Is the open pandora worth buying with all these android devices around?

[Hồng Thất Công]

I would say I use the Pandora the same amount of time or more at home as well as on the go.  I use it for retro stuff since I don't have all the retro consoles at home.  So for me, I use it more than my home computer, but that's just me

Here are some not-so-good things:  

• Bad internal wifi, but you could buy external nano usb wifi stick then it will be good.
• Fragile case.  I have both black and platinum cases.  The black case cracks in couple places.  But have not seen any cracks on platinum case yet.
• Price is expensive I think, but it is because ED wants to use the extra profit to help people who preordered from Craig whom never received one from Craig.

You've heard all the good things about Pandora again so I won't mention again  I don't think your statement about all people who replied are Pandora fanboys.  We're just speaking the truth as we don't get paid for exaggerating the capability of the Pandora

 

[PowerGod]

It is the only device who can substitute a PC and at the same time is comfortable to play games with.

For example, to start with something simple to do, you can download a game engine and you need the game files, now, on a tablet you need a PC to put all this together, but with the pandora you can just grab the files directly from a USB-CD reader, or maybe you can extract them with some other way directly from the original setup program, and then put them where them are required.

You can easily manage files, look at how other open source programs are made, and make programs and scripts directly on the device, and as an example, one of the first thing I was missing on the Pandora was the possibility to use my phone as a modem, and so, after some research and help from the community I made BTDUN entirely with the pandora itself. Now, try to add a functionality you are missing on an android device, making it entirely on the android device itself...

If something happens that a tablet can't load anymore the OS, you are stuck with the safe mode (if it starts), while on the Pandora you can just insert an SD with another (maybe even full) different OS (or the same).

I know you can dual boot even from android, but it's a triky road for someone who isn't used to this, while the pandora is just ready.

One day my PC died, and I extracted it's HD and put it in a USB BOX, plugged in the pandora, and yeah, I was still able to do almost all the things I was doing with the PC, loading the same files with the same programs. (Actually the only things I wasn't able to do were playing Windows Games)

Oh, and while I'm at it, I found some programs I used on my PC that I wanted on the pandora too, so I downloaded the source, decompressed the files, recompiled them, and made an easy to use PND, and all of this without touching my PC, it's just awesome for me having this freedom with a device.

 

[_jr_]

I primarily use my Pandora at home where I also have a pretty powerful (though not new) laptop a (pretty old) phone and several (more or less ancient) other systems. From these the Pandora gets used the most, because I turn it on and everything is there without having to attach or remove anything depending on what I want to use it for. The battery makes power mostly a non-issue (unlike the phone and the laptop). Also I don't have to root/unlock/whatever anything to use it for anything I like.


Yes, the screen is small, the keyboard is simple, nubs are not exactly like a mouse, the SoC isn't blazingly fast, but because of it's flexibility (not being based on a too restricted base system, having enough builtin keys and controls, having just enough speed and RAM, etc.) it allows me to do 99% of the things I need with a minimal amount of hassle.


This is really all there is to it. I have happily used the phone (an N900) that is similar to the Pandora but quite a bit more limited. I've also like a diskless windowsless Aspire One. I've tried to like tablets but to me they just combine the bad points of phones (not enough keys) with the bad points of laptops (bulky).


Note that I tend to play (i.e noting serious or productive) around with application sources and configuration more than with the applications themselves.

 

[Mr_Loon]

@ Perfectblade : I can see the reason for your question, and for many people the answer to 'Is the open pandora worth buying with all these android devices around?' will be no. However you have to understand the difference between a device intended for the mass market, manufactured by a huge corporation, and a device made for a niche market made by a small team.

There will be a certain number of people who want a handheld computer with built in game controls & keyboard, for them the answer will be yes, as there is no other device that fills this niche.

 

[Binky]

Here's why I, personally, bought a pandora. and would do so again.

• The user has complete control of their property without having to mess around with rootkits and reflashing.
• The pandora has two full SDXC slots and full-size USB - allowing you to add large amounts of storage at reasonable prices (cough psvita cough) - maybe as much as 128+128+64= 320GB)
• There are a physical keyboard and gaming controls built in.
• Serious free-software is available (GIMP, Libreoffice, Firefox)
• This community is very helpful and informative.
• It can function in an entirely self-contained manner. The five staples (terminal, text editor, file manager, package manger, web browser) are all present without comprimise. Proper dev tools are freely available.
• The battery life is excellent.
• The audio hardware is some of the best out there.

