Like an old born baby.....


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Kelsey's grammar

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Hey yo.  I recently received a Pandora from Lancelot Link Secret Pimp(muchisimas gracias!) and I haven't really used it yet.  The reason is this...when it comes to Linux, I'm like an old born kiddo.  I got the Pandora to replace my Archos 605.  It is an okay device, but every "feature" is locked and the unlock code is mucho dinero.  Know what I mean?  The screen is great, but the ability to play half the movies is "locked away". 

Anyway, I have "dabbled" in Linux in the past.  This means shown interest, light use of ubuntu, mint, debian and puppy.  I have done little to no command line stuff, so although I know a little, I am NEW.

I have questions, please. 

1.  As far as games go......  do I have to cross reference them for compatibility?  This is probably more for older games like nes snes and old sega stuff.  Also, for n64 emulation....if there is a game that I liked, for instance vpw4 or another incarnation of something like that, should I look into learning about porting?

2. As far as sd goes....do you think 32gb is sufficient for os stuff outside games, movies and things like that?  Should I boot from the SD? 

3.  Do I need to purchase an "OTG adapter"?  There probably won't be when I get that thing that Link sent me, but isn't it micro USB?  Will normal micro USB hurt it?  I think that I had an Ainol that I ruined with micro USB.  It had no storage, and I tried a bad experiment.  :eek:

I'm gonna go and check out the pnd store?  If anyone has any idea about language learning software, could you let me know?

Thanks to everyone involved in this project.  I've wanted a device like this for a long time!  Thanks for the referrals to most downloaded apps and "pandy live".  I'm sorry if this has been asked before.  I've been lurking and doing a little searching and not wanting to hijack any threads.

If you guys have any other referrals, that would be great.  I am new and green like early June peas.  Thanks for coming out.  God bless and good night.
 
1. Most SNES and back stuff will run fine on the appropriate emulator, downloadable from the PND repo.  N64 stuff can be played under the emulator called 'mupen64' (for reasons that are beyond my ken), but for that you should check the compatibility list first.  You don't need to port anything - just load the emulator and point it at the game file.

2. 32GB is more than enough for most things.  If you want to carry a lot of movies with you you might run out of space, but otherwise you should be fine.  It'll certainly be more than enough to boot from SD - bear in mind the flash that the OS normally runs from is only 256MB.  Personally I didn't switch to booting from SD until there was an update I wanted to run, but if you want to do use it as a linux box, and not just a box to run PNDs from, booting from SD is a good idea.

3. You don't need an OTG adaptor.  If you want to use USB1 devices like an external mouse or keyboard you'll either need one or a USB2 hub to plug in to the full-sized port, but native USB2 hi-speed devices like memory sticks work fine plugged directly into the big USB port. FYI the small port is mini-USB, *not* micro-USB.  That does make finding an OTG cable a bit more tricky, as the industry has standardised on micro-USB since the Pandora was designed, but they do exist.
 
3. Do I need to purchase an "OTG adapter"? There probably won't be when I get that thing that Link sent me, but isn't it micro USB? Will normal micro USB hurt it? I think that I had an Ainol that I ruined with micro USB. It had no storage, and I tried a bad experiment. :eek:
The situation with USB ports:

The big one is full-size USB-A host , but while most USB ports can operate and Low, Full and High speeds, this one can only operate at high speeds. This means it is suitable for things like USB-sticks, wifi adaptors, but NOT things like mice and keyboards which typically use lower speeds.

The smaller one is miniUSB-AB otg. This means that the socket can physically accept either miniA or miniB plugs.

If a mini-B plug is inserted, the port goes into slave mode.

If a mini-A plug is used (these are very hard to find), the port goes into host mode.

The miniUSB port will work at all of low, full and high speeds.

However, The host/slave mode detection is actually done by the wireing in the cable, not the shape of the plug, so you may find some mini-B plugs wired as mini-A. These will work too.

USB-types.jpg


Also, two warnings:

Do not connect a low- or full- speed USB device directly to the big USB-A socket

When connecting a USB hub, Always connect a device to the hub, and then the hub to your pandora

Not following these rules won't damage your pandora, but will make the port unusable until you reboot.
 
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When connecting a USB hub, Always connect a device to the hub, and then the hub to your pandora Not following these rules won't damage your pandora, but will make the port unusable until you reboot.
Wow, didn't know that ... for me it always worked fine plugging the Hub in first, so either I was lucky, or my USB hub is non-problematic.

