Tech challenged person here, need some answers

[Grognard]

Hello forum. First off, please understand, I am not as smart as I might accidentally sound like


I saw Pandora mentioned in a place where Nintendo rules, and it was competing in comparisons.


I myself, am not a gamer first and computer user second, for me it's the other way around.


But one of my constant laments, is no one wants to make classic PC wargames much, for the hand held and console market.


Wargame by my usage of the word does not include shooters by the way. I call arcade games arcade games.


If you want to see a wargame, as I define it, look here.


http://www.slitherine.com/games/mh_ceaw_gold_pc


You will note, it was made for the PC the Mac the DS and the PSP. It is a turn based game of WW2 grand strategy, uses hexes. And the software is not very 'demanding'. Matrix Games (partnered with Slitherine recently) is home too oodles of 'wargames' made for PC. Most wargames will run happily on a computer that is 10 years old. They don't require much in the way of advanced graphics essentially.


Most common wargames install with a fairly small install footprint. My entire collection of 16 games, sits in a folder using 19 gigs.


My most recent purchase BBC Battlefield Academy (also by Slitherine) sits in 600 megs of space. None exceed 2 gigs. Most require a rather modest machine to operate them.


I know diddly about Linux. So I am wondering, seeing as Pandora runs off of SD cards, but has a USB slot, which could handle very capable flash drives, is it possible to run these wargames? How is the install process handled? There's no hard drive, so does a game get installed to SD or flash drives? I've not done that before on my PC. Not sure I could or could not. Which is why I am asking.


I reeeeeally like the potential Pandora seems to offer ie a mini computer in my pocket. The abilty to have actual computer games on my hand held, rather than ONLY whatever Nintendo wishes to provide me with (which is incredibly small in number).


The 3d aspect of the new Nintendo DS device has no draw for me. I can't see in 3d at any rate (no depth perception).


I also like the key board over a virtual screen one (hate using them).


I am assuming the Pandora can do all those cliche tasks Open Office can do? Is this possible? I like the idea of a hand held computer than can play a lot of games, as opposed to a hand held game toy that can do non game things.


The price is no barrier, I just need to be able to do the functions.


Waiting for any complete answers to my post.


Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[sebt3]

I myself, am not a gamer first and computer user second, for me it's the other way around.

Me too And I'm pleased with my pandora (I mind you, I'm linux litterate, and it help a lot. But this is not realy needed)


The PDA side is a bit lacking for now, but this will be worked out.

If you want to see a wargame, as I define it, look here.


http://www.slitherin...mh_ceaw_gold_pc

We do have these kind of games :


- Crimson field


- Battle for Wesnoth


- freeCiv (maybe)


I would recommand you to try the PC version of Wesnoth. I'm sure you'll like it

I know diddly about Linux. So I am wondering, seeing as Pandora runs off of SD cards, but has a USB slot, which could handle very capable flash drives, is it possible to run these wargames? How is the install process handled? There's no hard drive, so does a game get installed to SD or flash drives? I've not done that before on my PC. Not sure I could or could not. Which is why I am asking.

USB key are just less conveniant than SDcard (physical space) but otherwise work as sdcard.


The install process is decribed here.


But I have to warn you : Pandora is running an ARM processor (like most phone but unlike PCs). So PC games wont work (at least thoses that cannot be emulated by dosbox. But then that's Dos games)

I am assuming the Pandora can do all those cliche tasks Open Office can do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHGGVAp_1Zw.

 

[Grognard]

"So PC games wont work (at least those that cannot be emulated by dosbox. But then that's Dos games)"


The Wiki on the ARM processor left me suffering geek overload


Drat. Not that it leaves me out in the cold, but I was hoping it would at least be capable of running low demand PC software.


I do have some wargames that are ok with DOSBox, but I know so little about DOSBox (the old trying to teach an old dog new tricks problem as always).


I used to understand DOS around 1990-95


Most wargamers are inclined to like Battle of Wesnoth, have not played it myself though.


A person can likely run a Nintendo DS emulator and thus play all of their DS games on Pandora, but I already have a Nintendo DSi XL


I'd need Pandora to run modest PC wargames for it to be justified in spending the sum needed to get one. Otherwise just sticking with my laptop (even if not pocket sized) is the more rational route.

 

[TrashyMG]

"So PC games wont work (at least those that cannot be emulated by dosbox. But then that's Dos games)"


The Wiki on the ARM processor left me suffering geek overload


Drat. Not that it leaves me out in the cold, but I was hoping it would at least be capable of running low demand PC software.


