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Linux Ported To Dingoo A320

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-slices-it-dices dept.

Busshy writes "Linux has arrived on the Dingoo A320, a portable console that was recently released in Asia (bundled with emulators for 16-bit consoles) which looks like the bottom half of a DS Lite. It also has an XMB that closely resembles those that PSP and PS3 owners are used to. Homebrew Coders have already ported ScummVM and PRBoom (Doom Engine) to Dingoo Linux."

51 comments

  1. Great but... by Terranex · · Score: 1

    As much as I admire an open source approach to portable gaming, I expect within a year this Dingoo A320 shall disappear and we shall never hear from it again.

    1. Re:Great but... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You are likely right(if not a year, it'll be ebay fodder in 18 months). However, on the plus side, the Ingenic JZ4740 on which this device is based seems to be the beating heart of a nontrivial percentage of the wacky pacific rim media gizmos currently on the market. With any luck, and a bit of continued interest, this project should be able to mutate as needed to find newer hosts.

    2. Re:Great but... by Drinking+Bleach · · Score: 1

      I'm personally holding out for a Pandora, assuming it doesn't get delay for too much longer. Much more powerful hardware and a truly free software handheld console, I can't wait :)

    3. Re:Great but... by BikeHelmet · · Score: 2, Informative

      You are likely right(if not a year, it'll be ebay fodder in 18 months).

      It's $80 right now, with free shipping worldwide. Has been that price since it launched.

      http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20217

      Well, it might be a waste of money, but it shouldn't take long to make up $80 of value from playing old classics. :P

    4. Re:Great but... by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      The Pandora is going to be a very powerful and well designed device. (I hope)

      I know how much effort the creators have put into it. They aren't just creating something to sell - they're creating their perfect dream machine.

      I've got a pre-order in, so once it arrives I'll review it, unless the 'net is already flooded with reviews. ;)

    5. Re:Great but... by hey! · · Score: 1

      the Ingenic JZ4740 on which this device is based seems to be the beating heart of a nontrivial percentage of the wacky pacific rim media gizmos currently on the market.

      Ah.

      I see the future has arrived. It appears to speak a language derived from recycled Star Trek: The Next Generation scripts. Who'dve thunk it?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    6. Re:Great but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like flights over the Atlantic?

    7. Re:Great but... by guabah · · Score: 1

      sounds like the perfect console for Duke Nukem 4ever

    8. Re:Great but... by MaerD · · Score: 1

      Indeed. I was much more excited when I thought they meant an airplane.

      --
      I put on my robe and wizard hat..
    9. Re:Great but... by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      Heh. The thing is, DNF wasn't nearly as open of a project as the Pandora is. If the devs working there had told everyone how things were going, it would've inspired pessimism rather than optimism.

    10. Re:Great but... by Drinking+Bleach · · Score: 1

      DNF wasn't nearly as open of a project as the Pandora is

      Understatement of the year.

      No wait, Microsoft Windows isn't nearly as open of a project as Debian GNU/Linux.

    11. Re:Great but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why not just buy a dell mini? almost $100 cheaper, plus it's an actual full laptop. small enough to carry around, perfectly adequate for playing games...pandora just seems horrifically overpriced for what it is.

  2. link to.... forum? by iamhassi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    what's with the link going to a forum and code.google.com page? No links to the Dingoo A320? I mean sure I can google it but a link to a photo and description would be nice

    --
    my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    1. Re:link to.... forum? by 4D6963 · · Score: 1

      Funnily enough if you google it all you get is forum threads. Looks like they don't even have an official site or a Wikipedia article..

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    2. Re:link to.... forum? by bstag · · Score: 1

      http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23032 here you go.

    3. Re:link to.... forum? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Informative
      The manufacturer's English website. The unofficial English support site.

      I don't know...I've sourced a lot of products from China, and this looks like a typical shoddy product from a fly-by-night shanzhai manufacturer. That, combined with the rampant disrespect for IPR by including ROM files - well, just don't be surprised when your nice product breaks mysteriously after 3-6 months. Or it gives you an electric shock, or the buttons fall off, or your fingertips turn green from the unsuitable plastic on the buttons.

      How much do these go for? If someone wants a thousand or two, I could get an order together. I have a buddy down in Shenzhen who can make sure we don't get screwed by the shanzhai manufacturer.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:link to.... forum? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know, there are other search engines other than google out there. They've got an official site. However, as a fly-by-night Chinese manufacturer, they wouldn't meet Wikipedia's notability standards. It took me all of 5 seconds to locate the information. Google has a huge bias against dual-language sites, and a huge hard-on for Wikipedia. I'm reminded of the ignorant Jedi librarian who said if it didn't exist in their index, there was no possibly of it existing in reality.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    5. Re:link to.... forum? by Jurily · · Score: 3, Insightful

      they wouldn't meet Wikipedia's notability standards.

      That says more about Wikipedia than it does about the official site.

