Will I Need A Pc To Use The Pandora?

[ashdjones]

It's a serious question. I just want to know whether or not the Pandora can act completely independently from a PC - that is will I be able to download and install programs, update those programs etc using the WIFI connection?

Will it have an inbuilt package manager with online repository or will I have to do all this manually?

Personally, I want my Pandora to be it's own little computer system that doesn't need to connect to a bigger computer at all unless I want it to.

 

[sindbad]

It can be independent from a PC.
It may have a package manager, but it isn't known for sure yet.

 

[AireTamStorm]

Personally, I want my Pandora to be it's own little computer system that doesn't need to connect to a bigger computer at all unless I want it to.

I have voiced this before. Others have as well. I'd like to rally some support behind this, as I'd hate to be "tied down" do another computer system to get things done.

 

[redstar1949]

I strongly agree that Pandora should be able to be independant from PC as well.

 

[ashdjones]

My thoughts on a system like this, that's destined to be taken out and about is that system/software design should be geared towards semi-online connectivity.

For example, rather than simply reading this forum on the Pandora in order to keep up with community developments - why not use a newsgroup? You'll be able to update the recent posts and have them on your machine, and you can leave a reply that's later posted when the machine connects!

Just think, I could be reading your future posts on the bog!

My personal vision is this:

You sync your Pandora in the morning, possibly it does it automatically while you're asleep where it's auto-scheduled to update itself. Assuming you don't have the internet at home this all works in reverse too...

You have an RSS reader - it gives you the latest news updates from the official Pandora blog, you also probably have one or two unoffical RSS feeds - one for example for each of the Pandora interest groups, eg. the group interested in PDA apps, the Linux desktop fans, the emulator enthusiasts, the homebrew game fanatics.

Your software updater tells you which programs you've have that have been updated. Maybe you set some or all apps to auto-update, in which case this has happened overnight or while you're sat at work/school/college/university and your Pandora is still in your bag or sat on the desk or connected to your workstation charging via USB.

You have a newsreader that contains a complete Pandora community, it has also updated it's content. You read some totally juicy news that you just HAVE to get involved with - you go live with the newsgroup during your lunchbreak or when you get home. You probably feel stupid because you left a comment to be sent when you go live, and it's stupid and out of date by the time you read the current discussion.

Because the Pandora is a community driven, democratic system you also have a polling application. You don't get updates on these very often but when you do, you know it's something important. It is linked straight to the ID of your machine, so you know that only Pandora owners get to vote on this stuff. There's a poll on what area of the firmware you want worked on, you have a week to decide so you mull it over and after you've voted the system is scheduled to send that information to a server and it simultaneously appears on the offical website.

That last one is just a dream of mine, but you never know!

 

[atiflz]

It has its own network connectivity. So even without a package manager, I'm sure it will be pretty independent.

 

[trooper]

Just think, I could be reading your future posts on the bog!

Sadly, That`s something i`d rather not visualize.

Trooper

 

[Chip]

If you have a web browser (yes) and a file manager (or at least a command prompt, both yes), then you don't need a host computer. Package manager or no, you can download and install programs on the Pandora without any external help.

 

[WizardStan]

If it ships with Firefox (or some other browser) already installed, then yes. At the very least you could just browse to the repository, download what you want, and extract the file at the command line.
At the very least, if it has wget, that should be enough to get a browser to install and go from there.
If it doesn't come with any means of actually getting something off the net, you're temporarily inconvenienced: you'd need a computer for a bare minimum.

 

[ashdjones]

If you have a web browser (yes) and a file manager (or at least a command prompt, both yes), then you don't need a host computer. Package manager or no, you can download and install programs on the Pandora without any external help.

That's good to know, but I still think a package manager would be lovely.

 

[nubie]

Are we going to be able to download and compile apps from the BeagleBoard community? We could use their repository if that is the case .

Uh-oh, I am thinking of this as a real computer, who knows how long a compile could take on the pandora :lol: :lol:

 

[Kyo]

well I'm pretty sure it will have both FF and wifi drivers shipped, so technically yes

 

[AireTamStorm]

If you have a web browser (yes) and a file manager (or at least a command prompt, both yes), then you don't need a host computer. Package manager or no, you can download and install programs on the Pandora without any external help.

This is why I want a compiler on the system. Have to have the chicken to get the eggs.

 

[ashdjones]

If you have a web browser (yes) and a file manager (or at least a command prompt, both yes), then you don't need a host computer. Package manager or no, you can download and install programs on the Pandora without any external help.

This is why I want a compiler on the system. Have to have the chicken to get the eggs.


Death to desktops! Long live Pandora! :lol:

 

[FRZ]

I, too, hope it is an independent system.

 

[TaG]

I, too, hope it is an independent system.

+1 It should have no political affiliations. Oops, sorry,I mean it should be able to function fully without need to link to a pc. It should be perfectly capable of this.

Reading Craig's interview on pocketgamer, it should be able to "run a complete programming environment.", so hopefully he thinks it will run a compiler. Here's hoping.

 

[Rivus]

I mean, it's been described as a gaming UMPC, and it's known to be running a window system... I think after that, all I would really need is a program to open zipped files ...

 

[nubie]

I mean, it's been described as a gaming UMPC, and it's known to be running a window system... I think after that, all I would really need is a program to open zipped files ...

(people might not get that you are kidding, so be prepared for flame)

 

[Red Ring Rico]

Oddly enough, I've been working on a program for the Pandora to act as a GameTap-like service.

 

[Svartalf]

Reading Craig's interview on pocketgamer, it should be able to "run a complete programming environment.", so hopefully he thinks it will run a compiler. Here's hoping.


Considering that you've got a Linux distribution, so long as everything you're doing fits within the 128Mb of RAM on the SOC, coupled with possibly an additional 128-256Mb of swap on one of the SDHC cards, you should do pretty much anything that'll fit on a desktop machine. Serious.

I can see someone doing GCC and then one of several differing IDEs (Source Navigator, maybe Eclipse or NetBeans, etc...) and then going to town with it. It'd be slowish compared to my current Core Duo machines, but it'd work out nicely enough.