Pandora Should Move To Android

[atomicthumbs]

if I wanted android I would buy a phone

 

[Prometheus]

Why is losing the ability to use the device as the miniature computer that it is, in favour of using something that seems to primarily be aimed at mobile telephones, a great thing, though? Am I missing something?

 

[atomicthumbs]

I would not write software for an Android device. Not that I've written any software (yet); I have no desire to learn a new language for something I don't need.

 

[slaeshjag]

Oh and guys don't forget that Android still runs on Linux. It's not a completely new OS we're talking about.

For most of us that write software, It'll be a completely different system.

 

[Iorgy77]

Dual boot? No problem.

No linux? Big problem.

 

[dflemstr]

Why is losing the ability to use the device as the miniature computer that it is, in favour of using something that seems to primarily be aimed at mobile telephones, a great thing, though? Am I missing something?

Software quality and stability. The Pandora distribution, derived from Ångström as it is, has serious serious issues, and will continue to have issues for a long long time.

 

[Prometheus]

I'm afraid I haven't encountered any issues with quality or stability, so I can't comment on that. I still don't see what advantage using something apparently aimed at mobile telephones has.

 

[slaeshjag]

Why is losing the ability to use the device as the miniature computer that it is, in favour of using something that seems to primarily be aimed at mobile telephones, a great thing, though? Am I missing something?

Software quality and stability. The Pandora distribution, derived from Ångström as it is, has serious serious issues, and will continue to have issues for a long long time.

So... That's why it's a good idea to replace it with a system that can't be used as a desktop?
Besides, I'll be surprised if it even runs 5% of the applications I use. Heck; it won't even run dwm.

 

[dflemstr]

I'm afraid I haven't encountered any issues with quality or stability, so I can't comment on that. I still don't see what advantage using something apparently aimed at mobile telephones has.

The phone functionality is an optional component in the system. Several android-based tablets are going to appear later this year.

(OH and I'm playing the devils advocate for the sake of this thread, if you haven't realized yet)

 

[greendots]

I would much prefer a pandora specific repository to either .pnd or .apk. Otherwise, Android is appealing after a customized gui. Another plus is that we will get the new version of flash. Android does not run an xserver so libflashplayer would have to be hacked to run on pandora (eg. Frash). Also if Android is to be the main OS, still being able to run .pnd files would be a must.

Shouldn't it be possible to switch between Android and XFCE just like it is to switch between Minimenu and XFCE now? Android is certainly more to load but with a compatable kernel I dont see the issue.

In the end, I think Android has a lot to offer and its worth a try.

 

[Prometheus]

The phone functionality is an optional component in the system.

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info.

Several android-based tablets are going to appear later this year.

So I suppose this would benefit all of those people who are using their Pandora as a tablet?

(OH and I'm playing the devils advocate for the sake of this thread, if you haven't realized yet)

I see.

 

[VRAndy]

I'm afraid I haven't encountered any issues with quality or stability, so I can't comment on that. I still don't see what advantage using something apparently aimed at mobile telephones has.

The phone functionality is an optional component in the system. Several android-based tablets are going to appear later this year.

And some are already out.

 

[sinoth]

Software quality and stability. The Pandora distribution, derived from Ångström as it is, has serious serious issues, and will continue to have issues for a long long time.

Not sure why people think Android will make these issues go away. Just because Google does work on the main OS doesn't mean the grunts (us!) won't get stuck plugging all the holes for our platform. Hell, Android still doesn't run on my phone without serious issues, and it has a SuperMegaCorp backing it

 

[DaveC]

I'm afraid I haven't encountered any issues with quality or stability, so I can't comment on that. I still don't see what advantage using something apparently aimed at mobile telephones has.

(OH and I'm playing the devils advocate for the sake of this thread, if you haven't realized yet)

Maybe don't?

You are just convincing Craig to do it (although i think he has his mind made up, hope I am wrong).

 

[Natasha]

I'm joining in the no-way-I-let-Android-run-on-my-Pandora crowd. I was planning to try help port FreeBSD (or should that fail, another BSD) as a side activity soon after getting my unit, however should Android be the only choice I'd rather have a brick until I can get a BSD working on it.

