Beta Upcoming (Hf5) Firmware Image Beta 2

[EvilDragon]

Hi,

well, we've been working, fixed some more bugs added some new stuff.
Image seems to be working nicely for me so far, but it would be cool if more could try and report back.
It's still not in PND-form, so flashing this puts your Pandora back to the state you got it. Be sure to backup anything you put on the internal storage if you need it.

Here are the changes that happened from the first beta:

* Fixed broken OPP after the unit crashed (patch by urjaman)
* Included latest SGX PowerVR drivers (thanks to notaz)
* LCD-Settings: You can now set your default video filter
* XFCE: Removed unneeded launchers (Mail and Messenger)
* Libraries: Added libsamplerate
* MiniMenu: Added Pleng's option to not quit on app run
* MiniMenu: added toggle (press "A" or tab) for detail panel 
* MiniMenu: updated default skin to handle it .. other skins will not permit the toggle until updated. 
* MiniMenu: Cleaned up a little bit of the code, so mmenu shoudl run a little faster too.
* OS: Added Version number to Splashscreen (current version: RC1 - V4.6)

Please check the new features, especially the 3D Driver, MiniMenu and check if all your apps are still running fine

In case you haven't checked HF5 Beta 1 yet, here is the link to the old thread.

How to flash the image?

Easy: Download the zipped image and extract the full contents onto the root of your SD Card.
Put the SD Card into slot 1 (the left one), switch on the Pandora while holding the R-Shoulder button and select "boot from SD1:1"

The flashing process should start. After it's finished, reboot the unit.
The first boot will take a while (up to 10 minutes). Patiently wait and you'll be greeted with the First Boot Wizard.


EDIT: Beta 3 available here

 

[milkshake]

please add screenshot dedicated button/buttons thanks

 

[Mutilator]

Will try as soon as I get my Pandora back

 

[mth411]

Wow, this update really helped with Pandora Radio (adobe flash) constantly rebuffering, I haven't heard any pauses in 15 minutes, where it used to be every few minutes.

Also, opkg runs faster, like it seemed to stall out in the past just doing opkg update, where now it runs and completes much quicker.

 

[BAFelton]

I have two problems after the install

1) - a message while XFCE loads : Could not look up internet address for "name of my pandora". This will prevent Xfce from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding "name of my pandora" to the file /etc/hosts on your system"

Continue anyway / Try again

I'm not quite sure what to do. (of course I continue but what must I do to correct this ?)

2) - when i try to shutdown, nothing happens.

So I try a second time then I have "failed to receive a reply from the session manager - session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown".

To turn off, I must take off the battery.

 

[Pickle]

oh boy, didnt expect the sgx update, a quick test with quake 1 looks good (no crashes yet...) testing some other stuff soon. hurrah

 

[maplesugarlover]

Quake 1 is finally going to be released for the pandora

 

[God Ginrai]

oh boy, didnt expect the sgx update, a quick test with quake 1 looks good (no crashes yet...) testing some other stuff soon. hurrah

Do you know what else the update will do for us? I'm curious as to how this will improve performance.

-God Ginrai

 

[maplesugarlover]

Pickle, does frogatto work with the update?

 

[EvilDragon]

I have two problems after the install

1) - a message while XFCE loads : Could not look up internet address for "name of my pandora". This will prevent Xfce from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding "name of my pandora" to the file /etc/hosts on your system"

Continue anyway / Try again

I'm not quite sure what to do. (of course I continue but what must I do to correct this ?)

2) - when i try to shutdown, nothing happens.

So I try a second time then I have "failed to receive a reply from the session manager - session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown".

To turn off, I must take off the battery.

That sounds like the first boot has not been done properly.
Have you waited the first time after the flash until the First Boot Wizard appeared or reset / turn off before that happened?

Reflash

 

[skeezix]

evildrago -- I'll have another update for minimenu tomorrow or the next day likely --

- basic directory browser shoudl be available to enable in config menu (coded a year ago, not releaseddue to bugs, should work okay now)
- option to turn subcats into folders in main tabs - I'm thinking about defaulting _ON_ for that, since seems probabyl best overall for now.

If I have time, some scripts need to be written for the menus (init SD (create /pandora/menu and /pandora/desktop folder for selected SD), pick appdata location, that sort of crap)

If HF is a couple weeks off, we coudl probabyl add some 'reassign to tab <foo>' type operations to minimenu, but got lots I want to do, not sure our or my timeline

Rewally, once I get dir browser in there, I need to add some goofy stuff like .. mimetype association so hitting run on a avi will run a movie player, or mp3 player, etc.

I'm thinking we could do some crazy mapping to for the foldering of subcats .. maybe if peopel drop icons in the right place, could use folks icons for the folders .. or skins could suggest default icons for subcat folders, to make things look really pretty .. *tries to resist turning minimenu into big fat rediculous menu*

jeff

 

[jeffrey]

May I ask a question regarding "LCD-Settings: You can now set your default video filter"?

