Is The Pyra COMPLETELY Replacing The Pandora?

[GeBeCluck23]

...In other words, is there anything, anything AT ALL that the Pandora can do, that the Pyra can't? I really want to get a Pyra preorder now that it's open, and I'm considering selling my Pandora as soon as I can, as the resell value will drop immensely once the Pyra is released. (Although I'm sure it already has quite a bit.) I'm going to be a very sad panda though if I miss out on certain features, and I'm also debating on if I should keep BOTH of them, Pandora and Pyra.

...Also, will the Pyra be compatible with all of the Pandora's .PND files? Thank you for any insight.

 

[TrashyMG]

...In other words, is there anything, anything AT ALL that the Pandora can do, that the Pyra can't?

At the moment anything 3D... but that will hopefully worked out once more of the developers get their units.

Also, will the Pyra be compatible with all of the Pandora's .PND files? Thank you for any insight.

It's possible, but it may take a bit of work... Honestly there isn't really anything on the repo that isn't a recompile and re-bundle away really from working on the Pyra.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

At the moment anything 3D... but that will hopefully worked out once more of the developers get their units.

So the Pyra is having trouble supporting 3D? Why is that? I've been following the Pyra development off and on, but I'm sure that there's a TON of stuff that I've missed.

It's possible, but it may take a bit of work... Honestly there isn't really anything on the repo that isn't a recompile and re-bundle away really from working on the Pyra.

So .PNDs will not be directly supported to the point where I could simply pop in my SD Cards from the Pandora and run them. However, at the same time, all it will take to get them running is a (relatively) simple recompile for each one, is that correct?
Of course, I'm assuming a ton of .PNDs will be recompiled non-stop the first weeks/months of the Pyras actual release.

 

[TrashyMG]

So the Pyra is having trouble supporting 3D? Why is that? I've been following the Pyra development off and on, but I'm sure that there's a TON of stuff that I've missed.

A bit of that is that we're most likely the first commercial use of the OMAP5 and Ti has not exactly developing a driver that work on the latest Linux kernels... A unit is headed to a Ti guy who thinks it should be possible to adapt a driver used on another SoC using the same GPU to the OMAP5... if not we have @lunixbochs (NO PRESSURE).

So .PNDs will not be directly supported to the point where I could simply pop in my SD Cards from the Pandora and run them. However, at the same time, all it will take to get them running is a (relatively) simple recompile for each one, is that correct?
Of course, I'm assuming a ton of .PNDs will be recompiled non-stop the first weeks/months of the Pyras actual release.

Well it's a good opportunity to improve on the PND, Slaeshjag has developed the DBP system that I consider easier to deal with as a user and developer. The PND system could always be implemented on the Pyra, however there may be incompatibilities, like many games makes use of specific features of the Pandora and Notaz's SDL.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Okay, thank you for the input. So other than the few things you mentioned and the obvious hardware overhalls, software-wise, there shouldn't be too many things that are different? (As far as compatibility, porting, ect., to be more specific.)

 

[Wally]

The significant difference for software is the way the Pyra uses hardfp where as the pandora uses softfp and you CAN run the Pyra OS on your Pandora via Download Pyra Debian OS (WIP). notaz has recently released experimental support for hardfp on SuperZaxxon.

 

[levi]

The only thing I know that is missing from the Pyra I/O versus the Pandora and thus can never be implemented save you plug in extra hardware, is line in and out connectivity for audio. But I guess the Pandora needed a 25 EUR TV-out cable to give access to that functionality anyway.

 

[comradekingu]

Hdmi has line out?

 

[levi]

That's a point, although it's a little harder to get at than my Pandora's ext port. Still no line in though.

 

[comradekingu]

The TRRS (headset jack connector) has a line in, all-though mic in.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Okay, thank you everyone for all of your input.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

The TRRS (headset jack connector) has a line in, all-though mic in.

An electret microphone has some very special requirements, that input won't accept line level signals (hence "line" in) - and it isn't stereo, either. It would require some special switching circuit, which I'm sure we don't have (and you'd still need to grab a 2nd input channel from somewhere to get stereo).

 

[Klumpen]

An electret microphone has some very special requirements, that input won't accept line level signals (hence "line" in) - and it isn't stereo, either. It would require some special switching circuit, which I'm sure we don't have (and you'd still need to grab a 2nd input channel from somewhere to get stereo).

On the upside, I think it may be possible that ARM-Debian may support external audio interfaces like the M-Audio Mobile Pre USB out of the box. Mint does.
In combination with 4GB RAM and Audacity this would give us en extremely portable mini recording studio.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

I think it may be possible that ARM-Debian may support external audio interfaces like the M-Audio Mobile Pre USB out of the box. Mint does.

Most USB audio devices use the USB HID standard for that - if the manufacturer didn't screw up too much every device of this type will run on any Linux system with full USB support compiled in - pretty much everything that can use an USB mouse.

 

[comradekingu]

Analog video out would be the thing the Pyra doesnt have.

 

[TheOldOne]

Analog video out would be the thing the Pyra doesnt have.

You can get a HDMI to VGA or RCA/component "adapter" for under $20.

 

[notaz]

Pandora's benefits/unique features against Pyra (rather subjective):

• real analogue volume wheel
• unique audio hardware, aka "I like how it sounds". Pyra may or may not end up with better audio, but will certainly sound different because audio circuit is going to be different
• analogue video out
  
• ext port with some inputs/outputs directly from the SoC for hardware hacking
• lower power usage and heat dissipation in most situations
  
• 640x480 (popular resolution of old games) support without fractional scaling/blurring
• much more mature software (at the beginning at least, may change in the future)
• smaller (a tiny bit but still)
• full TI C64x+ DSP (OMAP5 has a butchered one; not really used on pandora anyway so rather moot)

There are also some low lever dev things like Cortex-A8 supporting write-through memory attributes (feature removed from Cortex-A15).

 

[Urben]

"The Pandora ist different, thereby it is better."

BRILLIANT

 

[FIQ]

At the moment anything 3D... but that will hopefully worked out once more of the developers get their units.


It's possible, but it may take a bit of work... Honestly there isn't really anything on the repo that isn't a recompile and re-bundle away really from working on the Pyra.

Some things on the repository are closed-source releases though... VVVVVV comes to mind.

 

[WizardStan]

VVVVVV comes to mind.

Pickle has access to the source, that's how it was released on the Pandora in the first place. He can probably just ask for the same permission to release it on the Pyra.