Just Curious About Everyone...

[enigma85]

Am i the only one that gets the feeling that most the the people that arn't up to snuff on the pandora. saying that they are waiting in line to pre-order one, but are just confused about what it really is for.

there are many that know what its main purpose is and you know who you are. if you just started reading about the pandora(maybe my first post and not a member long, but i've been following the pandora for about a year) you should realize what it is that your saying you want to buy right away.

Pandora is made for emulation. all the mobile pc apps and such is secondary.

so if your looking for a small pc to play pc games and apps and such, it's probably not for. if your looking for high end emulation(up to PSX/N64 gen and possibly/maybe dreamcast) its for you.

don't get me wrong i will probably use it for email and web browsing but what i'm looking for is hardcore emulation.(hopefully this sparks someone into creating a complete n64 emulator)

not trying to scare everyone away from it but alot of "commoners" as i like to call them arn't realizing what they are getting in to. hell most people barely know how to use linux. yes they probably will have an easy gui but even so linux isn't for normal users.

anyone else feel the same way about some of the posts here? i'm just sick of hearing that "i want it, i need it!" but have no idea what its for.

 

[adsharma23]

i would agree with you in saying that a lot of people that just heard of the pandora don't know what the pandora is really for but most people that want to preorder definitely know what the pandora does and want it just for that reason
also zodttd is making a n64 emulator and if anyone can make it happen it's him (he ported all the emulation applications for the iphone except NES i think)

 

[gaterooze]

Please, not this again. The Pandora is "for" whatever you want to do with it. That's the whole point. It's made so that you can enjoy games as much as productivity. Why place these arbitrary restrictions?

 

[plopperz]

Oh damn,
Somebody close this before Chad comes :rolleyes:

 

[sindbad]

It's for what you need. For example, I want a good browser, ebook reader, maybe a tiny dev platform and the occasional time-waster game in a device with a long-lasting battery. That's why I'm not yet decided between the HTC Dream and this.

 

[atomicthumbs]

I've been up to date on the Pandora project since before it was called the Craiginator. I know what I want.

 

[Chip]

anyone else feel the same way about some of the posts here? i'm just sick of hearing that "i want it, i need it!" but have no idea what its for.

I don't think you can make a broad generalization in either direction. There are a good many people here that know exactly what the Pandora is, and already know the uses to which they'll put it. There are certainly a few that are not sure what to make of the Pandora, but that's to be expected with a whole new type of device.

The fact that you believe that you believe the Pandora is "Made for emulation" puts you squarely in the second category, whether you realize it or not

Emulation gets a lot of face-time on these forums, but that's hardly the whole story. Maybe it's because the sort of people who get excited about emulation are the same sort who are most vocal about what excites them. I can assure you that those less vocal members who have other uses in mind will not be disappointed.

-

Allow me to end the "What is it for" argument - permanently - before it starts again.

Take any other general-purpose handheld computing device - the N810, for example. It's a fairly successful little palmtop with a web browser and productivity / connectivity software and a decent media player. Emulators have been ported to it, but without proper controls they are awkward. It was certainly not designed with gaming in mind.

What if you took an N810 and stuck some gaming controls on the sides? Gaming ability would improve significantly, but would it cease to be a general purpose computing device? Would all of the N810's other other functionality simply vanish into a cloud of emulation? Of course it wouldn't.

The Pandora is a general purpose computing device. Unlike most other general purpose devices, the Pandora has the additional purpose of gaming to which it can be put. There will be plenty of software support for gaming and productivity and connectivity and probably a dozen things nobody's thought of yet. The gaming controls just enable one aspect (gaming) of computing. Just as the Keyboard enables other aspects, and the wifi/BT chip, and the built-in speakers, and all the other features enable other aspects.

 

[gruso]

Regarding "commoners", the only difference between those people and Linux users is a little enlightenment. Admittedly the questions about whether it will run Halo are cringeworthy, but Linux elitism isn't the best approach.

 

[icurafu]

It's not that people don't know what it is for, as it can be used for whatever people want. Prototyping productivity apps for future smart phones; we don't really care. what worries me are the people who are unrealistic about the capabilities an their own expectations.

