Pandora Add-ons

[Trip]

Would be nice if a company like Canon adopted the Zink technology.

There's always a chance that they will. Cannon and HP tend to make more money on the hardware they sell than the inks these days. Epson and Brother on the other hand will be screwed when this system fully takes off

I've emailed them for more info on driver support etc. so hopefully we'll find out soon if this could work with Linux at all.

 

[CandidStan]

For now Zink has partnered with Polaroid to create this printer.

 

[magicman5421]

this looks really good. I was doing a calculation recently and found that ink these days costs a whopping $8000 dollars a gallon. take that, gasoline!

 

[Chip]

Before you get too excited about Zink printers, remember that they only work with special paper. Likely-to-be-expensive special paper. Probably-in-the-dollar-per-sheet-range special paper.

This is Polaroid going back to their roots - instant gratification photos for an outrageous cost per photo. This is not something that will replace inkjet printers any time soon. No matter how much the manufacturers gouge you for ink, it won't come close to what Polaroid charges per print for Zink paper.

I'm not saying a pocket-sized printer doesn't have it's place, I'm just saying that this particular printer is not likely to free you from overpriced ink refills. If you're looking for dirt-cheap portable printing and don't need color, this is probably the best thing going. Only $25, uses cheap rolls of thermal paper, runs off AA batteries, and it's wireless (IRDA).

 

[jmetal88]

QUOTE
CUPS tends to support next to everything you throw at it

except for...ah...FARKING canon printers. sry. i have a canon i960 and it bugs the hell out of me to not be able to print to it.
but an on-the-go printer sounds like an awesome idea. carrying around special paper, however, does not. well...you win some, you lose some.

I was pretty lucky. I bought a Canon MP170 right after MP180 (or was it MP160? pretty sure it was MP180) support came out for CUPS and the MP170 was supported unofficially under that. A little while later MP170 became officially supported (I think, it showed up in the list when I tried another distribution anyway) so now everything is good.

 

[Gilrad]

Before you get too excited about Zink printers, remember that they only work with special paper. Likely-to-be-expensive special paper. Probably-in-the-dollar-per-sheet-range special paper.

Try 30 cents per print.

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

Would be nice if a company like Canon adopted the Zink technology.

There's always a chance that they will. Cannon and HP tend to make more money on the hardware they sell than the inks these days. Epson and Brother on the other hand will be screwed when this system fully takes off

I've emailed them for more info on driver support etc. so hopefully we'll find out soon if this could work with Linux at all.

i always thought hp was the one who lived over ink prices...

 

[CandidStan]

Wow, 30 cents per print? I didn't even see that when I found out about Zink. I only knew paper was going to be about 15.95 per pack, so they estimated i suppose.

Time to bring up another question, I've always envisioned my iPod working in conjunction with another device. I had hopes for the psp, but alas no dice. I'm hoping someone will be able to use the iPod's removable hard drive function with the Pandora. This would be for those who already have 30-200 GB iPod videos and would like to use it as a mass storage device for files to be used on their Pandoras. This would be impractical if they don't already have a hard drive based iPod since it seems SDHC cards are getting pretty cheap these days.

 

[Trip]

Time to bring up another question, I've always envisioned my iPod working in conjunction with another device. I had hopes for the psp, but alas no dice. I'm hoping someone will be able to use the iPod's removable hard drive function with the Pandora. This would be for those who already have 30-200 GB iPod videos and would like to use it as a mass storage device for files to be used on their Pandoras. This would be impractical if they don't already have a hard drive based iPod since it seems SDHC cards are getting pretty cheap these days.

Well the only way I know of to use an iPod as a mass storage device, is to install Rockbox on it.
You still need to use the iPods cable though

 

[Chip]

Time to bring up another question, I've always envisioned my iPod working in conjunction with another device. I had hopes for the psp, but alas no dice. I'm hoping someone will be able to use the iPod's removable hard drive function with the Pandora. This would be for those who already have 30-200 GB iPod videos and would like to use it as a mass storage device for files to be used on their Pandoras. This would be impractical if they don't already have a hard drive based iPod since it seems SDHC cards are getting pretty cheap these days.

If you enable mass storage mode on your Ipod then yes, you can use it as a standalone hard drive. Just be aware that while you will technically have access to the music stored on the Ipod, it is stored with gibberish file names, so you won't be able to easily play songs from the Ipod on the Pandora. If all you want to do is use the extra storage space for other files though, it'll work fine.

Well the only way I know of to use an iPod as a mass storage device, is to install Rockbox on it.
You still need to use the iPods cable though

You don't need Rockbox to enable mass storage, just to store music files in a maner that will allow you to play them on the Ipod and have them accessible via USB. I get the impression that Stan is just looking to use an old Ipod as a portable hard drive with its own battery. For that, you don't need any extra software.

 

[Trip]

You don't need Rockbox to enable mass storage, just to store music files in a maner that will allow you to play them on the Ipod and have them accessible via USB. I get the impression that Stan is just looking to use an old Ipod as a portable hard drive with its own battery. For that, you don't need any extra software.

I didn't know that iPods had that feature now. Was it an update to the firmware in all models or just the newest ones?

 

[Chip]

now that iPods had that feature now. Was it an update to the firmware in all models or just the newest ones?

I don't know. The only Ipods I've ever owned are the 1st gen nano and the current fat nano. I am able to use both for generic USB storage under windows without installing any 3rd party software. Once you've enabled mass storage on the device, there is a hidden folder called "Ipod_Control" which contains all the MP3s and Itunes software. The directory structure looks like this:

The MP3s are renamed to nonsense to prevent you from simply copying them onto another computer, but the ID3 tags are intact. It is possible that an enterprising coder could write a program to scan the tracks and build a database of your music that the Pandora could understand - thus allowing you to play your music on the Pandora. This seems like a rather roundabout way to do things, since you could just stick a pair of headphones in the Ipod and listen to it directly, but it is possible.

 

[parag0n]

There is a linux library that is designed to allow media players to read and write the iPod's filesystem, it'd be good if the pandora media player supported this

 

[TJSomething]

I didn't know that iPods had that feature now. Was it an update to the firmware in all models or just the newest ones?

It was never a firmware update. The first iPod was released with the feature. You can enable "Disk Mode" like this.

 

[CandidStan]

Nice, so an iPod interface will be available. That ties in perfectly with my ATSC usb tuner DVR idea.

I can just imagine being able to set up a andora1: in a hotel room with say a massive iPod classic and record off of the new ATSC band or the existing NTSC, or being able to plug the cable feed into your andora2: and recording what you want when you want. Of course the few of you that have massive sd cards will really have no need for a hard drive based storage system.