Usage

[mali]

What trooper said

 

[rabidpoobear]

This guy's gotta be someone's alt messing with us, right?
who gets on a forum for a homebrew console and brags about being an uninformed consumer and gobbling up Apple shovelware?

How dare he support a CORPORATION? He should use only open source products, like the rest of us! His kid doesn't even know he's feeding into the capitalist (or should I say FASCIST) machine!

GD it... where did I set down my open source toilet paper?

I was taking issue with the proud way he was obviously namedropping products, not with the products themselves. Who buys a 3GS for a 7 year old, it's absurd. Do you disagree?

I don't have an issue with Apple or Microsoft or Google or any other corporations. I think it's a question of usability - when I can use a Linux distro on any PC and I don't have to drop down to the command line every 30 seconds to rewrite my xorg.conf or install a xinerama hack to get dual screens of different resolutions working, or have to deal with CUPS, or .... then I'll use Linux on my work machines. I'll use whatever just gets out of my way and lets me get my work done. And right now Windows and OSX are often there where Linux isn't.

But when I've got a device in my pocket that I want to be able to program for, and Linux is the one that makes that easy for me to do (and encourages me to do it - WITHOUT paying appstore fees or having my apps siphoned through an approval filter), then I want Linux on it

 

[Eight Bit]

Get him a 2nd hand C64 and a box full of floppy disks or tapes... that should keep him occupied for a while


PRESS PLAY ON TAPE

FOUND GREEN BERET
LOADING
(10 minutes later)
?LOAD ERROR.
READY.




retry!

 

[WhiteFalcon]

What Trooper said + modesty should be part of the education, not spoiling the kid..

 

[Consequence_9]

/snip

this literally made me lol, tnx for posting that


@ the OP - Getting a 7-year-old a phone (other than one of those firefly things) is just irresponsible [especially one made of glass], and getting a 7-year-old a high-level device like the pandora is just criminal. If you're dead-set on getting him a handheld why not go with a ds & a flashcart or a dingoo 'cause it's cheap. Don't waste someone elses spot in the fabled 4000 on someone who can't fully appreciate it yet.

 

[Bosbeetle]

If he was say, ten years old or more, and you were a geeky kind of parent willing to mentor him a little (maybe you are) then I'd say go for it. The potential for so much learning is there, from basic Linux command line stuff to getting started writing his own code. (You don't have to know this stuff to use Pandora of course, it's as user friendly as you want it to be. But the potential is there.) But he might be a little young right now, which would make the Pandora a bit of a waste.

BACK IN MY DAY RANT: Back in my day, kids got computers with keyboards and command lines and by gosh, they learned how to use them. These days they get appstores and touchscreens and they think they have to go to university to make software.

I fully agree

 

[Miner49er]

/snip

this literally made me lol, tnx for posting that


@ the OP - Getting a 7-year-old a phone (other than one of those firefly things) is just irresponsible [especially one made of glass], and getting a 7-year-old a high-level device like the pandora is just criminal. If you're dead-set on getting him a handheld why not go with a ds & a flashcart or a dingoo 'cause it's cheap. Don't waste someone elses spot in the fabled 4000 on someone who can't fully appreciate it yet.

Agreed. Spending loads of money on gadgets for kids is just plain wrong. When I was 6-7 I had an LCD game+watch (Scramble, as it happens). It wasn't until I was ten when we got a speccy and, oh boy did I love that!

I wouldn't be very cautious of getting every single gadget for my 6 year-old, much as I'd love to shower him with expensive gadgets the appearl would soon drop off. I gave him my old GBA SP to play with a few months ago, along with a a flash-cart full of classic games (speccy, nes, master-system) and he's tried every single one and settled on a handfull (very proud to see he loves the games I love! Super Mario, Chuck Rock, Bubble Bobble, James Pond II, Jet Set Willy). So, bascially what I'm saying is, don't overwhelm your kid with too much as he'll end missing some Gems.