We can have some fairly good educated guesses at what we can do with emulation and homebrew but it is hard to imagine how well the device will be optimised for MID style apps. Once you have three or so apps open at the same time, how will it perform. Will the keyboard allow 20wmp for simple MSN chats and will the devs commit to optimising apps for the Pandora or will they focus on the more exciting games. A lot of this side is up in the air, so we'll have to wait and see before ranting to others about how they just don't get it.

 

[schnitzelboy]

i believe th pandora is whatever you want it to be

 

[PoisonedV]

what the dick is this? its for whatever you fucking want, its YOUR console, YOU define it. maybe its a porn powerhouse. maybe its a pda. maybe its a game console. truth is, it doesn't matter, so stop making worthless fucking topics that clog these forums up.


jesus, and I thought I was pretentious after blowing up whenever anyone said stupid shit, but this is outright elitism- youve got it all wrong

 

[jellmoo]

Neither the DS nor the PSP are *made* for emulation. However, many people use these devices for that very task.

People will get what they want from Pandora. Sure I want to do some emulation with it, but I also want to use it to listen to some music, play some videos, and maybe do some web surfing and email checking on the road.

Go read the FAQ. See all those things that Pandora can do? That's what it's for. And eventually people will tinker with it so that more and more features will become available.

Oh, and Linux isn't for normal users? I am most definitely a "normal" user, and I am enjoying it just fine. Maybe ten years ago this was the case, but with distributions like Ubuntu and Mint, Linux is now perfectly viable for just about everybody.

 

[tazg]

Pandora is made for emulation. all the mobile pc apps and such is secondary.

i'm just sick of hearing that "i want it, i need it!" but have no idea what its for.

Excuse me, what? Who are you speaking for? According to its own official website:

What is the device designed for?
It is designed as an ultra portable open source computer with gaming controls
...
one goal in mind - to make the ultimate open source handheld device.

It's the most powerful handheld ever with amazing battery life and is fully open. That's the bottom line and this thread is useless. There's too much potential for you or anyone else to declare what it is "for". According to this, "everything you ever imagined" is what it's "for".

yes they probably will have an easy gui but even so linux isn't for normal users.

"Normal users" don't even see the OS as anything beyond the "easy gui" so this comment so this comment is senseless. Where have you been the last decade? We aren't even talking about desktops, Linux is the perfect choice for mobile products like this.

 

[Hooka]

Truthfully, screw all of you the pandora is made for athletes! It just sits in their pocket giving them extra weight to help them with whatever athletic ability needs more weight cause we all know they don't have enough fat cause their too damn athletic!

I dunno who told you guys this thing is for emu-whatever-the-hell-your-talking-about or fireflux or whatever else you think, but you're just plain wrong. It's an aerodynamic athletic enhancement!

 

[zxxgp]

I was under the impression that it was whatever the user wanted it to be as long as the user knows how to make it into what they want.

 

[Eternalodyssey]

 

[Chip]

what the dick is this?

This is the second and final warning I'm giving you about being unnecessarily combattive towards new members. Either be civil or be quiet.

The next time it's a ban.

The OP made an incorrect asumption, but he certainly didn't do anything that requires such a harsh response. That goes for Tazg and anybody else who has their hackles up over such an inoffensive post.

 

[Yamara]

I have to disagree with Linux not being for normal people. We've run a Linux based lab on campus for over 7 years, and everyone from students, visitors and faculty have made use of it for every day tasks with little to no instruction from technical support. The general populous has become far more tech savvy the last several years, so I expect with some basic instructions and a sleek GUI, people will be just fine adding software and games.

I for one intend to use gnumeric for my D&D character sheets, some kind of software for perusing my book database, SSH, maybe IRC. I'll be trimming my photo collection while travelling. And, of course, at least 5 different kinds of emulators.

It doesn't need to be one thing. It can be something different for each person. An ebook reader, an audio editor, a blogging system, a language teacher, a gaming system, a car navigator, or a hundred other possibilities.

 

[PoisonedV]

The next time it's a ban

oh god, anything but that :rolleyes:

 

[MARIOPARTY53]

Many people think Pandora is a gaming / emulation device only, but this is not true. It was designed from early on to be a multifunction palmtop computer / UMPC as well as a gaming handheld. Many desirable applications require a keyboard and the general consensus was that an on-screen keyboard wasn't good enough

copy and pasted from F&Q