Pandora Interface?

[mickb22]

im confused. i looked on a video and i think i saw that you have to type lines of text to run programs. i'm not sure becuase i read that it will run ubuntu. Ubuntu has a graphical interface,right? The video i saw before was with the mk0, so maybe the mk1 will have a graphical interface. Do you know anything?

 

[Prometheus]

The footage you're referring to didn't have a GUI in place. However, forum postings made around that time stated that the production model will have a GUI.

Regarding Ubuntu, it's been stated that it *can* run an ARM port of Ubuntu - not that it will ship with such a thing pre-installed.

 

[craigix]

Indeed, this will be covered in the next couple of weeks.

Ubuntu = the darling of the internet. We are aware of this, but should we do it?

 

[PoisonedV]

thats a commandline, and those are early videos. mainly it has been said (not decided though) its going to have a relatively simple GUI interface, based off gmenu in part. if you actually read the topic, people weren't talking about ubuntu as the default os, they were talking about it as a prospective os..

here are two videos of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrhpxIMRH9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BakyujK8Nc0

sorry for my harsh words earlier, but please, do some research

 

[WizardStan]

Indeed, this will be covered in the next couple of weeks.

Ubuntu = the darling of the internet. We are aware of this, but should we do it?

No!

Seriously, Ubuntu is great because it has great driver support, and just sort of works. Anything that you come up with will be just as great because it doesn't need to worry about driver support, and is guaranteed to work as it was designed.
Can someone explain to me the big push for Ubuntu vs any other OS, including a custom one built especially for the Pandora?

 

[Rayek]

Don't do Ubuntu... I'd like the idea of it being there for people who want it, but... Something a little more ... "specialized", and perhaps streamlined, for the Pandora seems necessary.

 

[jellmoo]

Indeed, this will be covered in the next couple of weeks.

Ubuntu = the darling of the internet. We are aware of this, but should we do it?

As much as I have been enjoying Ubuntu (and I have, but I am very much still a Linux novice), I would think that this could easily be left up to the individual user. In essence, keep it relatively simple at launch, with a simple but effective GUI, and let those that want to use Ubuntu install it on their own.

While I don't want to draw a direct comparison, the simplistic user interface was one of the big draws of the Eee PC.

 

[Chip]

The biggest problem with a proper desktop version of Ubuntu is that it requires you to do everything with the stylus. A simple menu system would allow you to navigate to and launch programs wile holding the device naturally. I can see why some people want a full desktop UI, but it's just not practical for what (I imagine) a lot of people want to do with the device.

 

[PoisonedV]

I think some people are forgetting that, yes, its a pocket pc, and a wireless device, and all that other junk... but guess what, at it's heart it's a GAMING system and I want to use it like one

 

[Tom`]

I use Kubuntu as my main OS, but I don't understand the attraction of a windowed OS on a four-inch 800x480 touchscreen. Is it just because it's what people are familiar with from their PCs? I think a custom "semitasking" GUI, as has been confirmed to be the first priority, is all anyone would really be able to use efficiently.

 

[bustaballs]

I think some people are forgetting that, yes, its a pocket pc, and a wireless device, and all that other junk... but guess what, at it's heart it's a GAMING system and I want to use it like one

This is what I'm aiming for. Something that will boot quickly and load games quickly. Around 10 seconds boot time would be nice. The default OS should be as light as possible.

 

[Julius]

Having Ubuntu as an officially supported OS wouldn't hurt for sure.
And it would definitly give you some free PR, but I guess the default option should be something more simple, or better something that can be easily controlled by a dpad and a few buttons.
A window (as is individual windows, not MS Windows) based OS simply isn't really made for such a small screen and no mouse (touchscreen is a good, but not an exact replacement for using such an OS).

Hmmm... however Ubuntu MID seems to have done away with the windows:
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile

Maybe it is not a bad choice after all.

Edit: Hmm Ubuntu is actually working on making it N800 and the like compatible:
http://jonreagan.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/...worths-keynote/

If it runs well on the pandora, I guess it should be made the default "enhanced" user interface.

