Working On The Pandora?

[Awakening]

The best parts of the Wiz is the compact format, the bright screen and that I can play SNES games on it. It's also cheaper then the Pandora. I'm not really that impressed that the Pandora can run Quake 3 as you might have guessed, although running PS1 games might come in handy. Not really sold on the wifi either, but another thing that could prove handy.

Lately I've been thinking about getting a Pandora as a portable working device. This would make the keyboard useful, otherwise it just seems to take up space. I work part time as a board game designer and it would be very useful to me if I could write and draw on the Pandora. So my first question would be what sort of text and art software I could expect to run. I would guess Open Office can be ported? Not really a huge fan and I'm wondering how the small screen would work.

What's the final keyboard layout? The image in the openpandora.org blog have , and . buttons to the left as well as a compose key to the right (also enter key), would that be the latest? The compose key is to use special characters, which is nice since I'm from Sweden. I'm wondering how this button actually works, I'll be needing åÅäÄöÖ quite often.

As it is now I would also have to use the FN button to activate the compose button which seems a bit odd. BTW, do I have to hold down the FN button or simply press it once? Holding FN and pressing buttons on the right side looks a bit awkward. Same with shift as there's only one on the left. Although the device is quite small, so perhaps it's not a problem? I would like to see a movie of someone actually writing stuff on it.

I've been doing some high level programming, in Dark Basic. And I was wondering if PyGame, Fenix or GLBasic will be ported so I can code some games on the Pandora as well?

And while I'm asking, how well does it play videos? I'd be surpriced if it can run 720p MKV smoothly but how about Xvid/DivX or MP4?

 

[sindbad]

I'll try and answer the last few questions.

Pygame will be there, but no one knows if in the default image. You might have to bundle pygame (and, if we're terribly unlucky, python as well) in your game package. PyOpenGL ES has some work on it for the iPhone and it should run, at least eventually. Pyglet may need some porting, but it should also work at some point. Ctypes works. No psyco.

The devboard could run h264 at some high enough resolution (I'm not sure it was 720p) at 85-90% of real time with a stock mplayer, everything done on the ARM. There's a post about it somewhere.

If NEON were to be used, it would be significantly faster. If DSP codecs were to be used, it would play 1080p h264 just fine (similar devices already can) and the ARM would be almost unused. Powerful little beast.

 

[Hotcooler]

And if I remember correctly there is a video on youtube of BeagleBoard (pandora basically) running 720p video atleast with DSP codecs (some video about a bunny). And some videos from TI with their dev board running 720p video.

 

[Awakening]

Gargh, even my stationary PC can't play 720p h264 in MKV format without getting the audio out of sync every now and then. It's been ages since I updated it. Sounds like I may have to buy me a large SD card if I get a Pandora, I like anime.

 

[PoisonedV]

So what type of board games? Ameritrash or euro?

 

[Hotcooler]

About audio out of sync problem.. I believe it have something to do with codecs.. for example I had to change my favourite VLC to KMplayer just because with most MKV's after some time audio was getting slow.. and out of sync.. Dunno why was that happening.. But I belive it's still there since the new interface in 0.8.x

meh.. sorry for my bad english in overcomplicated sentences.

 

[fischju2000]

The Pandora does need DSP acceleration for high res high profile h246, I highly doubt the ARM by itself will ever be able to. It would be much easier if we could somehow get those DSP codecs, does anybody know TI's stance on opening them up, or the licensing fees?

 

[God Ginrai]

The best parts of the Wiz is the compact format, the bright screen and that I can play SNES games on it. It's also cheaper then the Pandora. I'm not really that impressed that the Pandora can run Quake 3 as you might have guessed, although running PS1 games might come in handy. Not really sold on the wifi either, but another thing that could prove handy.

Lately I've been thinking about getting a Pandora as a portable working device. This would make the keyboard useful, otherwise it just seems to take up space. I work part time as a board game designer and it would be very useful to me if I could write and draw on the Pandora. So my first question would be what sort of text and art software I could expect to run. I would guess Open Office can be ported? Not really a huge fan and I'm wondering how the small screen would work.