Now, the problem with kids and game is that they are TOO ADDICTIVE and if left to his own devices, my son would probably play them constantly - so we have to constantly keep an eye on him with it.

Finally, I would love to get my son a Pandy but with it's Media capability I fear he would end up watching videos (he does this with the PC, asks to go on the PC then ends up clicking on Monsters Inc. or something....grrr)

Sorry to be a 'father-bore' but children and games were mentioned so I had to comment!

 

[Tokiopop]

You can't play Pokemon on an iPhone, and that's something every 7 year old must do. FireRed and LeafGreen for GBA on Pandora.

Why not pokemon red and green on gameboy color, would be cheaper... and with a real retro gaming aftertaste!

THERE IS NO GBREEN FOR THE GAMEBOY!

 

[Consequence_9]

You can't play Pokemon on an iPhone, and that's something every 7 year old must do. FireRed and LeafGreen for GBA on Pandora.

Why not pokemon red and green on gameboy color, would be cheaper... and with a real retro gaming aftertaste!

THERE IS NO GBREEN FOR THE GAMEBOY!

ORLY?

 

[Tokiopop]

You can't play Pokemon on an iPhone, and that's something every 7 year old must do. FireRed and LeafGreen for GBA on Pandora.

Why not pokemon red and green on gameboy color, would be cheaper... and with a real retro gaming aftertaste!

THERE IS NO GBREEN FOR THE GAMEBOY!

ORLY?

Ya, really.

Release Date: Unreleased

 

[Consequence_9]

You can't play Pokemon on an iPhone, and that's something every 7 year old must do. FireRed and LeafGreen for GBA on Pandora.

Why not pokemon red and green on gameboy color, would be cheaper... and with a real retro gaming aftertaste!

THERE IS NO GBREEN FOR THE GAMEBOY!

ORLY?

Ya, really.

Release Date: Unreleased

that's the north american release date, in japan red & green were the first to be released.

 

[Tokiopop]

(Going to stop thje pyramid now)

Well, then, that's my entire world crushed. There I was thinking I had all 3 original Pokemon games for the Gameboy, when there has been a 4th all along

 

[Consequence_9]

(Going to stop thje pyramid now)

Well, then, that's my entire world crushed. There I was thinking I had all 3 original Pokemon games for the Gameboy, when there has been a 4th all along

rite? I remember when I was a kid someone actually got their hands on green at my school & everyone was flipping out (as kids do) haha. I actually got gold in japanese before it came out here... and then I remembered I couldn't read japanese...

edit: & for the record - the cartridge wasn't green, nor was gold gold

 

[grobi]

My 7 year old son got his first laptop as a christmas present last year. Laptop is 5 years old, AMD 1,7GHz CPU and 512MB RAM, 30GB HD, no WLAN. I replaced windows by ubuntu 9.10 and installed every game and edu-app that can be found in the ubuntu-universe. Then I put photos of the family, most of my MP3 collection and three disney movies on it. He loves it.
And instead of being pushed into a new commercial app every week, he learns to find things on his laptop that wait for discovery by him where I hid them.

With his small fingers, a pandora would be even better suited for him, only that it is more expensive than this laptop was (about 100 bucks).

I think a pandora is much more suited for children's education than an iPhone. Getting things done by yourself is so much more giving than having everything prepared by a commercial organisation like apple. I'd prefer a pandora over Nintendo DS anytime. These pre-build "educational apps" only allow you to explore what the programmer put in, a pandora will teach your child that there is more to things that just the surface nintendo/apple wants you to see.

I installed an additional program on the laptop while my son was watching. I plugged in a WLAN stick, started firefox and finished the installation using the shell. He was fascinated what his laptop can do if only you know how. He had no idea what I was doing, but he accepted that inserting cartridges is not the only way to teach new tricks to an old machine.

Regards,
grobi

 

[Mithrildor]

He needs some pokemon, that was what I was playing when I was 7 years old (Pokemon gold). Thats the game for kids: Trading and battling with your friends

Buy him a DSi !

