What To Do?

[1magus]

So I have been researching devices for at a while now and in the past couple weeks have been searching way too often for something that can mimic the iPod Touch. You see recently I became obsessed with an all in one device, from gaming to web and more. By more I mean some sort of program that can help me organize my life, a program that I can similar to what this device promises: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Courier (Basically a organizing Program). I know that the iPod has plenty of Apps that can do this but there is just so much about Apple and its device that I find not only unappealing but downright crappy compared to the Pandora. No flash support, the total control by Apple, non removable battery and storage, iTunes, no keyboard or buttons for gaming (Touch screen is great for some games and terrible for others).
SO before I ramble on about the Pros and Cons of the iPod Touch (Mostly cons ), I will just get to the point and ask a few simple questions that I hope can be answered by some of the more knowledgeable people in the Pandora community.
1. Since this runs and Linux I was wonder are there any programs that run on Linux OR are in development for the Pandora that can help a person organize, document and add notes similar to the Microsoft Courier proposed Device or iPod Apps? Basically I want a all in one program to write down notes, document them, help my life get more organized and remind me to do things but not some simple program. Sort of like a all in one Journal containing notes, appointments, schedules, and integration with the internet, I know this seems like a basic description and I can explain more if most don't understand.
2. Can anybody here predict when Pandora Consoles will be available in greater Supply to the point where most online stores will have them available to order? Since the first batch is almost ready to ship I was hoping the second one would be available to order by Summer with possible shipping sometime after.

 

[lulzfish]

Technically speaking, the Pandora does not have Flash, either.
But Flash is terrible, and you shouldn't hold it against either Apple or Pandora that they don't have it.

 

[kingoddball]

There are a hell of a lot of all in one's now.
To suit all tastes and flavours!
Even devices that are not AiO still can be now with the selection of applications available for everything.

If you need flash.... Grab an N900 or similar.

 

[optional106]

If you need flash.... Grab an N900 or similar.

There are many N900s available from worldwide online sites, shop around as there are variations in the price.
I wonder if many Pandora users also favour N900s ?

Anyway technology is always improving, so you could be waiting forever for ultimate all in one item.
Just settle for the best that you can afford.

 

[Alpha2]

If future Pandora users favored the N900 wouldnt it stand to reason that we'd just all get N900s and forget about it? the N900 fills a particular niche for some and for others the Pandora is preferable. As much as people complain about flash it is still one of the most pervasive parts of the internet and could eventually be possible just dont hold your breath waiting for it since Adobe is generally deaf to the screams of consumers unless they have the money to buy a license.

Almost any application that runs in Angstrom (Dont know how to do the little dots over the o) linux should be available for the Pandora pending a port or recompilation.

No one knows when more Pandoras will be available since we dont even know for sure when the first ones will be, but the general consensus seems to be a couple of months after the first batch is finished shipping they may be able to start thinking about the second which already has a que for preordering I believe.

 

[Tempel]

Tyler, that software you're looking for is generally known as a Personal Information Manager. There are many different ones you could use, including many that can run on the Pandora. You seem to have a broad set of requirements, so I don't know how easy it will be to meet them, but I guarantee you can get close.

The Pandora should come with Orage installed, a calendar app that might meet your needs. If that's not enough for you, you might take a look at Evolution, though I don't think this has been ported yet. Look over those and see if they seem right; if you would like to try them out without installing, the Xubuntu live CD should contain Orage, and the Ubuntu live CD contains Evolution.

I hope that helps!

PS: Alpha, any application that runs in Angstrom linux is available for the Pandora, no porting required. That is, anything you can find in their repos can be installed with a few simple commands.

 

[WizardStan]

I just need youtube... hope it will work smooth

Eventually, I'm sure. May take someone a week or two to find the magic script that makes it work though.

 

[crade]

If you need flash.... Grab an N900 or similar.

lol, yeah just get a seperate device and just whip is out every time a website needs flash...

 

[milam]

How long can you hold out for?

2010 looks like the year of the ARM chip, even Adobe have a flash for ARM in beta, as the power of the ARM chip against the Atom is in a league of it's own, a lot of the UMPC and netbook manufacturers are turning towards the power of the ARM chip, android and such technologies to power the new wave of devices.

I can see a flurry of the devices on the horizon.

 

[michie4life]

I just need youtube... hope it will work smooth

Eventually, I'm sure. May take someone a week or two to find the magic script that makes it work though.

Maybe HTML5 Youtube with ChromiumArm?

