Preparing for the Pandora - Setup questions

[TDT]

Hey all,


I thought it may be helpful to start a thread that discusses some of the setup things we can do prior to getting our pandora within the next few months. Things I'm thinking are, getting the flash cards setup with must-have apps, emulator/roms/etc, and any necessary files to make the pandora run like a charm when we get it. Kinda like an ultra-beginner thread.


So does anything like this exist already? if so, I apologize.


The immediate questions I kinda have:


1) What's the max size SD card the pandora can hold? I know there are 2 slots.


2) For each of the cards, can apps reside on both cards, or only one card and data on another?


3) What are some "must have" type games/apps? I know this is very subjective.


Maybe it'd be worthwhile/cool to create a torrent of a starter-kit of a certain size, that has the base folder structure setup, a few sample apps, and so on.

 

[mindlord]

1) 32GB SDHC cards are more or less guaranteed to work. There's a http://www.pandorawiki.org/SD_compatibility_list. Some cards work better than others. SDXC cards are likely to work, but there's not speed benefit in them, only size. Class 6 is about as fast as you will ever need, the SDIO just isn't fast enough for class 10 to make much difference.


2) Both cards can contain Apps and Data. Depending on your use case, you may consider installing the OS in SLOT 1 and putting everything else in SLOT 2. This has the benefit of saving wear on the NAND, and giving you a failsafe should things go wrong when away from home. It also opens up more possibilities, like SWAP.


3) DeathTrap Remix. No Seriously, You will want one of the full browsers, whichever is your flavor, Midori, Firefox, or Chrome. There are some killer games out there - again mostly up to preference. I strongly suggest checking out the PSX Emulator. If you haven't been there yet repo.openpandora.org is pretty much the best place to start looking at software, and there is also the WIKI.


The concept of a starter kit has come up before, and it never materializes because each person uses their Pandora differently. Besides using the Repo or the PND Store application on the Pandora is pretty trivial if your WIFI is working well.

 

[Binky]

1. I know some 64GB cards work. Perhaps 128GB too?
   

 

[TDT]

2) Both cards can contain Apps and Data. Depending on your use case, you may consider installing the OS in SLOT 1 and putting everything else in SLOT 2. This has the benefit of saving wear on the NAND, and giving you a failsafe should things go wrong when away from home. It also opens up more possibilities, like SWAP.

How does one accomplish this? That may be a good starting spot.


I didn't really know about the app store on the pandora, interesting...I'll have to read more about that. Maybe it's worth more coming up with a list of apps I want, and install them through that store.

 

[mindlord]

How does one accomplish this? That may be a good starting spot.


I didn't really know about the app store on the pandora, interesting...I'll have to read more about that. Maybe it's worth more coming up with a list of apps I want, and install them through that store.

SD Card Installer for Pandora will automate the process of installing the latest firmware to the card of your choice.


PND Store gets its list of apps directly from repo.openpandora.org you can download your PNDs from there and assure compatibility with the PND Store application.

 

[Binky]

How much disk space do people use for apps, typically?


128MB?


16GB?

 

[TDT]

SD Card Installer for Pandora will automate the process of installing the latest firmware to the card of your choice.


PND Store gets its list of apps directly from repo.openpandora.org you can download your PNDs from there and assure compatibility with the PND Store application.

Thanks. Unfortunately requires a pandora to really set it up. Well, Binky brings up a good question. For the first card, assuming the firmware is installed there, is it possible to install apps on that first card still?


I'm kinda thinking the split of say - OS, Apps, Swap on the first card, and store more data on the 2nd card (not pnds, other stuff). This goes a bit against what minilord recommended. With this configuration, shouldn't the NAND still have less wear on it?

 

[skeezix]

If you install the firmware onto an SD card, you can still put apps on it; I'd recommend multiple partitions then, so that reinstalling firmware blindly over the existing one on the SD won't risk killing anything, but no sweat either way. Installing OS to SD is a more advanced idea imho, I wouldn't worry about that up front too much. Most people will never do that, but its a neat thing to do.


jeff

 

[bagmouse7]

I put the OS, a swap partition and what I consider "critical apps" (web browers, cli tools, codec pack, midi installer, etc.) in the apps directory on SD1 (16GB class 10 card), then I put everything else on on SD2 (32GB class 10 card). I try to stay away from using the OS on the installed NAND, but that is mostly because I like to run the beta hot fixes when they come out and it is much easier to do that on the SD in slot 1.


You can fit almost everything for Pandora on a 32 GB card, Some of the really big stuff (images for Daphne or an iso image for example) I will also put on the SD1 card, but most everything will fit nicely on a single dedicated 32 GB card for apps.