Some Questions

[zagabar]

Yo!

I read about the pandora some years ago and now when I saw that stuff really is happening about it I really got an urge to get my hand on one. It looks fun from a gamers point of view. It also seems nice because of other stuff like using it as a media player.

I am fond of the idea that it runs Linux. I like Linux. What I don't know about though, is this ARM architecture. Apparently, you can't run stuff compiled for the ordinary architecture. Since I don't know much about Linux that runs under this architecture, I am wondering if it is possible to do some things on the pandora that I know are possible to do on standard Linux systems.

On a pandora, can you:

Install a FTP server?
Install a SSH server?
Connect to other SSH servers?
Connect to OpenVPN servers?
Receive streamed music from an ampache server?
Watch videos with subtitles and still see them good on that small screen?

These are all things that IMO would be fun to try out with a pandora. Furthermore, I noticed that there is no Alt button on the pandora keyboard. How do you control programs that require the alt button? Like when running screen in Linux terminals for instance.

One last thought from me: How strong is the 600MHz ARM CPU when compared to a standard architecture one? More or less efficient than a standard one with 600 MHz?

 

[paulguy]

To answer your questions listed in order:

Yes, Yes, Yes, if you can compile a program from source to do this then yes, same as last answer, depends on how well you can see and the subtitles themselves (font/color/etc).

Now for your longer questions:

I think alt is one of the start or select buttons near the middle of the nubs, but I may be wrong.

This is kinda hard to compare to a PC, but I hear it being somewhere along the lines of a P3 in efficiency, but then it may do better in some areas, but worse in others, so I wouldn't expect exact performance from the same programs. The compiler is also another thing to consider, too. GCC for ARM is likely less developed than GCC for x86, and it's ability to use NEON is probably not as good as it's ability to use stuff like MMX or SSE without manual optimization.

 

[kingoddball]

The performance of the CPU is superb!

 

[cosam]

What I don't know about though, is this ARM architecture. Apparently, you can't run stuff compiled for the ordinary architecture. Since I don't know much about Linux that runs under this architecture, I am wondering if it is possible to do some things on the pandora that I know are possible to do on standard Linux systems.

Linux is Linux, no matter what it runs on. Unless you're hacking the kernel or coding in assembly, there is no real difference between Linux on ARM, x86, PPC, MIPS, M68K, or any of the other architectures it runs on. You can therefore do the same things on them all, performance allowing.

Furthermore, I noticed that there is no Alt button on the pandora keyboard. How do you control programs that require the alt button? Like when running screen in Linux terminals for instance.

The Start button is actually Alt.

One last thought from me: How strong is the 600MHz ARM CPU when compared to a standard architecture one? More or less efficient than a standard one with 600 MHz?

I take it by "standard architecture" you mean x86 or similar? There are actually more ARMs running in the world than x86 processors these days ;-) In any case, comparison across different architectures is always going to be an apples/oranges affair as each one has it own strengths and weaknesses. Master clock frequency becomes a meaningless number when comparing different architectures. If you really want to compare the Pandora's CPU to an x86, Pentium 3 is probably a reasonable ball park.