Pandora's User Interface

[AireTamStorm]

As there is very little discussion regarding both the state of the Graphical User Interface (look and feel) of the Pandora, I figured I'd start another one of those friendly polls that quickly turns into a flame war.

Juuuuust kidding. Really, I'd like to know the various takes on this, not just which GUI should be used, but what type of GUI should be used.

There are pros and cons for both, but this isn't just how the device looks and feels. For instance, both KDE and Gnome have tools to configure hardware, making it easier on development. Many of the handheld environments have this as well, but comparatively the desktop counterparts are a little more flexible. On the other hand, the handheld UIs don't use as much resources. When playing games this wouldn't matter as much, as I'd assume that many game launchers would exit the desktop so that it had full access to the hardware.

It comes down to how you'd like the Pandora to feel in terms of how it is used, since neither method really sacrifices functionality.

I'm currently partial to KDE4 at this point I've seen some cool stuff coming out of another thread, and the Phonon framework seems like a real plus to me. Theres my vote.

Yours?

 

[bigtruck]

There should probably be an option for "other window manager" in the first section of the poll. I am most likely going to be using dwm, though I'll have openbox on my Pandora as well.

 

[AireTamStorm]

There should probably be an option for "other window manager" in the first section of the poll. I am most likely going to be using dwm, though I'll have openbox on my Pandora as well.

I even put workbench so Squidge would vote....
Mods, feel free if you find it necessary.

*sigh* I just can't win.

 

[second exodous]

Yeah, as you know my vote is for KDE4, it looks cool on comparable handhelds and it runs pretty slim.

Also, I think pretty soon you can add KDE4 to the handheld UI, I bet before the Pandora is realeased.

 

[norm]

you missed fluxbox/openbox, its nice a light weight

 

[ssj195]

I chose KDE3 as it is lighter weight than KDE4 (the "30% less memory" article that hit slashdot was completely incorrect), but here is the latest on getting KDE4 to run on small form factor devices for anyone who is interested:

http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3546

http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3539

http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3540

 

[efegea]

KDE4? are you joking?...I do not want applications crashing on my pandora, and KDE4 is full of bugs. And yes, I'm a big KDE fan and gnome-hater (althought not in a religious way) and have tried latest stable and latest development versions..

That's said, KDE is not an enviroment designed for a hadlheld, so: NO. EDIT: although the liks above this post are interesting


It should be a custom UI using matchbox as window manager

 

[AireTamStorm]

KDE4? are you joking?...I do not want applications crashing on my pandora, and KDE4 is full of bugs. And yes, I'm a big KDE fan and gnome-hater (althought not in a religious way) and have tried latest stable and latest development versions..

That's said, KDE is not an enviroment designed for a hadlheld, so: NO.

It should be a custom UI using matchbox as window manager



They are approaching 4.1 here, alot of the bugs have been worked out. (not to say there aren't some remaining) Ultimately no matter what you pick you would end up with a nice experience. KDE has a much larger development force behind it than most other projects out there too, so we'd be getting new features constantly. The whole plug n' play multimedia functionality has me pretty much hooked. Almost all the screenshots I've seen have looked very nice.

KDE is designed as a Desktop UI, not a handheld UI.

I'm currently using Gnome on Ubuntu for a desktop.

 

[greendots]

By defualt and for the launch I think that a handheld based UI is best. I would prefer meamo for the UI as it already has a following and can be customized for pandora. Even a launcher like GP's or a mod of xbmc / mythtv would be fine.

 

[TaG]

I voted custom Pandora interface for the simple logic that it is likely to be optimised and allow quick access to games with minimal other stuff in the background. It will probably also keep the GP2X developers and owners happy .
Actually, I would prefer a KDE(4) UI but am not convinced it would be as 'efficient'. In many ways it is developers who will need to decide what will actually work best - and I'm happy to trust them, especially if it is skinnable.

 

[second exodous]

By default and for the launch I think that a handheld based UI is best. I would prefer meamo for the UI as it already has a following and can be customized for pandora. Even a launcher like GP's or a mod of xbmc / mythtv would be fine.

I would actually have to agree with you, have something simple on it at realease, then add something on to it later. Also, I doubt the devs are looking into anything too fancy or we would hear about it somewhere else.

I just hope some devs in the open-source gui world will look at the pandora and say 'Wow, I want one of those'.

 

[chad78]

KDE 4 - or Maemo. Since you didn't include Maemo, (or Hildon), I voted for KDE4.

 

[Megamixman]

Maemo runs a Gnome Mobile desktop in Matchbox. As does Hildon. Matchbox has basically become the industry standard WM for Mobile Linux. It was designed for this type of environment. KDE4 is quite usable as well, but honestly Gnome Mobile does a better job. The main problem with Maemo was the lack of portability in certain apps like Abiword.

 

[emil10001]

I think the Tango mock-ups have been my favorite so far. But, I'll probably be happy with whatever the default interface is, since it will usually be covered up by whatever other app I'm using anyways. Hell, I'd be happy with xterm. =)

Edit:
After reading some of the other threads, if KDE4 is going to be easier to get up and running, then I would be quite happy with that. It is my desktop environment of choice.

 

[cb88]

...hmm i really don't care as long as it doesn't hog ram...
right now gnome is hogging my ram... if i was running kde it would hogg my ram

personally i like icewm on my desktop and rox as the file manager.... does the rox desktop compile on arm? that would be uber cool

also rox is modeled after risc os which ram on arm based acorn computers im pretty sure...

Rox is VERY lightweight and highly usable... it doesn't supply a menu but there is a quick launch bar and programs minimise as icons on the desktop to me it sounds that Rox was made for the pandora LOL also it handles mime types very well you can even choose your own custom programs to launch per filetype very easily... so if someone compiles Rox ... I'll be all over it LOL

OHH! I almost for got... with the rox filer you get RoxApps basically a special folder format that rox recognises as a program drag n' drop actions and all kinds of stuff can be defined for them i even made one for the anna chatbot program for puppylinux

wow i really can't wait to see rox running on a hand held LOL

If you wannna see rox in action just install it in debian or download puppylinux since it uses it by default for size and lightwieghtness not to mention all the great features

 

[KRH]

Whats wrong with the good old Command Line?

I'd like something that flexes the systems muscle a little, And KDE 4 looks pretty slick.

 

[hessiess]

eather a eye candy free GUI like Gnome with all effects turned off. or a CLI.

 

[littlewookie]

I would like to see fluxbox

 

[magicman5421]

come on guys. xfce. lightweight, easy to use, it's awesome. that or a custom wm is the way to go.

 

[AireTamStorm]

Who here would prefer a lightweight game launcher UI which would in turn launch a more fully featured GUI like KDE / Gnome?

I'd be fine with a CLI, but I doubt many others would be.

I wonder, is the Pandora going to include the toolset to compile stuff on the handheld itself?