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Handheld Gaming / Media-player Gadget Runs Linux
An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices has profiled a new portable game- and media-player based on embedded Linux. The GPX2-F100 features dual ARM9 processors, USB 2.0, a 3.5-inch color LCD, and support for both native and emulated games. A Linux SDK (software development kit) will be available when the device ships. Hmmm... I wonder how hard it'll be to get GPE and OPIE running on it?"
The question is...
LinuxDevices announced that there is a new device which uses Linux. OMG.
Charles Jo
Will it run Windows?
I believe that Linux will make more significant inroads into the user community via embedded devices than it ever could as a more general-purpose operating system.
As a parallel, take the electric motor. When the electric motor first became commercially available, it was sold in catalogs as a general-purpose unit, along with various belts and pulleys to adapt it for specific tasks. Nowadays, electric motors come in all shapes and sizes, each customized for their specific tasks. Many household appliances contain electric motors that we don't think twice about. When's the last time you performed maintennce on the electric motor in your toothbrush?
I believe computers are moving along the same route, progressing from general-purpose systems to smaller, more ubiquitous installations. I also believe Linux is suited for such a move in a way that the other OSes are not.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
It'll not bomb like a leadweight and will see a European release this time, too....
My Mind Is Rewired. Is Yours?
i'm a gp32 owner (predecessor of this handheld), and an other gp32 owner pointed me to this post.
...
he had also submitted the arrival of this handheld a week ago, but now it only got posted here cause it was on that linuxdevices? he probably didn't mention linux so it doesn't get posted?
this is the successor of the gp32, the machine that relies on things made by the community, open for any developper since it started and most progs are completely open source (emus for a lot of systems , up to snes and sega genesis, which are about as much as the gp32 can handle, so not perfect, most others are) and has beaten the psp by a few years in playing divx, mp3, ogg,
and only cause it's linked to linux it gets posted here, this really doesn't seem right....
Got to respect a company that lists emulators among the highlights of their game system! Who else would dare to?
Circumcision is child abuse.
The original Gamepark32 was a nifty homebrew-oriented handheld. It could emulate a lot of older systems - but the SNES was a bit above its capabilities, even with the less common 166mhz versions. It also used the outdated MMC format instead of SD, making adding software a bit of a challenge. This new version looks like the perfect alternative to a PSP as an emu system; plus with the provided SDL support you can expect a lot of ports of SDL games :)
OK, that's nice. Where are the games? Did I miss a link? The only thing I miss about Windows is the games. Not enough to go back, but some.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
When are companies going to realize this type of device (Video, MP3, Gaming) needs a fucking HARD DRIVE?
I mean it's not like tiny hard drives don't exist.
At LEAST make it an option!
Consumers want their consoles to have open development platforms whether they know it or not. Imagine the kinds of things people would have done with the PSP right now if Sony actually allowed it. It's understandable why they don't: they make money off of games sales that go through them, whereas some indie developer selling games off his website would get them nothing. The sad truth is that you'll never get such a nice piece of hardware as the PSP for a good price with an open development platform. This device looks nice, but it's missing WiFi. Instead it has a radio that only communicates with other units. I'm sure the other PSP specs are better than this device as well, but it'll be interesting to see what people can do with it when it comes out since they won't have to waste time working around firmware upgrades and the like.
From someone who doesn't know the real hoopla about embedded linux - what are benefits of running linux on a handheld versus making an OS highly optimized for that thing?
Hrm...one of the pics says "The GPX2-F100 has a sleek, modern look"....I guess so if you consider the 1980's Nintendo Game and Watch look sleek and modern...
I believe that Linux will make more significant inroads into the user community via embedded devices than it ever could as a more general-purpose operating system.
Yep.
Or, more to the point, Linux will shine in areas where it can shed the various Windows-replacements that slow it down. Linux works great on servers because the average user doesn't ever even notice the OS that hands them their website.
Similiarly, Linux has chances for great growth in areas where people don't mind sudden and dramatic UI changes--such as when buying a new dedicated video machine, new cell phone, or (to a much lesser extent) a new PDA.
