61 replies to this topic

[fusion_power]

Does the small "PMenu" boots noticable faster than the big OS? Otherwiese, PMenu would be a little bit useless I think (like first loding complete LINUX OS, then PMenu which is actualy meant to prevent the Pandora to use the Big OS for qucik instant-access to programms).
Fast boot actualy is one of my priorities because the Boot-Time of my GP2X really sucks, even when its around 30 Seconds. If the Pandora really boots as slow as an PC, I'm very sad about this. Especialy, that quick-boot techniques doesn't work at the Moment, I thought the OS can do such small features straight out of the standard-kernel? Same for typical Stylus "right-click" (Tap and Hold), Isn't this one of a standard component of modern OS?
Well, as long you can right click with an alternative Button or a "shift" function (L or R button?)missing Tap and Hold shouldns be a big issue.
Working battery-status (and MHz-display) would be also fine for release. I hope at least the Pandora-LED's are really working (like seen onto MWestons Picture) and also indicates low Battery status - I also missed this onto my GP2X (known GMENU Bug). It was always a "nice" surprise if the GP2X was going off because no warning LED showed the battery status.

[lulzfish]

I think PMenu is just a GUI on top of Linux, which means you load everything except for xfce-specific stuff.
So it would be just as fast / slow as xfce, but it's supposed to be more noob-friendly, for people who have never used a desktop GUI, or are afraid of Linux desktops.

[EvilDragon]

Does the small "PMenu" boots noticable faster than the big OS? Otherwiese, PMenu would be a little bit useless I think (like first loding complete LINUX OS, then PMenu which is actualy meant to prevent the Pandora to use the Big OS for qucik instant-access to programms).

SLIM (the Login Manager) loads up either PMenu or XFCE4, so it is significally faster (about 10 seconds, I guess).

Of course we want to boot it as fast as possible (we will also try to enhance speed as much as possible), however, with suspend mode, you should be able to have your Pandora lying around for a week (if not more!) without losing too much battery power and instantly continue where you left off .)

[Aninhumer]

Actually, I was wondering, will the auto created .desktop files be accessible with the D-Pad, as they would be on a simple menu? Or is it touchscreen/nub mouse only?

Or alternatively, would it be possible to run PMenu in XFCE as a fullscreen app? So you could have a simple menu for gaming, and then drop out of it to do anything else?

I mean, I realise 10 seconds or whatever isn't a lot of time to swap over, but if it could be instant, that would be nice.

[ashdjones]

I think of this like an early version of an emulator - speed will improve over time.

Edited by ashdjones, 23 November 2009 - 05:08 PM.

[EvilDragon]

Actually, I was wondering, will the auto created .desktop files be accessible with the D-Pad, as they would be on a simple menu? Or is it touchscreen/nub mouse only?

Or alternatively, would it be possible to run PMenu in XFCE as a fullscreen app? So you could have a simple menu for gaming, and then drop out of it to do anything else?

I mean, I realise 10 seconds or whatever isn't a lot of time to swap over, but if it could be instant, that would be nice.

Yes, of course you can always switch from XFCE4 to PMenu and vice versa on the fly (XFCE4 will quit though, PMenu doesn't run using X).

[Mjlink]

ED

thx for the details!

Link

[efegea]

Yes, of course you can always switch from XFCE4 to PMenu and vice versa on the fly (XFCE4 will quit though, PMenu doesn't run using X).

How is that? how will it launch X-based apps? does that mean that the apps, games, emulators that PMenu will run will be only the framebuffer based ones? and what about 3D acceleration, does it work on framebuffer, without X?

is the login manager a XDM? if so, will it kill itself and X to run PMenu?


I'm a bit puzzled here

[atomicthumbs]

Noob, half-on-topic development question: do you need to kill X to use the framebuffer?

[EvilDragon]

Yes, of course you can always switch from XFCE4 to PMenu and vice versa on the fly (XFCE4 will quit though, PMenu doesn't run using X).

How is that? how will it launch X-based apps? does that mean that the apps, games, emulators that PMenu will run will be only the framebuffer based ones? and what about 3D acceleration, does it work on framebuffer, without X?

It will simply run X programs by starting an X-Server and running them.

The Login Manager is SLIM, not XDM.

[Poem58]

* Include Battery-Status (it charges, but it can't read out the current status yet)

This confuses me, I remember many months ago the explanation of the battery gauge being so accurate (Down to minutes maybe even seconds?) and that was something we were just going to be amazed by (no more 3, 2 , 1 Status bar crap). I thought it was this gauge that determined the battery was more like 14 hours than ten? If they aren't reading status, then how was the previous determined? Or it was working once but not after a change or something? Having talked about the coolness of the battery gauge I'm just curious as to why it isn't working if at one time it seemed to be.
Thanks.

[ashdjones]

* Include Battery-Status (it charges, but it can't read out the current status yet)

I thought it was this gauge that determined the battery was more like 14 hours than ten? If they aren't reading status, then how was the previous determined?
Thanks.

They ran a Snes emulator on (IIRC) the original FDM-cased prototype which ran for (again, IIRC) 8 hours, stating that battery management (implemented in the future) would probably increase this to 10+ hours for games and 12+ for general purpose applications. The battery indicator, AFAIK isn't part of this management, it just reads values from the system process which is. In XFCE you can make a gauge for just above any system variable if you so wish.

Edited by ashdjones, 23 November 2009 - 07:27 PM.

[notaz]

I guess in January (latest) you can simply suspend the unit like a normal PDA and then you don't need to reboot each time you use the unit.

Optimistic as usual. All drivers will need to have support for that to work, but almost none of them do now.

This confuses me, I remember many months ago the explanation of the battery gauge being so accurate (Down to minutes maybe even seconds?) and that was something we were just going to be amazed by (no more 3, 2 , 1 Status bar crap). I thought it was this gauge that determined the battery was more like 14 hours than ten? If they aren't reading status, then how was the previous determined? Or it was working once but not after a change or something? Having talked about the coolness of the battery gauge I'm just curious as to why it isn't working if at one time it seemed to be.
Thanks.

The chip works properly but the driver needs to be written.

Remember that software is done by volunteers with unrelated day jobs on their free time. Don't expect everything to work 100% on day 1.

[EvilDragon]

I guess in January (latest) you can simply suspend the unit like a normal PDA and then you don't need to reboot each time you use the unit.

Optimistic as usual. All drivers will need to have support for that to work, but almost none of them do now.

Naaah, I'm not craig
I thought the driver was already finished. Sorry if that isn't the case
Will follow as soon as possible though

And for a first release, the OS works great (methinks )

[dflemstr]

And for a first release, the OS works great (methinks )

Uh-oh.... When ED thinks something works great... well, we all know what happens then...