Launch Apps List/few Ideas

[BudhaCronX]

I'm having trouble locating a list of everything that will be running at launch. I know there's supposed to be a few flavors of OS, some apps, et c.


Also, what I'd like to see is: Something to read PDFs, CBR files, perhaps something to sync with my podcasts I download via itunes, and a port of VLC.

 

[lulzfish]

Also, what I'd like to see is: Something to read PDFs, CBR files, perhaps something to sync with my podcasts I download via itunes, and a port of VLC.

1. Angstrom probably already has a PDF reader
2. Dunno what CBR is, must not be very important
3.a. A shell script
3.b. Download the podcasts from the Pandora itself instead of using your computer
3.c. Ask someone else to write you a shell script. Seriously... synchronizing... It's called file management FFS.
4. Angstrom probably already has this, though there might be a little licensing issue since the guys who own MP3 are douchebags and the market that decided to make a proprietary format the standard are fucking idiots. Not to mention MPEG and WMV and the other things that VLC nas built-in support for.

Remember, the OS used in the Pandora is based on the one that's been on the BeagleBoard for ages. We're not starting from a blank slate here.

 

[Username]

There is an open PDF reader (was it Sumatra?) that I think is already included, Comix works wonders, not sure if Songbird works for this, and VLC is amazing but I'm not sure if it's included.

 

[lulzfish]

As a person who hate Apple, I don't technically know how podcasts work. Are they RSS-based or something? A lot of media programs and RSS readers could probably download these straight to the Pandora, no problem.

But if you really want to depend on your desktop, just look for a generic sync software [I think there's a jSync that works pretty well] and use that to move files from the desktop to the Pandora.
Unlike other devices, which are stupid, the Pandora does not need its own special software, updater, and IE toolbar just to download files from your computer.

 

[BudhaCronX]

thanks for the quick replies fellas!

And as far as the podcasts goes: that's where itunes is an evil, evil whore. Some of the feeds you can only access via itunes. So some of my favs, that's the only way you can get them via this special rss feed inside of itunes.

 

[Awakening]

If not VLC, then there is MPlayer, we've seen it running on prototypes already. Probably comes installed on the Pandora.

Abiword, a word processing software, already works. There's also GIMP, an open source alternative to Photoshop (although the new layout in the works will probably work better on the small screen). Firefox 3 as well as a scheduler and an e-mail program have been shown too.

We've also seen ScummVM, PSX emulator, Quake 1-3 and some other gaming related stuff.

 

[WizardStan]

2. Dunno what CBR is, must not be very important
CBR is a Comic Book Rar. It's nothing more than a RAR archive file with sequential images in it. Literally. Take a *.RAR, rename it to *.CBR, and any of these comic book readers will open it. CBZ is another format: it's just a ZIP file. A CBR (and CBZ) reader is little more than an image viewer with a zip and rar reader built in.
I use Comix, which I think might be open source and can be recompiled to the Pandora.
If nothing else, you can just extract the images from the CBR (or CBZ) file and view them through the default image viewer.

 

[dflemstr]

And as far as the podcasts goes: that's where itunes is an evil, evil whore. Some of the feeds you can only access via itunes. So some of my favs, that's the only way you can get them via this special rss feed inside of itunes.

Corect me if I'm wrong, but I think that Exaile and Banshee can handle Podcasts quite well; even the proprietary formats. Or?

 

[valhalla]

If not VLC, then there is MPlayer, we've seen it running on prototypes already. Probably comes installed on the Pandora.

no, it won't be installed, because of licensing issues, but it will probably be available as a download from day -1

 

[j6cubic]

As a person who hate Apple, I don't technically know how podcasts work. Are they RSS-based or something? A lot of media programs and RSS readers could probably download these straight to the Pandora, no problem.

Podcasts are literally just RSS feeds pointing to MP3 files. Apple also offers Podcasts through iTMS, which is the same but prone to randomly telling you "this podcast is not available in your region".

As for what software I'd like... Well, basically everything I use on the desktop. My MBP has a dying screen and it looks like the Pandora will replace it as my portable computer. So my wanted software list includes IDEs, teTeX, the GCC, a JDK if there is one for ARM... And of course games and internet apps but those are a given.

I should probably invest in some large SD cards.

 

[TrevorBradley]

2. Dunno what CBR is, must not be very important
CBR is a Comic Book Rar. It's nothing more than a RAR archive file with sequential images in it. Literally. Take a *.RAR, rename it to *.CBR, and any of these comic book readers will open it. CBZ is another format: it's just a ZIP file. A CBR (and CBZ) reader is little more than an image viewer with a zip and rar reader built in.
I use Comix, which I think might be open source and can be recompiled to the Pandora.
If nothing else, you can just extract the images from the CBR (or CBZ) file and view them through the default image viewer.

I'd love to try comix on the Pandora, but I'm uncertain how well I'd be able to read comics on the tiny screen (I know the resolution is high, but the screen is tiny! 800x480 sounds a little bit small as well, even rotated 90 degrees.)

Comix is open source and is on sourceforge: http://comix.sourceforge.net/ .. It's worth a try.