This device is not made by gamepark, former gamepark of gp32 fame splited in two companies, one called gamepark and the other called gamepark holdings. Most of the original gp32 team moved to the new GP Holdings company, only one of the engineers stayed on the "other" gamepark which is yet to deliver its new device. So GPX2 is the successor of G32 but is made from a different company populated by the original gp32 crew with a name much like the old company... just check any of the cool gp32 foruns like gp32x.com and check the history.
-- Por mais que eu ande no vale das trevas e da morte, meu PowerMac G4 Não Travará!!!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The best part is that the company is trying to get the final versions out for $100. I doubt that it will end up that low, but I appreciate the effort
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
Looks as though the games for this thing will be based around SDL. With a bit of luck, we might see games developed for this being ported to Linux. The only thing stopping me from ditching windows completly is games.
The specs do look very impressive too. Over 8 hours of video playback is far better than a PSP, plus it supports Xvid, so I can rip my DVDs to an SD card for when I'm on the train.
Just hope it gets a european release.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
I've noticed a trend in recent stories upon slashdot.
9 /2121223) where the write up on slashdot only links to Joystiq's site, where the actual content (what the post was about) was hosted on entirely different servers. It would have been okay to link the source Joystiq, but linking the content is necessary so I don't have to jump through hoops to see what the news post is actually about.
It's becoming popular to link to a seperate site that the user has to click through in order to get to the site the post mentions. For example this post here doesn't even mention who or what makes the device, only that linux devices is running a profile on it. In order to get any information about the device, the user must go to linux devices and use a link they provide. This could have been avoided by hotlinking GPX with the manufacturer's page.
While this is relatively minor compared to Friday's post (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/2
Thanks a lot,
-a slashdot user
Hey, it's my OPINION that dogs have eight legs and make a sound like a car horn every time they take a piss.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
WinCE + WinME + WinNT =
Windows CEMENT
As hard as a rock and as dumb as a brick.
congrats, dude! you've just beat Slashdot! now get a first post in a story from each category in order to achieve 100% and unlock the secret bonus articles!!!
the GPX2-F100 is powered by two AA batteries
Whoever has played enough with palmtops and handhelds knows that their main weakness are those darn pricey li-ion batteries and their fskcing fast chargers that destroy them in no time.
AA batteries will allow people to find them everywhere, charge them slowly without damaging them and replace them at the end of their (much longer) life for a couple bucks, and who cares if that means a 150gr weight increase.
(BTW, I loved the first GamePark32 but this updated model doesn't offer much more than the first.
Where is the wireless? Where is the Microdrive support? Where is rechargable battery?
In regards to emulation, aside from having much more RAM, what does the GPX2 offer that the PSP doesn't?)
Then you're on the wrong website, pilgrim.
affirmed
Oh, wait, you were wanting trolls. My bad :)
Seriously, though. Where are the games? The article covers the hardware, which sounds pretty neat, but the only mention about games is that an SDK will be provided (duh), and it can run emulators (neat, but where's the money in this?). A handheld gaming device needs games, preferably professionally designed and developed (please, no Tux Racer).
This is a pretty nice news for the Linux community to know that another gadget has chosen Linux as their base system and kernel for the embedded device.
But, I think that Linux handheld manufacturers should take the next step: make it easy to access Linux.
That's right! Why not another section in the manual that could tell how to access the shell? The manufacturers could gain even more people (geeks) to buy the product because no moding would be needed to access the Linux under the whole interface.
Oh, come on, we need companies to urge to do so. It would be a gain to them and to the community.
The hip way to get your IP. No ads, ever.
I always tought he GPX2 looked A LOT uglier than it's predecessor (The GP32), but I changed my mind after I saw a picture of the black version.
The iPOd is based on a proprietary OS licensed by Apple:
The iPod uses PortalPlayer's "Digital Media Platform", which is marketed as a turn-key solution as it includes System-On-Chip integrated circuits (ICs), a customizable firmware suite, integrated third party services, PC software, and so on. The iPod uses PortalPlayer's PP50xx chip, which contains two ARM7TDMI microprocessor cores. The iPod's embedded operating system, including its encoding and decoding components, also come from PortalPlayer. iPod's OS
Have you heard Steve Jobs whining about the The PortalPlayer Tax? I didn't think so.
while i absolutely agree with the parent, there is no reference made to the article in the least... 5 for Insightful seems awfully strong. any mods bold enough for an over-rated/off-topic?
