Pandora Review, months on.

[Twiitcher]

Well, all I can do is present 'my' perspective.  I bought my Pandora on release day, upgraded to rebirth, and I use is for gaming 95% of the time, and it doesn't feel like a waste for me,  Assuming that my Ferrari is a waste 'to me' because I only drive it to the store and back is also a bad assumption. (I actually drive a 95 Ford Probe but you get my point).  If I want to buy a large french fry and only eat 1/2 and feel good about it, should McDonalds tell me it's a waste, after all they are in business to make money and will make more if I buy large vs.small,  perhaps I like the leftover sitting on the dashboard of my Ferrari cause I like the smell. 

The argument that the Pandora isn't for you can only be determined by the user.  This is only helpful if the customer is complaining that they were mislead, which doesn't happen as far as I've ever seen. 

 

[levi]

Wow, this turned out to be a fun thread (though no fault of the OP).


I know what you mean about PNDs being awkward to use from the terminal. You can use pnd_run to run then, but I occasionally miss having things like mplayer or GIMP on the path. Most of the time I'm okay hitting Pandora, then using the d-pad to navigate the system menu and launch them from there, just occasionally when I'm in the terminal and want to do something media-related.


FWIW, the Pandora's SuperZaxxon runs real bash. It does have busybox, but I can't see at the moment what actually uses it - ls, cat and echo don't seem to.

 

[andmaz777]

The Pandora (Craiginator) was advertised originally as the ultimate emulation device and at £200 it was albeit pricey for just playing games to the mass market.


The additional features gave Craig a reason to up the price and still make roughly the same sales which given the initial troubles and increase in production costs was a good thing.


PSX emulation on its own warrants this device!


I use it only for emulation - if the screen was slightly bigger then I would use it considerably more - 5" on the Pyra will be perfect for me. That small increase in size will make a massive difference to my emulation enjoyment.

 

[comradekingu]

I dont understand the appologetic approach to what the pandora is.

In fact it started out as any one of the other devices and a bunch of what if, how about and if only. And thats _exactly_ what it is now.

 

[toastylynx]

And yes, it would seem the Pandora is not the ideal device for me. It seemed like it would be for a period after getting it. Oh well, everything is clearer in retrospect. I'm still happy.

So are you still going to keep it or do you plan to sell it? Just wondering what you intend to do from now on. Or are you going to try to use it more?

I plan on keeping it. I might install Arch Linux on it and mess around with UIs and such and see if I can get it to suit me a bit more. The thing has still sometimes come in useful for me.

Wow, this turned out to be a fun thread (though no fault of the OP).


I know what you mean about PNDs being awkward to use from the terminal. You can use pnd_run to run then, but I occasionally miss having things like mplayer or GIMP on the path. Most of the time I'm okay hitting Pandora, then using the d-pad to navigate the system menu and launch them from there, just occasionally when I'm in the terminal and want to do something media-related.


FWIW, the Pandora's SuperZaxxon runs real bash. It does have busybox, but I can't see at the moment what actually uses it - ls, cat and echo don't seem to.

Indeed, it's been an interesting thread. Thanks for the information, though! I still think I'll install Arch since it's a more comfortable environment to me.

I only use my pandora for portable audio. And im very pleased with it, best device i ever bought. I think the gaming aspects along make a lot of sense to buy it over.

The great bulk of pandora owners problably have (several) laptops, high performance tablets, phones and what have you. Any amount of that does not do what the pandora does.

Super Saxxon is ok for me, but im more at home with debian. It wasnt untill i could use that i found the pandora to be as limitless as could be for me.

Not a single one of the ferrari owners are able to drive their road cars to potential, nor is that really legal in any meaninfull sense anywhere. Unless on a track, in which case a road car falls to that same logic.

Curiously driving on country roads to small villages is exactly how road ferraris and lamborginis are finally field tested, and thats what they are good at. They arent, for how they are specialized, city cars, nor track cars.

Just because you have a stationary gaming rig capable of all sorts of things way over your head doesnt mean a pandora isnt right for you, nor does it explain what it is.

If you are intrigued by a pandora, chances are you will enjoy it somehow. If not exactly how eki does things, then in your way. Which is to say if you let eki discourage you then you never find out.

