Our New Machine, Pandora

[sparr]

I guess I should clairify... a Linux OS that feels like a PC OS (such as Debian Linux) would be a big no. If it was Linux, but stayed true to the feeling that most of the previous GPxx firmwares had, then I would have no problem with it.

This is purely a matter of the GUI. There are linux GUIs specifically designed for PDAs, game consoles (MAME cabinets in particular), and any other form factor you care to name. The OS underneath is the same, so its moot.

 

[craigix]

The EEE is a great machine but it's not a real handheld, look at weight, size, very bad battery life etc.

You can't really compare it to the GP2X etc.

 

[Nova]

Why does the craigenthingy need a physical keyboard if it has a touch screen?
In fact, you could probably emulate fairly usable analogue sticks too?

Too many buttons = clutter.

You wanna play ZX spectrum or amiga with a stylus? Cos I don't.

 

[gmiller1018]

i meant they'd sure over the Bladed GUI

Even as farked up as the current copyright and patent systems are, you can't sue over the look and feel of a GUI. Hence why Apple can't stem the flood of i(mpractical)Phone knock offs.

They can sue, they may not win, but they would bankrupt the Craiginator team with legal fees. They did sue a Linux based OS called lindows over their GUI years ago.


They did not win because they ripped their GUI design from ZEROX who "reminded" them where they got it from.

 

[Tobriand]

The problem with Pacrom is that, whilst it was a little bit like a command prompt (in the analogy sense).

That is:
Those who used it, loved it,
Those who didn't weren't so easy to persuade to use it,
And it wasn't much to look at.

Use a Pacrom+associations system and whilst it'll be great for existing people, it's hardly going to drag in new customers. As mentioned, something touted to be as powerful as the Craiginator needs some (even if not much) eye-candy. Otherwise newcomers would wonder "if it's so powerful, how come my 10 year old NGPC bios looked prettier?"

Or Saturn bios, Dreamcast bios... whatever, really.

 

[virusx]

You wanna play ZX spectrum or amiga with a stylus? Cos I don't.

It depends on the game... A good Lemmings for exemple with touchscreen and 2-4 binded buttons would be nice.
Virtual keyboard could be boring if the keyboard is excessively used but for one or two keystrokes in a game. I think it's pretty convenient.

 

[Ravnos]

i meant they'd sure over the Bladed GUI

Even as farked up as the current copyright and patent systems are, you can't sue over the look and feel of a GUI. Hence why Apple can't stem the flood of i(mpractical)Phone knock offs.

They can sue, they may not win, but they would bankrupt the Craiginator team with legal fees. They did sue a Linux based OS called lindows over their GUI years ago.

Actually, they sued Lindows (now Linspire) over the name, which they said was infringing on their trademark and trying to confuse customers. In the end, Microsoft wound up settling with Lindows by paying them a bunch of money to buy the name, and Lindows changed their name to Linspire. This is probably not the example case you were hoping to cite, because in the end the Lindows/spire people made out like bandits.

 

[Goity]

But with a name like that, people probably were confused and it wasn't such a bad thing that m$ sued. However, copying something like the 360 gui would be lame.

 

[Damume]

I personally like the Aurora & Candy skins for the Mk1 and if the GUI for the new machine used something similar with perhaps simple animated icons i think that would be an appealing and simple to use interface for "out of the box"

After that peeps can install whatever more complex stuff they want

 

[sam fisher]

Dude, get your facts right. They sued Lindows because of the name, cause, in case you haven't noticed, it sounds a lot like Windows, and so they changed it to Linspire. It has nothing to do with their GUI, since it was KDE. Pulling facts out of your arse sucks.

I read it years ago, and was told it and it got corrupted Chinese whisper style, sorry.

 

[pughead]

400 bucks is definitly off the price mark for a handeld. An EEE PC seems a better choice at that price.

It's not expensive in UK terms, it's just that your economy is shit. Atm its roughly $2.1 = £1 and rising, so don't expect the craiginator to get any cheaper before release.
I always estimate what I'm willing to pay for an item before it's announced when dealing with rumoured items that I may be interested in.

From browsing the forums and having a good idea of the general wish list of the users here, my first thought was, "If they get close to putting everything in that the user population wants here, it may cost up to $500(US)."

And at or around that price point, I'll be jumping on it.

For the specs and features this unit is likely to have, I'm very comfortable (will be ordering on the first day) with a near $500.00 price range.