Now I don't have anything against a multi-boot Android option along with a real OS, or an Android compatibility layer on top of the real Linux, or whatever optional androidity that doesn't prevent coding for a real architecture and using efficient native applications.

That was what I was wondering kind of before. If/when Craig decides to go to android does that mean the community has to? Couldn't we continue on here as is and let him sell those to whoever he is thinking wants android Pandoras?

I am assuming the hardware is the same so nothing would prevent it.

Seeing this thread I strongly doubt the community has a whole would follow our way. My guess is that it would end up with a split into pandroid and other(s?) communities, with the ratio depending on how well android performs. But unless a huge majority end up in the same community, the split would only weaken every side, which would be a lose for everybody.

I'd go as far as thinking such a split would be so detrimental it's a reason good enough to be extremely cautious in a potential Android attempt, no matter how technically superior (or equal) it might be.

 

[Prometheus]

Shouldn't it be possible to switch between Android and XFCE just like it is to switch between Minimenu and XFCE now? Android is certainly more to load but with a compatable kernel I dont see the issue.

Xfce and Minimenu are interfaces, rather than operating systems, though. I don't think it would be that simple, especially since Android's kernel is, as far as I gather, derived from Linux, rather than actually being a Linux kernel.

 

[DaveC]

Not sure why people think Android will make these issues go away. Just because Google does work on the main OS doesn't mean the grunts (us!) won't get stuck plugging all the holes for our platform. Hell, Android still doesn't run on my phone without serious issues, and it has a SuperMegaCorp backing it

What? doesn't android just magically load onto the Pandora right from the google website and automatically interface with all of the Pandora SD cards, sound, controls, ports, screen, battery and everything?

Seeing this thread I strongly doubt the community has a whole would follow our way. My guess is that it would end up with a split into pandroid and other(s?) communities, with the ratio depending on how well android performs. But unless a huge majority end up in the same community, the split would only weaken every side, which would be a lose for everybody.

I'd go as far as thinking such a split would be so detrimental it's a reason good enough to be extremely cautious in a potential Android attempt, no matter how technically superior (or equal) it might be.

I am no dev but I would think they would rather have the current linux environment with the desktop OS etc than some phone interface. How would some devs that like to actually edit code etc on the Pandora like doing that with a phone type interface with layers of java and crap cluttering things up?

Unless android turned out to be a great bug-free implementation I would guess that most devs would prefer the current setup (I am sure they will tell me if I am wrong) and android would end up getting the cold shoulder.

 

[elwing]

android as an optional other OS (dual bootable?) pose me no problem, as long as I still have the main dristro + pnd support, a total migration to android would mean an imediate cancel for me

 

[Exophase]

Google is a search company, they don't make money on anything else. Microsoft is an OS company, they don't make money one anything else. These two companies make so much on what they focus on they don't need to make money on anything else.

Google IS NOT making money on Android, it's an experiment like XBOX.

I can't speak for Google, but Microsoft makes profit on way more than Windows, including a substantial on some products many people aren't even familiar with, like Sharepoint. XBox may have cost tons of money that they haven't recovered (and might never recover) but it's at least making money. That aside, how does Google make money on searching? It makes money on ads, which are included in any number of places. Obviously they make money from a cut of their store profits, just like Apple does, which likely amounts to at least millions dollars a year for substantially less investment.

Really, I don't think I follow your logic. Just because companies make a lot of money on their flagship products doesn't mean that they're not trying to make money with other things, or can "afford not to." Whether or not these other endeavors are successful in generating profit is one thing, but a company doesn't stay successful by long by deliberately throwing money at things that don't have a model for making money back somehow.

 

[HS3006]

Android is to GNU/Linux what Mac OS X Snow Leopard is to NEXTSTEP.

If you think there are major problems with the Ångström distribution now, try getting everything to work right in Android in your spare time, and report back when you have equal or better functionality and performance for the OS itself and the available software packages.

These major problems would suddenly look quite manageable.