Introduce yourself


levi said:
The worst thing about the Sinclair Spectrum after it's audio and blocky graphics was the dead-flesh rubber keyboard.

That said, the ZX Spectrum keyboard has recently been revived as a bluetooth keyboard, designed primarily to couple with a Spectrum emulator on iDevices and Android, but I don't see why it shouldn't work as a general keyboard, if anyone was really interested in using it as such.

Click to expand...

Well not exactly the same keys as the Spectrum per se, I am aware of the horrible ergonomics it provided back then! xD maybe something that keeps up with the current times ergonomics-wise but still keeping the same ethos of having the cpu inside the keyboard. Then again might not be worth the effort. It's too niche I say :mad:


FBnil said:
1. Because the designs are copyrighted. 2. Because Price (using less/cheaper material) counted more than esthetics, which counted more than ergonometrics (did the word already exist?) back then. Give me a cheap cherry keyboard any time over the cursor keys on the ZX spectrum (which are all in a line). (in general, keyboards were too high, having a computer inside. There were exceptions, like the Commodore 128D with a separate keyboard). But most were either flat keyboards, or too elevated.

The thing is you get used to the position of the keys on the keyboard, for example there are 3 types of return keys: those that look like an L those that look like the shift key and those who look like an advanced tetris form... you can get used to any of those.

There was also a new C64 case with a normal PC inside a year ago on kickstarter.
Click to expand...

The philips' take on MSX2 computer had a same try on the keyboard's ergonomics; IIRC the keyboard itself can be positioned lower or higher:

Philips_VG-8235_MSX2.jpg


But yeah, you're right: It's still quite an issue when designing it, either fitting cpu and leave the ergonomics aside, or ergonomics first but the dimensions all wonky :mad:.

Maybe I'm just curious on today's technological advances how much better are we on able to do the best of worlds that we want (ergonomics/function/looks/etc), by just eke out each aspects to create something balanced!

I mean, just look at the new Asus' gaming laptop!

water-cooled-laptop-asus.jpg


... Oh who am I kidding. I'd lose a lung carrying that thing :(

http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-05-31

Take NOTE, soon-to-be Pyra users! having EVERYTHING is not a good thing! xD (or at least, make it light for your own good).

EDIT: Ah, sorry if I took the thread off course. Will do it less. Honest!
 
I don't think you're supposed to carry around the rear part of this laptop. It's an additional water cooling setup to achieve higher clock speeds. I mean you could but I would never survive with my college textbooks in the same bag
 
Hey, I'm a newcomer here at the boards (well kind of, I lurked for a while...).
I got my Pandora literally a week ago and it's awesome. The nubs are evil but the D-pad is godlike. There's nothing like it.
Also, having Starcraft in my pocket is crazy.

So, as I'm a Pandora newbie, are there any suggestions?
Thanks!
 
Hey guys @FBnil @lukey, thanks for warm welcome!

I have a Rebirth model, purchased from the Dragonbox shop. I'm not sure whether this is going to be a problem performance-wise...
Thanks for your tips, gonna take a look at that recommended software link!
 
Citizen_Lurker said:
Hey guys @FBnil @lukey, thanks for warm welcome!

I have a Rebirth model, purchased from the Dragonbox shop. I'm not sure whether this is going to be a problem performance-wise...
Thanks for your tips, gonna take a look at that recommended software link!
Click to expand...

Welcome!

Slightly overclocked Rebirth manages Playstation in high-res mode better than a quad-core Android device, so no, you won't have a problem performance wise thanks to the highly optimized software available for OpenPandora.
 
Klumpen said:
Welcome!

Slightly overclocked Rebirth manages Playstation in high-res mode better than a quad-core Android device, so no, you won't have a problem performance wise thanks to the highly optimized software available for OpenPandora.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Well, as a veteran GNU/Linux user I expected something like that. One funny thing I noticed is that all the emulators that I tried work faster on the Pandora than on Android devices (on the Shield, no less). All of them seem to work ever so slightly faster on the Pandora. I don't know why, maybe I'm imagining things?
 
Last edited:
If you run in minimenu instead of xfce (I prefer the full desktop), then you get an additional boost of more RAM available to your application.
There are very capable people here able to set the compilation flags just exactly so that the emulator gives more FPS...
 
Citizen_Lurker said:
Thanks!
Well, as a veteran GNU/Linux user I expected something like that. One funny thing I noticed is that all the emulators that I tried work faster on the Pandora then on Android devices (on the Shield, no less). All of them seem to work ever so slightly faster on the Pandora. I don't know why, maybe I'm imagining things?
Click to expand...

No, they are indeed faster thanks to low-level coding wizards like notaz, exophase etc...
The OpenPandora is the perfectly example of what is possible if a certain set of hardware is actually used to its full potential while all the Android and Windows devices are just huge performance wasters and simply inefficient.
 
Klumpen said:
No, they are indeed faster thanks to low-level coding wizards like notaz, exophase etc...
The OpenPandora is the perfectly example of what is possible if a certain set of hardware is actually used to its full potential while all the Android and Windows devices are just huge performance wasters and simply inefficient.
Click to expand...

Which kind of reminds me of the mighty Commodore Amiga, in that regard.
 
Well, since I've been - mostly lurking - here around for quite a while now, it might be time to introduce myself, as well.

Hi everyone,

I'm a student living in Germany, going to finish school in a year. I barely knew anything about the Pandora at the time it was made,
until I learned more about it and the Pyra about a year ago; can't wait to get my hands on it :)

I'm interested in programming and I'm currently learning C++; it's taking a lot of time to work through the book I have, but I'm confident it'll pay off in the future.
 
Welcome, Butterkeks, to the Boards. Nice! I'm also going to finish school soon - this Year to be precise - and looking forward to my apprenticeship. Let's see when the Pyra comes out. I hope that i don't have to pay it from my wage ;).
 
lukey said:
Let's see when the Pyra comes out.
Click to expand...
Yes; I'm glad that it's moreless in sight now with the regular preorders coming soon.
I wish I could find ED's estimated schedule from a few months ago (before he flew to Greek, I think).
 
Welcome to all :)

And Butterkeks, I love those all butter shortbread biscuits.
I just had to google 'keks' and just found out that it means 'biscuits'. ...I've only ever heard that as a term for 'trousers', and thought that was a fairly localised term too, not one that would likely have been used in Germany
 
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