SNESFAN
Retro game fanatic
maybe to see all the pretty boxes???dflemstr said:
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Installation System / Game Marketplace?
- Thread starter t-strike
- Start date
Aninhumer
Guy with scary face.
But they're all the same colour after the third :rolleyes:jb0yx said:
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Sphinxter
Says What?
I'll throw down a bit of analysis. The thing as I see it about package systems in linux, and I lump them together because they are all of the same design, is they are all based on a database. rpm, dpkg and all their gui cousins manage the database and call the package installer. You hit the site, lookup my distro, version, pkg, file in what arch, check the local database, what's installed, what version, compare to server data. Find which pkg owns which file, etc. etc. Now designing a similar system for PND has a unique situation, no distro package management works for removable devices. The database poses a huge problem in itself, where to locate it. Certainly not on the removable media unless it covers just the pnd's on it and then it's redundant information and flies in the face of normalization since the pnd's are just laying there. A website was suggested, or server, the, 'store', really doesn't need to be more than a website since they are so robust, already written and pass through most all firewalls with ease. Putting user info on the store server is not a bad idea really but the removable media pretty much tanks that unless you uniquely label the sd cards and the app prompts you for them when updates. Hey that's not bad, may talk myself into it but the server maintenance, storage and level of effort is just too much. Privacy issues and user data as a commodity will surely doom such a notion. A naming convention of name-version.patch.pnd or similar might provide enough information from a directory call to take the place of a database.
So, can we add to the unwieldy pnd system with such minmal information and make it as friendly as yum only prettier? Perhaps an app that;
1) List the server's available pnds of the right version of os and installs them on an sd card
2) Lists the pnd's on an sd card and highlights the one's available to update
3) Change the version of a pnd file on an sd card to one on the server
Would be within reach and give the appearance provide the basic functionality of a much more complicated system. The server could rip a page from rpm2html and store the big list of pnd's available in xml to served as pseudo soap, libxml has a very robust ftp/http client in there, was all I needed to close the loop on rpmfind once to perform auto updates. Another issue to consider is security, the poison repository might not be a laughing matter, convenience at the cost of safety might make that homely browser option look a little better.
So, can we add to the unwieldy pnd system with such minmal information and make it as friendly as yum only prettier? Perhaps an app that;
1) List the server's available pnds of the right version of os and installs them on an sd card
2) Lists the pnd's on an sd card and highlights the one's available to update
3) Change the version of a pnd file on an sd card to one on the server
Would be within reach and give the appearance provide the basic functionality of a much more complicated system. The server could rip a page from rpm2html and store the big list of pnd's available in xml to served as pseudo soap, libxml has a very robust ftp/http client in there, was all I needed to close the loop on rpmfind once to perform auto updates. Another issue to consider is security, the poison repository might not be a laughing matter, convenience at the cost of safety might make that homely browser option look a little better.
Monk
Caveman Ninja
dflemstr said:
Dunno - I thought he was going to back the idea to the hilt if any of us mentioned a good reason for such a project.
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dflemstr
It's a ball.
Well, I'd really like to keep it simple(, stupid).
What's wrong about downloading an XML file that lists all available packages on the server (and storing it in RAM because it's maybe 500 KB in size), scanning your SD's, external HDDs and NANDs (And what have you) for any PND files, and comparing the versions of {available,downloaded} PNDs, replacing files that are out of date? This is what I've been suggesting all along, and seems to be really close to what Sphinxter suggested...
Then there's been the question of which front ends to create, well that's not an issue; there can be yum-like CLI interfaces of PackageKit-based interfaces, who cares? That's not relevant for the system.
I really can't make anything of your abstract, circular tail-biting answers; just concretely tell me what's wrong with the approach described above and if there is something that could be improved.
What's wrong about downloading an XML file that lists all available packages on the server (and storing it in RAM because it's maybe 500 KB in size), scanning your SD's, external HDDs and NANDs (And what have you) for any PND files, and comparing the versions of {available,downloaded} PNDs, replacing files that are out of date? This is what I've been suggesting all along, and seems to be really close to what Sphinxter suggested...
Then there's been the question of which front ends to create, well that's not an issue; there can be yum-like CLI interfaces of PackageKit-based interfaces, who cares? That's not relevant for the system.
I really can't make anything of your abstract, circular tail-biting answers; just concretely tell me what's wrong with the approach described above and if there is something that could be improved.
Monk
Caveman Ninja
dflemstr said:
Who? I find it really confusing to read direct answers without attributes, and get more than a little irked when I respond in case it's me only to be told "Oh not YOU, you were one of the few people talking sense". If you're going to be all confrontational at least let us know who you're confronting so we've got a chance at understanding what you're saying.
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dflemstr
It's a ball.
First of all, I'm never personal (I don't read who posts a post unless I have a reason for doing so) so the question is rather What?Monk said:
Well, pretty much everything that was posted after this previous post of mine kinda seems to tell me that you guys want a server-side solution, and want to avoid a client-side thing at all cost, but after that the same people tell me that a tiny client that simply would diff two lists of PNDs would be the best solution, which to me is what I proposed in the first place...
Maybe I'm not reading this thread well enough (I'm busy as heck at the moment).
Also, don't take "abstract, circular tail-biting answers" as something negative; I write those kinds of answers all the time, too!
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Monk
Caveman Ninja
Ah. Well my responses on behalf of other people are limited (have to be, as I have limited insight into how other people work) so as I believe I've said everything I've thought of on the topic, it's time to sit back and see what happens for a bit.