Now, you are asking a forum of pandora owners / users - so naturally we all think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; otherwise we would all be buying iProducts.

The main disadvantages for me are:

• much desktop-style software is written with a screen of a higher resolution than the pandora's in mind
• The CPU is on the edge of being to slow (rebirth @ 850@MHz)
• The SDIO bus maxes out at 16MB/s
• Nubs are unreliable, and my LCD cable was from a bad shipment

I bought a pandora for features that aren't available on any modern smartphone that I know of. I don't want to sit down and start plugging <a game controller, a mouse, a keyboard, an external harddisk, a USB adaptor cable,  a DAC, an external battery> into my pocket computer

If you don't care for the features the pandora can offer, or want the speed and convenience of a smartphone, I'm not going to object.

 

[kingoddball]

As everyone else has said... YEP!

Android is android - It's everywhere.. You like the high power devices.. Get one... 6 months, it will be be outdated.

Pandora - It's still going strong after a few years!

I (like most other people) have one of the high power android devices, yet I go back for the Pandora for gaming and hacks! (... and the N900 )

 

[rohezal]

With the Pandora I have a FULL desktop. I can install debian very easy Pandian. I have all the software which runs on linux which is a lot, I don't have the blinky stuff and "free" stuff in android where every two seconds a big "buy the app" pop up appears. I have a real laptop with a keyboard in my pocket, not a tablet or a smartphone.With a real operating system (you know: start button, menus, office, like a real pc), not just some colorful icons like most android versions.

You can get Pandora for 300$ at EDs store (a CC one).

 

[comradekingu]

The pandora can not violate GPL, and run a Linux|Gnu distro, FOSS being the important aspect. Got android on my phoner and as good as it is, i wish it was better.

Pandora has the respectability of not being a DS, for those who dont know what it is and has that frame of reference. A psp is awkward both to those who know what it is and those who dont. It is just not a good form factor or device status to replicate.

Edit: rohezal, i read your post you made while i was typing mine. I didnt think of it, but most android apps are pure junk. Ive switched to F-droid repository, and its good, but the real-linux app stack is better. And the familiarity of what i know how to use/how it works also helps.

Android wins in terms on commercial, I thank the gods the pandora is different.

Edit2: You are talking about a non default OS, but stock vs stock Ångström beats vendor-android hands down. I have the option to change it on my pandora, good. It is a must on Android, and the vendors there like to fight me every step of the way. Which is fun sometimes, but it gets old. I don't want to support that.

 

[rohezal]

Looked at ED stores, looks like he lowered the prices .

420€ for Ghz (ca. 600$)

285€ for a rebirth (ca. 380$)

200€ for a CC unit (ca. 260$)

 

[ekianjo]

Gee are we going to get the same topic and same question every 2 days ?

 

[levi]

At least people are asking it. The niche the Pandora occupies has narrowed significantly since it was designed, with the coming of Android and the vast variety of devices created by Chinese manufacturers who don't have to care about patent fees. Before the Pandora there were only powerful but locked down devices like the DS and PSP, or weaker but somewhat more hackable devices like the Nokia N-GAGE, or dedicated open devices like the GP2X.


Luckily the Pandora was designed to be future proof to a certain degree, and nothing has come yet that can match it spec for spec, and it has the awesome community initially attracted from the GP32X crowd and other fans of open hackable devices. But there are more devices coming now, and the openness of the Pandora community means a lot of the emulators and games that were initially ported or developed on Pandora have been ported to those devices too.


So I can't blame anyone for seriously looking at those Chinese Android gaming handhelds. It's just worth bearing in mind that Pandora still has the community of awesome developers and users and the controls and power combined to do stuff no other can do.

 

[ekianjo]

At least people are asking it.

I dont mind people asking for it but can we just simply redirect them to the other thread where the exact same thing has been discussed 3 days ago and close this one, instead a restarting a new one and filling it again with new answers? It's just a mind-boggling waste of time for everyone.  

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Yep waste of time really. We are trying to help but were called fanboys

 

[levi]

I dont mind people asking for it but can we just simply redirect them to the other thread where the exact same thing has been discussed 3 days ago and close this one, instead a restarting a new one and filling it again with new answers?

