Pandora As Personal Organiser

[MrPoletski]

First of all, I'm pretty positive this is 100% doable, I'm just wondering what, where how and stuff.

So aside from gaming, surfing and other passtimes, I intend to use my pandora while I work. It's portability makes it ideal as a kind of workpad type thing to replace the old fashioned notebook. I working in emergency shutdown systems (the kind on oil rigs).

So, on site, my day might consist of checking IO points, doing some wiring, altering software, etc. During this time I will want to make notes, appointments (must get this wiring done by friday, must remember to impliment this fix when I do activity X etc) and on top of that maintain a daily activity log.

Now I could just do this all in word, but what I'd like is a kind of thing where I open up my pandora monday morning and see relevant notes I've left over the course of the last eon about today and what I need to do. If I can mark an item as an activity, then check it as done then that would be great. Even better would be me creating the activity item and subsequently performing it and it automatically noting it in my daily log for me.

I could blah and verbose about this ad infinatum, but you get my idea - so what's the killer app for my need that will run on the pandora?

Oh and also, there are regulations in the oil industry regarding battery powered items (which I am not 100% familiar with). I.e. contrary to common belief mobile phones are not banned (in hazardous areas) because the signal might start a fire, they are banned because the battery might catch fire - or so I have been lead to believe. So what sort of certification does the battery have, if any?

 

[kloplop321]

I think there are already plenty of tools out there, they just need to be ported. I don't know any names though.

 

[Caine]

Personally, I plan to use emacs org-mode for this.

 

[TrashyMG]

There is Planner

It may be in the angstrom repository.. It requires Gnome though.

 

[klikklak]

I'd rather not go back to org-mode, since I've shifted to using kontact recently. Any chance of getting the PIM apps from maemo on this thing? Not that it matters that much, I'll be probably using a phone for PIM anyway.

 

[Chero]

you could use evolution or the light weight dates-tasks-contacts combo (pimlico).
Or just go for TaskCoach, which runs fine on a zaurus so a pandora can handle it with ease.

 

[Squidge]

I'd never use the Pandora for a Personal organiser, it's too big and bulky. I need something small and light that fits in my pocket, so I use an Android-based phone. The irony is that I can type faster on my phone (that doesn't have a keyboard) than I can on the Pandora !

 

[grydholt]

I'd never use the Pandora for a Personal organiser, it's too big and bulky. I need something small and light that fits in my pocket, so I use an Android-based phone. The irony is that I can type faster on my phone (that doesn't have a keyboard) than I can on the Pandora !

+1. My Zaurus C3000 never got much mileage as a personal planner and it is pretty much the same form factor as the Pandora. My old Treo 680 was much more handy for PIM work.

 

[grasshoppir]

you seem like a major security risk

 

[PhillipJ]

Oh and also, there are regulations in the oil industry regarding battery powered items (which I am not 100% familiar with). I.e. contrary to common belief mobile phones are not banned (in hazardous areas) because the signal might start a fire, they are banned because the battery might catch fire - or so I have been lead to believe. So what sort of certification does the battery have, if any?

Having done some refinery maintenance I feel pretty confident in saying that there is NO WAY you should be taking your Pandora inside process areas. One handheld radio that's intrinsically safe costs roughly double what the Pandora costs (in Australia). Almost all of that cost is because the components in it are designed to never spark and never get hot, requirements that I'm sure the designers of the Pandora never considered.

So go nuts on the PIM stuff but for the sake of yourself and the guys you're working with, leave the thing in your office when you go out into the plant.

 

[Squidge]

+1. My Zaurus C3000 never got much mileage as a personal planner and it is pretty much the same form factor as the Pandora. My old Treo 680 was much more handy for PIM work.

Yes, each device has it's own weak and strong points, and the Pandora is strong in the gaming/emulation section (due to its controls), but easily capable of a range of desktop tasks.

