What The Icontrolpad Can Teach Us About The Pandora

[chad78]

http://www.icontrolpad.com/ has renders of the ICP, and I'm not liking what I see.

The first thing I noticed was the buttons.

.A
YX
.B

????

There is no system on earth that uses that button naming scheme. And this thing is *PURELY* for emulators. And, no, the iPhone won't be emulating the Xbox or Dreamcast any time soon, so the only ABXY named systems it will be emulating are Nintendo ones - in which case the SNES format should be followed.

This dashes any hopes I had for a sensible button naming format on the Pandora.

 

[Kyo]

what does this have to do with the pandora? copyright on button layouts?

 

[DJWillis]

Am I the only one who opened this thread, went WTF!, puzzled a little and then went so what is the f'ing problem with button labels? Even if the buttons have labels like Up, Down, Left, Right or symbols what difference is it going to make? I vote for Greek symbols

QUOTE

This dashes any hopes I had for a sensible button naming format on the Pandora.


Had you not written it off already?

I am not trying to stir, I just genuinely thought you had written it off as bad idea? What got you interested again?

 

[Mutilator]

the gp2x didnt really use any known button naming scheme (Y A-B X) but doesnt stop me from playing any game tbh. dont really look at the name of buttons myself and cant see how naming the buttons in any other way on pandora would matter to anyone that much...maybe im wrong but im personally not fussed

 

[Ryzure]

Chad, you should really consider eating one of those cords that go from your computer to the outlet.
It's delicious spaghetti.

 

[Pickle]

.
This dashes any hopes I had for a sensible button naming format on the Pandora.

uh? :blink: iphone != pandora :blink: and besides that they are just labels.

The only thing I saw that i dont know if i like was the position of the dpad. But i dont own an iphone or plan on it.

 

[chad78]

what does this have to do with the pandora? copyright on button layouts?
The Pandora is being made by the same people making the iControlPad - I thought everyone knew that.

And, no DJWillis, I hadn't written the Pandora off yet. I have my doubts as to when it will come out, but I haven't written the idea of it off. The Pandora - as advertised - in the best Bang-for-your-buck pocketable device on the market, assuming software can be put on it other than emulators.

 

[Squidge]

iControlPad != Pandora. Moving topic to other consoles.

 

[DJWillis]

And, no DJWillis, I hadn't written the Pandora off yet. I have my doubts as to when it will come out, but I haven't written the idea of it off. The Pandora - as advertised - in the best Bang-for-your-buck pocketable device on the market, assuming software can be put on it other than emulators.

Well other then ScummVM, games and EMU's are not my thing, hacking stuff up, apps and kernel are. Make of that what you will .

 

[chad78]

.

 

[Fishbong]

I don't know what you guys are kidding about!
It is of utmost importance how the four action buttons are labeled!
If the Buttons have the wrong letters, colors or combination thereof i predict horrible cramps, epileptic seizures, and games will be completely unplayable!

This is truly grave news for this whole community.

 

[MWeston]

Actually, the buttons are designed to be placed in any of the holes, so we were just planning on using the SNES layout. It really doesn't seem like a legal concern Nintendo would care about but iControlPad will be a test run for Pandora and we shall see what happens!

 

[chad78]

Actually, the buttons are designed to be placed in any of the holes, so we were just planning on using the SNES layout. It really doesn't seem like a legal concern Nintendo would care about but iControlPad will be a test run for Pandora and we shall see what happens!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! That makes my day! Sanity prevails! *does a happy dance* :lol: B) :huh:

 

[Sphinxter]

If the buttons are not labeled correctly my mind will explode like some alien machine Spock keeps asking, "Why?".

greek could resemble alpha too much, I'd go with symbols, flower, peace sign, star, quarter moon.

 

[gaterooze]

Sounds like you could just open the sucker up and switch around the buttons as you wish anyway, so what's the big deal?

 

[MagicPants]

The most sensible button layout I've seen for an after market controller was from logitech where the buttons are labeled 1-10 and correspond directly with the button index in windows(yeah I know Pandora is linux).

I'd vote for the buttons to be labeled 1 through 4 and the shoulders to be 5 and 6. Sure it doesn't match any first party scheme but it makes setting up the buttons so much simpler.

 

[DisgruntleElf]

Why is the control pad so high up? Could make it really tricky to use the left top trigger button and the control pad at the same time.

 

[morgushong]

super nintendo FTW!

 

[ish420]

The most sensible button layout I've seen for an after market controller was from logitech where the buttons are labeled 1-10 and correspond directly with the button index in windows(yeah I know Pandora is linux).

I'd vote for the buttons to be labeled 1 through 4 and the shoulders to be 5 and 6. Sure it doesn't match any first party scheme but it makes setting up the buttons so much simpler.

I like that Idea. And it gave me an idea. How about being able to use Pandora as a PC controller with keyborad, having it auto detect, just like any other pc pad. Even Wireless through the bluetooth. Turn the Pandora into the Control Center for your HTPC. Heck, the projects that can branch out of this would be super cool. Use the Pandora as a controller with the HUB displayed on the Touch LCD. I know it may not happen, but I think if a very gifted coder could pull this off, DAMN what can I say. WOAH!

on other side of the news Buy,com has a sale on 8gb sdhc for $24. free shipping. I know it's early for SDHC as prices may come down further, but for $24. That's the best price I've seen. It's class 2, will that make any difference on Pandora or will Pandora benefit from Class 6?
Sorry about breaking Topic. I'd figure I'd try to kill two birds with one stone.

 

[gaterooze]

I'd vote for the buttons to be labeled 1 through 4 and the shoulders to be 5 and 6. Sure it doesn't match any first party scheme but it makes setting up the buttons so much simpler.

Slight problem if a game/program says "Press 2 to do [x]" -- does it mean the joypad 2 or button 2? You would need a standard of, for example, "Press J2" or "Press B2".