The question isn't how hard it will be to get GPE or Opie loaded on it. The question is how hard will it be to even GET one. It's a two-parter: a) it's going to be priced out of the market as usual and b) it will....(wait for it) only be available in Asia! These stories make me giddy with excitement! Like going to a car show and looking at concept cars. Aren't they cool? Oh, you'll never get one.
You do realise that a lot of good TV is in a 4:3 aspect, right? Looking at my DVD collection I have 50% TV at 4:3 and the rest is movies - all widescreen but not all in 16:9. And the movies have a pan-scan option which is probably better for a low-res rip anyway, since it tends to be in close-up on the action (not that I know how to do a pan-scan to divx rip).
pwned
Are you familiar with the meaning of 'YHBT, YHL, HAND.' ?
If not, I suggest you look it up.
I got a link to this yesterday, and my main question was what the CPU speed was. It would be nice to have full-speed SNES emulation, which the 200MHz Dreamcast is not quite capable of. If it takes throwing part of the emulator (like the sound emulation) onto the other CPU, then great, as long as someone does it.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I realize this is a bit off-topic, but today I was at Target and saw them selling a PSP version of the movie Kill Bill 2.
Thing is, it was selling for $29.99.
Did their market research really show them that people would be willing to pay thirty bucks for that? Will those things even play in normal DVD players?
Even at Amazon, I see PSP movies priced at $20 and up. What's the logic here?
-David
And it plays 720x480 at 30fps, Divx, etc?
And let's not forget: 14 hours of battery life with music playback, 8 with movies.
Seriously, if you were thinking about buying a PSP, expensive UMD movies (or clippled movie playback on Sony Pro Duo memory sticks), hacked emulators, and the 5-hour battery life, I think it's obvious that this is a much better choice. Not only does it lack a design that's likely to throw UMDs like Ninja stars, not only does it have great battery life, dual CPUs, and Linux, it also reads normal, sane SD cards.
The only thing that'd come close to this thing would be the rumoured video iPod, but this looks like it'll handled the wide-screen anime subs I watch better than the current iPod form factor.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Duh
Thats:
"You have been trolled, You have lost, have a nice day" for those not in the know.
I almost bought a PSP this weekend after reading that Sony had released firmware with a browser. What stopped me was the price of 1GB memory stick at > $100. There is no way I will pay that when 1GB memory keys, CF, and SD exist at 1/2 that price.
This device is close except for the screen size and what sounds like a proprietary wireless setup. Why are they not using 802.11?
Oh well, I will keep looking and waiting...
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Well, if it's the same horrible job that Open Zaurus has done getting them done working on the Zaurus, why bother?
Seriously. When OZ posts packages that "just need a little work" in order to run on their latest version, what chance is there of having ANY interest from the greater public, i.e. those people whose use is going to be necessary to move OZ from an interesting toy to something with mass acceptance?
And no, this isn't a flame or a troll. It's a statement of fact. However, when I posted much the same thoughts on the OZ mailing list, I was attacked with such vitriol you'd have thought I was buggering the pope. And I've been using Linux in exhibits for a lot of years. OZ is simply not ready for prime time. And neither, sadly, I think, will be any port to this device.
Dude, chicks do not dig uncircumcised guys.
Do you think its any accident why you barely get laid, and when you do, chicks don't want to even look at it?
Besides being dirtier, uncircumcised guys have a higher incidence of STD's, and put their partners at greater risk of certain types of diseases and cancers.
I guess next you'll be telling us that hairy chicks are hot [rolling eyes].
The biggest reason that Linux is going to take over in the embedded space is because you don't have to pay the Microsoft Tax.
