"Must haves" for the Pandora?


I WOULD be interested in getting Qemu to work...and Windows 98 installed...because then I could do RAINE and Peggle.

But I absolutely need someone, anyone to walk me thru this and hold my hand setting it up...the idea of doing something this complicated alone scares the hell out of me.  I know just enough about this sort of stuff to be truly dangerous.  and I don't mean that in a good way.
 
Raine would be way too slow... an emulation on an emulated system doesn't make sense.


The Android version of Peggle runs on the Pandora.
 
I WOULD be interested in getting Qemu to work...and Windows 98 installed...because then I could do RAINE and Peggle.

But I absolutely need someone, anyone to walk me thru this and hold my hand setting it up...the idea of doing something this complicated alone scares the hell out of me.  I know just enough about this sort of stuff to be truly dangerous.  and I don't mean that in a good way.
My advice would be to get a dedicated SD card for QEMU, my understanding is that nothing has to be done on the NAND of the Pandora so the worst that you could do is mess up the SD card & have to reformat it.

Noticed you were asking about how to get stuff on to the Pandora when it won't connect via USB, do you have an SD card reader on the PC? If you do then use that, if you don't then get one.

I've not used QEMU myself but I'd maybe post in the QEMU thread asking about whether Raine / Peggle would work would be wise if they are the only things you would anticipate using it for. From when it was released I'd be amazed if Peggle was compatible with Win98 and even if it was I'd suspect that it would not run at a playable speed.
 
Raine would be way too slow... an emulation on an emulated system doesn't make sense.

The Android version of Peggle runs on the Pandora.
As I've said before, I don't want to run Android on Pandy. For one thing I really don't want to mess with alternate OS's...I'm dangerous.

Secondly, I've heard about issues with SD Card corruption using Android. No thanks.

I'll wait for a .pnd version of Peggle if someone ever has the inclination.
 
I WOULD be interested in getting Qemu to work...and Windows 98 installed...because then I could do RAINE and Peggle.

But I absolutely need someone, anyone to walk me thru this and hold my hand setting it up...the idea of doing something this complicated alone scares the hell out of me.  I know just enough about this sort of stuff to be truly dangerous.  and I don't mean that in a good way.
 My advice would be to get a dedicated SD card for QEMU, my understanding is that nothing has to be done on the NAND of the Pandora so the worst that you could do is mess up the SD card & have to reformat it.

Noticed you were asking about how to get stuff on to the Pandora when it won't connect via USB, do you have an SD card reader on the PC? If you do then use that, if you don't then get one.

I've not used QEMU myself but I'd maybe post in the QEMU thread asking about whether Raine / Peggle would work would be wise if they are the only things you would anticipate using it for. From when it was released I'd be amazed if Peggle was compatible with Win98 and even if it was I'd suspect that it would not run at a playable speed.
I have an SD Card reader/writer.

My question was...how would you get Win 98 installation (which is a CD) onto Pandy?

I'm sure Peggle would work out, I have a Win 98 desktop here at home, and Peggle works on it.

Of course, if one could do XP on Qemu, all the better...but I'm not sure that could be done.

At any rate, would be fun to try. But I'd want some hand-holding to get me thru the process.

Windows would also be nice, because then you could use Windows Media Player to play your movies and stuff.

But, again...I can easily see how to get Qemu ITSELF onto the Pandy...that's easy...download the .pnd and do like normal with my SD Card Reader. But how to get Win 98 install - which is on a CD...onto the Pandy...when the Pandy won't actually hook to a computer and get recognized as a USB Mass Storage Device?

BY THE WAY...yeah, I know Win 98 is a different OS...but the difference here is that you still run Qemu from XFCE, and then run Windows within that app...so you aren't actually altering your original OS.

I know they say nothing goes on the NAND, but I'm still scared of screwing something up...like I said before, I know just enough about these sorts of devices to be truly dangerous, I could EASILY find a way to screw something up!
 
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Nobody said it will not work.
They are just talking about it will be too slow.


Enviado desde mi GT-N7000 usando Tapatalk 2
 
My question was...how would you get Win 98 installation (which is a CD) onto Pandy?
You would need to rip the Windows 98 CD into an ISO image file.. from there you can mount the ISO image in Qemu under CD-Rom image and when it boots up run the installer. Most CD/DVD burning software for Windows and Linux can allow you to create an ISO image instead of burning it to disk. There are Linux command line methods that can be done as well of course.
 
