People who have obviously never heard of Pandora?
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ChaosWarmech
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BaDToaD
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Non Pointy Enterprises corp.
Trip
Sorry, but I suck at explaining stuff :P
Seemed like a good review to me and nearly all of the things that he liked about it are the same things that he would like about the Pandora. How about the fan boys on this site start to pay attention to the things that other consoles are doing right and stop with all the instant hating.
We can learn some useful things from that video, like how the all round user experience needs to be more fluid and it should be easier to get things set up running including the emulators. Wonder if it would be a good idea to include a small script with each emulator that can automatically download any bios files (after showing a disclaimer of course) or extra files that the emulator needs to run without breaking the law?
Looks like they've done a good job with that system. Not that I'd buy one though as it still doesn't do everything I would want it to do.
We can learn some useful things from that video, like how the all round user experience needs to be more fluid and it should be easier to get things set up running including the emulators. Wonder if it would be a good idea to include a small script with each emulator that can automatically download any bios files (after showing a disclaimer of course) or extra files that the emulator needs to run without breaking the law?
Looks like they've done a good job with that system. Not that I'd buy one though as it still doesn't do everything I would want it to do.
An automatic bios downloader, even with a disclaimer is against the law in most countries.
Distributing copies of the bios/firmware/whatever from most of the devices is outlaw.
The most "legal" way of acquiring a bios, is by owning the device and dumping the bios chip yourself, and even that way, in many place, it's still illegal…
Otherwise, I agree, the Xperia Play seems like a nice device, pretty well done.
(but I'll still never buy it, just because there is Sony in the brand and Sony f***ed up too many times…)
Distributing copies of the bios/firmware/whatever from most of the devices is outlaw.
The most "legal" way of acquiring a bios, is by owning the device and dumping the bios chip yourself, and even that way, in many place, it's still illegal…
Otherwise, I agree, the Xperia Play seems like a nice device, pretty well done.
(but I'll still never buy it, just because there is Sony in the brand and Sony f***ed up too many times…)
zowki
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For all intents and purposes I would say that the Pandora has no TV out either. There are no Pandora TV out cables out in the wild.Xperia Play is the closest pandora competitor and a great buy
spend 500 bucks
no qwerty?
no usb host?
NO TV OUT?
no thanks, i prefer sticking with my mini netbook
theshining
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Kodeln
In what way would updating your bios be "illegal", even sony the masters of propriety crapware issue firmware updates for their stuff, thats why a ton of ps3 users threw a wobbly when sony removed the "install other os" option on the ps3, so illegal no I don't think so, even the american government ruled against apple and said that users could "jailbreak" their i devices
just asking!
In what way would updating your bios be "illegal", even sony the masters of propriety crapware issue firmware updates for their stuff, thats why a ton of ps3 users threw a wobbly when sony removed the "install other os" option on the ps3, so illegal no I don't think so, even the american government ruled against apple and said that users could "jailbreak" their i devices
just asking!
WizardStan
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The BIOS used by emulators, which is copyright code which runs on the original machine before (and contains functions frequently used during) actually loading a game. That is what is illegal to download.
Sugarfix
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I don't think this was about updating the device bios, this was about downloading a bios for a system you don't necessarily own. Bios chips (for the Amiga for instance) are a commercial product and it's as illegal to download the bios for an Amiga (if you don't own one) as it is to download an image for a game for the PS3 or an XBox 360.
ZXDunny
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slaeshjag
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Also known as "kickstart"
theshining
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I get it, does anyone on this forum actually care though, because as far as I can tell the amiga kickstart has been out of production for quite some time, like 1993 or so, and I think amiga is owned by more than one company now, and everyone here is busy stuffing their sd cards with emulators and rom's and why wouldn't they?, not everyone owns a retrode or huge collection of carts from the eighties or nineties, so if you wanna play some classic games what else are you going to do?.
Trip
Sorry, but I suck at explaining stuff :P
That's what I was thinking.
Ubuntu and other Linux distributions (and even the PandoraOS) use a script + disclaimer to download and install audio and video codecs that they aren't allowed to install or distribute by default.
I'd say go ahead and do it until some company threatens legal action. It won't be hard to stop using the script once some one complains
That's exactly what I meant
And I don't think it's legal in every country to download the dump of a BIOS even if you own the console.
(In Belgium it's illegal to download a ROM, even if you own the game, but it's legal to make a backup copy yourself)
Like I said, I think the most "legalish" way to obtain a BIOS is to dump yourself the one in the console you own.
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Trip
Sorry, but I suck at explaining stuff :P
The trouble with that is not everybody can afford the equipment or has the know how to do it themselves.That's exactly what I meant
And I don't think it's legal in every country to download the dump of a BIOS even if you own the console.
(In Belgium it's illegal to download a ROM, even if you own the game, but it's legal to make a backup copy yourself)
Like I said, I think the most "legalish" way to obtain a BIOS is to dump yourself the one in the console you own.
As the Pandora is distributed from England, Germany and Turkey, only the laws of those countries would apply to the Pandora. It would be up to the user if they agree to using the script to download something or not meaning that it would be the user breaking any laws.
As long as OpenPandora cover their backs with a disclaimer it should be fine IMO.
Not really bothered myself but it would be one less hassle
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That's exactly what I meant
And I don't think it's legal in every country to download the dump of a BIOS even if you own the console.
(In Belgium it's illegal to download a ROM, even if you own the game, but it's legal to make a backup copy yourself)
Like I said, I think the most "legalish" way to obtain a BIOS is to dump yourself the one in the console you own.
I think there may be a problem with that law (or interpretation of the law). That is: What if you own the machine and you want to update the BIOS on it? Is it illegal to download a new BIOS to update the one on your machine? If it's not, then why would it be illegal to download a BIOS update and use it in an emulator? If that's OK, then why should downloading a BIOS that you already have a copy of on your machine be illegal?
These companies are so afraid that they might lose a nickel (or your choice of coin of low value) that they shoot themselves in the foot trying to make things illegal that, if interpreted strictly, make normal use of the console technically illegal. What they really seem to want is total control over what you can do with the things that you buy even after you buy them. That's ridiculous, and it doesn't really help them in the long run. It hurts them because it makes using their products a hassle to the extent that you are more likely to just not bother with them.
WizardStan
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Source. When downloading an official update, you are downloading it from an official source with the companies blessing. They are giving you the right to make a copy, because it is within their power as copyright holder to do so. It is also within their power as copyright holder to define how that copy can be used, and they define it as updating official hardware. Absolutely no problems here. If I draw a picture, I can give someone the right to use that picture in a commercial of my choosing. That doesn't give them the right to start using it in other commercials as well, just because they've already been granted the right to use it once, nor does it grant that person to use a different picture that I've created just because they've been granted the use of this one.
There are a lot of things to get upset over about copyright law, things that are truly unfair, or ambiguous/inconsistent. This is not one of them. This particular rule is actually as much if not more beneficial to your average Joe Artist as it is for the big name companies.
