Multitasking Needs

[HackModford]

I really think the Pandora will be cool but before I get my hopes up I want to know if this stuff will be feasible.


#1 60fps N64 Emulation? Will it be able to someday do that?

#2 How about plugging a Hardrive, CD Drive, Keyboard? I want to have a typewriter

#3 Being able to manage my Ipod?

#4 (I forgot this one) MIDI writing capabilities and being able to plug it up to my Casio Keyboard (musical keyboard )

I think that was all. Are these things feasible? I'm mostly worried about #2 and #3.

Thanks

 

[cowai]

#2 How about plugging a Hardrive, CD Drive, Keyboard? I want to have a typewriter

Why do you need a HD and a CD drive to do that?

 

[HackModford]

Well I want to be able to Rip my CD's and then maybe store them on my Hardrive... just incase the Ipod breaks. (I don't have a computer) Second If I do any typing I would like to be able to store my schoolwork or projects on my hardrive.

 

[magicman5421]

well it does have a keyboard built in...but as to whether you can plug a keyboard in, sure, the pandora will most likely have drivers for lots of stuff and even if it doesn't, you can just get your own driver. It's supposed to be running a full (albeit probably cut down) distro of linux, and linux has good support for drivers. Same goes for hard drive and cd drive. As long as they're usb, the pandora has a usb slot. You might want to invest in a usb hub so you can plug in multiple things at the same time, but other than that an overall yes to number 2. manage your ipod, probably, because Songbird, a ituneslike program for linux can manage ipods. Same goes for the keyboard. As long as you have the right adapters, you should probably be able to find a program to do whatever you want with the midi. I have no clue about n64 emulation, that all depends on the community. Hope I helped.

 

[teggun]

Well I want to be able to Rip my CD's and then maybe store them on my Hardrive... just incase the Ipod breaks. (I don't have a computer) Second If I do any typing I would like to be able to store my schoolwork or projects on my hardrive.

Dude... buy a computer.

 

[HackModford]

Don't push the computer point h34r: Will I be able to do these sorts of things? :unsure:

 

[Gaeryc]

Get yourself a good usb hub and I see all that happening, except the 60fps n64 emulation <_< . If you mainly need computer for those things I think that you would like pandora, not everyone will be able to carry their computer in their pocket.

 

[StealthBagel]

Look man if you're willing to wait 10 minutes per song to copy from a USB CD-ROM Drive to a USB hard-drive as PCM and then re-encode to MP3 or what have you, more power to you, but it's literally going to be that slow, you're going to be using a TV in the best case scenario and not a monitor, you'll have to add your own keyboard, your own external HDD drive and enclosure, your own external CD-ROM drive... your own external TV. Oh and let's not forget a mouse....

Seriously, buy a PC. You could get one for $50 at a garage sale, wipe the spyware off it and have a machine that does every PC related task better than the pandora will. The pandora will be good for playing emulators, maybe watching some small media formatted to its resolution, listening to some music, maybe light WiFi use.... it is NOT A DESKTOP PC it is NOT A LAPTOP PC... it is a freaking handheld...

 

[whiskthecat]

NOT A LAPTOP PC

Ehhhhhhhhh,

Negotiable

All depends on how you use a laptop. For my purposes, it should handle everything quite well.

 

[Nova]

Eh. On Craig's leaflet, he calls the pandora a replacement for your laptop.

 

[rokdcasbah]

ripping from usb cdrom drives can be sketchy, on average, they tend to lack support for some of the more advanced features that cd ripping programs use to increase accuracy and speed. still, i'm sure it'd get the job done.

it's a similar situation with the keyboard. you could type up stuff for school on it, but after a few big papers you can probably forget about playing the piano for a while (cramp city)

hackmodford, how do you manage your ipod without a pc? i'm curious

 

[xcen]

rok: he probably installs apple's crapware on every poor bloke's computer he visits and rip them mp3z =P

 

[HackModford]

Ohhh B) You guys are close! Actually I have the private school's (that I go to) computer... Old CD drive that messes up my CDs, Or I have a friend with a carpet business that has Itunes (don't like to bother him too much though), or I can go to the local college (My parents won't let me go there alone), last option... I can go use my grandpa's laptop (which has a modem internet connection :blink: )

So you can see why I'd like a little device to backup my ipod and just generally manage it.

Plus I'm into radio dramas h34r: If anyone knows what those are anymore! It would be nice to have a portable machine that I can edit sound files, compose MIDI (for the music) and type the scripts on (I definatley need an addon keyboard) PLus I wouldn't mind being able to play LZ Ocarina of Time on the go!

(Please don't bother me with the "why don't you get a computer?" line... Let's just say I'm a missionary going to the north pole to do radio dramas with the natives... :rolleyes:

Any program suggestions?

