Pandora Pandora Emulator Frontend


Okay guys I'm an idiot.


I implemented a new sort/search function which gave me the numbers I posted a couple of days ago. I thought that since it didn't improve memory usage my code must have been solid or I needed to rethink the whole damn thing. But to make a long story short, I forgot to remove all the calls to the old memory hungry code. This caused the former numbers. I'll still be looking into sqlite or similar to see if I can beat the 9999 limit.


Oh and if your wondering it went from 1% of 3gb of ram to 0.4% of said ram. And thats still using the current information caching.
 
Small announcement

PEF will have two modes as of today (just got it working) Full Front-end and Integrated. The Default interface of the Pandora is beautiful and has come along much quicker than PEF (unfortunately) as such integrated mode will generate pxml files to add menus/sub-menus with the information gathered by PEF. In integrated mode a splash screen will be displayed for several seconds allowing the user to change the config of the individual game if needed. It will also include a quick launch button for those that don't need to change the config. Unfortunately we will most likely lose the ablity to search but realistically if the games are listed alphabetically by system, or year, or genre, it shouldn't be that hard to find the game you want. There will be a toggle button within settings on PEF to enable or disable integrated mode.

That being said Favorites will always appear on top for quick access to the games you've deemed "Favorite"

My computer is generating the pxml files now so after it gets through the list of ~8000 files I may have to tweak the settings so that only the Favorite games are integrated into the main program. If that is the case then there will be no need for the toggle switch but we will see.


Thanks.
 
grasshoppir said:
i want this even more than i want the panda
Click to expand...

Really?

Well 8000 files is to many to sort through so I'm limiting it to favorites only.


Thanks
 
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There are other, full-pc, emulator frontends out there. They're mostly closed-source, windows-only freeware or donationware (with a small nagscreen) but they exist and can be quite pretty.

GameEx - The prettiest and easiest-to-use one, has integrated media centre features (audio, videos, weather, windows-hiding), Window-only and free with a nagscreen. My recommendation for people wanting a more powerful windows-media-center with emulator integration.

emuControlCenter - A powerful, highly customizable and compatible with nearly any emulator (thanks to community-made plugins) and is closed-source freeware for Windows, Linux and Mac (untested on Mac). My recommendation for power-users.

GameBase - Haven't tested this one, but it is open-source under the GPL. Maybe Aimless_E would like to experiment with it's code for ideas. Could be the best one of the lot, but I haven't used it.
 
fearofshorts said:
There are other, full-pc, emulator frontends out there. They're mostly closed-source, windows-only freeware or donationware (with a small nagscreen) but they exist and can be quite pretty.

GameEx - The prettiest and easiest-to-use one, has integrated media centre features (audio, videos, weather, windows-hiding), Window-only and free with a nagscreen. My recommendation for people wanting a more powerful windows-media-center with emulator integration.

emuControlCenter - A powerful, highly customizable and compatible with nearly any emulator (thanks to community-made plugins) and is closed-source freeware for Windows, Linux and Mac (untested on Mac). My recommendation for power-users.

GameBase - Haven't tested this one, but it is open-source under the GPL. Maybe Aimless_E would like to experiment with it's code for ideas. Could be the best one of the lot, but I haven't used it.
Click to expand...

Any suggestions for a linux-based XBMC media center used with a remote?
 
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Sorry, no idea. I'm not currently a Linux user (living in Aust. we have so little allocated bandwidth that I can't afford to get a large distro) so I have no idea about that. Plus I tried them just for the emulator frontend, not the media-center capability.
 
GameEX is pretty cool though their website makes Firefox go nuts. The other two though I'm sure are well constructed have the same basic look of all emulator front-ends that I have seen on Linux PCs. Left hand column shows the available emulators/systems. Middle column shows the list of available games and the right hand shows information and screen shot. Though PEF does basically the same thing the interface is meant to be "minimalistic" and ultimately allow for theme based re-arrangement. I think that XBMC and GameEX are the closest analogs to what PEF is going to be.

Which is:

1. Single step setup. Program finds emulators and games creates database based on this information.
2. Configuration is saved for both the Emulator and the game allowing for modified configurations.
3. Finger and joystick friendly interface geared toward finding and playing a game not just organizing them.
4. Favorites can be integrated into the systems frontend or desktop using pxml and desktop file standards.

Later on I would like to add network config support so that if user(a) has a config for Mario64 and user(B) does not then PEF asks user(B) if he would like to use user(a)'s config. Also I have been thinking of adding a "auto favorties" feature and maybe an Achievements like system for grins and giggles.
 
fearofshorts said:
There are other, full-pc, emulator frontends out there. They're mostly closed-source, windows-only freeware or donationware (with a small nagscreen) but they exist and can be quite pretty.

GameEx - The prettiest and easiest-to-use one, has integrated media centre features (audio, videos, weather, windows-hiding), Window-only and free with a nagscreen. My recommendation for people wanting a more powerful windows-media-center with emulator integration.

emuControlCenter - A powerful, highly customizable and compatible with nearly any emulator (thanks to community-made plugins) and is closed-source freeware for Windows, Linux and Mac (untested on Mac). My recommendation for power-users.

GameBase - Haven't tested this one, but it is open-source under the GPL. Maybe Aimless_E would like to experiment with it's code for ideas. Could be the best one of the lot, but I haven't used it.
Click to expand...
gameex webpage doesn't work with browsers and i'd prefer linux anyways.

the other two seem to rely on the mouse and thats not a very good frontend?

EDIT: yes, pretty much what Aimless said
 
Last edited by a moderator:
GameEX got me thinking...would anyone be apposed to me adding "Dynamic" background support. I personally don't like epilepsy inducing interfaces like gameEX but something calm like what panorama employs might be nice. I figure I have at least "two months" and the theme support code needs major attention. If no one cares I wont worry about it but I would like to know what you think.
 
Aimless_E said:
GameEX got me thinking...would anyone be apposed to me adding "Dynamic" background support. I personally don't like epilepsy inducing interfaces like gameEX but something calm like what panorama employs might be nice. I figure I have at least "two months" and the theme support code needs major attention. If no one cares I wont worry about it but I would like to know what you think.
Click to expand...

A nice idea, but at least I'd prefer that you first got the basic functionality done, tested and ready for release before adding features. I suggest that you finalize the current features you have, release a beta and get some feedback. If you get lots of problems with current features, you can use the time you have to fix them. If it's all good, you can label it 1.0 and start working on theming for version 1.5. Resist the feature creep! :)
 
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As much as I like a pretty interface, the core functionality really should be completed first.
Of course, go ahead and make the backgrounds if you want to/have time to. It would be a nice feature.

Thanks for all your work! A console like the Pandora needs to have programs like this to get the most out of the hardware. Personally I intend to use a secondary OS when I need to play very-high system req. roms with the GUI stripped out, background apps culled and just this frontend in the foreground. Like a true media center.
 
Finally back. I have my dev environment setup on my new laptop and all thats left is waiting for my Pandora. The Theme engine is still busted but I'll have it working as soon as all the usability bugs are worked out of the main program.
 
lgfp1206snoopy-is-joe-cool-charles-schulzs-peanuts-poster.jpg
 
Still working, still waiting. I hope there is still need for the program once I receive my Pandora.
 
Aimless_E said:
Still working, still waiting. I hope there is still need for the program once I receive my Pandora.
Click to expand...

Need is definitely still there. What is the current state of the app? I have an actual Pandora I could help test on if you wanted.
 
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