 

[Consequence_9]

2. Dunno what CBR is, must not be very important
CBR is a Comic Book Rar. It's nothing more than a RAR archive file with sequential images in it. Literally. Take a *.RAR, rename it to *.CBR, and any of these comic book readers will open it. CBZ is another format: it's just a ZIP file. A CBR (and CBZ) reader is little more than an image viewer with a zip and rar reader built in.
I use Comix, which I think might be open source and can be recompiled to the Pandora.
If nothing else, you can just extract the images from the CBR (or CBZ) file and view them through the default image viewer.

I'd love to try comix on the Pandora, but I'm uncertain how well I'd be able to read comics on the tiny screen (I know the resolution is high, but the screen is tiny! 800x480 sounds a little bit small as well, even rotated 90 degrees.)

Comix is open source and is on sourceforge: http://comix.sourceforge.net/ .. It's worth a try.

It's got a great little 'magnifying glass' kinda feature, which would be great with the touchscreen =]

 

[nightwheel]

As a person who hate Apple, I don't technically know how podcasts work. Are they RSS-based or something? A lot of media programs and RSS readers could probably download these straight to the Pandora, no problem.

They are more like Radio Shows that you download and take with you where ever you go. Most of the time, Podcasts are MP3's. But sometimes they can be Video Podcasts.

Also, Podcasts aren't just a Apple thing. As long as it's in a audio (or video) format your portable media player can play. (As I said most Audio Podcasts are MP3's.) You can play Podcasts on any portable media player.

 

[Vorporeal]

Think about what you're saying. PODcast. They were designed for use on iPods, and are now available for most music players.

 

[conso]

for most video-podcasts you could probably use miro or penguintv. for itunes-specific content, you can either just copy them to the sd-card, if they are not drm-affected.

 

[Chip]

Think about what you're saying. PODcast. They were designed for use on iPods, and are now available for most music players.
A podcast is a syndicated audio or video program distributed over the internet via RSS. That is all. Nothing more and nothing less.

It was not invented by Apple, nor was it specifically made for the iPod. The technology had been in (somewhat limited) use for quite a while before the term "podcast" was even coined. Even then, Apple sat on it's thumbs for another year or so before they bothered adding podcasting support to iTunes. Before that, most people used Ipodder (until Apple sued the authors into changing the name) or one of its variants to automatically download podcasts.

You do not need iTunes to download podcasts. There are dozens of non-apple programs that could work just fine on the Pandora. Juice, the latest iteration of the original Ipodder project, is very light weight and is open source software. Songbird is also open source, but is more of a full-featured iTunes replacement.

Juice: juicereceiver.sourceforge.net
Songbird: www.getsongbird.com

for most video-podcasts you could probably use miro or penguintv. for itunes-specific content, you can either just copy them to the sd-card, if they are not drm-affected.
To the best of my knowledge, here is no such thing as an "iTunes-specific" podcast. They may use ipod-formated audio (AAC) or video (MP4), but that can be played back on anything with the correct codecs. Anything DRMed would not technically be a podcast anymore.

 

[BudhaCronX]

To the best of my knowledge, here is no such thing as an "iTunes-specific" podcast. They may use ipod-formated audio (AAC) or video (MP4), but that can be played back on anything with the correct codecs. Anything DRMed would not technically be a podcast anymore.




Oh trust me, there are some podcasts you can only get via itunes. Most people are cool and just allow direct rss feed access but some screw it up by pushing the rss feed to itunes and then that's the only place you can get it. I was very unhappy with juice as it offten just "went nuts" and tried to download evertything or forget what I had. I'm thinking the best solution is just to have itunes download the most recent podcasts directly to my SD card, it's not EXACTLY what I want, but I'll have to cope.

More over, while most second question has got some amazing attention (thank you all) what about my first is there a good list anywhere of what software will be available at launch? I'm super stoked, I just wanna know what is some icing on the cake.

 

[Prometheus]

More over, while most second question has got some amazing attention (thank you all) what about my first is there a good list anywhere of what software will be available at launch? I'm super stoked, I just wanna know what is some icing on the cake.

A few months ago, PlopperZ made a thread that began to compile a list of exactly that - the link is below for ease of copy-and-pasting.

CODE
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=45922


I hope this helps.

 

[BudhaCronX]

I hope this helps.

It does thank you very much!

 

[PoisonedV]

To the best of my knowledge, here is no such thing as an "iTunes-specific" podcast. They may use ipod-formated audio (AAC) or video (MP4), but that can be played back on anything with the correct codecs. Anything DRMed would not technically be a podcast anymore.




Oh trust me, there are some podcasts you can only get via itunes. Most people are cool and just allow direct rss feed access but some screw it up by pushing the rss feed to itunes and then that's the only place you can get it. I was very unhappy with juice as it offten just "went nuts" and tried to download evertything or forget what I had. I'm thinking the best solution is just to have itunes download the most recent podcasts directly to my SD card, it's not EXACTLY what I want, but I'll have to cope.

More over, while most second question has got some amazing attention (thank you all) what about my first is there a good list anywhere of what software will be available at launch? I'm super stoked, I just wanna know what is some icing on the cake.

1. then its not a podcast... they have validity and specifications, just like all rss
2. no one really knows till its ported, but the angstrom repository will give you a good idea of what will probably make it on. there are a few things already set in stone such as firefox and the other basic set of common linux apps