I'm writing a more friendly and indepth version of the original post, if that's okay?
Let me know if you want to edit it into yours? I can create a new thread if that's not insulting?
This is what I have so far:
(Needs polishing as I wrote this in a hurry)
Can I Run Windows?
It cannot run a modern Windows operating system, although with an emulator it can run very early incarnations from the early 1990's. The latest version of Windows which you can expect to run is 'Windows 3.11 For Workgroups'. Due to the extreme age of those versions, they aren't able to run applications targetted for Windows 95/98, XP, Vista or Windows 7.
The Pandora has a different type of proccessor compared to a standard computer. Microsoft has developed Windows to run only on Intel based chips, and doesn't support the type of CPU used in the Pandora. For our machine, we use an ARM design, which is used in many portable devices such as mobile phones, the Ipod range, the Iphone and Ipod Touch models and the Nintendo DS (although this doesn't make the Pandora compatible with those machines; as ARM designs vary greatly, unlike Intel x86).
The main advantage of using an ARM processor is greatly impoved battery life, as the Intel x86 CPU design (used in your PC, laptop of netbook) is a continuation of a design established in the 1980's for the original IBM PC.
Dosbox is an emulator for many platforms that supports running applications for early PCs. The earliest versions of Windows were built on DOS technology and will run on this emulator, but you'll be limited to very old application software.
Can I run Xbox/PS2/Gamecube/Saturn/Dreamcast/DS/GBA/Game King games by "porting" them?
Unfortunately not. Any software created for a closed platform, that doesn't have source code available cannot be ported.
Source code is the long document of programming instructions which is then converted, or 'compiled' into machine code. It is called 'source' because this is where the machine code executable that is created has 'come from'. Machine code is the millions or billions of instructions sent every second to the CPU in order to make you computer... compute! Because CPU designs differ (for example between Intel and ARM) the mahcine code from one machine will not be compatible with another that has a different CPU. Rebuilding a machine code executable from available source code effectively creates a translation that the target machine can understand.
'Porting' is the term used to create an application from source for a new machine. The computer term 'port' literally means to take something from one place to another - the name derives from shipping ports which, are the means by which goods are taken into or out of a country. Without a shipping port, or an airport, an island cannot send or recieve goods.
Can I run games without Linux (unless the person who wrote the game is very dedicated)?
It isn't very likely. Having an operating system provides functions which save those people writing software from repeating the same work. For example, it will provide functions to access sound, video, hardware sockets, showing windows onto the screen and provide the ability to use networking.
Very early systems from the 1980's didn't have an operating system, and provided many of the system functions using an onboard chip called a 'ROM' or 'BIOS'. Because the CPU was not needed to provide this, games could fully take advantage of the full capacity it.
Since the IBM PC became the standard format for computers, hardware has since become modular - parts in a PC based system can be changed and upgraded, which was one of the reasons the PC succeeded. Because the amount of hardware combinations grew so large, software couldn't support it all! An operating system was needed - essentially an application that interfaces with all the included hardware so that software developers can contentrate on the functions of their application.
Linux today is such an operating system. It is open source and can be recompiled for many CPU types, so it was chosen for the Pandora in order to re-use all the work that had already been completed by other Linux developers. Without Linux, the Pandora would require a development team of hundreds to support the sophisticated hardware of today. Four or five people adapted Linux for the Pandora, although working out the many bugs and issues was (and still is) a significant task.
Replicating all the man hours required for creating Linux (or any other operating system) for a single game isn't feasible, although it is technically possible! A more likely scenario is that developers will create a customised version of Linux that is made very small without any uneeded features - and then bundle this with a game. This game could then be put onto an SD card and booted, similar to disks or cartridges from early computers and consoles!
Can I run Windows apps with WINE?
Not at the moment. Wine is a compatibility layer that translates all the functions given to programs by Windows, such as creating buttons, menus and computational routines. It looks at what functions the program is asking for, and serves an approximation of that request for the Linux operating system.
The diadvantage with Wine is that because it doesn't emulate the Intel based CPU of a PC, it doesn't function on systems with an alternative CPU such as ARM. This includes the Pandora which has an ARM cpu.
Qemu, is a CPU emulator that can translate machine code from one to another in real time. It can also be used in conjuction with the Wine compatibility layer to allow Windows programs to function... more or less.
Qemu with Wine isn't available for the Pandora at the time of writing.
The performance will be approximately the equivalent of a Pentium 100 because of the computational requirements of translation. This may not be fast enough to run your intended software. It won't be fast enough to run anything intensive, especially games from the last 15 years.
