Making The Pandora Your Official Computer

[BRIGUY14]

I wanted to know that with some software development, could it be possible to make the Pandora your official computer?

Also what limitations does the Pandora have from it being a full fledge computer?

 

[Prometheus]

This question depends entirely on what you use a computer for. Please elaborate.

 

[BRIGUY14]

I would like to use the Pandora to create programs for it and package it into a pnd. I was just wondering if a PC had a better advantage over the Pandora ( Not including processor and etc.) but with developing. Sorry if its kind of confusing :unsure:

 

[gruso]

The two main limitations:

- Processing power.
- Software library.

Now I will play devil's advocate by arguing with my own points.

- Processing power. In a way it seems silly to say the Pandora doesn't have enough power. It has plenty. My first desktop PC had an 8mhz CPU, and for many years I was happily running Windows PCs ranging from 200mhz to 800mhz. The average person could still get away with an 800mhz PC for everyday use, if the world wasn't full of bloated software or the otherwise inflated 'need' for power.

- Availability of software. The Pandora software library isn't too bad actually, when you include the Angstrom apps. Outside of gaming there is a good range of productivity & networking options. Run Debian from an SD card and you've got access to many thousands of apps.

One limitation that is hard to get around is wear & tear. The Pandora doesn't have a lot of easily replaceable parts. If you wear out the nubs or break a USB port, expert repair is required. Not that I'm saying these things will definitely happen, but if you're relying on the Pandora as a primary computer, the down time is going to be many days or weeks.

Depending on your needs you could make it your primary PC, but I think most people will agree it makes a better sidekick.

 

[gruso]

Ah, just saw your second post. The Pandora is great for building software. Compiling is going to be a bit slower than it is on a desktop PC of course. But on the other hand, you don't have to set up a whole dev environment on your PC, you don't have to cross-compile. You can build and test your PNDs on your Pandora in the park, on a bus, in bed...

Quite a few people are doing this, some resources here: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/41572-sdk-developer-tools-documentation/ (see the links on Native development)

 

[BRIGUY14]

Thanks Gruso for everything!

 

[BRIGUY14]

EDIT: One more thing I wanted know. is there any other way of increasing the CPU power other than overclocking?

 

[skeezix]

Very well put gruso I hope you've got a unit or a one nubber after all the suffering you've done

jeff

 

[paulguy]

EDIT: One more thing I wanted know. is there any other way of increasing the CPU power other than overclocking?

Not sure what you mean by this. Overclocking is literally, directly providing more cpu clock cycles per second. Beyond that, you need to make ways to waste less cpu time like eliminating X. The biggest gains related to this seem to be related to video acceleration, though. I don't imagine compiling will be awfully faster either way. Maybe save a second or so every couple minutes of compiling. I suppose for some hours long compiles you'd shave a few minutes off. Most of your losses will be in the MMC driver blocking on IO. Try using a USB hard disk or something, maybe. I haven't tested that, but it may prevent the blocking problem, and possibly allow for better compile times.