Does this mean being able to enable things like scanlines and blurring system wide? If so, this is very cool. I recently found what I consider near-perfect filter settings using a Fusion (Sega emulator) plugin called MD NTSC and 50% scanlines. It blurs everything just right and gives that beautiful CRT rainbow effect.

So, the point is, it would be great to find such a perfect setting on Pandora and have it work regardless of the emulator being used!

 

[EvilDragon]

May I ask a question regarding "LCD-Settings: You can now set your default video filter"?

Does this mean being able to enable things like scanlines and blurring system wide? If so, this is very cool. I recently found what I consider near-perfect filter settings using a Fusion (Sega emulator) plugin called MD NTSC and 50% scanlines. It blurs everything just right and gives that beautiful CRT rainbow effect.

So, the point is, it would be great to find such a perfect setting on Pandora and have it work regardless of the emulator being used!

Well, those are hardware scaling filters, no idea if scanlines are possible (nobody worked on filters yet), but you can enable smoothing or simple pixel doubling at the moment.

 

[Esn]

For LCD-settings, is there a simple way to change the contrast (without changing anything else)? If not, would it be possible to add it in? (I asked about this here, but I figure it can't hurt to post in this thread as well...)

 

[mosschops]

i had an oddity with this.

powered up pandora
battery at 96%
powered down pandora
took card from SD1
wrote the new hotfix to SD
inserted SD into SD1
powered up pandora with trigger held, booted from SD1
plugged in cable from PC USB to micro USB slot on pack to power while flashing
did all the writing (took 3-4 mins tops)
pressed enter and powered down
powered back up and did the first time wizard
booted into xfce and the battery was reporting 6% and flashing the red light
unplugged and replugged the cable battery reported 13%
shut down and reseated battery
battery now charging albeit seemingly slower than usual

seems something was reset with the battery software maybe?
never had this before


[edit] seems i am also starting to suffer from a dodgy LCD cable too

 

[Renegade]

i had an oddity with this.

powered up pandora
battery at 96%
powered down pandora
took card from SD1
wrote the new hotfix to SD
inserted SD into SD1
powered up pandora with trigger held, booted from SD1
plugged in cable from PC USB to micro USB slot on pack to power while flashing
did all the writing (took 3-4 mins tops)
pressed enter and powered down
powered back up and did the first time wizard
booted into xfce and the battery was reporting 6% and flashing the red light
unplugged and replugged the cable battery reported 13%
shut down and reseated battery
battery now charging albeit seemingly slower than usual

seems something was reset with the battery software maybe?
never had this before

I had a similar problem.

Last night I installed the HF5 v2 and power seemed to be ok.
But I went to sleep and let the pandora charging overnight and I woke up and saw that the red light was off, other times it would stay on all the time for me even when on full charge.

I unplugged it and checked the battery and it showed 0% and the red light went on removed the battery and restarted and still 0% but it worked, so I powered it off and went to work.

After a couple of hours I started the pandora again and it was at 91% and played some psx-rearmed and after 10mins it went to 90% so that seemed ok.

 

[BAFelton]

I have two problems after the install

1) - a message while XFCE loads : Could not look up internet address for "name of my pandora". This will prevent Xfce from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding "name of my pandora" to the file /etc/hosts on your system"

Continue anyway / Try again

I'm not quite sure what to do. (of course I continue but what must I do to correct this ?)

2) - when i try to shutdown, nothing happens.

So I try a second time then I have "failed to receive a reply from the session manager - session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown".

To turn off, I must take off the battery.

That sounds like the first boot has not been done properly.
Have you waited the first time after the flash until the First Boot Wizard appeared or reset / turn off before that happened?

Reflash

Ok, it worked

 

[Kayday]

I love you ED and Notaz and everyone involved in this firmware update. It fixed my wifi issue. So for those still having issue, try this update.

 

[Stouffa]

Oddly enough it's given me a new wifi issue! I've updated from beta 1 to 2, now my network manager doesn't seem to be working properly. When I activate wifi, the splash window telling me to click here to add a network connection appears, but the icon doesn't then appear on the taskbar. Anyone else got the same issue?

Reflashed this morning, just to make sure something hadn't gone wrong the first time. No improvement. When I activate the wifi, it doesn't ask for my password at all but the wifi light is on

 

[quantenmagier]

I had a similar problem.

Last night I installed the HF5 v2 and power seemed to be ok.
But I went to sleep and let the pandora charging overnight and I woke up and saw that the red light was off, other times it would stay on all the time for me even when on full charge.

I unplugged it and checked the battery and it showed 0% and the red light went on removed the battery and restarted and still 0% but it worked, so I powered it off and went to work.

After a couple of hours I started the pandora again and it was at 91% and played some psx-rearmed and after 10mins it went to 90% so that seemed ok.

Well i also have this Problem with HF4, so it seems not to be a Problem special to HF5.