 

[Null]

I don't know if anyone's espoused this yet - Enlightenment, it's supposed to be highly configurable so hopefully everyone can get what they want. :lol:

 

[sam fisher]

400 bucks is definitly off the price mark for a handeld. An EEE PC seems a better choice at that price.

It's not expensive in UK terms, it's just that your economy is shit. Atm its roughly $2.1 = £1 and rising, so don't expect the craiginator to get any cheaper before release.
I always estimate what I'm willing to pay for an item before it's announced when dealing with rumoured items that I may be interested in.

From browsing the forums and having a good idea of the general wish list of the users here, my first thought was, "If they get close to putting everything in that the user population wants here, it may cost up to $500(US)."

And at or around that price point, I'll be jumping on it.

For the specs and features this unit is likely to have, I'm very comfortable (will be ordering on the first day) with a near $500.00 price range.

You'll love it if he can get it to $320 as he hopes then

 

[quadomatic]

I don't know if anyone's espoused this yet - Enlightenment, it's supposed to be highly configurable so hopefully everyone can get what they want. :lol:



I thought enlightenment actually needed decent hardware to run PC-wise...not sure trhis would be the wisest use of power/battery life.

 

[Vorporeal]

I don't know if anyone's espoused this yet - Enlightenment, it's supposed to be highly configurable so hopefully everyone can get what they want. :lol:



Yeah, I mentioned enlightenment a while back. I don't think it requires a very high-end system. In any case, it's very customizable and I'm sure that the graphics settings can be turned down to accommodate the hardware if necessary.

It would actually work pretty well, considering that most of the menus are accessed by clicking on the desktop or pressing some modifier button and clicking on the desktop - this could be achieved using the face-buttons and the stylus.

 

[OMars]

I guess I should have been more clear in my last post - there should be an organized file system, but it should also be flexible, if the program needs multiple folders/files.

BTW, what do you guys think of this GUI I made in ms paint? Here it is:


If possible, can someone combine this GUI with the previously shown console concept to see how it would look?

EDIT: I made this in photoshop really quick:
[img][/quote]

I hate to be grumpy, but this sort of excellent posting is just what we need! I am sure that Craig, with his wealth of experience and his highly paid and trained crew on board will be desperately scanning this thread for just this sort of tripe!

Now, why did I feel the need to write that?

Anyway, mock-ups that have no basis on anything other than schoolboy fantasies, and stuffing a crap photoshop image on top of a ripped off GUI that 'looks nice' is what stopped me reading this thread about 100 pages ago. But then the last few pages were genuinely interesting, with proper debate. Not this rubbish!

So, carry on boys....

[URL="http://sc.tri-bit.com/images/f/f5/adu.sized.jpg"]LINK[/URL] :)

 

[Alex.]

Why are people starting to recommend that JXD keychain as an alternative to the GP2X?

The GP2X will continue to enjoy a nice life alongside the Craiginator, so don't count it out just yet.

 

[Ravnos]

I don't know if anyone's espoused this yet - Enlightenment, it's supposed to be highly configurable so hopefully everyone can get what they want. :lol:



I thought enlightenment actually needed decent hardware to run PC-wise...not sure trhis would be the wisest use of power/battery life.

No, enlightenment is specifically designed to provide eye candy with minimal hardware requirements. That said, it's also under constant heavy development and in my experience it's unsuitable for day to day use.

 

[javaJake]

I don't know if anyone's espoused this yet - Enlightenment, it's supposed to be highly configurable so hopefully everyone can get what they want. :lol:



I thought enlightenment actually needed decent hardware to run PC-wise...not sure trhis would be the wisest use of power/battery life.

No, enlightenment is specifically designed to provide eye candy with minimal hardware requirements. That said, it's also under constant heavy development and in my experience it's unsuitable for day to day use.


Yes, I gathered that from reading their website. They've recently done a rewrite of their libraries it would seem.

 

[DaveC]

Why are people starting to recommend that JXD keychain as an alternative to the GP2X?

The GP2X will continue to enjoy a nice life alongside the Craiginator, so don't count it out just yet.

Probably since almost ALL of the top emu coders have left for it. They jumped ship overnight, doesn't take much I guess. I will just keep the GP2X until the Craiginator comes out. I see no point in getting cought up in a handheld like that for me. I can't see playing games with too few buttons in mono on a tiny screen. When the Craiginator is released that silly little thing will be left in the lurch anyway.