I believe that is only the second or third reason. The number one reason is that there are no restrictions whatsoever on how you use or modify the code, other than the high-minded requirement to share your changes as others have shared theirs. Another leading reason is that the code is just darn good and packed with an amazing number of options. Yet another reason is that you do not have to accept any stripsearch-type contract with Microsoft. Yet another reason is that you can be sure that your code platform will never be end-of-lifed on you, there will never be a forced upgrade.
Saving the license fees is just the icing on the cake.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
Hypothetical, dumbass.
If the person that did invent the next "iPod" used WinCE as the OS, his scenario would have been correct. Hence, your intended counter is rendered moot and unfounded.
You can't expect people to buy a device based on some possible future device. You need to design for accessories that are available _now_.
Try telling that to PSP fanboys who recommend the PSP, despite their admission that the current titles are largely poorly designed *cough*Smart Bomb*cough* or poorly engineered *cough*Midnight Club 3 and its 70 seconds to load a 150 second racetrack*cough*, on the basis that future titles will be more enjoyable.
Otherwise the customer will simply hold off on buying the device until the required accessories come out.
They don't just hold off on buying it; they often buy the competitor's product instead. For instance, to continue the analogy to the PSP, the Nintendo DS is handily outselling the PSP worldwide.
This device should have a CF slot. It does not add much to the cost
Yes it does. At least the rubberized grip on the bottom of the unit (where the GBA games go on a Nintendo DS) would be more expensive to make with a hole in it for CF.
I hear GP32 has very good SNES emulation. Would you be able to use that on this new device? Hopefully people would make new stuff either way.
Needless desktop application functionality, such as a shell or a web browser, on a device that lacks even a keyboard.
Try telling that to Sony Computer Entertainment, which added a web browser to the PSP 2.0 firmware.
Knock-offs of successful commercial games.
Remember that the GNU/Linux OS itself is a knock-off of a successful commercial operating system (UNIX System V). Would you rather have this device run Windows Mobile like a Pocket PC device does?
(ObPineightResponse: But they make the games BETTER!)
Better, faster, cheaper. Sometimes you can have two.
Why is it that all the innovative games (Katamari Damacy, etc) still come from big corporations?
KD isn't as fundamentally innovative as some people like to claim. It's a 3-D update to Namco's previous title Pac-Man (called Puckman in Asia) with an extra rule: eating dots gives you the ability to eat bigger dots. Now that the basic game types have been laid out, innovation in single-player gaming has become more evolution than revolution (sorry Nintendo).
sounds like windows...
-Lack of {good or on topic try it some time... look for something you want to know about} QA
-No creativity, just copy of other software {i think that still works right? didnt windows copy some other OS back in the day of 3.11}
-Very buggy {look at windows 98 so buggy they made a 2nd edition of it to fix its self or 2000 what has had many sevice packs.. i can run linux longer than u can run windows with out virus protection}
-Hard to use for most people {insert spyware and virus here to make it harder}
-Lack of good software (think of MS Works Suite 2005, for example) {sorry if you are calling MS works suite 2005 good software you should be shot}
-Difficult to get real (commercial) games working {commercial game companys target where the most people are}
-Little documentation {BIG read me file right here if you want it?}
-Little consistency {since when is consistency good?}
-Ugly {gosh thats mean... if a baby was ugly would you tell its mom what a ugly baby u have.. NO you would saw aww how cute and walk away.. but for linux i would have to say it a lot better looking than bubbly windows...} and umm im done...
(yes i know i suck at spelling fell free to correct my grammar and/or spellin i dont care, im still not going to change
calculate the size after the borders are taken into account.
What borders? Most television shows, such as anime DVDs and whatever your TiVo box picked up last night, are produced for 4:3 anyway, right?
It has USB, so you can use a USB keyboard with it.
Does it have USB-as-a-host, in which case you can use a keyboard, or does it have USB-as-a-device, in which case you need to connect both the handheld and the keyboard to a USB host controller? Remember that unlike FireWire, which is a general tree, USB is a rooted tree, and not all devices have the capability to serve as the root of the tree.
Lik Sang will come to the rescue.
That's not very helpful when you have nobody to play a two-player game with. At least with the Nintendo DS, you can usually find another DS owner in a major metro shopping center and host a DS Download Play session[1]. You would have to buy and carry two devices, one for you and one for the other player.