I do have some wargames that are ok with DOSBox, but I know so little about DOSBox (the old trying to teach an old dog new tricks problem as always).


I used to understand DOS around 1990-95


Most wargamers are inclined to like Battle of Wesnoth, have not played it myself though.


A person can likely run a Nintendo DS emulator and thus play all of their DS games on Pandora, but I already have a Nintendo DSi XL


I'd need Pandora to run modest PC wargames for it to be justified in spending the sum needed to get one. Otherwise just sticking with my laptop (even if not pocket sized) is the more rational route.

Now the above explanations most likely gives you the wrong idea.. this device isn't limited to DOS games... It can run many PC games that a desktop can handle.. But since it's running on an ARM processor, it just can't take the same software that an Intel or AMD version of Linux can run.. However due to the nature of Open Source, the source code is available for many cool games and applications... from there an ARM version can be compiled for it.. Although it's not always a smooth process, And the code may need to be tweeked by people smarter than I am. The hardware of the Pandora is fairly impressive, can handle N64 emulation and Quake 3 arena.. so it's not too shabby in that aspect.

 

[sebt3]

The Wiki on the ARM processor left me suffering geek overload

Think ARM processor speak German. Intel CPU speak english. English( for PC) written games wont be understound by CPU speaking german.


You need a translator (emulator, dosbox in this case) to run theses games. But then the translating process use a lot of the available power so only very low demanding games will run.

Drat. Not that it leaves me out in the cold, but I was hoping it would at least be capable of running low demand PC software.


I do have some wargames that are ok with DOSBox, but I know so little about DOSBox (the old trying to teach an old dog new tricks problem as always).


I used to understand DOS around 1990-95

1990's games is more of less the limit of games playable with DosBox. (don't trust me so much on this : I'm not a dosbox user ; Someone to correct me here if needed ?)

A person can likely run a Nintendo DS emulator and thus play all of their DS games on Pandora, but I already have a Nintendo DSi XL


I'd need Pandora to run modest PC wargames for it to be justified in spending the sum needed to get one. Otherwise just sticking with my laptop (even if not pocket sized) is the more rational route.

We dont have any DS emulator currently running on pandora. It's belived than DS emulattor could run on pandora but would requiere a lot's of work from its author and nobody stepped on this large projet.

 

[TrashyMG]

1990's games is more of less the limit of games playable with DosBox. (don't trust me so much on this : I'm not a dosbox user ; Someone to correct me here if needed ?)

I've always been told DOSBOX performance on the Pandora is comparable to be in between a 386DX 33mhz and a 486SX-25hmz for those who remember such things.

 

[Grognard]

One game I wish I could play is Steel Panthers III Brigade Combat, circa 1997 or so I think. It's DOS alright. Won't give me the time of day much in anything past Windows 98SE. The first original Steel Panthers might also be ok, but I have gotten spoiled playing the evolved versions of it


Those were games of the 486 era. Man I wish I had kept my IBM PS1 386 machine. Or at least the 486 machine. It's comical, my Nintendo DSi XL could likely run circles around either of them.


But I'm just not sufficiently knowledgeable enough to really understand the differences between ARM and Intel processors. I know how to put a processor in my case, but it's just a part I know how to attach I can build a computer, but I can't really tell you much about the parts. My friend usually says 'buy this, it's the one you want'. And I usually take his advice.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

You can get steel panther 2 on gog.com, I expect it's just a matter of time until they have 3. I don't know if you're familiar with gog, but they sell sort of reworked copies of old games that will run on modern windows no problem

 

[may88]

Think ARM processor speak German. Intel CPU speak english. English( for PC) written games wont be understound by CPU speaking german.


You need a translator (emulator, dosbox in this case) to run theses games. But then the translating process use a lot of the available power so only very low demanding games will run.

EvilDragon is German and he speaks English. I guess he's like DOSBox, only I think he needs overclocking at times.

I've always been told DOSBOX performance on the Pandora is comparable to be in between a 386DX 33mhz and a 486SX-25hmz for those who remember such things.

I remember 286 and IBM AT before that (the first PC I touched), and Yes I have had my cod liver oil this morning.


EDIT: Battle for Westnoth, as suggested by Sebt3 is good. Game boy Advance's Battle Tactics is also ... hard. I like the early RTS and would love to see Total Annihilation on a Pandora (not happening) but I have a copy of Command and Conquer for PSP game so there's one to explore later.

