Lots Of Questions

[purplesludge]

Will the Pandora be able to communicate with my computer?
Will it be possible to control my computer with the Pandora. Like play a N64 emu while playing from my Pandora.

The touch screen. I haven't really heard anything about it. Can someone tell me how it will function.

Will any pandoras be shipped this month?

Once a pandora has been shipped how long will it take to receive it?I live in WV,US if that gives a better idea.

Is there a list of all the programs being worked on for Pandora anywhere?
I know the information is on the forums but searching through the topics is a little annoying.
I have been following the pandora since before March so I kinda of know what there is. I just wanted to know if there was an list.

Finally my last question is about ports.
How long do they usually take?I know they vary depending on what is being ported but can some one give me a time range from the shortest to a longest a port may take.

 

[Phawx]

1.) USB/Bluetooth/Wifi
2.) I don't know if ARM has rdesktop but Im sure VNC works fine, though playing game through VNC would be silly, better off just waiting for a native N64 Emul.
3.) Resistive touch screen. Use with stylus or fingernail. Think WinMo or Palm. 16 Semi degrees of sensitivity.
4.) Maybe
5.) I asked this and I was told GP2X took 1 week to arrive to NA.
6.) There is a site that is supposed to have a collective of apps available for Pandora, but it is obviously not filled with anything right now
7.) When the Pandora comes out, I am sure there will be a point to pour all the info into.
8.) Yes, a couple of them. Wiki and such
9.) You answered this yourself. They Vary. I'm sure someone could port 'Hello World' in about 10 seconds. The source for hello world is all over the place, though some may opt to do a complete re-write of the code.

 

[purplesludge]

2.) I don't know if ARM has rdesktop but Im sure VNC works fine, though playing game through VNC would be silly, better off just waiting for a native N64 Emul..
9.) You answered this yourself. They Vary. I sure someone could port 'Hello World' in about 10 seconds. The source for hello world is all over the place

Thank you.

To make things a little more specific would I be able to control my PC through the internet. That way I could leave my laptop plugged up in my dorm but if I needed access to something I would be able to use my Pandora to access it. Also does anyone know the speed of this?Is there a lot of lag?

I have thought of an example for 9. How long did it take to port firefox?Linux?

 

[Phawx]

Rdesktop is for RDP. Windows XP and such. VNC can work multi OS. If you are on Wifi, lag shouldn't be that bad. But you are basically taking pictures of the desktop and manipulating the keyboard and mouse remotely.

Now that the Pandora has 256 MBs of RAM, you should possibly consider replacing your laptop with the Pandora. I wanted to get a netbook and opted for a Pandora instead. Even though when I ordered, I was under the impression

Also firefox is based off of Mozilla. So they didn't port FF to linux, it was born in an Open Source world, they ported it to Windows and Mac. How long it took them to do this, I have no idea.

Umm When Quake 3 went Open source, there was a working port for the Xbox in about 2-3 weeks If I recall correctly. It wasn't perfect either.

Are you in the first batch?

 

[sindbad]

Most open source software you can find on a modern linux distro (like ubuntu) will just work, some may need a bit of adjusting because of the novel platform (few) or the specialised input/output (more).

Firefox was just compiled without any modifications specific to the pandora and it worked great. Same goes for lots of other stuff.

However, there will be no skype or adobe flash (you will be able to watch youtube though) at the beginning at least, because they're not open source.

 

[TrevorBradley]

That way I could leave my laptop plugged up in my dorm but if I needed access to something I would be able to use my Pandora to access it.

A recommendation: Laptops aren't generally built to run 24/7. Those poor little fans do their best to cool the laptop, but they do wear out over time and are difficult to replace. At the very least I'd suggest removing your laptop's battery if you intend to leave it on all day; it should improve the lifespan of your laptop.

 

[cb88]

anyone planning a freenx port? I was using it today over my colleges net to access a quad core with 8 gb ram whohoo!... it really is amazing how fast and responsive it was it would probably work find for 2d stuff (even video) over wifi from a PC

just remember hamachi... apparently there is an N800 port of it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi according to wikipedia

 

[purplesludge]

It is nice to know that some programs will work. I am in the first batch hopefully. I ordered mine around 9AM in WV. With all the reorder mess going on I am not sure what is happening.
If I was using my Pandora to control my laptop I should be able to turn it off through the Pandora. I don't think it will ever replace my laptop because of its large harddrive size, games, and its power. However the Pandora would be a good addition to it because of its portability.

I am a computer science major and would like to know if java will work on the Pandora.

Thanks to those who replied.

 

[sindbad]

I am a computer science major and would like to know if java will work on the Pandora.
Yes. It has been discussed before.