[1] Ignore for a moment that homebrewers haven't yet figured out how to get a WMB server running on a DS. It's beside the point.
Then decided the downsides (physical size and battery life) outweighed the benefits.
CF slots are a hell of a lot larger than SD slots.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I cannot recall EVER playing a good FPS on a handheld console.
Then you just haven't tried the right titles: Faceball 2000, Game Boy, 1992. Doom, GBA, 2002.
On Slashdot, you have to ask does it run Mac OS-X.
"It seems like a better deal to me to just buy the console it emulates."
Great plan. Tell me again how you'll carry around that "space invaders" console to play on the subway, or while you're killing some time.
"But then again, I'm not a software pirate"
Maybe. But you're something else that's worse: you're dull and unimaginative. And what's worse, you think that calling somebody a "software pirate" gives you some sort of moral high ground.
I predict a solid future in "middle management" for you.
PSP units currently available at retail do not support homebrew apps. Units with a "B" on the UPC have 1.51 firmware, which has increased protection against execution of unsigned code. Units with no letter or an "A" on the UPC have 1.50 firmware, which has been cracked, but retailers are likely to be sold out of those. Watch the price of "A" units soar on eBay.
Just look at the TI graphing calculators if you don't believe me
The big reason why TI's graphing calculators have such a user base is that so many taxpayer-funded K-12 school systems depend on the apps that come with the calculators (e.g. formula evaluation and graphing for the TI-83, or those plus algebraic manipulation for the TI-89). Unless you can get someone as big as the public education industry to subsidize the creation of a GPX2 user base, there's no real comparison.
Even at Amazon, I see PSP movies priced at $20 and up. What's the logic here?
SCE* probably charges more per title and/or per copy for a license than the DVD Forum does for two reasons: the UMD Video patent portfolio is eight years (40 percent) newer than the DVD Video patent portfolio, and the format hasn't been around long enough for economies of scale to kick in. How much did DVD Video titles cost in 1997 when DVD Video first came out in North America?
I just hope this isn't doomed to bomb like the TapWave that was just reported last week.
With no DRM and such, it just might work, or have a really good long life cycle with indie developers.
Of course, you report this now, 3 days after I bought a 1.50 fw PSP.
The GP32, the massively successful underground gaming device from Korea, already has hunreds upon hundreds of public domain game engines (like King of Fighters and DOOM) with games using them, as well as many programs that play DivX, WMA, OGG, MP3, display images, and emulate different systems.
Currently SNES emulation for the 160+mHz-modded systems is full-speed without sound, and half-speed with sound (based off of snes9x). NES, Genesis and Master System emulatiors now run at FULL SPEED with sound and no frame skip. There are also emulators for other systems such as CPC, MAME, Atari, ColecoVision, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Commodore, MSX, PC-Engine, Spectrum, Vectrex, Wonderswan, and many more. Additionally, LucasArts SCUMMVM games, many linux games, and other linux programs can be made to run on the system.
This is all on the GP32. Just imagine what the GPX2 will do! Also, word on many sites is that the GPX2 will easily go for less than 100 pounds (not dollars; about $185USD). Furthermore, wi-fi dongles and keyboards have been available for the GP32 for some time.
With the way that the GP32 has unexpectedly blasted off in the underground open source and emulation scenes, the GPX2 is sure to be supported further by their makers in order to make it a strong competitor against other portable media players and gaming systems.
I'm getting one for sure -- are you?
Bonus link: development site. Prepare to be amazed. http://www.gp32x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi
This opinions is new and exciting
NOT
Wow, just imagine making a beowulf cluster out of a school bag full of them babies.
threadeds blog
I don't understand, this device will never make it into your local store anyway. At under £100 it avoids import tax anyway. So ordering it should be the same as ordering anything on the net, but if you are really were unsure about ordering from abroad you can already pre-order them from your local reseller, mine is at http://www.gbax.com/.
