What is Pandev Linux?

Pandev Linux is a Live-CD based on Puppy Linux whose goals are to:

• Provide a complete development environment for the Linux based Pandora game system
• Provide documentation and tutorials which is designed to make Pandora developers productive

A Live-CD contains an operating system (OS) that is launched at boot time from CD-ROM which does NOT require to be installed on the hard drive. The Live-CD contains software drivers for most common hardware however the user may be required to help configure some devices (i.e. video settings, wireless connection settings). When the Linux OS boots up from the Live-CD you will be greeted with a GUI (similar to what you might find in Ubuntu or Windows) and have access typical applications such as a web browser, a text editor and a console.

Since the Pandev Linux OS is not installed on the hard drive, it does NOT overwrite your existing operating system. To boot your existing operating system, just remove the Live-CD and reboot the system normally. The user must specify where to put user data (i.e. a game's project files) and persistent system settings (i.e. browser settings or a custom background image). User data (i.e. a game's project files) is probably best stored on a USB flash drive so that it may also be read by your primary operating system. Persistent system settings can be stored in a special save file containing a Linux file system which can also be written to a USB flash drive. Subsequent boots from the Live-CD will search for the save file and will load it if found.

Pandev Linux includes the following key software at this time:

• GNU C/C++ compiler
• Text editors including Vim, Geany (an IDE) and Leafpad (similar to Notepad)
• A web browser called SeaMonkey (very similar to Firefox)
• Gimp image editor
• A Console
• SDL libraries including SDL_image, SDL_ttf, SDL_net and SDL_mixer
• Lua scripting language
• Python scripting language
• Includes example programs and documentation

Screenshot

FAQ

What features are planned for future releases?

• Additional tutorials covering advanced SDL, cross compiling, OpenGL ES, Cortex A8 / Neon processor, TMS320C64x+ DSP Core, ...
• Additional software including cross compilers, additional libraries and content creation tools
• Support for other game systems including the GP2X and Wiz

• Use the Pandora Forums for questions related to the Pandora game system
• Use the Puppy Forums for questions related to Puppy Linux (Pandev Linux is based off Puppy Linux)

• User contributions such as tutorials, demos and feedback are encouraged
• Send me mail stating how you would like to help

• Yes, see Running in VMware for more details. (Thanks Pickle)

• Pandev Linux includes software from many different sources, each of which may have it's own licensing restrictions

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Pandora team for designing such a great homebrew system and also the many homebrew developers who have forged a path that the rest of us can follow.

Thanks in advance for any feedback and contributions that you provide which makes future versions of Pandev Linux better.

• Your name here :-)