What's the final keyboard layout? The image in the openpandora.org blog have , and . buttons to the left as well as a compose key to the right (also enter key), would that be the latest? The compose key is to use special characters, which is nice since I'm from Sweden. I'm wondering how this button actually works, I'll be needing åÅäÄöÖ quite often.

As it is now I would also have to use the FN button to activate the compose button which seems a bit odd. BTW, do I have to hold down the FN button or simply press it once? Holding FN and pressing buttons on the right side looks a bit awkward. Same with shift as there's only one on the left. Although the device is quite small, so perhaps it's not a problem? I would like to see a movie of someone actually writing stuff on it.

I've been doing some high level programming, in Dark Basic. And I was wondering if PyGame, Fenix or GLBasic will be ported so I can code some games on the Pandora as well?

And while I'm asking, how well does it play videos? I'd be surpriced if it can run 720p MKV smoothly but how about Xvid/DivX or MP4?

As I understand it, the compose key should work just as a compose key standardly works. (Look it up on Wikipedia)

Fenix, I believe will probably be ported. It was ported over to the GP2X pretty fast, indicating that there was a demand for it, and that people are willing to do it. I would expect it in the first 6-8 months after release. Probably sooner.

About audio out of sync problem.. I believe it have something to do with codecs.. for example I had to change my favourite VLC to KMplayer just because with most MKV's after some time audio was getting slow.. and out of sync.. Dunno why was that happening.. But I belive it's still there since the new interface in 0.8.x

You should've made that change anyways. VLC is shit on windows.

-God Ginrai

 

[Awakening]

PoisonedV:
I got a light euro almost ready for print. Just started working on a light euro/abstract mix. Got an abstract game that's almost done and I will look for an international publisher soon, people who enjoy abstracts like Chess really like it. I'm also working on a simple card game that I recently made a lot of changes to but haven't tested. Plenty of ideas for euros and one ameritrash RPG hybrid.

Hotcooler:
I use Zoom Player. The problem with MKV is that audio and video is separated. It supports multiple audio streams and subs. I'll give KMplayer a try.

 

[PoisonedV]

PoisonedV:
I got a light euro almost ready for print. Just started working on a light euro/abstract mix. Got an abstract game that's almost done and I will look for an international publisher soon, people who enjoy abstracts like Chess really like it. I'm also working on a simple card game that I recently made a lot of changes to but haven't tested. Plenty of ideas for euros and one ameritrash RPG hybrid.

Sounds awesome. I'm a huge board game nerd, is there /will there be any website or index for your stuff?

 

[fischju2000]

KMplayer? Do people not use CCCP and MPC any more? I still say it has the higest image quality out of all of them.

 

[Awakening]

QUOTE
Sounds awesome. I'm a huge board game nerd, is there /will there be any website or index for your stuff?


I'm thinking of maybe starting up a blog on Wordpress. Once the first game goes final I will set up a page for it on Board Game Geek. You can find me there as Awakening.

QUOTE
KMplayer? Do people not use CCCP and MPC any more? I still say it has the higest image quality out of all of them.


I use CCCP and Zoom Player. I've not tried if MPC handles MKV better.

 

[sindbad]

QUOTE
KMplayer? Do people not use CCCP and MPC any more? I still say it has the higest image quality out of all of them.

I use CCCP and Zoom Player. I've not tried if MPC handles MKV better.I like SMPlayer.

 

[GuSec]

Ah, nice to hear I'm not the only Swede around here! As far as I know, we will be able to use the compose key to get our precious å, ä and ö. Also there shouldn't be a problem remapping something else to those letters with a custom keyboard layout to input them a little quicker.
About the 720p-question, you will be surprised. The Pandora will be able to handle 720p video without a problem, I do not doubt it even a little.
Openoffice is a bit trickier. The latest version (3) has got 256MB of RAM as a system requirement, so the Pandora barely pass. It will be a little heavy on the machine, but I'm pretty sure it will work fine on it's own. If not, there's always Abiword, which is very lightweight and most definitely will work and is almost as good as Openoffice.
If that's all I would recommend you go for it.

