My little Pandora review
- Thread starter ZXDunny
- Start date
Instead of creating my own thread, I thought I'd add my (not too in depth) review to this. I've been on these forums for many years, usually just to check on progress of the Pandora rather than an actual contributor. But now, after two years of waiting I finally received my Pandora on Saturday morning. Upon receipt, although I've been waiting for this for two years, I wasn't as excited as I thought I would’ve been. The reason for this is that in the time that’s passed since ordering I have built my own arcade machine and bought an Ipad. The former has taken care of all my gaming needs and the latter has pretty much made my PC and laptop useless, as I was only a light user on the internet anyway. But yesterday I managed to sit down and have a play with the Pandora and thought I’d share my impressions.
After unwrapping, the first thing I looked for was the gap between the lid and bottom that was on the first batch of Pandora’s. I wasn't sure if this issue had been fixed since the first batch, but to me it appears as though it has, as I could not see any problems, not ones that would annoy me anyway. The case itself, is really nice. I really like it, there is a slight but on the lid, probably a screw to tight but this is hardly noticeable. Although the matt finish is prone to fingerprints its nothing that a little wipe won't solve. Opening the Pandora, I was surprised to find how nice the keyboard, nubs, dpad and buttons looked. From looking at videos and photos for the last two years, it was still a nice surprise at how good the quality is. I then looked at back of the Pandora for any gaps or issues around the connectors. Again I saw none.
Then I switched on the Pandora. The screen is fantastic. Images and text are nice and sharp and easily readable. The set-up was nice and simple and I was soon on the desktop of the Pandora. I went through each program to check everything, as I’ve never used Linux before. As I’d already set up a 32gb Sandisk months ago with all my roms and emulators, they all appeared in the menu with no problems. Setting up the wireless was a easy and I was soon browsing the net.
The only issues I have had with the Pandora so far have all been with the software side of things. As the software is still maturing, the programs are being updated so this will improve in the future.
After playing on the emulators and programs I could get working and configured properly, playing them on the Pandora was a joy. The Dpad is fantastic and the buttons are comfortable. One small issue is the A button seems a bit squashy, but it still works so it doesn’t really bother me.
The biggest annoyance I have at the minute is that when an emulator or window is higher than 480 pixels. This is especially noticeable in Mupen64’s options. Hopefully someone knows a way around this to scroll the window, as it doesn’t give me an option to scroll on the right hand side of the window.
I played some music and movies on the Pandora and they worked great but I won’t be really using the Pandora for this.
All in all after being less than enthusiastic upon receipt, I can now safely say that I love the Pandora. All I need to do now is learn to use Linux properly and I’ll be away. I’ve had teething troubles with some programs but this could be possibly due to my inexperience on Linux. The Pandora IS a laptop in your pocket. Other devices always seem to miss something (Ipad = no physical controls, can’t download files etc), but the Pandora you can do almost anything you can on a PC. I’m so glad I held out until the end and congratulations to the team for producing something so special.
After unwrapping, the first thing I looked for was the gap between the lid and bottom that was on the first batch of Pandora’s. I wasn't sure if this issue had been fixed since the first batch, but to me it appears as though it has, as I could not see any problems, not ones that would annoy me anyway. The case itself, is really nice. I really like it, there is a slight but on the lid, probably a screw to tight but this is hardly noticeable. Although the matt finish is prone to fingerprints its nothing that a little wipe won't solve. Opening the Pandora, I was surprised to find how nice the keyboard, nubs, dpad and buttons looked. From looking at videos and photos for the last two years, it was still a nice surprise at how good the quality is. I then looked at back of the Pandora for any gaps or issues around the connectors. Again I saw none.
Then I switched on the Pandora. The screen is fantastic. Images and text are nice and sharp and easily readable. The set-up was nice and simple and I was soon on the desktop of the Pandora. I went through each program to check everything, as I’ve never used Linux before. As I’d already set up a 32gb Sandisk months ago with all my roms and emulators, they all appeared in the menu with no problems. Setting up the wireless was a easy and I was soon browsing the net.
The only issues I have had with the Pandora so far have all been with the software side of things. As the software is still maturing, the programs are being updated so this will improve in the future.
After playing on the emulators and programs I could get working and configured properly, playing them on the Pandora was a joy. The Dpad is fantastic and the buttons are comfortable. One small issue is the A button seems a bit squashy, but it still works so it doesn’t really bother me.
The biggest annoyance I have at the minute is that when an emulator or window is higher than 480 pixels. This is especially noticeable in Mupen64’s options. Hopefully someone knows a way around this to scroll the window, as it doesn’t give me an option to scroll on the right hand side of the window.
I played some music and movies on the Pandora and they worked great but I won’t be really using the Pandora for this.
