Pandora Should Move To Android


What Ångström needs is more developer attention, and orientation documentation. The Pandora community could be enough to pull that off.

What Android could bring is more mainstream stuff - appstore, prepared UI and such - and it would indeed be nice to have that option on the Pandora. I'm certainly not willing to sacrifice access to the normal GNU system, including X, to get it.

I'm rather likely to run Debian myself, possibly in a chroot or so if necessary.
 
Hah, personally I would love it if all of the major dev's moved to support Neuvoo (Gentoo) as default main OS. Choices are good! But you already started going with Angstrom, so why switch the focus? Android will be made to work on the Pandora, eventually. Just like Gentoo does. Just like Debian does. I love options!

But for the moment, just get the kernel perfect. Unlock the Pandora's true potential. Then, and only then, worry about concentrating totally on what OS is best for it, as default.

I honestly doubt anyone is talking about taking away any choices, it's an Open device. But don't switch focus on default OS while the kernel is still so far from unlocking the true power of the hardware. That's just silly!

- trix

EDIT: bold tags added for emphasis, Angstrom will always work at least as well as it does now, it's not like they can take it away. There should be a sticky at the top of this forum called "Don't let craig's posts make you panic!" Everyone always seems to assume the worst when he posts something.
 
I would vote for no, I am using the pandora as a 'get to know' linux device. Its easy since everybody here has the same hardware and therefor the support by the community is a lot easier. I think linux adds alot to the pandora eventually. And Im getting to know amrstrong now and I like it. Hope to learn a lot more about it.
 
trix said:
Hah, personally I would love it if all of the major dev's moved to support Neuvoo (Gentoo) as default main OS. Choices are good! But you already started going with Angstrom, so why switch the focus? Android will be made to work on the Pandora, eventually. Just like Gentoo does. Just like Debian does. I love options!

But for the moment, just get the kernel perfect. Unlock the Pandora's true potential. Then, and only then, worry about concentrating totally on what OS is best for it, as default.

I honestly doubt anyone is talking about taking away any choices, it's an Open device. But don't switch focus on default OS while the kernel is still so far from unlocking the true power of the hardware. That's just silly!

- trix

EDIT: bold tags added for emphasis, Angstrom will always work at least as well as it does now, it's not like they can take it away. There should be a sticky at the top of this forum called "Don't let craig's posts make you panic!" Everyone always seems to assume the worst when he posts something.

that's why I think Android must be the 1st option - only if it runs well.
if it takes less developer horsepower to make android run well than it takes to iron out angstrom problems, android it should be.

people, stop trying to scare people off android, saying between the lines it will lose 10fps in emulators.
let at least the developers talk about the feasibility of using heavy stuff (like n64 emulation) under android.
if running android in a "minimal-mode" is available, why would there be a performance hit?
 
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Sounds intriguing. I definitely would welcome Android on the Pandora, but not as its sole operating system. It should be possible to boot both Linux and Android, depending on which you want to use.
Android does offer a huge variety of free and commercial software, which would be a great benefit for this device.
But I also agree with trix: Don't take away the focus from Linux before it is at least close to perfect. Otherwise we will end up with two have-baked operating systems.
 
Isn't the point of Pandora that it's open? Wouldn't Android make it WAY more closed considering its a Google influenced OS? Plus, wouldn't it require a lot of hacking to make it work as a desktop/UMPC OS? I mean, its tailored to fit a phone so wouldn't someone, at the very least, have to create a custom UI in order for it to be usable on Pandora? What about drivers? Who would work on these things? What is the real gain here? Also, correct me where I'm wrong, but wouldn't an entire community of developers have to port their programs to Android instead of developing the program further? Wouldn't they have to learn Java if they don't already know it? Ugh, this just seems to be a lot of work for little return, especially considering we already have a working OS that is constantly being updated and improved.

Craig, I just don't understand your thinking here... It would create an insane rift in the community that would be hard to recover from. Android might make a cool project or another bullet point in its feature list but in no way would this work as its primary OS. Or, at least, I can't see myself using Android over Angstrom, Ubuntu, Nuevoo, etc. This would make me seriously consider cancelling. Please, don't. :angry:
 
If the Panda was exactly the same, plus perfect official android support for "free" resource-wise, i would probably cancel my order. I promised to myself that I would never buy/own an Android (read: bastard phone linux) device, as android has torn away linux kernel support from a huge number of smartphones. I have severed friendships because the other parties have bought android devices and shoved them in my face like it's the next thing since sliced bread. Android sucks, don't get that crap near my Pandie.

inb4 what's your order number -_-
 
Goodness me - 10 pages in less than 12 hours. Craig has certainly triggered a reaction here.

For my pennies worth late into the thread, I would love to see a port of Android backed by the OP team.

I suspect it would not be as optimised as Angstrom, and I suspect it should not be the primary OS, but to be able to offer it as an option would make sense.

There are a large number of iPad clones which will run Android coming out in the near future. The Pandora offers something very different to the tablet format with its nubs etc, which would allow it to stand out from the crowd as both a gaming machine and a UMPC.
 
No. Most of my reasons have already been stated. In addition, I want to make cross-platform software and want nothing to do with android's quirks like its special Java API or NDK or whatever. :angry:

Meego on the other hand looks much more promising though not yet at all mature. Would maybe consider for Pandora 2. ;)

But please, don't do this :(
 
Being OPEN is all about choices.

I really think Android should be a supported platform, as long as you can CHOOSE wether to install it or not.

Also Meego would be VERY interesting.
 
Would you trade the option of good officially-supported 'Strom for the options of Android and worse-officially-supported Angstrom? All principles not withstanding.
 
I think craigx has an evil sense of humour I bet he's been wetting himself laughing reading some of the posts on this thread!

but I'll bite

My main objection to Android is that it appears that google have a way to delete apps on your hardware http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Android-Google-Applications-Android-Apps,news-7216.html

may attitude is its *my* hardware *I* decide what gets un-installed, I mean really the raw nerve of it!

On the side of software availability there's already an impressive amount of stuff for the Pandora and it can only go from strength to strength - google who needs em!
 
LOL lol lol. Another example of the fail of android. I think we can all agree that this is in direct opposition to the core tenets of the Pandora.`
 
Hum...

I have an HTC Desire running Android. I really love it :)

But.. I really don't want to use my pandora with android (well, maybe sometimes, for some apps)..
I'm not sure I want to explain why, that's just not the way I want to use my pandora..
 
I don't want to find that the software has to be developed in 2 branches: one for Linux, one for Android. This almost certainly means that we'll have a horrible mess of developers that prefer one over the other and we'll have to boot a particular OS just to run a particular game / tool.

Besides, is Android actually capable of fully utalising all that the pandora has to offer such as DSP, nubs etc.

How many apps / games are really worth using on Android anyway? Is it really a strong contender for Apples Appstore?
 
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