archive closing was that they liked its interface better. If the different archives have the same underlying standard, different sites could access the same data while keeping their different outward looks and features.


That's the idea, anyway. I don't think anyone would be against that (at least, not the users).
 
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Milkshake, your effect on the scene with this repo will be 100% positive. A handful of people won't get it at first, but that's only because they're not seeing the bigger picture. A new benchmark has been set and it's up to the official sources to follow suit.


A huge opportunity was missed with The Box, and now we're getting a second chance at it. If we let it pass by again, I give up, we might as well go Dingoo-style and upload half our apps to assorted hosts like Mediafire.
 
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