 

[gruso]

Nice one Grobi. I've got a 6 year old nephew, he has mild autism and is unbelievable with maths, spelling, and anything computer related. I've got an old Dell P133 laptop that I'll give to him later this year. Not very powerful, but it'll be enough for him if I set it up nicely.

 

[Mr B]

a pandora will not do any more damage to your sons development than his i-crap has already done. i suggest you buy him a football or a catchers mit.

he cannot do his tennis, skies and gymnastics while in the car.

If your 7 year old cant entertain himself without electronic gadgets during the time it takes you to transport him to these things, then you got a much bigger issue.
Do a simple test. Tell the kid he isn't punished, you are. And remove all the electronic videogames. If your kid sits at home complaining about the video game not being there. Sell em, and don't get new. If he gets stuck in front of the sofa, sell the tv to. If he goes out and plays with mates, or alone, locks him self up in his room and does something you think he really shouldn't have done, give him some credit. He is obviously more creative then dad, even tho his head has been stuffed with predigested mush for the last few years...
B!

 

[Bosbeetle]

I am trying to think back to when I was 7 or maybe 10. We had a MSX at home with a whole bunch of disks (we were lucky to have a diskdrive and not a tape deck) First I just played the games that were in the menus. Later I learned the list command and thought myself to change the menus. Later I figured out some of the games were basic and I 'tweaked' the games to my liking. At that time I discovered MSX-Dos and things like spreadsheets and wordprocessing. (we switched to the msx2 by now) We had a matrix printer and I could make reports for school on the computer. I used to read MSX magazines and learned about a lot of stuff. At this point most of my friends had 386 PC's but werent able to do with it what I could with the MSX. I was jealous of the guys with a amiga because of their games, and tracker programs but not of the PC guys.

Then at the age of 13 the friend of my sister had a PC with monkey island, push-over etc on it and there I switched to 486 66MHz I devised start-up disks that boot the system so it could play demanding games. I completly delved into it using photoshop 4 and seeing the first small movies on the PC.

Friends that had just a SNES or a SEGA were completly baffled when they had to write an essay in wordperfect 5.1 to me it was as obvious as it could be.

I still thank my parents for sticking to the msx when PCs were already the mainstream and for not listening to me when I was whining for a SNES.

(and now I can finally play those games using emulators, but Im hoping more for the blueMSX port by zx-81)

 

[fade]

I am trying to think back to when I was 7 or maybe 10. We had a MSX at home with a whole bunch of disks (we were lucky to have a diskdrive and not a tape deck) First I just played the games that were in the menus. Later I learned the list command and thought myself to change the menus. Later I figured out some of the games were basic and I 'tweaked' the games to my liking. At that time I discovered MSX-Dos and things like spreadsheets and wordprocessing. (we switched to the msx2 by now) We had a matrix printer and I could make reports for school on the computer. I used to read MSX magazines and learned about a lot of stuff. At this point most of my friends had 386 PC's but werent able to do with it what I could with the MSX. I was jealous of the guys with a amiga because of their games, and tracker programs but not of the PC guys.

Then at the age of 13 the friend of my sister had a PC with monkey island, push-over etc on it and there I switched to 486 66MHz I devised start-up disks that boot the system so it could play demanding games. I completly delved into it using photoshop 4 and seeing the first small movies on the PC.

Friends that had just a SNES or a SEGA were completly baffled when they had to write an essay in wordperfect 5.1 to me it was as obvious as it could be.

I still thank my parents for sticking to the msx when PCs were already the mainstream and for not listening to me when I was whining for a SNES.

(and now I can finally play those games using emulators, but Im hoping more for the blueMSX port by zx-81)

It wasn't a Toshiba Hx10 was it? I had an MSX too, and I loved it. (sigh)

:wub:

 

[torpor]

My 3 year old loves his Atmos. PING, ZAP and EXPLODE are becoming the first words he learns to spell ..