 

[sindbad]

Openoffice is a bit trickier. The latest version (3) has got 256MB of RAM as a system requirement, so the Pandora barely pass. It will be a little heavy on the machine, but I''m pretty sure it will work fine on it''s own. If not, there''s always Abiword, which is very lightweight and most definitely will work and is almost as good as Openoffice.
Openoffice might work, but it isn't ideal. Abiword, Gnumeric and the gnome presentation thing and KOffice 1.6 (or even 2.0) should work just fine.
In case of compatibility problems with MS Office files, just the Openoffice filters could be used to convert them to ODT (or RTF) and it's brethren.

 

[Hotcooler]

QUOTE
KMplayer? Do people not use CCCP and MPC any more? I still say it has the higest image quality out of all of them.


I do use kLiteMCP but only for Thumbnail generation (x64 is a bit more complicated though) and video editing. I like players with built in stuff that can decode everything. Plus KMplayer have some nifty features for those who have big screens and fast CPU's. Like realtime lanczos resampling and noise filters Warp sharpers e.t.c I use those to resample and filter SD content (TV shows mostly) so they look decent on 24 inch monitor.

 

[marshal]

I wouldn't worry too much about openoffice... it works on the nokia n800 with 128mb of ram (takes one minute to boot but still is somewhat usable) so on the pandora it should be much better.
Turning off java and some other optimisation might be needed to get it to work better but it will work for sure
Being able to open a variety of documents, including presentation can really come in handy.
I agree of course that other lightweight option are really welcome
Openoffice will be overkill for some things.
I sure hope to see lyx on the pandora.

 

[Awakening]

Hotcooler:
I can't find anywhere in KMPlayer where I can turn off the default subs. That is, KMPlayer uses its own subs which are all the same color and aligned the same. This is a problem when words are meant to be placed in a specific possition on the screen or use different colors. Karaoke for animes are even worse. No out of sync audio though.

QUOTE
Ah, nice to hear I''m not the only Swede around here! As far as I know, we will be able to use the compose key to get our precious å, ä and ö. Also there shouldn''t be a problem remapping something else to those letters with a custom keyboard layout to input them a little quicker.
About the 720p-question, you will be surprised. The Pandora will be able to handle 720p video without a problem, I do not doubt it even a little.
Openoffice is a bit trickier. The latest version (3) has got 256MB of RAM as a system requirement, so the Pandora barely pass. It will be a little heavy on the machine, but I''m pretty sure it will work fine on it''s own. If not, there''s always Abiword, which is very lightweight and most definitely will work and is almost as good as Openoffice.
If that''s all I would recommend you go for it.


As for remapping buttons I don't think that's a great idea because the others are needed just as much. If FM > Compose > Key is well made it doesn't bother me.

Abiword looks nice at first glance. I do wonder what it's like to type a lot with just the thumbs. Of course it will be slow compared to using all fingers. Back to staring at the keyboard...

 

[God Ginrai]

Hotcooler:
I can't find anywhere in KMPlayer where I can turn off the default subs. That is, KMPlayer uses its own subs which are all the same color and aligned the same. This is a problem when words are meant to be placed in a specific possition on the screen or use different colors. Karaoke for animes are even worse. No out of sync audio though.

Kmplayer has a whole section in the preferences dedicated to subtitles, did you take a look at that?

-God Ginrai

 

[Awakening]

Hotcooler:
I can't find anywhere in KMPlayer where I can turn off the default subs. That is, KMPlayer uses its own subs which are all the same color and aligned the same. This is a problem when words are meant to be placed in a specific possition on the screen or use different colors. Karaoke for animes are even worse. No out of sync audio though.

Kmplayer has a whole section in the preferences dedicated to subtitles, did you take a look at that?

-God Ginrai


About 2 or 3 times. There's nowhere to turn off the built in system and use the one embedded in the file.