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You're not a very good developer if you can't get audio, video, or pointer working on the Zii Egg with Plaszma by now .. in fact, you'd have to be a pretty poor one ..

BTW, G1 DEV phone was really crap to code for in its first release, too .. and now with todays new version of Plaszma OS Firmware release, things are going very smoothly on the Zii Egg.
Why on Earth would you have bought the Zii Egg if it wasn't to develop software for it? Its a DEVELOPER machine, for crying out loud!

I have one also, and you know what? Its getting a *LOT* of use.. you know why? Because I'm a DEVELOPER and have my code running on it .. and guess what, its my favourite thing to run my apps on, out of a suite of gadgets: iPhones, Android devices, Wiz, Touchbook. The reason? The Zii Egg is a very comfortable, powerful device.

But its only for DEVELOPERS right now. Who on Earth buys Developer-only products and then complains that they don't work Shitty developers, and keepingupwiththejoneses gadget fanboix, thats who ..
The design is intended to make it very easy to emulate older systems .. this is really the best system around for running emulators.
It emulates (or will do shortly) PSX games, plus .. about 15,000 other games from various systems, MAME, C64, Atari, Gameboy, etc.

I mean, come on .. it maybe won't have the support of all the 'major' game shops as of today, but lets not get the cart before the horse .. its not going to be easy for game shops to support this if its *not even released to the public yet*.

All they have to do is sell out the production runs 2 or 3 times - like they have already - and it'll start to get the attention of the major game makers. Plus, there is a little-known fact: its possible to start a new game company, targetting systems like this directly, and make big $$$ .. if your game is good enough and you don't screw up the execution.

Lest ye forget: pretty much *every* major game developer today started off small, having to put their faith in the available hardware like this system. We're witnessing a brand new event horizon, people ..

I ordered one, and as a hard-core GP2X fan I can't wait for the Pandora to get here!!!

What I like about the Pandora: The OPEN PART!! Yes, its open, folks .. runs an operating system anyone can hack for .. plus with the two SD slots, it means I can finally ship an app on SD and have the system behave like it should without fuss.

Plus, the on-board DSP is going to be a *lot* of fun to write music-apps for .. keep that in mind, its a ready-to-go musicians dream machine. Plenty of keys, plenty of power, and very, very portable...
As a GP2X developer, this is terribly exciting to me, and I seriously can't wait .. the GP2X community is one of the most gung-ho groups of DIY/self-makers around, and the homebrew scene is truly awe-inspiring indeed .. the dynamics of emulators produces so much wonderful value for game-players and computer hobbyists.

So, the question is this: what will you do with it? Well, imagine having a Commodore 64, a Sinclair Spectrum (Timex-1000 to you yanks), an Amstrad CPC, an Atari ST, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Colecovision Adam, PC-Engine, Sega Genesis/Master System, Sony Playstation, N64 .. heck, even an EDSAC .. in your pocket. Well: you can do that already with the GP2X! So, the new Pandora gives you even more storage and peripheral support (you have to carry around a box full of USB stuff with the GP2X right now if you want to use a mouse with your Atari emu..) and even more processing power, so we'll see other systems come to the emu apps roster when it is released.

As a developer, this is terribly exciting. An open linux machine, hand-held, being designed by the community of its most interested users. I watched the evolution of the GP2X out of the fires of the GP32 (its predecessor, of sorts), and I have always been impressed with how this group gets things done .. so count me in for 3 of these things, and hurry up and get them ready, already! My 5 GP2X's are ready for grandfathering .. ;)

Looks pretty nice to me .. I can see lots of applications for such a thing in the software-synthesizer world, for example, where it would be very lovely to be able to break out all the synth parameters into a single user interface - this is very important for jamming, because often times by the time you get around to lassoo'ing your mouse around the screen to home in on a specific parameter to change it, mid-bar or -beat, you've lost the inspiration in the first place and your hand is cramping up.

So if this thing offers some functionality similar to the NI Kore control surface, albeit at consumer-level prices with a bit more 'general-purpose peripheral' style approach to the API (not, like, API-trap developer deathknoll), then it could be a winner. As it is, I already have a couple Griffin Powermates on my desk for such a Big Fat Knob purpose - staple-gun'ing a nice LED display that any developer/hacker can put stuff on easily enough would make the perfect bridge from my hardware synthesizer-fetish world over to soft land ..

man, what with all the bling going on, and we haven't gotten to goldfilter yet?

http://virus.info/events/11-2006/competition2006a.php4

:)
Its ludicrous. "Old" computers don't stop working just because there's something new around the corner. If there is any community of users that prove this, its the Mac world, where 8-year old systems are still in active, daily use, by productive people who simply use what works, not whats new and hot.

Ignoring the PPC realm is a real idiot maneuver; it basically says "your computer is old, buy a new one for our software". Cross-platform builds are not that hard .. so there is no reason not to support PPC here, except, plain and simple, elitism.

And it seems that elitism is a big part of Adobe culture. If so, consider Soundbooth off my list of useful tools; I'd rather build Audacity myself for whatever platform I've got in front of me, not what some market-droid wants me to buy "like some happy little consumer" ..
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I just switched to Sprint from Verizon about three months ago for the Pre. Then I went for the Hero about a week ago. Now, I miss my hardware keyboard and am thinking about switching to the Moment. I am still able to switch back to Verizon if I want and get the Droid when it arrives. Should I just trade up to the Moment when it comes out, see if I like it, and if not switch to the Droid? Or something else entirely? Help!"
 

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