rygD
Nihilistic Mystic
I like them even if for no other reason than to see what is working, what kind of performance to expect, and to see what I will be able to do that I couldn't do with Pandora.
Ram Poll.
- Thread starter DrHAX
- Start date
I like them even if for no other reason than to see what is working, what kind of performance to expect, and to see what I will be able to do that I couldn't do with Pandora.
Kev2442
Still French
I guess no matter how much we'll have, we'll get to max it up. So let's settle for the lower amount.
Why ? Because we'll scrap it most of the time, and it would only be needed for heavy games and VMs, which could use better CPUs and GPUs anyway.
That should encourage us all to optimize and to adopt more cautious habits while using the Pyra.
2 GBs should be enough for the current board.
On the other hand, if you max out the RAM, you'll likely max out the CPU and likewise. So with a better SoC should come more RAM.
By then, we'll probably have more efficient chips, like LPDDR3 or 4, which will also come smaller, thus allowing additional chips/bigger SoC/more RAM.
I voted for 2 and 4 because the main argument is about battery life. Most of us will use the Pyra outdoors. At least at times.
Some of us may not. I've heard plenty of times that people would like to use the Pyra as a Pi-in-a-case or so.
If it's meant to stay plugged, it doesn't need a battery anyway. Then if that isn't much trouble, I support the motion for giving them the choice between 2 and 4.
If there should only be one, then 2 GBs has always been the rational choice.
Why ? Because we'll scrap it most of the time, and it would only be needed for heavy games and VMs, which could use better CPUs and GPUs anyway.
That should encourage us all to optimize and to adopt more cautious habits while using the Pyra.
2 GBs should be enough for the current board.
On the other hand, if you max out the RAM, you'll likely max out the CPU and likewise. So with a better SoC should come more RAM.
By then, we'll probably have more efficient chips, like LPDDR3 or 4, which will also come smaller, thus allowing additional chips/bigger SoC/more RAM.
I voted for 2 and 4 because the main argument is about battery life. Most of us will use the Pyra outdoors. At least at times.
Some of us may not. I've heard plenty of times that people would like to use the Pyra as a Pi-in-a-case or so.
If it's meant to stay plugged, it doesn't need a battery anyway. Then if that isn't much trouble, I support the motion for giving them the choice between 2 and 4.
If there should only be one, then 2 GBs has always been the rational choice.
ZXDunny
Deep avatar
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Yeah, like happened with the Pandora? We had to suffer through hundreds and hundreds of drive-by ports with little or no optimisation or customisation for the Pandora's hardware - even now we're getting ports that don't use the face buttons or shoulders properly, don't bother to put the nubs into joystick mode when appropriate etc, because the guy porting it is too lazy to care, and only wants to be the one to have "ported" (if you can call it that).
You think the Pyra will be any different? If anything the situation will be worse.
D.
ptitSeb
Serial Porter
Is that still true? This sound a little unfair, because, I do spend time to finalise my "ports" and adapt them as bast as I can to the Pandora. But there is a learning curve here, and when I take my early ports, I cleary see that I have evolved and now better equiped to adapt to pandora control, screen resolution, hardware, etc...
ptitSeb
Serial Porter
Still, it's a comment sent to anyone, targeting all ports, that can be read by anyone, including those that don't own a Pandora and wanting to get info about what the pyra will be.
And I find this comment unfair and not reflecting the current state of Pandora software library.
(but I do hope his prediction about the Pyra library will be wrong, especialy with what the CPU power will enabled as "easy (crapy) ports")
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ZXDunny
Deep avatar
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Hell no, I'm sure people know who they are and I certainly don't include you, ptitSeb or Sebt3 either. It's rare to see a port now that hasn't had some love and attention wrt the Pandora's uniqueness, but I vividly recall a huge rash of ports that made no effort whatsoever beyond a simple "make all" with minor source changes to get it to build. There was a piece of software released very recently that even used the keyboard when perfectly decent controls were available... But anyway:
The Pyra will be hugely more powerful. Many Pandora ports were tuned for that platform because they didn't perform well with the sub-par SOC we had to endure. With the effort that took, porting authors gained a better insight into how the game or application worked, and very often added little extras to make the Pandora version stand out - it was not a great deal of bother after the initial optimisation needed.