Mind linking it? I must've missed it.

 

[ekianjo]

Check here : 

http://boards.openpandora.org/forum/59-guest-area/

I dont mind people asking for it but can we just simply redirect them to the other thread where the exact same thing has been discussed 3 days ago and close this one, instead a restarting a new one and filling it again with new answers?

Mind linking it? I must've missed it.

More specifically this one

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/14723-is-it-worth-to-buy-a-pandora/?hl=worth/URL]

 

[ckblackm]

For me, the Pandora is a netbook that fits in my pocket.  It's a successor to the HP 200LX... all of the other goodies associated with it are just bonuses. 

Christopher.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

@Perfectblade For your requirements I would recommend not buying a Pandora. If someone asks the question "I will only use my Pandora at home when on the Sofa, and all I want to do is play games, therefore is there any point in the Pandora when I have an Xbox 360?" the answer is no. This isn't your requirements, just an example of course!The Pandora has a number of great features (listed already in this thread) if those features align with your desires it is a great device to buy. From what you have said, I believe a nice Android tablet with an external keyboard, mouse and gamepad will work nicely for you, and cost the same or quite possibly less.

Should you decide the Pandora is for you, then that is great. I am certain you'll be welcomed into the community! You also effectively save around 5.00 GBP with the Pandora, as you get DraStic (DS emulator) for free (and it costs > 5.00 GBP on Android)! 

 

[hedwards]

For emulation, I have yet to find an Android device that worked well. At least for most types of games, anything that requires a keyboard, mouse or joystick is going to work better with a Pandora. Onscreen keys just don't seem to work well.

Also, despite only being 1ghz, I've noticed that the performance is generally quite good. A large part of that has to do with the lack of bloatware that some Android devices ship with and can be a head ache to remove.

You are not aware that android supports controllers? 

Connecting big peripherals exterminates the whole point of a "handheld".

sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

Most people find that it works well, and a full controller is more comfortable than handheld controlls. But there are options that have controls built in

It is sad this topic turned into a fanboy war, I just wanted someone to tell me if the pandora was worth it without being a fanboy about it, I would have said "ok, I will think about it" and left it at that 

You massively give up portability like that. You then have to have some place to set the unit while you play. Whereas with my Pandora having the controls built in, I just need to be someplace where I can hold the Pandora.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

^Good point. If I'm homeless, I can still play with my Pandora. If PerfectBlade is homeless he won't have any place to hook up his Xbox to play.

 

[MrConfusion]

I am just asking what does a pandora do that android devices cannot do in this day in age?

Hmmm... I might be wasting my time, because I have a feeling you and I have very different ideas of "this day and age"...

I got it for the same reason others have stated already. Because it is a real computer (in fact, after using it for a while I'm arriving to the conclusion that the Pandora is probably the last home computer, because it has that same feel as home computers did), it can run plain vanilla, "desktopean" Linux and by this I mean a Linux that does not look and behave like Windows, but Linux that is just as capable and as usable as the Linux you would run in a desktop machine.

• In theory an Android tablet could do that, but in practice it cannot unless you lug a USB keyboard with you
  setting linux up (erasing Android in the process) is a pain
• drivers are hit and miss
• Linux by default is not a touchscreen OS

[*]In my case, only one of my Linux machines boots to X, granted, most of them are "headless" anyway, but even the ones behind the KVM switch tend to first boot to console, then boot to X as needed. Typically I do some manual starting up, like enter cryptopasswords for home mounts etc. I rarely encrypt the entire system, because I know what I want to encrypt and what not... once up and running, uptimes are ridiculous and typically reboots stem from our electrical grid and not me... I can start and stop X multiple times, though and do all kinds of other stuff you might consider "weird" during that uptime.

• The Pandora will soon be like that to me too. I will keep the default OS there for troubleshooting, but I'm already pretty much done setting up something I'm more familiar and comfortable with. After that it is time to migrate to the Pandora. That is no little ordeal for me and will not happen overnight.

