Will I Need A Pc To Use The Pandora?

[TJSomething]

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)

I am actually honestly skeptical that it will be able to read every kind of compressed archive out there through a GUI. I have seen little support in Linux for 7zip and rar.

 

[WizardStan]

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)

Can you explain the joke? Looks about right to me.

 

[greendots]

...
I am actually honestly skeptical that it will be able to read every kind of compressed archive out there through a GUI. I have seen little support in Linux for 7zip and rar.

7zip is multiplatform and there is a (slightly old) version of winrar for linux. No zip format should be a problem.

(winrar is x86 and will not run here)

 

[AireTamStorm]

I've never had problems with /any/ archive format in either KDE or Gnome archive GUIs, including 7zip and rar. Then again, I'm in x86land.

 

[craigix]

Yeah you should be able to do this, but you might still want a PC near for making up SD cards etc. at first until you have your Pandora set up in a config that works for you in your daily life.

 

[kloplop321]

what exactly is going on the NAND anyway? I mean like, there is a linux distro that is like 50 MB which has network and visual support, so are we going to be stuck on a 256MB version of BASH?

 

[TaG]

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.

Yeah you should be able to do this, but you might still want a PC near for making up SD cards etc. at first until you have your Pandora set up in a config that works for you in your daily life.

Thanks for those confirmations - that is good news.

Yeah, the pc at start I can understand. It's when you want to try stuff or update something when away from your own pc that being able to operate independantly counts.