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If you want to do it the hard way and want the true retro feeling of loading win98 i guess you could attach an USB cd drive (or dvd-hyper-multi-whatever-drive-that-also-does-cd) to the pandora :p (Note: You would need a seperate/external power supply for the cd drive - they often come with one but you might not need it with a pc but you do with a pandora.)
 
Raine would be way too slow... an emulation on an emulated system doesn't make sense.


The Android version of Peggle runs on the Pandora.
As I've said before, I don't want to run Android on Pandy. For one thing I really don't want to mess with alternate OS's...I'm dangerous.


Secondly, I've heard about issues with SD Card corruption using Android. No thanks.


I'll wait for a .pnd version of Peggle if someone ever has the inclination.
Regarding Android and SD card corruption, I have two 8GB SD cards that I use for Android.  Once I got everything installed, I've had no issues.  Peggle is a lot of fun, and ED is the one who got me hooked on the game.  When I'm not using Android, I use entirely different SD Cards.  Now I have a 16GB card with Slackware (thanks Linux-SWAT) installed, which I'm really looking forward to learning over the next few weeks. 
 
OK.

Thanks for the info. So I would need to rip the CD into an ISO image. this can be done with about any CD burning/ripping software for Windows.

Once you have the ISO, then you put THAT in the roms/images folder in appdata under qemu.

Then, you run qemu, and from there, run the install file?

Does this seem like the right answer?

As to Peggle..like I said, I'd still like to see a native port. I just really don't like messing around with XCFE...what if I can't ever get it back, you see? It scares the hell out of me.

I even got squeamish about updating the Firmware, the one time I did it...from 1.51 to 1.52. It scared the hell out of me. I know they say you CAN'T brick the Pandy, and maybe you can't...but if there's even a chance in a million that you could brick it...trust me, I'd be the one lucky enough to manage it.
 
I just really don't like messing around with XCFE...what if I can't ever get it back, you see? It scares the hell out of me.
What do you mean by this?

I've a strong suspicion you are needlessly worrying yourself but without understanding exactly what you mean it's difficult to advise you.

Guess what I'm trying to say is that QEmu is no more likely to make XCFE disappear than running any other PND.
 
Don't worry, qemu can't screw up anything. Have you used DosBox before? Or VirtualBox on your PC?

What you will do with qemu is creating a virtual harddrive, just like an .ISO file. Qemu then simulates a PC with that image as harddrive. So everything is "sealed off" from your real operating system. It's like running any given emulator with rom files and virtual memory cards. Worst thing that can happen is that you screw up your virtual harddrive, ie. that image file. And if you do: delete it and start again.

Don't get your hopes up too high though, everything will be pretty slow.

Maybe you should try to install Slackware on an SD card, just to lose your fear of doing such things ^_^

Messing around with qemu could be good training too though. Be brave! Try things! Learning by doing is great!!

Oh, and by the way: since you already know how to upgrade (re-flash) the Pandora OS, there is really nothing you can do to mess up your Pandora software-wise. If you mess up your OS you can always re-flash and everything will be ok.
 
As I've said before, I don't want to run Android on Pandy. For one thing I really don't want to mess with alternate OS's...I'm dangerous.

Secondly, I've heard about issues with SD Card corruption using Android. No thanks.

I'll wait for a .pnd version of Peggle if someone ever has the inclination.
Regarding Android and SD card corruption, I have two 8GB SD cards that I use for Android.  Once I got everything installed, I've had no issues.  Peggle is a lot of fun, and ED is the one who got me hooked on the game.  When I'm not using Android, I use entirely different SD Cards.  Now I have a 16GB card with Slackware (thanks Linux-SWAT) installed, which I'm really looking forward to learning over the next few weeks. 
I'd like to add here that The only actual reported experience with the so called 'SD card corruption' that I ever actually saw was my own. (Note that this doesn't mean there weren't others, just that I didn't see them. From my point of view all subsequent discussion of it seemed to stem from my report.)