Because PortalPlayer knows that if they piss Apple off bad enough Apple can either buy them or develop their own in house solution. And if you don't think Apple has this kind of software talent then you haven't been paying attention to the fact that they've been keeping MacOSX running on multiple hardware platforms for years in case they wanted to change.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
We can't judge CPU's by mere Mhz anymore. AMD and Intel themselves have already abondoned the idea. What is clear in the GP32 is capable of snes enulation of sorts, and that is nothing like as powerful as the GPx2 which is more likely to have faster or even full snes emulation. Gamepark holdings claim the new chip is faster than a single processor 400mHz chip(quite a claim), it being 2 processors, and 4 video co-processors.
Add a camera to it and I'm sold. Really, Photo browser without camera kind of useless. Camera would make it perfect mobile augmented reality platform
Sorry, but if you don't have the marketing budget of Nintendo or Sony and the developers signed you aren't going to be anything more than a curiousity. Nintendo has the handheld market sewn up and only a player like Sony can afford to chip away at that. The roadway of portable gaming is littered with cool "also ran" devices.
I had to re-read your post several times, because I didn't get it. An obscure handheld that you love gets exposure, its a good thing, and I hope it gets a lot more with stories like "My Web Server GPx2" or "Linux Gaming Device hits mainsteam". I don't want to keep GPx2 a secret. In personally pleased its getting such a good responce.
Not only does it get exposure it gets exposure to a larger community that love this sort of toy. A community with lots of developers who I'm sure would love to develop programs for a portable games device like the GPx2. The only games device running linux out of the box, with a formula proven to work. In an enviroment they are familier with.
Or better yet IMO give linux users esp young ones a chance to learn programming, programming games is fun, and they can show your freinds what they have done, the device is portable, comes with a well documented API(there are books for SDL). All because of Linux.
Gamepark holdings have clearly marketed the device to those who have the same mindset as those in the community. Kudos to Gamepark Holdings for getting the device out the very people its trying to attract.
cat windows >> /dev/lunix
More realisticaly compared to the PSP/DS, its not even trying to compete with them on the gaming front. It would be foolish to try. It doesn't even have a 3D graphics chip in it.
Your statement misses the point, because it says where are the games well http://www.happypenguin.org/ has quite a few, ok nothing that will put a dent in GTA:SA sales but most available for free.
How about those that want to write a game themselves, for a games machine, they now can, because *finally* there is one, really there hasn't been device like it before(unless you count its predecesser) without some sort of hack, certainly not with this much ease.
Also its not a games device its a commodity media device with video/music abilities, which are more than capable of competing with any of the alternatives(Phones/PDA). Having games on there as well just puts all the media content through in one place, and better designed for this.
ALthough I'm sure you are aware of all the Games/Ports/Engines/Emulators that are already available for Linux. That look very nice on a little handheld.
I'm afraid you've got Linux confused with something else. Linux is simply an OS kernel which adheres to the POSIX standard. If you are referring to open source software in general, then you are demonstratably wrong, and if you'd like to pursue this, I'd be willing to give examples proving this.
It's been a long time.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fangeles/gp32/cross/qte /gpqte1044.jpge /2/Image-01.jpg
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fangeles/gp32/cross/qt
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gp32linux
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=35
Supports captions through Microsoft's SAMI (synchronized accessible media interchange, or *.smi files, are basically Microsoft's answer to RealPlayer's *.smil or "smile" files)
.smil or .smi are acceptable, if it is the SMIL standard. (IF you have hand coded smil, you will know it is quite nice - subs are sone with XML streaming text format)
WHAT THE FUCK! SMIL is an XML mulitmedia synch language with 10 areas of functionality. The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language is not from Real - although they HAVE turned themselves around and made a nice implementation, without extending it *COUGH*adobe-svg*cough*.
Does it support this microsoft extedned bullshit, or is it a typo they misread? I think
At least it supports ogg... I can only assume the previous error is indeed an error.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
Can anyone explain what is: "Linux SDK (software development kit)". Will it be possible to install mplayer or tuxracer/ppracer on this. It will be nice to compile programs - or am I wrong?
You can't encode video to the same quality as the UMD movies. That's crippled.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Porting games to it should be easy, it seems to come with SDL support right out of the box -
:)
http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
I'll get one for sure!