 

[Squidge]

2.) I don't know if ARM has rdesktop but Im sure VNC works fine, though playing game through VNC would be silly, better off just waiting for a native N64 Emul.

RDP is open protocol, plus there are open-source Linux apps that support it. Shouldn't take much more than "./configure --arch=blah --fooble && make".

 

[Mookmac]

To make things a little more specific would I be able to control my PC through the internet. That way I could leave my laptop plugged up in my dorm but if I needed access to something I would be able to use my Pandora to access it. Also does anyone know the speed of this?Is there a lot of lag?

there is a website called www.logmein.com which would probably serve this purpose. Basically you download a small app onto your laptop and leave it running in the background. Then from any web browser (so pandora should be fine) you go to the website and log in - from there you can basically see your laptop's screen in your browser window. Although its not 100% smooth (afaik having not actually tried it myself) it should be perfectly useable to open up documents etc which are stored on your laptop - just don't expect to be able to play crysis across it becuase it will be as fast as your grandad showing a you a slideshow of his childhood.

 

[cbox]

To make things a little more specific would I be able to control my PC through the internet. That way I could leave my laptop plugged up in my dorm but if I needed access to something I would be able to use my Pandora to access it. Also does anyone know the speed of this?Is there a lot of lag?

there is a website called www.logmein.com which would probably serve this purpose. Basically you download a small app onto your laptop and leave it running in the background. Then from any web browser (so pandora should be fine) you go to the website and log in - from there you can basically see your laptop's screen in your browser window. Although its not 100% smooth (afaik having not actually tried it myself) it should be perfectly useable to open up documents etc which are stored on your laptop - just don't expect to be able to play crysis across it becuase it will be as fast as your grandad showing a you a slideshow of his childhood.


Something like that probably needs an ActiveX web component, which will not happen on the Pandora since it is Microsoft specific.

 

[sindbad]

If you just want to access your files, you can install a ftp server (like http://filezilla-project.org/) on the laptop.

For desktop access, you should be able to use RDP just fine with rdesktop. Or VNC. Or even X11 (Xming).

 

[Izomiac]

Something like that probably needs an ActiveX web component, which will not happen on the Pandora since it is Microsoft specific.
Perhaps, but it could be based on VNC which, besides being a VNC server, also runs an HTTP server on some non-standard port with a Java-based VNC client.

 

[purplesludge]

Thank you all for your information.

 

[sebt3]

To make things a little more specific would I be able to control my PC through the internet. That way I could leave my laptop plugged up in my dorm but if I needed access to something I would be able to use my Pandora to access it. Also does anyone know the speed of this?Is there a lot of lag?

I have thought of an example for 9. How long did it take to port firefox?Linux?

At home over wifi, maybe video thing will lag a big, but it will work as if you'll be doing the same with an other laptop (performance speaking... screen size is an other things)

But over internet, I'll suggest you to think about security first.I will do x11 over ssh, so this should be secure enough but here come the lag...
Anyway, over internet don't think about play/watch video/eavy animation but everything else should be doable (word etc).

 

[valhalla]

Will the Pandora be able to communicate with my computer?
Will it be possible to control my computer with the Pandora. Like play a N64 emu while playing from my Pandora.

control: yes
control with enough speed to play a game or watch a movie: maybe on lan, with some work, not via internet

the computers I need to control all use linux and I don't need a gui, so I just use ssh + screen, but lots of graphical alternatives are available

QUOTE

Finally my last question is about ports.
How long do they usually take?I know they vary depending on what is being ported but can some one give me a time range from the shortest to a longest a port may take.



the port of a well written cli program, even a non-trivial one, may take just the time of a recompile; the port of one not meant for porting (e.g. with lots of x86 assembly) may just take forever (i.e. more time than a total rewrite from scratch). For a gui program you also need to add the time and work to adapt the gui to a smaller screen; again it may be a couple of minutes changing a few variables, or weeks/months doing a complete gui rewrite.

 

[cb88]

I have a good deal of experience with X11 over ssh (have ran qemu remotely over a dialup connection and I use NX at school)... my thoughts... don't do it unless you are using some compression protocol and not just the inbuilt ssh one (It is terrible even set to max compression)...

I mean use freenx or hamachi... otherwise proformance is going to be really bad especially on weak /patchy wireless connections

without specialised compression X11 took ages to load even xterm over a dialup connection but with freenx i am using KDE at 800x600 usably that is a MAJOR difference

 

[Bramrash]

If JAVA is going to work has anyone thought of porting shoddy? The pokemon battle simulator thingy.

http://shoddybattle.com/

It's open sauce