Questions About The Pandora

[dowant]

A few days ago I started hunting for a portable, open and powerful piece of hardware with a bias towards graphics capabilities. Most portable hardware by commercial companies are so locked down that you can't use it for any purpose other than what was intended. I came upon the Gp2x and was about to get one when I saw a link to Pandora.
All I can say is:

I WANT ONE NOW!!

The processing power is touted but it is also so unique in featureset. The combination of compact design, USB, Bluetooth, Wifi, Touchscreen, keyboard, game controller, SD slots, AV out etc doesn't have many equivalents out there. Then you have the fact that it is open and runs an open source OS.
Did I mention I want one now?

I do have a few questions though.

Does it support large SD cards of 16-20 GB?

Is the touchscreen multi-touch?

Any plan to support the multi-input X?
Even without a multi-touch screen it would allow for each analog nub to control a different cursor for instance.

Are you guys leaning towards any particular window manager at this point?
I'm guessing you might not go for a full Desktop Environment but with something like Fluxbox, IceWm or Enlightenment.

I'd love some more insight into what the software configuration is goign to be like.
There is so much great portable open source software now, from Java to Gnash, we are pretty spoiled for options even on a non-intel architecture.

I'm pretty hyped and I WILL be interested in helping to write/port software when it comes out.
Thanks to this community for coming up with this idea!

 

[Chip]

<Re-formated for easy answering>

1. Does it support large SD cards of 16-20 GB?
2. Is the touchscreen multi-touch?
3. Any plan to support the multi-input X?
4. Are you guys leaning towards any particular window manager at this point?
5. I'd love some more insight into what the software configuration is goign to be like.

1. Yes
2. No
3. No plans that I'm aware of, but there's nothing to prevent it from being added later
4. I believe they're leaning towards something simple like Kdrive
5. If you mean pre-installed software, then I can't really help you. There's a lot of stuff in development but I don't think anybody knows exactly what will ship with the first Pandoras. As for what will be available eventually, just poke around the boards. There are already plenty of threads on requested/desired software.

 

[quadomatic]

If you haven't already, check pandorawiki.org for more info. Really good site.

 

[God Ginrai]

A few days ago I started hunting for a portable, open and powerful piece of hardware with a bias towards graphics capabilities. Most portable hardware by commercial companies are so locked down that you can't use it for any purpose other than what was intended. I came upon the Gp2x and was about to get one when I saw a link to Pandora.
All I can say is:

I WANT ONE NOW!!

Wow, the way you discovered the Pandora is similar to how I discovered the 2X many years back. (and just a couple of months before it was supposed to come out, just like you)

Anyways, about the Multi-input X: Like Chip said, I don't know of any plans, but there HAS been mention of it by some people on the forums, so if there is enough want for it, a dev might decide to get it working.

-God Ginrai

 

[Firefox]

Actually, one feature most people don't think about that I'm really loving is the long battery life. It's really great to be able to leave it running for hours and hours at a time while I'm working away. B)

 

[quadomatic]

Actually, one feature most people don't think about that I'm really loving is the long battery life. It's really great to be able to leave it running for hours and hours at a time while I'm working away. B)

Yeah, the battery life issue is probably the biggest problem for the GP2X. I'm glad they're taking good care of it with the Pandora.

 

[dowant]

Thanks for all the responses and pointers.
I checked just about every public resource already including the old and new wikis.
Many of my hardware questions were answered but the system software probably isn't as 'set' yet.

 

[emil10001]

IIRC, multi-point X is supposed to be getting merged back into X. So, implementing it later might be as simple as updating X (not that moving to a new version of X is trivial or anything). I think it'd be a cool feature for either analog nubs or wiimotes to use.

 

[Esn]

Many of my hardware questions were answered but the system software probably isn't as 'set' yet.

It never will be, any more than your PC's software is "set". There will constantly be new games/programs and updates to existing ones.

 

[Jeric]

Just to add to an existing query thread rather than clutter the forum how is s/video out being handled, propritary cable or something you could pick up from walmart? I ask as if its the former then you could have length and or replacement issues to deal with.

 

[dowant]

Many of my hardware questions were answered but the system software probably isn't as 'set' yet.

It never will be, any more than your PC's software is "set". There will constantly be new games/programs and updates to existing ones.


I was thinking more in terms of the system software.
Like what operating system and window manager will be used by default.
But yeah, there's no set, locked down, software footprint, that's the point I love.