All in all after being less than enthusiastic upon receipt, I can now safely say that I love the Pandora. All I need to do now is learn to use Linux properly and I’ll be away. I’ve had teething troubles with some programs but this could be possibly due to my inexperience on Linux. The Pandora IS a laptop in your pocket. Other devices always seem to miss something (Ipad = no physical controls, can’t download files etc), but the Pandora you can do almost anything you can on a PC. I’m so glad I held out until the end and congratulations to the team for producing something so special.
ZXDunny
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This. Even with my less that respectful review of the software, anyone should take this sentiment away with them - we're early adopters, and the software can only get better. Minimenu, as I said, does exactly what it says on the tin, and does it very well for an early build. I'm looking forward to improvements.
Ditto - they really have produced an amazing machine.
D.
mvickers03
Active Member
Glad you are enjoying your Pandora so far, Is great to see new Pandora users joining us
You can get to maximum speed by pressing B as is mapped to page up which is quite helpful
You can get to maximum speed by pressing B as is mapped to page up which is quite helpful
Caine
Hardcore Member
You raise quite a good point. I'm planning to pick up my work on XBMC as a front-end again once I receive my unit (HackmodFord started this on the gp32x boards a while ago). I too would then have to redo this work.
Perhaps we need some simple configuration protocol or standard such that each environment can present all configuration options in its own manner. I would think some categories and (key, possible values, documentation) pairs would get us quite a way. Comparable to Firefox's about:config or Opera's opera:config.
skeezix
Internal Development
"To many tabs"? You know you can go to minimenu, hit Select and bring up an 'editor' and specify which tabs you want to see, right? You can have as many or as few (none!) as you like.
If you want to go config spelunking (you don't), you can merge tabs and rename them and such as well, but I'm slowly working on a better way to do that sort of thing.
jeff
You can have as many or as few (none!) as you like.If you want to go config spelunking (you don't), you can merge tabs and rename them and such as well, but I'm slowly working on a better way to do that sort of thing.
jeff
Hitnrun
Member
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- Mar 1, 2008
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- 427
You can expect that with more users we developers will have more motivation to make the programs better.
So far most of the things I ported did not took more than 4 hours of work.
When I get my fixed Pandora I'm sure I'll have another shot at fixing ZeldaClassic problems
So far most of the things I ported did not took more than 4 hours of work.
When I get my fixed Pandora I'm sure I'll have another shot at fixing ZeldaClassic problems
Caine
Hardcore Member
That's quite a clever fix, I like the idea.
WizardStan
Mega GP Mania
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If that's what you were told, then it was marketing hype. The real reason would be because the double lock hinge they wanted to use is owned by Nintendo, and the selection of hinges they could use was exceedingly limited without paying to design one from scratch. I looked into this myself a while ago. As soon as my second Pandora arrives, my current one becomes my modding one, and I'll look into alternative hinges. If I'm remembering right, the hinge selected is actually compatible with the DS lite hinge. There's some aftermarket DS hinges that let you adjust the angle to anything you want.
shadow.8
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- Mar 5, 2008
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- 211
I don't own a Pandora but I know in XFCE you do this by holding down alt then clicking anywhere in the window and dragging it around. I believe I've seen ED do this in a video but I can't seem to find one atm.
ZXDunny
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It prevents the rather powerful spring-loaded hinge from flying open and smacking the lid on the desk
You can see it here:
Which holds the screen open at a perfect angle for me:
D.
Trip
Sorry, but I suck at explaining stuff :P
I'm sure someone recently said that it's Shift key on the Pandora?
skeezix
Internal Development
Dunny -- cute You can't go 180 now, though I'm sure :/ (I'm sort of fond of 180, but maybe thats form having it so much
Occurs to me, on seeing your pic .. you know for cupboards you buy a strip of 20+ little hlf-sphere rubber nubs for placing on cabinet door corners to ease the 'door slam'? We've all probably got some leftovers of those around in a junk drawer .. tempting
jeff
You can't go 180 now, though I'm sure :/ (I'm sort of fond of 180, but maybe thats form having it so much Occurs to me, on seeing your pic .. you know for cupboards you buy a strip of 20+ little hlf-sphere rubber nubs for placing on cabinet door corners to ease the 'door slam'? We've all probably got some leftovers of those around in a junk drawer .. tempting
jeff
Bosbeetle
Terminally lost
SNESFAN
Retro game fanatic
ahh, see that would have been a perfectly acceptable answer. Nintendo owns the patent would be completely understandable, but the "you're holding it wrong" defense is not.
craigix
Mega GP Mania
I don't know how you can stand to use it in any way other than 180. 180 just feels right for me for gaming and typing with thumbs. But yes, if you prefer the other angle a little stuck on nub like that will work fine.
ZXDunny
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Dunny -- cute
Believe me, I don't miss it in the slightest
It's really much, much better this way. I've been playing a DS for a number of years now, and I suppose I've gotten used to it. Mind you, the DS has a much narrower viewing angle than the Panda, so going to 180 is fine if you like it that way. I don't
I wish someone would do a decent Duke3D port now. eDuke is all very well, but it doesn't go fullscreen, and it's slow
D.
