Plans Cad Diagrams, Electrical Diagrams

[torpor]

That being said, I'm pretty sure there will be a repo for Pandora software. I don't think it necessarily has to be run by OP.

On the contrary, I think it essential that OP maintain the repo. As the Pandora market-share grows from being dedicated hackers to casual users, these casual users need to be provided with as official a source of software as possible.

 

[rabidpoobear]

That being said, I'm pretty sure there will be a repo for Pandora software. I don't think it necessarily has to be run by OP.

On the contrary, I think it essential that OP maintain the repo. As the Pandora market-share grows from being dedicated hackers to casual users, these casual users need to be provided with as official a source of software as possible.

I think you need to make a distinction between "official" and other important things such as "reliability", "relevancy", "maintenance", etc.
For example, the Official Blog is updated much less frequently than the Unofficial Blog. If I had to choose which one I'd rather have, I'd choose the unofficial one. Being "unofficial", or not "run by the developers" of the hardware doesn't preclude its being a good resource. In fact, I'd much rather have the community maintain a software repository than have Craigix and ED and MWeston do it - the OP team have a lot more important things to deal with in the project. I don't doubt that the OP team could maintain a repo, I just don't see how it's necessary that they be the ones to do it. That's the whole point of the openness of the system, whoever wants to can do the job.

 

[torpor]

QUOTE
That's the whole point of the openness of the system, whoever wants to can do the job.


My point is this: the job can be done well, or it can be done poorly. If OP are doing the job, they have the proper motivation - market growth - to do it properly. If some random guy does the job, who knows what his motivation is?

I agree with you that OP don't have to be the ones to do it - my point is that they are the ones from where a canonical/authoritative approach for the masses makes sense.

 

[gp32rich]

And may i ask if there are any books about the pandora,
Yeah. Expect Craig to write a book, entitled 'Gimme a coupla months'. It'll be out a couple of months after Pandora

 

[desijays]

Please don't think im hijacking the thread by changing the topic but i didn't think it was necessary to create a new thread for this.. but my question is, I want to develop applications for the pandora(games, general apps and the likes). Could someone please point me in the right direction as to how i can go about setting up a development environment for this purpose? I don't have a demo pandora to test the apps on. Would it be possible for me to buy a test piece to develop and test the apps for the pandora? Or is there any other alternative, to develop applications for the pandora?

 

[WhiteBat]

. Could someone please point me in the right direction as to how i can go about setting up a development environment for this purpose? I don't have a demo pandora to test the apps on. Would it be possible for me to buy a test piece to develop and test the apps for the pandora? Or is there any other alternative, to develop applications for the pandora?

http://beagleboard.org/

 

[Dunny]

So long as a distro has support for all the libraries that your program uses, there's no reason you have to target a program at a specific distro.

Hmm. Looks like my plan to code my own OS based on the Sinclair Spectrum ROM image isn't going to go down too well then.

D.

 

[desijays]

Please don't think im hijacking the thread by changing the topic but i didn't think it was necessary to create a new thread for this.. but my question is, I want to develop applications for the pandora(games, general apps and the likes"]. Could someone please point me in the right direction as to how i can go about setting up a development environment for this purpose? I don't have a demo pandora to test the apps on. Would it be possible for me to buy a test piece to develop and test the apps for the pandora? Or is there any other alternative, to develop applications for the pandora?

http://beagleboard.org/[/quote]oh, thank you for the link. But are you sure the begleboard is similar to the pandora in every way? And that any program that runs on the beagle boards can run on the pandora?

Cheers

 

[Squidge]

It shared the same SoC, but there are obviously differences, such as the Beagleboard has no LCD, keyboard, or gaming controls.

Depends on what you want to do. If all your interested in is SDL, then the Beagleboard is a waste really - you might as well develope on Windows/Linux until the Pandora comes out. But if your interested in more hardware hacking, then its a good deal.

 

[Pleng]

QUOTE
That's the whole point of the openness of the system, whoever wants to can do the job.

My point is this: the job can be done well, or it can be done poorly. If OP are doing the job, they have the proper motivation - market growth - to do it properly. If some random guy does the job, who knows what his motivation is?

I agree with you that OP don't have to be the ones to do it - my point is that they are the ones from where a canonical/authoritative approach for the masses makes sense.


If the device does break into the mainstream, the majority of users will never even look at installing or running another OS (Even with the 3000 odd that have been pre-ordered, I doubt that more than 10-20% will ever bother using an alt OS/distro, and even less using another as their main OS). A 'Pandora Game' or 'Pandora App' will be considered to be an app that runs on the firmware with which the Pandora is shipped, just as a 'PC Game' is considered to be a game that runs on Windows.