Edit2: Yeah... all discussed in the Ubuntu MID thread.... my bad

Edit3: Conclusion: if it is doable you should go for it, but maybe add a boot option for simple (gmenu) and advanced (ubuntu MID user interface) option. Only if it actually improves boot time though, otherwise go Ubuntu MID all the way (shutting it down for big emulators and games should still be possible right?).
But yeah I like the idea, and you will not get such a polished GUI otherwise I guess... the only problem is that it will probably not fit into the 256mb NAND right?

 

[Megamixman]

I think some people are forgetting that, yes, its a pocket pc, and a wireless device, and all that other junk... but guess what, at it's heart it's a GAMING system and I want to use it like one

This is what I'm aiming for. Something that will boot quickly and load games quickly. Around 10 seconds boot time would be nice. The default OS should be as light as possible.



No, Ubuntu please. If someone wants to run it, let them load it on an SD card, but by defaults...BAAAAD. Angstrom has ARM7 compiled packages. Why should we settle for lower optimizations? Also, we could just set up another run-level for the Gmenu and one for the DE ( Gnome Mobile anyone? ) and just provide an option to switch to the other in either interface.

 

[Julius]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76NviXg_1g4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkPW3aIOomU

Vids of Ubuntu Mobile on a similar devices.

 

[greendots]

Ubuntu on pandora is unimportant to me... by time its optimized for ram and everything else its not ubuntu anymore.

The best thing about using ubuntu is for marketing but saying it will be able to run Ubuntu ME might be enough. Especially if there is an easy to install method to do so.

 

[adsharma23]

wow ubuntu mobile looks amazing i would love to have that sleek interface on the pandora
just kill the GUI when using something like PSX and N64 (hopefully) not that hard and easily implemented and pretty sure devs have mentioned this possible countless times

 

[Megamixman]

Ok let me re-itterate.
Ubuntu Mobile != Ubuntu.
Open Mojo's Ubuntu Packages do not include Ubuntu Mobile.

Now that that's straight. We don't even know if Ubuntu Mobile packages will compile for ARM without significant amount of work. Ubuntu Mobile is built on top of Moblin, which is built on top of Hildon. Now Hildon has been compiled for ARM. The Nokia Tablets use Hildon in the form of Gnome Mobile ( albeit a customized UI ). Moblin is optimized for x86 and the Atom proc. This means that it likely has low level optimizations that would prevent proper cross compilation to an ARM platform. Fine, these can be patched, but that does mean that there is a significant amount of work in the way of understanding the code and re-writing parts of it for ARM and more specifically the Pandora.

Now if we go with something like Gnome Mobile, or something else based on Hildon directly, there is a better chance of being able to cross-compile without problems. Angstrom doesn't have Hildon Packages for ARM6 or ARMv7, only ARMv5. Maemo is by definition compiled for ARMv6 which provides better optimizations.


The best solution would be a Pandora specific, or ARM7 specific distro. Angstrom seems to be updating, but slowly. It is possible to combine both the Pandora and Beagleboard community for the most part. The main difference between the two would just be the kernel and a few config options.

 

[Pleng]

The biggest problem with a proper desktop version of Ubuntu is that it requires you to do everything with the stylus. A simple menu system would allow you to navigate to and launch programs wile holding the device naturally. I can see why some people want a full desktop UI, but it's just not practical for what (I imagine) a lot of people want to do with the device.

You could always run Ubuntu with a menu system running on top. Quit out to get to desktop. Seems like a horrific wate of resources though!

 

[Mia]

I don't mind too much which distro will be installed by default as long as we can change it, but Ubuntu has a huge community, so it could be something big for the Pandora, that could draw interest of many people.

If it's possible to have a light and optimized version of the distro for the Pandora, then why not?

 

[_VWV_]

Ubuntu mobile != Ubuntu.
Personally know nothing about Ubuntu mobile by the exception that it looks great and finger-friendly.
Ubuntu is Debian based so things like debootstrap and .deb + apt are a given. Proper dependencies resolution helps to port stuff quickly (correct me if I'm wrong).
If these features are present in the current OS, I don't need Ubuntu.