Should I Buy This?

[kouta-kun]

Well you already have my question, but basically, if i were to buy this i would want it for emulated games, and light net browsing.
my idea is to just have it on me at all times when I'm bored, the huge selling point for me is the built in controller, but I'm tempted to
wait for the Nintendo 3ds, and see if that can support everything. I guess my main gray areas that i haven't looked into fully are its battery life,
what it can fully support (very impressed with the ff7 demo, if it works) and if it could support youtube and ubuntu.

I'm a huge retro gamer, but I'm on the edge about this, so any selling points i've overlooked id be glad to know.

 

[Prometheus]

Bearing in mind that it's very early days right now, what sort of emulated games are you after?

With regard to YouTube, we have no Flash plugin at this time, as Adobe does not currently provide a catch-all one for ARM-based machines (which is what the Pandora is), so for the time being that is a no. It may be possible in the future, one way or another, as there are several ways around this.

What do you want Ubuntu for that cannot be done with the built-in Ångström, if I may ask?

The battery life is exactly as the team claims it to be - at least ten hours-ish, on average. Not needing to charge frequently is wonderful, I have to say.

 

[gaterooze]

There are dozens of reviews now, why not have a look around, you'll find all the info you need.

 

[Hooka]

...also notable that in time I'm sure that ubuntu on an SD or as a replacement firmware will be possible...

 

[kouta-kun]

well right now i'm using an eee pc 901 for all my portable needs, but i want something pocket sized, if flash is out im ok, but for emulator, id assume snes, gba, are completely fine? also if ps1 is pretty kink free im sold (love ff7, and megaman legends 2). Also, my os needs are basically just mess around, but i just said ubuntu, cause im used to it. But this would now be a replacement for my mini laptop, but more as an altrernative to it. But i assume things like msn would work fine?

 

[kouta-kun]

oh ya, almost forgot, i'm planning on buying 2 really big class 10 sd cards, just put all my music and some videos on one, and perhaps ubuntu on the other, any video or mp3 player issues?

 

[Prometheus]

SNES is fine. There is a port of VisualBoyAdvance but it will likely soon be superseded by a port of Gpsp, which covers the GBA front. As far as the PSX goes, you may want to go and have a look at the compatibility list thread for that one. Most stuff is getting close to full-speed, but there are some issues right now (I'm afraid that MegaMan Legends 2 does not work right now - I'm the one who tested that one ).

You can see what else is around and how people are getting on with things by taking a look at the Beta Testing and News Zone sections, which I'm sure you've already done by now.

I believe that Pidgin supports MSN Messenger (though it's not a protocol I use myself), but I'm fairly sure it doesn't support all of its features. However, if all you need from it is the ability to keep in touch, it should work out alright. (Although I seem to recall that at least Pleng, another member here, has experienced issues with Pidgin crashing when connected to MSN Messenger - you may want to look around in the "I need help" forum, to see if anyone else has come up against that.)

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

EDIT: I use mine for videos and MP3s very often, and wrote a DVD-ripping guide earlier today. No issues there, assuming you're not relying on CPU-heavy video formats. Please be wary of fake SD Cards, by the way.

 

[kouta-kun]

thanks for the welcome, really new about this, only known about it for 30 min , but i think i just convinced myself when i realized i can use it in place of an ipod.
ok i guess my last question is, i watch alot of hd mkv videos, will there be a problem supporting? will it support avi? one of my ways of getting around flash is a youtube downloader, where i just download a youtube video as an avi, but im really worried about the processor and ram, to be honest i haven't really gotten ps1 working on my desktop (running windows 7 and ubuntu) so thats whats keeping me on the edge.


Edit: Also, start up time, I'm all for buying a very fast sd card and just running the os off that, one other thing that id want
is under 7 second startup and shut down (i got my eee pc to 5 seconds after skipping the boot loader, and putting in a runcore)

 

[Prometheus]

I can't comment on HD stuff, as it's a field I have no interest in, but at the moment we're waiting on hardware-accelerated decoding to be added (which should be with the next big OS update, when a new kernel is expected to be added), which should help with that. Someone who knows better than me on that front would be able to answer that better.

As for AVI, I gather that AVI is a container - what sort of video is actually in it? The Community Codec Pack adds support for a lot, but it would be handy to know.

(And about PSX on your desktop, what problems have you had with that?)

EDIT: Start-up time is something that will likely be continually tweaked. I haven't timed it, so I can't tell you what it is - I only know it's quick enough for me! :lol:

 

[gruso]

FYI, sebt3 has just ported a standalone Youtube player: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54831-minitube/The

[The rest of my post I deleted, because I was ninja'd point for point by Prometheus. ]

Seems like this thing ticks all your boxes, but be aware that even if you could secure an order today, it would probably be a few months before it was delivered.

 

[kouta-kun]

well psx on my desktop, isn't working due to laziness, but mostly forgetfulness, to be honest, i never gave it more then 30 seconds (always tried for psp and yes it works fine) but i just never got an emulator that works (preferably for windows)

 

[Prometheus]

I would also like to stress that, given how new to this you said you are, you really should have a look around here in General Talk, as well as the other Pandora-specific sections, and take in people's views from across the board (pun intended).

As positive as our answers may seem, it's important to know what you might be getting into and what to expect.

EDIT: Ahh, I see. PSX emulation here isn't hard to set up - there's also a guide to ripping your CDs, in the "Tweaks Thread" in the "I need help" section.

 

[kouta-kun]

ok thanks for the help, i think im sold (now i just have to track one down after i get some money )

also can it support amsn or emescene?

 

[kouta-kun]

also i think my main needs have been met, but if i were able to get rid of my psp and ds (full emulation) id buy 10 lol

 

[Prometheus]

If the source is available, within reason (i.e., as long as it doesn't rely on stuff specific to x86 processors, or proprietary libraries restricted to Microsoft Windows, and things like that) something can be ported.

I know aMSN is open source, but I'm afraid I haven't heard of Emescene. I don't know if anyone is working on porting aMSN right now, though.

Congratulations on your first ninja, just now, by the way. :lol: That seems to be a forum tradition.

 

[kouta-kun]

first ninja? You have me at a loss with that one (i know total noob) but im pretty used to ubuntu and its list of programs (especially some of the japanese ones)
so i was just hoping for cool random programs, speaking of wich is there a supported program list?

 

[Prometheus]

Haha, "ninja'ing" is when you beat someone to making a post (as you can see on page one, I ninja'd Gruso, there ). It's just something that seems to happen around here. I should probably add that one to the glossary at some point.

As for a supported program list, I don't know if there is one, but will Pandora Apps and the Pandora File Archive do, for the moment? They won't tell you what's coming up, but since they're the main places to get software, they do contain almost everything that's around at this minute.

 

[kouta-kun]

ya thats perfect, thanks, yup im sold (now i just need money)

 

[Hooka]

...and two months(tm)

 

[Arkay Firestar]

ya thats perfect, thanks, yup im sold (now i just need money)

Realistically, don't expect to be able to get one this year unless you spend over $1000 on ebay or order, somehow manage to slip into the first 4000, and then manage to get a defective ("one-nubber") unit. Things have slowed down a bit from an assembly standpoint, and it's looking like winter-ish for the last few hundred of the first batch (just total estimate on my part, I'm a pessimist by nature).

Really, if you want one ASAP, you should order ASAP. Who knows when the second batch will really start. Perhaps a cancellation will open up a spot.

I'm personally convinced I'll never actually get mine (or I'll have forgotten all about it when I do), but in the end it's fun to support such an original project.