 

[desijays]

It shared the same SoC, but there are obviously differences, such as the Beagleboard has no LCD, keyboard, or gaming controls.

Depends on what you want to do. If all your interested in is SDL, then the Beagleboard is a waste really - you might as well develope on Windows/Linux until the Pandora comes out. But if your interested in more hardware hacking, then its a good deal.

Actually at this point i am more interested developing software (application and games) for the pandora. And even though i would do some hardware hacking in the sense, i would like to augment to the capabilities of the existing pondara as opposed to modifying it as it is.. I don't plan on doing it now. But thank you for info. How are the developers developing software for the pandora testing their code at the moment? Maybe that will tell me something about how i should go about setting up a dev environment for developing for the pandora )

Cheers

PS: oh and by the way.. after some searching i came across an IRC channel on irc.freenode.net that goes by the name #openpandora.

 

[God Ginrai]

And may i ask if there are any books about the pandora,
Yeah. Expect Craig to write a book, entitled 'Gimme a coupla months'. It'll be out a couple of months after Pandora

EvilDragon's will be called "Hellollo". By the way, IIRC, there's a historian who found his way to the forums a while back who plans on doing at least an article about this.

-God Ginrai

 

[desijays]

Could someone please tell me how the current developers are building and testing software(applications or games) for the pandora? I think that would give me an idea as to how i can go about setting up a development environment for developing apps for the pandora. Someone mentioned the beagle board and I went through that, but as someone else on the thread said... it was primarily meant for hardware hacking.

Thank you,

Cheers

 

[Squidge]

and will port to the Pandora properly when they get one.

Note that you can't buy a pre-production Pandora. These units are offered on a invite only basis. There was a thread a while ago asking who was interested and what they could offer, etc. A select few were chosen.

If you want to write optimised code for the Pandora, or use the Hardware 3D, your best way is still the Beagleboard.

 

[desijays]

Note that you can't buy a pre-production Pandora. These units are offered on a invite only basis. There was a thread a while ago asking who was interested and what they could offer, etc. A select few were chosen.

Are you sure there isn't a pre-production Pandora for sale? Just one? Maybe I can buy it off of someone who has already used it and planning to sell it or something. But I don't know how anyone could part with their pandora, even if it is just a pre-production version. I know I won't

But that apart, If I can't get access to a pre-production pandora, are there any cross compilers that i can use to write for the pandora? And also, a list of some important API's available for the Arm Platform like the SDL, would be helpful so I can decide which one to use and avoid using libraries that are closed source and don't have ARM versions!


PS: by the way, i just heard about scratchbox. It is a cross compiling environment. Any take on how good it is or if other developers are using it and if it is compatible with pandy?

 

[Squidge]

Are you sure there isn't a pre-production Pandora for sale? Just one? Maybe I can buy it off of someone who has already used it and planning to sell it or something.
Pre-production Pandora's cost about $3,000 each to make, so if someone decided to sell you one, I think the project leaders would have the heavies round there house pretty damn quickly

But that apart, If I can't get access to a pre-production pandora, are there any cross compilers that i can use to write for the pandora? And also, a list of some important API's available for the Arm Platform like the SDL, would be helpful so I can decide which one to use and avoid using libraries that are closed source and don't have ARM versions!
Your best bet is to use a Beagleboard or Gp2X or Wiz, that way you know your app works on an ARM platform and that all the required libraries are already available. Alternatively if your only interested in SDL, then develope on Linux or Windows on your PC. The code isn't going to change much if you restrict the resolution to the same as the Pandora's.

I wouldn't bother with scratchbox. Either develope on Windows/Linux or buy a 2X/Wiz/Beagle.

 

[WizardStan]

I've been using Codesourcery to cross compile and testing it on my BeagleBoard. I also asked Pickle to test one of my programs, and he confirmed it worked. It then crashed because I hadn't coded to expect an 800x480 resolution, but at least it got that far, so I'm fairly confident that it will run just fine.

 

[desijays]

Is it possible to develop using the codesourcery and then test the code in virtual box with angstrom installed as a guest operating system? Or do i have no other choice but to use Qemu(which i've never used before )

 

[Squidge]

Whats wrong with buying a cheap GP2X? No only will it let you run your ARM compiled apps, it'll let you play everyones emus and games that are already out

A proper ARM platform will always be better than an emulated one.

 

[desijays]

Is it available in India? Cos thats where Im from! Or is it available only in USA and UK? There's too much cost involved on top of the actual price of the GP2X to get it here. Money that I am saving up for the pandora! I checked out the beagleboard and it is sold by only one distributor here and the price quoted is 120 to 150$ more than what I would pay in the US or the UK.

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. And thats why im trying to set up a dev env that is mostly software alone ! I hope you understand my predicament!