As a PIM, it's not so strong. A cheap mobile phone with Notes/Todo/Calendar/Email/Web Browser support is smaller, lighter, and the ability to sync those apps directly without a PC (via 3G) is a major bonus. What makes it stronger is that you can get free mobile internet now for around the monthly cost of a pint with a generous usage allowance*. Mobile phones are however typically crap at emulation, gaming, and any desktop tasks which there are not portable versions of (and those portable versions are usually either read-only, and/or severely limited).

* - The usual "Unlimited (Fair usage policy applies") crap. Excludes video streaming, file downloads, etc - the kind of stuff you use a desktop PC for.

 

[juniorm33]

A mobile phone may be smaller lighter etc etc.
But if you intended to use the Pandora for other things other than gaming like at work, and intend to pretty much carry it around all the time anyway, then I don't see any reason why it can't be a good PIM also.
Hopefully it will be able to sync without much problems also.
Why have to switch between phone and Pandora when your using it at the time anyway?
So you could say it being bigger is a benefit, screen size wise anyway.
If your only really playing games and wont be carrying it around all the time then, yep a smart phone is probably a better way to go though.

 

[Pleng]

I agree with Na. I intend to carry my Pandora round with me pretty much everywhere I go so using it as a PIM is pretty much a given. My phone's PIM capabilities leave a little to be desired!

 

[MrPoletski]

Having done some refinery maintenance I feel pretty confident in saying that there is NO WAY you should be taking your Pandora inside process areas. One handheld radio that's intrinsically safe costs roughly double what the Pandora costs (in Australia). Almost all of that cost is because the components in it are designed to never spark and never get hot, requirements that I'm sure the designers of the Pandora never considered.

So go nuts on the PIM stuff but for the sake of yourself and the guys you're working with, leave the thing in your office when you go out into the plant.

Well because I work on the emergency shutdown systems I am usually on site when they are being installed or modified. That is more often than not during a shutdown (or before the plant has ever started). I figure I can take the pandora anywhere I can take a laptop. IS ares of course not, but tbh, I don't want to be in those areas anyway. Most of my time would be in control rooms and rarely in the field - though I have to move between places.

 

[MrPoletski]

you seem like a major security risk

umm, no. I don't go where there is actual gas. I have had to go through such areas before, but not before surrendering *everything* electronic. I know the rules and I'm pretty sure that a pandora would pose no more risk than a laptop (but laptops are known about in the industry, pandora is not) and I need one in posession to do my job.

Like I said to the other guy, 99% of my work is done during a shutdown and/or in the control room.

 

[Awakening]

umm, no. I don't go where there is actual gas. I have had to go through such areas before, but not before surrendering *everything* electronic. I know the rules and I'm pretty sure that a pandora would pose no more risk than a laptop (but laptops are known about in the industry, pandora is not) and I need one in posession to do my job.

Like I said to the other guy, 99% of my work is done during a shutdown and/or in the control room.

I Guess you should have no problems with the Pandora, it's CE certified and it won't run as hot as a regular laptop. It does have built in WiFi and BT so you might wanna check the rules on those.

 

[grasshoppir]

you seem like a major security risk

umm, no. I don't go where there is actual gas. I have had to go through such areas before, but not before surrendering *everything* electronic. I know the rules and I'm pretty sure that a pandora would pose no more risk than a laptop (but laptops are known about in the industry, pandora is not) and I need one in posession to do my job.

Like I said to the other guy, 99% of my work is done during a shutdown and/or in the control room.

buy one!

 

[Squidge]

A mobile phone may be smaller lighter etc etc.
But if you intended to use the Pandora for other things other than gaming like at work, and intend to pretty much carry it around all the time anyway, then I don't see any reason why it can't be a good PIM also.

Sure, if you don't have a Smartphone, or intend to use the Pandora on a daily basis, then the later may be a better choice for you. Its just that normally you have a phone anyway, and if the phone can do all your PIM stuff neatly, its going to be more convenient, specially when it can sync automatically in the background, rather than needing a manual USB, Bluetooth, or Wifi connection in the case of the Pandora.