* Nubs: Work. They use the same userspace and settings as in the Pandora, but there's not yet an UI implemented to set it up.
I think all userspace controls should be dropped and moved to the input daemon. That will make it compatible with mainline, and must be done early so nothing depends on the old stuff. So quite some work here.
Such things can be improved in the future. We also improved a lot of the Pandora over time, so the Pyra doesn't need to be perfect from the beginning.
NO NO NO NO
This attitude is part of the reason the Software on the Pandora is such a mess.
Sure we got tons of PNDs, but as a developer as well as a user there are so many inconsistencies and pitfalls.
Most of those happened because we don't have much space on the NAND, so we have to include various libraries...
Of course, the more we can finalize at the beginning, the better. But focussing on the most important bits first and improving the rest later is the only way to go.
Otherwise, you might have not-that-important stuff optimized, but something like 3D doesn't work at all.
We don't have a unified control scheme - leading to confused users and an overall messy experience until you get used to it.
A lot of PNDs depend on old or new libs (which need to be packed along) - it took forever to get away from the completely hacked OS and kernel and get some sort of compatibility with standard packages.
That should have been improved with the new .dbp format, which is in open development for quite some time.
There is no central game hub. We have C4A now (after how many years), but no common lobby/chat/etc. (granted this is not essential, however we are such a small community, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to meet and interact with each other)
Skeezix still plans to enhance that into a central game hub for the Pyra. I don't know how much time he has though, but in my opinion, it's important to have everything (with all features) clearly defined upfront. Code can happen later, but the standards need to be lined out and defined.
There is no official SDK or devkit, everybody just hacked their own. It is pretty straightforward now, but it was a mess in the beginning.
Yes, part of the small NAND. With the Pyra, you can easily install all the dev-packages.
It took quite a while for a central repo to appear and now that we got one it is basically dead development wise and not open-source.
I've got access to the sourcecode, milkshake agreed to make the repo for the Pyra as well and he also said multiple times that I'm free to do whatever I want with the sourcecode (even opening it) in case he stops working on it.
You can also work on a such a repo if you like, with guys from the community.
In fact, that's what I wanted to do when I wanted to create the new website (with Wiki, Repo, Boards, etc. integrated) with community members over a year ago.
We found a few guys who wanted to do that voluntarily - and not a single line of code has been written since then.
I'm happy if community members do that, but sadly, it's not something that can be relied on.
Stuff like this happens and work hours get wasted because everything just gets rushed to a barely working state, then improved later.
No, it happens because there is not enough manpower.
We can't wait 2 more years with the release simply because the software takes so long to be polished enough.
aTc is basically working alone on the OS (with a bit of help), for over a year now, slaeshjeeg on the dbp system.
There actually was a long timeframe where anyone could've helped.
Crying out now when the hardware is nearly finished won't help at all. There wouldn't have be any need for rushing if more users would've helped long ago.
I mean don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say everything is shit with the Pandora, but the Pyra could be so much more.
Doing things right from the beginning is essential to give users and developers a better experience. Sitting a few skilled people down with coordinated tasks could save so many man-hours in the end.
True, but were are these people?
I'm happy to work together with anyone to improve everything from the beginning, but it seems there are only a few really reliable community members.
I do get that you have to make money and don't have the time to spend on "extra" tasks (since many people here probably don't even care for these things). I am not saying doing all this is easy and straight-forward. I don't really know what to do about it, just please keep this in mind and consider giving the OS and Software side of the Pyra before launch more attention than the Pandora's OS got back then.
Once the units are being sold, money shouldn't be the problem and I'm fine paying for good software work.
Until then, manpower is low, so we need to concentrate on the essential things, try to at write down everything we want to implement (and HOW it will be implemented) from the beginning and implement that later, so that not much will need to be changed.
