August 9, 2013

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  I had been looking up information on installing Linux on a Nintendo DS and I came across the Pandora. The reason for all this (and why I find the Pandora to be exactly what I had in mind) was that I was considering the merits of portable computer systems. My brother has a fully functioning command-line terminal on a CD (you pop it into a computer and it boots into it as a separate operating device) and I know there are Linux distros that you can fit on flash drives. While the idea of a portable computer is pretty appealing (given that, while technically portable, a laptop is somewhat clunky in certain environments), neither a flash drive nor a disc gives you the ability to use it outside of another computer. And, for both, you'd have to reboot the computer you want to use it on (which you can't be guaranteed the owner of whichever computer you're borrowing will be okay with).

  Well, I knew people had succeeded in installing Linux on the DS so I thought I'd check that out. Even if it only gave me the command line, there's a lot you can do in a terminal (including, without images, browse the internet) and a DS is most definitely portable. Cool? Hell yeah.

  Then I found the Pandora. See the front of that thing? That's a USB and two SD-card ports. Did I mention it gets wi-fi? And it has a keyboard (unlike the DS).

  I usually don't like touch screens so I can do without but it has one too. And those D-pads? That's because one of its primary designs was also to be a video game emulator. Outside of what I was looking for but a fairly nice perk.

  The RAM is only 512 MiB but it runs Linux so that probably won't be a problem (after all, I'm running about 34 tabs in Uzbl (my web browser) right now and I'm only using 2 GiB of RAM. And I would probably be running more efficient software on Pandora). Besides, the point wasn't to replace my laptop. It was to provide a cool little alternative if I ever couldn't (or simply didn't want to) use my laptop somewhere.

  And it's the same size as a DS? Speaking of:

  
  

  Not a bad improvement.

  Anyway, I like to tantalize myself at times (and share said tantalization with others).

  However, if mucking around with installing Linux on a DS does interest you (they're selling used $5 ones somewhere on the internet), here's an extensive link for you: http://osdl.sourceforge.net/main/documentation/misc/nintendo-DS/homebrew-guide/HomebrewForDS.html.

  • 12:09 am
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