Thanks for the encouragement! And indeed, Linux and open software is usually all about freedom of choice. I think if I played around with some of the alternate OSes I might re-kindle some interest.

Oh My f*****g G.. ... Ego alert!

A guy's gotta have fun somehow!

 

[levi]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone's successfully ported Arch to Pandora yet. You can install Debian or Slackware though, I think those are reasonably up-to-date. Much more heavyweight than Arch of course, and I guess you'll have to deal with systems like networkmanager or wicd, not Arch's lovely netctl. But hey, it never hurts to get another Linux notch on your belt. Or even port Arch to Pandora yourself - I hear it has hardfloat binaries which I believe should run on GHz units (but not older ones).


Nice suit, by the way.

 

[toastylynx]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone's successfully ported Arch to Pandora yet. You can install Debian or Slackware though, I think those are reasonably up-to-date. Much more heavyweight than Arch of course, and I guess you'll have to deal with systems like networkmanager or wicd, not Arch's lovely netctl. But hey, it never hurts to get another Linux notch on your belt. Or even port Arch to Pandora yourself - I hear it has hardfloat binaries which I believe should run on GHz units (but not older ones).


Nice suit, by the way.

Apparently, you can run Arch on the Pandora, but there doesn't seem to be as much interest in it as Debian and Slack. In that case, I think I'll try Slackware. Thanks for pointing that out! I thought Arch was in a better position, but I suppose I should research my vague thoughts better before posting.


And indeed, the maker did a fabulous job.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

(dear customer) Here's the Slack release thread with all links:

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15547-slackware-for-pandora-141/

 

[toastylynx]

(dear customer) Here's the Slack release thread with all links:

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15547-slackware-for-pandora-141/

Thank you! I've bookmarked it. Haven't got much on tomorrow, so I'll dig up a spare SD card and try it out then.


The Pyra talk and development blog have kind of re-ignited my interest in the Pandora a bit, so maybe that and trying a different OS will help me get some more use out of the thing.

 

[akeley]

The argument that the Pandora isn't for you can only be determined by the user.

To become a user you must first splash a fair chunk of cash. Which is why lots of people lurk about and ask questions beforehand. Comradekingu mentions apologetic attitude - that`s one thing but I also detected a bit of "bunker mentality" while browsing threads here - rather defensive "Pandora is beeeeeeest no matter what" style. Now, I do understand where it`s coming from, but still, it isn`t very helpful for the newcomers. Some might take a plunge, but then run to ebay disappointed a week later. Honesty is mostly the best policy, even in this situation where some might see it as defending a niche product which needs all the support.

So, no, Pandora isn`t for everyone, definitely not - nor will be Pyra. And I don`t think it`s wrong to discuss it, as in "it`s not very customer oriented" . I recall this ED`s recent comment: " yes, our customer group is limited, but still large enough to keep it alive"  and I like this line of thought...the device is selling - even after all the early troubles - well enough to sustain the whole operation and now there`s a successor on the way. So there`s not really a need to worry too much about "scaring" people away. 

I don`t  particularly want to start the same-old argument here, but the truth remains: there are individual fields where other devices are superior, when you calculate price vs function. So if somebody asked me what would I recommend for console/arcade emulation the answer would be PSP. Need to code on the go? Asus EEE or some such. But...if you want a unique device, a handheld computer with gaming controls and a keyboard which is - above all - open source, with great community to boot then there`s only one Pandora/Pyra. Not everybody will be interested in that, but that`s okay.

For me, the trigger was DOSBox. I can do everything else on other devices, but playable handheld DOS games with keyboard support are only possible on Pandora. that`s a tall, niche order for someone as broke as me and after buying there were quite a few times when I panicked and thought "nah, I need to flog it, it`s a folly, too expensive" (and I only spent 170 quid on ebay). But then it grew on me, what with myriad cute lil things in the OS, and the thing about being part of a totally open-source minded community became super important and exciting. So, it stays

tl,dr; negativity can be positive too. Well, more honest, at least

 

[Twiitcher]

The only point I was making it that a blanket statement "if all you want it for is gaming, this isn't for you, it's a waste", is not accurate, for the reasons I stated.  It's ok to state strong vs. weak points accurately, in fact, I believe should be, however arriving at a conclusion that the pandora 'is not for you' is not accurate nor helpful to Ed's bottom line.   If I read that statement prior to buying my Pandora and believed it, there would be one less sale / happy pandora owner. 