 

[WizardStan]

But I'm just not sufficiently knowledgeable enough to really understand the differences between ARM and Intel processors.

It's like the difference between the XBox and PS2. Both have comparable specs, they produce similar graphics, sounds, play control, but you can't just take a game from one and play it on the other. There are games that were for both XBox and PS2, but for that to happen, they needed to compile the code twice, once for XBox and again for PS2, possibly changing the way some things worked because they are different machines.


That's how it is with x86 vs ARM: you can't just run something designed for x86 (most desktops) on an ARM computer, but if you have the original source code, it is possible (often with some extra work) to rebuild it for ARM as well.


edit: incidentally, this is part of what made the Pandora my handheld of choice, being able to find the software that I wanted and port it over so I could do the things I wanted to do

 

[Gerix]

Well, if this is something that interests you, you have time to investigate the project. In case you haven't read, there have been some production issues that have stopped the flow of devices. It's expected to pick up soon, but there are quite a few preorders outstanding. There are probably people waiting to preorder once everything has been ironed out, but I expect the delay between order and receipt to decrease as time goes on. There should be a lot of hobbyist developers for this system. Unfortunately, due to the low volume of units outstanding, they haven't been able to release what they've been working on. At least, that's the general assumption.


So if you want to play games you currently own, it's unlikely. If you're interested in trying out different games, the Pandora is a possibility. But you can probably try a lot of the games on PC before buying a Pandora.


P.S. I play some strategy games. My favorites are Battle for Wesnoth and Shadow Watch.

 

[Grognard]

You can get steel panther 2 on gog.com, I expect it's just a matter of time until they have 3. I don't know if you're familiar with gog, but they sell sort of reworked copies of old games that will run on modern windows no problem

Actually, I have SP2 in it's original incarnation. But today it is known as WinSPMBT and a free download from Shrapnel games.


I have some working familiarity with Steel Panthers World at War, an evolution of Steel Panthers based on the code from SP3, in that I helped with the work done on Mega Campaign Screaming Eagles made to be used with SPWaW.


I know of Gog, some of the guys mention it occasionally.


I'd love to see someone sort out SP3 though. It was a platoon level simulation of what is normally a squad level simulation.


But I think Wizardstan has confirmed my fears, that Pandora, while nice looking as a tool, is likely no closer to running my PC games than my Nintendo DSi XL is ie not at all. Bummer.


The 3DS will not impress me if all it can do is do 3d. I require some use out of all it's supposed muscle. The XL currently has much larger screens (why I converted from the DS lite). I have 48 year old eyes which currently don't like small screens much


I was pumped for the HP Slate till they accepted it couldn't handle Windows 7. The iPad holds no attraction for me.

 

[WizardStan]

But I think Wizardstan has confirmed my fears, that Pandora, while nice looking as a tool, is likely no closer to running my PC games than my Nintendo DSi XL is ie not at all. Bummer.

Huh, I thought I was doing the opposite: saying that the Pandora is fully capable of running whatever you can find the source code for, whereas the DS is the one locked down, unless you have a homebrew card, but then you're limited to only what homebrew can provide.

 

[Grognard]

Huh, I thought I was doing the opposite: saying that the Pandora is fully capable of running whatever you can find the source code for, whereas the DS is the one locked down, unless you have a homebrew card, but then you're limited to only what homebrew can provide.

When you say 'source code' what are you referring to? I've heard the term, but I am unsure of the context of your comment here specifically.

 

[darfgarf]

When you say 'source code' what are you referring to? I've heard the term, but I am unsure of the context of your comment here specifically.

when you write code, you produce source code, it looks something like this:


int main(void)


{


printf("hello, World\n");


return 0;


}


varies for what language it's written in etc, once it's run through a compiler and linker, it is converted into machine code (binary) that the hardware understands

 

[Grognard]

Thought that was what you might have meant, but wanted to be certain.


All I have is games, they is what they is. Unlikely I would be ever doing anything to them though hehe.


I can install stuff usually well. I can even format install my OS like a pro (no challenge with Windows 7 these days though as even a bowl of pudding can understand Windows 7 ).

 

[Caine]

You do realize that windows won't be able to run on the Pandora right?


Regular windows (as in, not windows mobile) currently only exists for x86 architectures not ARM. Even if it did, x86 applications cannot be run on ARM either.


Oversimplifying things a bit, you can say that most open-source Linux software can be made to run on the Pandora. Most windows applications (.exe) cannot. A notable exception is software made in the DOS era (requiring up to a 386 processor, perhaps low-end 486).