My GP32 is looking pretty messed up these days. It was one of the originals, no FLU, no BLU, no BLU+.
...then a week or so ago gp32x.com reported the good news :-)
.|..|
It has an unhealthy rattle, bits are stuck back on with sticky tape. The screen has had the anti-glare completely wiped off. The stick is kinda loose and dangley. The L button doesn't have the same action as the R anymore.
That thing went 1000s of kilometers with me.
Almost a month ago I put it back in it's dusty original packaging, along with a DVD of games / emus / etc and put it in storage. Too fucked up to sell on eBay, too precious to dissect, too damn cool not to inspect in 10 years time. Its in a box with a C64 breadbox edition.
I figured I'd just buy the mp3 player I went out to buy when I ended up with GP32 to begin with. Though the GP can indeed play mp3s (and ogg etc), it is not a practical music device, and playing turrican is far more inviting. In the end I stinged out and got an ishuffle, and though the little thing works good.... I really miss the GP...
Thanks Gamepark, and even more thanks to the homebrew devs.
We basically have two ARM9 cores, a 920T and a 940T. One has MMU, the other has memory protection (and less cache). The latter is intended to be a 'co processor', but this doesn't mean floating point or anything, more like a dual core proc. There's also a '2d accelerator' block, wich is intended to speed up stuff like GDI and direct2D, and theres a video decoder block that supports stuff like DCT/IDCT and all those goodies one needs to encode/decode video in hardware. This means that the chip can actually do most of the video decoding in hardware, wich accounts for the high resolution supported. This is exceptionally good news if you consider battery life. Just as an aside, the resolution of the screen is 320x240, so higher resolutions will probably be scaled down.
Another feature of the chip is that there'll be 64mb NAND flash memory. This is slow write, fast read memory, so it's ideal to store a small lunix distribution. Also the SD port supports I/O, so you can even put in bluetooth or gprs and work off the NAND memory. You could then use the unit as a graphical remote for your home theatre PC :)
And don't forget that the GP32 community has produced an incredible amount of cool emulators, often speed optimized especially for the platform. When the gpx2 will come out most of these will probably be ported. As GP32 has benefitted greatly from an open SDK and the community that it produced, by moving to lunix for the GPX2 they are about to harvest the combined productivity of not one, but two communities.
People who call out for a harddisk, please consider that a 1GB SD card is cheap now, and that the unit will cost about 170USD on release (rumour). So you might end up paying 250usd for a media player with 1GB, that can play movies, music, show pictures, ebooks, out of the box, and offers a shitload of extra functionality through it's operating sytem and support of open standards like SDL.
It seems like people around here don't remember the first GPX, it made many news storied on /., it was similar but a bit less power but it allowed full emulation, divx, and mp3... they were great little units. The only problem is that they are Korean and most games are Korean only.
Since most people only use their PSP for emulation and movies, the GPX2 has a leg up on the competition... they just need to target the US (which I doubt will happen) and this could be a DS/PSP killer. Emulation, movie capabilities, big screen, $100 less than a psp and only $50 more than a DS.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
It would be a nice hack to allow it to use all the USB drives and WiFi widgets. (Being able to shuffle the content other USB slaves like drives, cameras, MP3 players, etc, while mobile would be good too.) A USB slave revolt.. perhaps the hack should be called Spartacus?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
So - who's going to be the first to buy Loki's assets and port the titles that they have to this platform?
Railroad Tycoon on a handheld would be a heck of a lot of fun.
I usually tend to be negative and on the speculative side about things like this. But for once, I can't help feel a little giddy about this.
I would take one of these things in a heartbeat over any of the "other" options. Just think -- a device that does not have to be hacked nine ways till sunday to keep emulators running on it.
I was kinda down on the original GP32 because it used the "old" (hard to find and small) SmartMedia. But this puppy uses SD...
Now the only hurdles left are:
1. When will it be available? (No release date mentioned anywhere I can find)
2. Will us poor starving Americans be able to get one? (Most cool things I have seen lately, tend not to ever be available on these shores -- because they can't get by the Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sanyo, LG, etc. blockade I guess)
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
...does it run lin - oh wait...nevermind.