What actually happened is that for some reason Android formatted the card in the right SD slot, and fitted it out with its own file structure. (the Android PND uses the right slot as the removable storage device)

It should be noted that:

  • The card had never been used with an android system previously. (I've never had it unexpectedly format the card since then, and it only ever happened the once)
  • The card was already in the second (right hand) slot when I started android.
  • I was trying to be a smart ass at the time and was running the Android PND *from* the card in question, in the hopes of being able to use one card and have the entirety of it visible to android by also being the 'removable' media. - I have no idea if this had anything to do with it.
While I don't know exactly what triggered this to happen, Given what I do know, I think you should be fairly safe running android if you ensure that any data on any SD card you use in the right hand slot has been backed up before you first use it with android.
- Neelix
 
No, my fear of messing uf XCFE was with running android, or any other alternate OS. I'm fully comfortable with Qemu. Just was wondering how you'd get Win 98 installed since I only have it on a CD. I knew you could rip an ISO...but didn't know how that would work out to install it in the first place. Like where you put the ISO after you rip it...and how to run the install file.

Put it this way...I never want to (if I can help it) be4 pressing the right shoulder button on Pandy while powering up. Does that clear up what scares me? I just don't like messing with OS and firmware on such devices. Like I said, if there's a chance in a million you could brick the Pandy, I'll find the way to do it.

I've never used DOSBOX or VirtualBOX on my PC...understand I am very much a novice at this sort of stuff, hence my nervousness. I know JUST ENOUGH to be dangerous, and that's the truth.

Now, as to Android, specifically, it would not be a huge problem, running as you describe with the right-hand slot, since I use my right-hand slot for all my media, anyway. My music, movies, that stuff goes on the right-hand card, and can always be changed out for a different SD with different movies/music, etc....this is how I set up my Pandy in the first place....so that the left card always stays in...the right card can be changed for other cards.

But you still would have to put the boot-up for Android on the left card...right?

Part of my problem with that is I keep, unzipped, the latest firmware, and codec pack there...because I was told it was a good idea, so that if anything got fouled up you could re-flash on the fly.

So, putting Android on that same card would screw things up, right? It would not know to flash the original Firmware...or run android...right?

See, I just get too confused about this stuff, which is why it scares me.

Qemu would be, to date, probably the toughest thing I would have tried with the Pandy.

I mean, I have no trouble dragging and dropping files, which is mostly what I have done thus far with my Pandy...I have all the emulators working and a few other things...but everything I have has been easy straightforward to install, and could be done to the SD card from my laptop via the card reader I have on the laptop.

Sometimes, I despair and feel really stupid around here, because it seems like everyone and their uncle here is some kind of wizard with all this stuff.

I mean...I managed to install Dingux on my Dingoos (I have 4 of them) but, in order to do it...I looked for and found "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Installing Dingux" and it was good enough, with total step-by-step instructions...and screenshots so you knew what to expect,and when you had done it right.

What I'd like is something similar for Qemu, and for installing Win98 on it. The wiki wasn't too helpful...again, it's just too general and full of tech gobbledygook I don't understand.

Basically, I need instructions like this:

1. Press Button A

2. Press Button C

3. Press A and B together.

4. Wait ten minutes while a bunch of information scrolls by on screen.

5. Device will shut down wehn finished.

6. Unplug it from your computer after the shutdown, and you're good to go.

Do you see the difference in these kinds of instructions...versus what's on the Wiki?

Mine is in plain English, and doesn't use technical terms that I don't understand and which scare the hell out of me. I do not care what it is doing or why it is doing it or the logic or reason behind it...I just want to know...do step A step B, step C and that is how you do it....without all the tech talk.

Basically, I need a "Complete Idiot's Guide."
 
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LOL, I'm afraid you may be right on that!!

I really HAVE horribly hijacked the original thread. Maybe some kind Admin could seperate out these posts into a different thread and clean this one up...and accept my apologies.
 
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LOL, I'm afraid you may be right on that!!


I really HAVE horribly hijacked the original thread. Maybe some kind Admin could seperate out these posts into a different thread and clean this one up...and accept my apologies.
Coming from the person who started this thread, it's quite alright.


I've gotten some pretty good suggestions so far and I don't mind you throwing my thread off topic if it's gotten you some help. :p
 
Still, though, it is bad form and kinda impolite. It's just that someone brought up Qemu...and I'd always wondered about it. I never intended for this to become ABOUT Qemu...
 
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