With the Pyra though, pretty much anything will run at full speed without issues. There won't be any need to get into the guts of the source and there won't be anything like the incentive to customise it to the platform. Hence, I expect that with a few exceptions there will be quite a lot of ports that require keyboard use when it's not necessary or will run in a window rather than full screen... You get the idea.
I suppose we shall see?
D.
The Pyra will be hugely more powerful. Many Pandora ports were tuned for that platform because they didn't perform well with the sub-par SOC we had to endure. With the effort that took, porting authors gained a better insight into how the game or application worked, and very often added little extras to make the Pandora version stand out - it was not a great deal of bother after the initial optimisation needed.
With the Pyra though, pretty much anything will run at full speed without issues. There won't be any need to get into the guts of the source and there won't be anything like the incentive to customise it to the platform. Hence, I expect that with a few exceptions there will be quite a lot of ports that require keyboard use when it's not necessary or will run in a window rather than full screen... You get the idea.
I suppose we shall see?
D.
ptitSeb
Serial Porter
Ah yes, that I agree and I'm also afraid of the bad side effect.
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
I don't get this one... Honestly, in a full desktop envionment I don't want most things in full screen, unless they were designed to be run in full screen in the first place. I generally want to be able to see and access my task bar unless I'm playing an action game. It was one of the things that irritated me about the pandora port of the SGT puzzles suite, the games were forced full-screen and the built in mechanism to change to windowed mode was disabled. so every time I start one I end up having to bring up the control menu through an awkward keyboard shortcut and switch it back to windowed mode that way.
-Neelix
Tensuke
Active Member
I'm perfectly fine with 2GB, the Pandora had 256MB after all (well mine does), and it did quite a lot. BUT I do like to use it as a computer, not just a gaming device, so 4GB is really the minimum I'd want. Because I'm all about that multitasking. I totally understand why 2GB may be the only option at the start, however, and again, I'd be absolutely fine with that because it won't diminish the Pyra at all. Plus, I can always upgrade it later! 
pmprog
DNF (Did Not Finish)
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I'm afraid you'll probably get similar on the Pyra. There was talk in one thread about not being able to do windowed 3D; but as SDL 2 and Allegro 5 use GLES as a back end, I imagine them being similarly afflicted. I could be wrong... as there was also talk about hw-accelerated 2D, but I don't know how that differs.
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
I understand that. I may not particularly like it in some cases, but I'm in those cases I'm willing to accept that that's a limitation of the system. (if that does turn out to be the case) For a lot of stuff I'd want to do though there is no need for such an interface, and if it's possible for something to be run windowed I really don't want it to be forced to run full-screen.
-Neelix
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My guess 50% of the voters won't get what they wanted.
rygD
Nihilistic Mystic
Are you two talking about the first section of the poll, where you can pick multiple answers? 50% of the votes (which is not current) may not be 50% of the voters. It could be half the voters, but I don't have time/patience to check that.
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I'm just being snarky, don't put any effort in trying to find anything meaningful in what I'm saying here.
rygD
Nihilistic Mystic
I figured, and my reply doesn't have much value either. Just "Don't take these poll results seriously" maybe. I think the choices are poor, and am pretty sure this is just a place for us to throw out our stupid ideas and argue.
When making the decision one not only has to consider the practical aspects but also marketing. Will enough people looking at the specs when first encountering the Pyra be more likely to make a purchase if it says XGB RAM (also noting the cost and battery life). Will enough people be swayed by this decision to make the increase in RAM profitable.I suspect that people will certainly pay more attention to a device that has 4GB of ram even if the cost is higher and the battery life lower.