-ds
the PSP is the first handheld to have the power to do decent ports of non-portable games.
The Super Mario Advance series was decent ports of a few Super NES games, right? What about Mario Kart Super Circuit, the worthy sequel to Super Mario Kart? There are all decent ports of games for the Super NES console. Or check Super Mario 64 DS to see an example of a worthy N64 port.
Or did you mean "current gen console"?
Console games are popular because they're good, now I can take them with me. Cool!
NOW LOADING is not generally something you want to take with you, especially when you'll typically be playing your "omg it's a console" handheld for ten minutes at a time. Players who are frequent passengers on car/bus/plane trips are the exception, and even in my allegedly one-sided article, I do recommend the PSP for such players.
Yes but most movies, which is what most people are talking about when they talk about DVDs, are
I'm happy with my Lumines
I'm happy that you're happy. I'm working on a project that will make even people who haven't upgraded from the GBA happy.
These are lists of all available games for both platforms
All? You forgot this list of DS compatible titles. Sony, on the other hand, neglected to put back-compatibility with PS1 games in its handheld, even through a USB version of its Walkman CD player.
But for crying out loud please stop the stupid anti-PSP FUD
Anti-PSP? At the end of my DS vs. PSP article, I identify several groups of players who would be happy with a PSP.
(the page you link to in your sig is so one sided Microsoft would be proud of it).
I'd be happy to make it more accurate, and I like to read constructive rebuttals. Could you please refute some of the specific points that my article makes? Take it private if you wish.
That wouldn't be backwards compatibility would it? It would be compatibility with a completely different system.
Architecturally, the GBA is "a completely different system" from the GBC, but the GBA can play GB and GBC games. Nintendo also sold an adapter to let the Super NES play 99% of GB games and one to let the GameCube play 99% of GB, GBC, and GBA games.
How many games designed for a 4:3 TV screen would even be usable on a 16:9 handheld
The Game Boy Advance (3:2 display) in both its original and SP iterations can run games for Game Boy and Game Boy Color system (10:9 display) out of the box; by default, it draws a black border around the screen.
with a different control scheme?
The only thing that the PSP lacks vs. the PS1 digital controller is that L2 and R2 are missing. Sure, Ape Escape and other PS1 games that require both analog sticks wouldn't work, but those are few and far between because publishers wanted to target those who bought the PS1 in the first two years before Sony packed in the Dual Shock controller.
Does the DS play N64 games? Or Gamecube games? No. It plays
Sony doesn't have any previous handhelds.
I beg your pardon?
I do think that GBA compatibility is an advantage of the DS, but as a GBA owner, it doesn't make me want to buy a DS.
If you buy a Nintendo DS, you can carry one device to play your DS games and your GBA games, unlike a GBA SP/PSP combination. This parallels the PSP fanboy argument that if you buy a PSP, you can carry one device to play your PSP games and your MP3 music, unlike a Nintendo DS/iPod Shuffle combination.
Unless there are good DS-only games, why should I upgrade?
There are good DS-only games.
I patiently await your rebuttal of the alleged FUD.
They just updated the official page with a FAQ, and according to it the control pad is analog... Ouch. That will screw up almost all uses of the system.
I don't think we can reasonably expect people off the street to be able to do that (discounting the effect of you actually distributing your compression codec without being sued).
This is still more homebrew friendly.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Linux is inviting.
E.g. at tomtom its like this: a small company develops navigation software. It's developed and tested on a number of platforms, including symbian, wince and linux devices. Then they come up with an idea to build their own all-in appliance. Order some development boards (say, arm chips, gps, fpga's) and start hacking away.
This is where there really isn't an option. The software included with a developmentboard - be it linux, or some proprietary rtos - never does the job. You just have to do your own hacking, or have someone do it for you. Asuming you're a hands on company that knows about bits and bobs you do your own hacking. This is where full access to quality code is essential. This is where linux is inviting.
When it's all up and running, the choice isn't really a choice.
If brand recognition is all that matters, you may choose to simply implement microsofts ref design and sell it as a wince-clone and concentrat on case modding. In all other cases linux and ten fingers to type is the only way.