Our New Machine, Pandora

[Exophase]

Hi, I'd just like to ask if the Pandora will have programmable graphics hardware. e.g. shader support. In complience with OpenGL ES 2.0

Yes, it will.

 

[Cameleon]

Any clues in the shading languages, will it be Cg, GLSL or a free choice ?
Even though certain devers will get devkits early will there be any prioritising amoungst them ?

 

[Julius]

Not sure if Cg has a OpenGL ES 2.0 backend (but I guess so) but GLSL definitly has. It really is all standard OpenGL ES 2.0 with Linux, nothing special I bet.

Probably those devs will get a devkit early, who have a long history of great programs on the GP32 and GP2x.

 

[HIVexploder]

I don't see why the sdk can't be publically released to everyone unless there is some nda thing.

 

[___]

Devkit does not mean sdk here, rather a prerelease version of the pandoras hardware I believe. So basically, a development platform.

 

[Squidge]

I don't see why the sdk can't be publically released to everyone unless there is some nda thing.

The SDK currently consists of exactly the same compiler as used for the GP32/GP2X (GCC) and a few libraries that are useless to anyone without the necessary hardware.

So not much to release really.

 

[Pirotic]

I don't see why the sdk can't be publically released to everyone unless there is some nda thing.

The SDK currently consists of exactly the same compiler as used for the GP32/GP2X (GCC) and a few libraries that are useless to anyone without the necessary hardware.

So not much to release really.


most professional SDK's for lesser powered platforms (mobile phones, handhelds etc) tend to come with emulators to save all the faffing about with hardware during the early stages of development. No chance of an SDK and emulator kit for the pandora? that'd be a bit of a turn off for some homebrewers I'd imagine.

 

[Squidge]

most professional SDK's for lesser powered platforms (mobile phones, handhelds etc) tend to come with emulators to save all the faffing about with hardware during the early stages of development. No chance of an SDK and emulator kit for the pandora? that'd be a bit of a turn off for some homebrewers I'd imagine.

Virtio do a complete software emulation of the OMAP3:

http://www.virtio.com/

Emulator Kit/JTAG (requires OMAP hardware) :

http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/xds560.html

Needless to say, both are commercial, and both cost several thousand USD.

 

[Squidge]

Actually, considering the Pandora can use dynamically linked libraries, and the fact that there will be no need for most programs to access the hardware directly (typical reasons to access the hardware can be kept in a library), you have a few choices you can use without making any changes to your source code.

Compile for desktop Linux instead of Pandora. This just means a change in compiler or passing an option to make.

Compile for Pandora and run the resulting executable in QEMU or a similar Linux ARM emulator. Once you are happy with the result, run the same executable on real hardware.

The only thing needed for both of the above is different library files, which I'm sure is not going to be a problem.

and after saying all that, someone seems to have had the idea already

"Scratchbox is a cross-compilation toolkit designed to make embedded Linux application development easier. It also provides a full set of tools to integrate and cross-compile an entire Linux distribution."

 

[javaJake]

+1 for this thread being locked. It's only here for archival purposes.

 

[Magnulus]

+1 for this thread being locked. It's only here for archival purposes.

*raises hand*
I have to say I agree.

 

[quote]

+1 for this thread being locked. It's only here for archival purposes.

*raises hand*
I have to say I agree.

3rded

 

[Yrx]

Aw man, I like this monster thread.

 

[Squidge]

I'd say leave it alone - it'll get archived soon enough when people stop posting in it.

 

[b._.o._.b]

I'd say leave it alone - it'll get archived soon enough when people stop posting in it.

Yeah! +1 for stop posting in this thread!

 

[dockthepod]

It doesn't look like the keyboard has ctrl or alt keys? I'd really dig one of these as a portable emacs machine

 

[Chip]

It doesn't look like the keyboard has ctrl or alt keys? I'd really dig one of these as a portable emacs machine

There has been talk of mapping Ctrl and Alt to the shoulder buttons for just this purpose. I think this makes a lot of sense, because you could easily hold either shoulder button and still hit any key on the keypad with your thumbs.

 

[quartercast]

I'd say leave it alone - it'll get archived soon enough when people stop posting in it.

Yeah! +1 for stop posting in this thread!


Now THAT is ironic

 

[parag0n]

Unsticky it, and it'll soon fall away into obscurity.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Unsticky it, and it'll soon fall away into obscurity.

It needs to stay stickied and be closed. Soon the world will know the awesome power of the Pandora, and they will tremble in fear.

Even the quivering masses deserve to know the history of such a spectacular device.