Back to topic:

I really suggest you browse through the repo and check out what's available. There's Libre Office, GIMP, all kinds of music and movie players (be sure to install the community codec pack by the way) ... tons of games, ports of game-engines and emulators for almost every system the Pandora is able to emulate. So if you don't really need to know much about Linux to do all kinds of things with your Pandora.

It is a great device to start experimetning with Linux though. If you want to run an OS from SD-card, check out the different OS that are already available (there's a forum-section for it).

I'd suggest you don't try to install something on the Pandora itself (apart from things that come in a .PND like Java for example), do this on an OS that's on SD card. Don't be afraid to mess up your main OS though, even if you do, you can always reflash the Pandora. All .PND specific settings are save on your SD card.

About size: I have a 64GB card with 2 partitions (ext and fat32) for almost everything except videos and MP3s, which I have on an extra 32GB card. Playstation games can take up a lot of space, just like CD-ROMs of DOS games or game data files (like "Jedi Knight II" or "Return to Castle Wolfenstein"). 32GB should be fine though, you can always get an additional card if you need more.

For an OS I would use an extra 8GB or 16GB card.
 
Wow, didn't know that ... for me it always worked fine plugging the Hub in first, so either I was lucky, or my USB hub is non-problematic.
This behaivo(u)r seems to only affect some hubs..
 
Another question....   I lost the page that tells of the sd file structure.  If I download the pnd tool from the repo, will the folders and directories be created?
 
Another question....   I lost the page that tells of the sd file structure.  If I download the pnd tool from the repo, will the folders and directories be created?
  • <SD>/pandora/apps - Will appear both on Xfce Desktop & Pandora Menu (this is the 'both' option in PNDManager)
  • <SD>/pandora/desktop/ - If you want it to appear on Xfce Desktop
  • <SD>/pandora/menu/ - If you want it to appear in Pandora Menu
  • <SD>/pandora/appdata/  - Needed to store data for applications.
 
The structure is:


/media/yoursdcardname/pandora/apps/ for pnds that should be visible everywhere
/media/yoursdcardname/pandora/menu/ for pnds to be visible in menus
/media/yoursdcardname/pandora/desktop/ for pnds to be visible on the desktop
/media/yoursdcardname/pandora/appdata/ for pnds to store thier config in
PNDManager (highly recommended) will sort this out for you if you don't want to do it manually

Edit: Ninja'd
 
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  • <SD>/pandora/apps - Will appear both on Xfce Desktop & Pandora Menu (this is the 'both' option in PNDManager)
  • <SD>/pandora/desktop/ - If you want it to appear on Xfce Desktop
  • <SD>/pandora/menu/ - If you want it to appear in Pandora Menu
  • <SD>/pandora/appdata/  - Needed to store data for applications.
Thanks!  You are a lifesaver! 

By the way, this is Kelsey's grammar. :eek:
 
There's also <sd>/pandora/mmenu for minimenu only things, if you use minimenu.  I believe minimenu takes things from <sd>/pandora/menu, .../apps and .../mmenu.

As far as I know you don't need to create <sd>/pandora/appdata - that should be created automatically if you use any well behaved PND first.
 
well i don't write /code anything(even dos never really used) and never used linux before i got my pandy but took to it like a fish to water getting all my dos/snes/ps1/etc. games i riped, on and working also i use 2 64 gb cards and both almost  full. one is sooo many pnds and data files and half of my roms and 2nd is most my music in flac format and with cheap 10 buck pc usb speakers can fill the house with crisp load music. for movies i use my usb3 wd ext hard drives (has wall plugs) watch everything on my pandora atm don't lol:). never really use the pnd store always dl from the repo and move to my cards, like to keep all the pnds on one of my external's for if some carzy reason can't get online or what have you.

ps your going to love your pandora
 
+1

I too had never worked with Linux.......But the Linux on the pandy is user friendly and very easy to use :D

And if you don't get a program started or work correctly........you can Always ask or read on the forum and you will get an answer ;)

The Pandora is a great Multi tasking mini pc and when you'l get the hang of it you'l love it :)
 
Thanks guys.  Loving the Pandora.  GF not loving the time I'm spending with it.  Played Alfred Chicken today(hard!) and Arkista's Ring.  Level 30 is a mutha luva.  Next office programs and video outs!!!!
 
Have you tried selecting HW layer in the TV out menu? You won't see the desktop on the TV out any more, but once you enter a game in many emulators (including gpFce) you'll see the game.
 
Word to ya moms, Levi is droppin bombs!  Worked like a charm!  Thanks!
 
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