- http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxChromiumArm
- http://www.youtube.com/html5

 

[paddy]

So ,the pandora won't do flash ? does this mean i will need to whip out my psp for yourtube vids ?

ohh and if the pandora does do flash/youtube will it really be any good ? i tend not to think so ,i really still can't imagine the pandora doing any real multitasking like web browser and media player without the media player stutter and web browser lockup along with everything else ,i hope i am wrong but hey ,ohh and as for youtube i can see it running mabe ok but not in fullscreen in anyway.

 

[mali]

Multitasking should be ok and similar to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7emvUBpEkbU

 

[valhalla]

So ,the pandora won't do flash ? does this mean i will need to whip out my psp for yourtube vids ?

In my experience youtube and other videos are one of the (few) things that work well with alternative free software flash implementations such as gnash or swfdec, so I believe that there is some hope to see youtube working in a short time after pandora is out

games and full flash support are going to prove harder, however.

 

[torpor]

The Touchbook does Flash. Thus, Pandora can do Flash too ..

 

[Tempel]

No it doesn't. The Touch Book does Youtube and Hulu through some convenient little scripts. So the Pandora will also do Youtube and Hulu, but still not flash in general.

How did this turn into a thread about flash? OP made one passing mention of it.

 

[hobbyman II]

because all his other requests are already supported/sorted in one way or another, Flash is the one thing that's problematic to some degree, that's the problem with main-line applications being badly supported and closed, it surely wouldn't kill em to work in a Linux compile for Arm, they already do flash for x86 Linux, all they have to do is change the target, but no!, they have to get all drama queen and start making announcements about "proposed" support, "provisional, pending" support, how hard it is to alter your compile target?, and all the while ignoring security flaws or actually doing anything constructive.

yes! they annoy me, just do it for crying out loud, less of the soul seeking and self acclaim and more results please <_<

 

[Polossatik]

.
1. Since this runs and Linux I was wonder are there any programs that run on Linux OR are in development for the Pandora that can help a person organize, document and add notes similar to the Microsoft Courier proposed Device or iPod Apps? Basically I want a all in one program to write down notes, document them, help my life get more organized and remind me to do things but not some simple program. Sort of like a all in one Journal containing notes, appointments, schedules, and integration with the internet, I know this seems like a basic description and I can explain more if most don't understand.

Like Tempel said, this is basically Personal Information Manager software. Unfortunately there is for Linux (in general - so also for the pandora) not one really "decent" suite to "organise" your life around that IMHO can be used on handhelds.
By decent I mean to a level of usability that for example the Psion 3 and 5 series had in their time as PIM. The whole PIM user interface was (is) just marvelous. Or Palm PDA's (but I like a keyboard)

I'm not saying that for example Evolution has no similar functionality and does not work fine, but this is not designed for an handheld. A big part of the what made the Psions so damn usable was pure the interface (and stuff like dedicated buttons) who just was "not in your way". If you need 2 minutes to change a appointment you simply don't bother after a week.

This was one of the "big" disappointments I had when buying my Nokia N800 - the lack of any sort of decent PIM, there are a few calendars and stuff , stuff that is annoying and not really userfriendly , other stuff is really still "Beta" (buggy) or some is rather old .

So if a real PIM is your aim then IMHO you better look elsewhere for the moment, but I do hope this will change.

 

[Aninhumer]

because all his other requests are already supported/sorted in one way or another, Flash is the one thing that's problematic to some degree, that's the problem with main-line applications being badly supported and closed, it surely wouldn't kill em to work in a Linux compile for Arm, they already do flash for x86 Linux, all they have to do is change the target, but no!, they have to get all drama queen and start making announcements about "proposed" support, "provisional, pending" support, how hard it is to alter your compile target?, and all the while ignoring security flaws or actually doing anything constructive.

yes! they annoy me, just do it for crying out loud, less of the soul seeking and self acclaim and more results please <_<

Porting to ARM can be significantly more complicated than just recompiling.
There are a variety of issues that can occur due to assumptions about the architecture of the target, and these would need to be corrected.
I wouldn't be surprised if they make use of at least some optimised assembly in their code as well, which would have to be converted.
They also probably want to improve the performance before they release anything that's going to run on mobile phones.

But yes Flash needs to go away, at least for video.

 

[davidgro]

The TouchbookNokia N900 does Flash. Thus, Pandora can do Flash too ..

Fixed?
I don't know if the similarities in hardware/software are enough, and it's probably illegal (also only Flash 9 at this point) but it may be something users (Not OpenPandora because of the legal question) could do to add true flash support.

 

[taito]

Plus flash 10.1 is coming for android, if you already have android sign up for the beta!