[*]I'm a heavy user of window managers that can be fully used via a keyboard and do not need a mouse (check suckless.org to get an idea) much less touch

• dwm on machines with less memory (Pandora has dwm too)
• a minimalist blackbox if I feel I need actual windows etc. (I doubt I will on the Pandora... mostly it's stuff like Gimp when I need it)
• when on linux I often browse with conkeror so this experience does not break
• I start programs from the shell and prefer ones which can be used with keyboards and why not? every single time I use Windows I'm constantly trying to figure out why I need to take my hands from the keyboard so often, though I try pretty hard to learn keyboard shortcuts and such even on Windows... for me, it is really so much more quick to press keys: "fire-TAB-SPACE-&-ENTER", "vim-SPACE-~/do-TAB-todo1310-TAB-ENTER" than hunt for icons and folders on screen...
  And no, this is not because I'm some gray bearded old fart still craving for those days when mice were things you caught in traps - I feel more like I "outgrew" heavy use of mice at some point. Besides, I do use mice, trackballs and touchscreens constantly, it's just that when I really start working on a computer, they "disrupt" the work. The more intensively I work, the less I reach for the mouse. Hard to explain, but basic point is: No, I'm not "stuck in the 80's" or anything, quite contrary, I have transitioned from heavy usage of the mouse to this mode of working. And for this mode of working a virtual keyboard would be terribly uncomfortable and totally pointless: it would always remain on screen

[*]setting up Slackware linux and stripping it to my liking was basically only a few hours of work, that's unheard of for any other device in this category that is out there.With them we're talking of maybe days and the end result will be something that "limps"... This easiness was a pleasant end result from the fact I got my Pandora so late, I think there would have been quite a bit of tweaking left to do some years ago, now I basically stepped into a well catered table
Furthermore: I ordered a Pandora all those years ago, because I wanted a PDA that I believed I could use as closely like a desktop as I can. For a PDA the Pandora is biggish. But at the same time it is the smallest one available at the moment. Also, the more I use the Pandora, the more my current PDA is starting to feel slow. Which is good, in a way.

What I also wanted from the Pandora was reliability gained through openness of the platform (this has worked out wonderfully so far, years will tell how it eventually ends up like). For example I was hoping that spare parts, batteries etc. would be available for longer than they can be hunted for your average netbook or tablet. I also hoped for a platform that would make it possible to transition to newer models with similar characteristics over time, with as high backwards compatibility as possible. Well, we will see. This I hoped, because my PDA has always been a bit of a pain in this respect. They were actually better initially, but every PDA I bought sacrificed a bit of compatibility to the altar of proprietary-in-the-name-of-ease-of-use.

Most times I've backed the data up rigorously on a PC and made sure at all times that I have the possibility to run an emulator for retrieving the data from the PDA.

This is not needed on the Pandora. Of course I still need to back up the cryptfile with my home directory every now and then. But once backed up, I can just mount it on my desktop and that's it. Also, if the Pandora breaks so totally I cannot fix it and spare parts are not available (PDAs are accident prone, I never had any problems, but with several kids etc. you never know), I hoped a new unit or a compatible unit could be rebought without issues for a long time period.

Tablets do not work like that, or if they do, they pretty much force some Googlish Egosystem down your throat for getting there.

So, I could have just summarized: Keyboard, true Linux of my own choice, openness, hopefully a platform with some life in it. But I figured if I just listed them it would be hard to decipher what I meant .

Note that I did not even get to the games yet.

In those it is quite simple really: I do not do consoles. On computers I do simulations, RPGs, adventures. All three benefit from a keyboard in a major way. Too bad the mousing options kind of suck... touchscreen stylus has already left a mark on the palm of my hand, because I keep it in my hand while gaming, because constantly pulling it out and putting it back into the case is tedious. Nubs as mice... naah... never liked that idea on Thinkpads either... But here we get back to my keyboardaddiction again... besides, with this I can again say: what is better then? A tablet I can put on the desk and use mouse and keyboard. Well, sure, but why not just use one of my laptops then (yes, several, of varying age and size)? Why would a tablet be better?

But Androids, iPads, Tablets in general instead of the Pandora? No... only reason I would ever buy them is because they are dirt cheap... makes sense, that's what they are to me... Not only do I see them as a trap for someone like me. I see them as more entertainment and "casual use" devices, not something you store the most important things in your life to and carry with you all the time.

Geeky stuff? I admit to the crime, yes, but at the same time I see no reason why we should not be served now that these gadgets have become so common place. It would be shame if the people who were early adopters would be just kicked out because "this is now the way things work, get used to it".

Well, I could even say more, but I think this wall of text is bad enough as it is.