Just sayin

Twiitcher

 

[ekianjo]

"if all you want it for is gaming, this isn't for you, it's a waste",

That's not exactly what I said. It's OK to buy it for gaming (I did that myself), but once you have it, I feel it's a waste not to realize that you can do much more stuff with it than just gaming. What's the point of getting a handheld with a keyboard if you just want to play games ?  (unless you are specifically talking about DosBox or other computers emulation) 

 

[levi]

As I recall, the reason the Pandora got a keyboard was for Amiga emulation. Of course, having a keyboard opened up all sorts of other possibilities, but I seem toremember that was why an updated GP2X got a keyboard in the first place.

 

[toastylynx]

Since you posted it, obligatory: Awesome fursuit, didn't expect to see that ^_^

Who commissioned it, or did you make it yourself?

Thank you! I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I posted that picture here. I think it's much more likely that I wasn't thinking. Glad a couple of people got something out of it, though.

This lovely person is the one who made the suit. Highly recommended to anyone interested in that sort of thing.


Anyway, so the topic doesn't suddenly go off to furry land instead of open handhelds, I found some use for my Pandora today using it to display lecture notes while the lecturer lectured, so perhaps my purchase of a Pandora's ended up being somewhat of an investment with belated returns. In any case, this thread's re-kindled something or other. Thank goodness for online forums!


And yeah, so nobody gets in trouble for being too far off topic, you can PM me if there's anything non-open-handheld you'd like to talk about.

 

[DrHAX]

I wanted the pandora for quite some time. Due to my... how would I word it? Boring uses? I'm a writer and I've always wanted something that I could just write when ever I get struck with the words, or have the energy and time to just sit down and do so.  A conventional laptop, or netbooks, don't allow this since the time I have to use them doesn't work well with my writer's clock.

 Back in 11' I had a trip to Australia, I wanted a portable computer.. sadly I lacked the funds for pandora so I bought a netbook . Ever since that experience I was dreaming of owning one. However, I researched it, and studied the device.  I knew its properties for gaming, but I didn't approach it that way.  I used that as a justification, an added bonus, as well as being an absolutely brilliant music player for my flac audio collection, and working wonderfully with Libreoffice. In the past on the laptops it use to periodically save files as 0 bit null files... So I had to save to sd cards because saving to the hard drive had a 85% failure rate, so having the pandora have a wonderful 100% success rate, with a 100% recovery rate, its a joy using it.

The Shift key was the only complaint but after finding out about the shoulder functionality its perfect. The keys feel wonderful, some people complain about them being beveled and glossy, doesn't affect me much actually feels a bit nicer on my hands to be honest. The left nub is acting strange(Software? Hardware? Opened a support post about the topic) and after a few of days it being my overcoat the silver paint is starting to wear down a bit. (As an avid steampunk in me is chopping at the bit to paint it now.), but even that doesn't bother me. The system is everything I truly need, and nothing that I don't. The direct limitations actually make it have no limitations once you grasp that, something which I don't think a lot of people get. I've gotten into a few  debates with people who thought the system was pointless trying to debate how their android quad core phone was a better open source system, therefore rending mine completely irrelevant and pointless. Yes just because I can write a novel in the dirt with a stick, doesn't mean its the best tool. 

All it comes down to is the unhelpful conclusion that every person has different needs. Its not a perfect system, it doesn't brew tea or shoot out lazers, but if your expectations are that absurd then I'm pretty everything will disappoint you. But for me, and my uses, the system is perfect and when ever somebody sees it and gets curious its fun just watching their reactions, sheer amazement or utter bemusement, both are just worth it in itself. In my mind its been worth every penny. :wub:  Even if most of its time seems to be used for playing Not Tetris Aka drunk tetris aka Pass the vodka tetris.

Ps: OP I adore the fursuit, Nice seeing another member of "Furryland" with a pandora.  Really is nice seeing how diverse this community  and open this community is.  ^_^   And don't worry about being too off topic here   From what i've seen it allows the topics to evolve. Makes replying to an early post a tiny bit harder when the train that debate was about has long left the station though  :blink:   Makes you look a little late to the party.