 

[StealthBagel]

Trying to advertise the Pandora as a laptop replacement is outrageously misleading and exaggeration in the highest degree... a 550 MHz ARM architecture CPU isn't the same as a desktop CPU of the same speed, there are bandwidth and bus contention issues that are not existant on PC platforms, there is extremely limited screen real estate and doing most anything you'd do on a desktop PC or a laptop PC display for any length of time is going to be extremely taxing on your vision and your patience. Yes you COULD theoretically do a lot of PC-typical tasks on a handheld but would most people want to? No.... and bottom line, is any roughly DS-lite sized handheld capable of replacing a laptop for a wide spectrum of tasks? No. A select few? Yes, but even then many of them aren't very practical.

I mean when you get down to plugging the Pandora into the wall, adding a powered USB hub, a USB HDD, a USB CDROM, speakers and a TV, external keyboard and mouse you've got an unholy mess and you might as well have bought a cheap PC (which would cost less than that whole monstrosity of a setup) and it would do the job 15 times better... the CPU is too slow, the USB interfaces are too slow, and the whole idea is just outlandish.....

Do I find the idea of 'alt-tabbing' between say, XMMS playing mp3's and another task like a PDA application or a very simple web browser appealing, for short periods of time? Yeah, I do. But do I want a bunch of windows open the size of a postage stamp on a display I have to squint to read text from due to how high the resolution is and how small it is physically? No.. No I don't. Any app to be feasibly used will need to be maximized or fullscreen... it's just NOT very conducive to the user trying to make it something it's not, a full PC.

Some people need to learn to be realistic here....

 

[parag0n]

I'm wondering if an asus eeepc might not be a better option for you

 

[Chip]

Back to the original qestion:

#1 60fps N64 Emulation? Will it be able to someday do that?

#2 How about plugging a Hardrive, CD Drive, Keyboard? I want to have a typewriter

#3 Being able to manage my Ipod?

#4 (I forgot this one) MIDI writing capabilities and being able to plug it up to my Casio Keyboard (musical keyboard )

#1 Maybe. 30fps is probably a more reasonable (and perfectly acceptable) goal, but it all comes down to whether or not anybody wants to put in the effort to get it done.

#2 Almost definitely. It has been confirmed that the USB ports will work in host mode, provided you have external power. Your hard drive and CD-ROM will need drivers, but I suspect these will come along eventually. I would be surprised if generic USB keyboard drivers were not included in the initial release.

#3 Again, Pandora has the ability, but it requires the software to be ported to the hardware, as well as a hardware driver for the Ipod itself. I cannot guarantee this will happen. If this is a deal breaker, I would hold off buying a Pandora until this software becomes available (if ever)

#4 See #3. It is possible for someone to create software like that.

 

[MWeston]

Trying to advertise the Pandora as a laptop replacement is outrageously misleading and exaggeration in the highest degree... a 550 MHz ARM architecture CPU isn't the same as a desktop CPU of the same speed, there are bandwidth and bus contention issues that are not existant on PC platforms, there is extremely limited screen real estate and doing most anything you'd do on a desktop PC or a laptop PC display for any length of time is going to be extremely taxing on your vision and your patience. Yes you COULD theoretically do a lot of PC-typical tasks on a handheld but would most people want to? No.... and bottom line, is any roughly DS-lite sized handheld capable of replacing a laptop for a wide spectrum of tasks? No. A select few? Yes, but even then many of them aren't very practical.

I agree that Pandora is not a laptop replacement, certainly not in a general sense. When I am away from home and need my laptop, most of the time all I need it for is surfing the web, checking my email and playing games. I feel less comfortable writing code or doing stuff that benefit from big keys when I am away from home or the office so, in that sense, Pandora will actually be a laptop replacement for me. Also, by this explanation, it seems fair to consider this a fairly decent UMPC replacement (based on price for sure).

 

[whiskthecat]

In reply to MWeston, I was also mainly thinking of it as a great travel companion for emailing family and what not. It would be very undesirable to lug a laptop around with you on a trip, but the Pandora can slide right into your pocket.

 

[Magnulus]

When I am away from home and need my laptop, most of the time all I need it for is surfing the web, checking my email and playing games. I feel less comfortable writing code or doing stuff that benefit from big keys when I am away from home or the office so, in that sense, Pandora will actually be a laptop replacement for me. Also, by this explanation, it seems fair to consider this a fairly decent UMPC replacement (based on price for sure).

This is exactly my view on the issue, only replace coding with working on photo- and video-editing. As I've said before, the Pandora means I won't even need to get an Eee, because I get what I need in a smaller package and for the same or less. I'm not complaining! ^_^

 

[magicman5421]

I agree that Pandora is not a laptop replacement, certainly not in a general sense. When I am away from home and need my laptop, most of the time all I need it for is surfing the web, checking my email and playing games. I feel less comfortable writing code or doing stuff that benefit from big keys when I am away from home or the office so, in that sense, Pandora will actually be a laptop replacement for me. Also, by this explanation, it seems fair to consider this a fairly decent UMPC replacement (based on price for sure).

qft