    6. Re:link to.... forum? by 4D6963 · · Score: 2, Informative

      My mistake actually Wikipedia has it. Google's boner for Wikipedia was apparently not strong enough to make it appear within the 20 first results I looked at.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    7. Re:link to.... forum? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      How utterly typical. No page for the company that makes the product, oh no, it's not notorious enough. But put out a video game, and that video game has its own dedicated page, with photos, instructions, links, and everything.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:link to.... forum? by 4D6963 · · Score: 1

      Well, I strongly doubt there's any material out there to write a page about the company that makes the product... I mean I doubt anyone knows much more about Shenzhen Dingoo Digital Co., Ltd. besides what we know about their products.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    9. Re:link to.... forum? by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      The official site wasn't very good last time I visited. I think 3 pages had some English text on them, every link was broken, and you had to flip it to chinese for the downloads to work. Also, MASSIVE flash banner that does nothing.

      They may have corrected the issues, but I wouldn't know, since their site won't load for me right now. (I'm in Canada)

      Perhaps it does say something about Google - but perhaps not what you thought...!

    10. Re:link to.... forum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That, combined with the rampant disrespect for IPR by including ROM file

      *I* have a rampant disrespect for I"P". Thinking patents and copyrights are bullshit indicate competence in technology if anything.

    11. Re:link to.... forum? by hey! · · Score: 1

      I mean I doubt anyone knows much more about Shenzhen Dingoo Digital Co., Ltd.

      Well, there's this: their name sounds like the punch-line to a joke about a traveling salesman and the Zhejiang rice farmer's daughter....

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    12. Re:link to.... forum? by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 1

      come on the roms are OOOOLD, the fact its not legal to put compilations of old games out when shows that IPR/copyright is broken

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    13. Re:link to.... forum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see your point about wiki hard-ons.

      By the way, searching "jedi librarian planet index" on Google got me there : http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Archives

    14. Re:link to.... forum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck off, they've already made their money from that development. Copyright is broken.

  3. Dingoo what? by Guido+del+Confuso · · Score: 3, Funny

    Too bad it's the Dingoo A320 and not the Airbus A320, which would have been considerably more impressive, if somewhat less practical. I'm not sure I would want to see what happens in the event of kernel panic, though.

    1. Re:Dingoo what? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Too bad it's the Dingoo A320 and not the Airbus A320, which would have been considerably more impressive, if somewhat less practical. I'm not sure I would want to see what happens in the event of kernel panic, though.

      I think that would result in a different type of panic.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Dingoo what? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 2, Informative

      Too bad it's the Dingoo A320 and not the Airbus A320, which would have been considerably more impressive,

      Already been done.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  4. I have to! I'm so sorry....... by allaunjsilverfox2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    BUT..."The dingo ate my baby!" :p

    --
    Restore the madness of youth's lechery
  5. Dingoo Official Site by jsse · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dingoo Official Site

  6. wikipedia article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingoo

  7. Waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep they've released a useless version of Linux that can run crappy applications like prboom. No doubt this project will die and never amount to much like most other linux on gadget projects.

    1. Re:Waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously, no matter how much of a Linux shill someone is, this isn't news. An open source operating system that has been ported to everything gets ported to some unknown, unremarkable Asian handheld console. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

  8. Oh no! by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

    The dingoo ate my penguin!

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  9. Looks nice. by goldaryn · · Score: 1

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCE2Vv4Srvw

    This video has sold it for me. Super Mario Bros. for the win!

    I totally want one of these now. Only thing that concerns me slightly is how "clicky" the buttons sound. Might be an indicator of slightly inferior build quality. Then again, it could be how loud the mic is on the video..

    The specs look great to me. 4G memory + mini SD? Yes please. No need for faffing.. Imagine how many ROMs that could hold. Also just the right size (compared to something like Pandora).

    1. Re:Looks nice. by ezelkow1 · · Score: 1

      The buttons really arent clicky at all. Most of the videos of these that make a clicking sound are just because the sound recorded from a mic sucks. I own one and have been working on making a uclibc toolchain for this so the porting efforts can more smoothly and make more efficient compiled code. It is very very good build quality. Most of those chinese products are pretty shoddy but this feels very solid in your hands.

  10. That's nothing, really.. by andersa · · Score: 1

    I've got it running on a dead badger.

    1. Re:That's nothing, really.. by rbrausse · · Score: 1

      oops, wrong moderation, sorry - posting to revert it

      we need a better way for this...

  11. I'd rather... by dimethylxanthine · · Score: 0

    it was ported to the A380!

  12. Dingo A320 Manufacturer Link and Current Price by keneng · · Score: 1

    Manufacturer Link:
    http://www.dingoo888.com/en_product.asp?id=11&classid=

    Linux Support:
    http://www.dingoo-digital.com/faq/usage/how-large-memory-stick-can-i-use-with-my-dingoo

    Current price on taobao and baidu: 490RMB to 510RMB roughly
    http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail--.jhtml?taomi=8aR2LQR6GJPc%2FSsefn68O%2Ffjs6U7s6vjhXJ6z0eRSvmXdPzKyl6UzTR3B%2BsJL6Yp3pkWRIEUjc1cDBtIy8ZI44SnWz2yxngDX%2Bjua%2F%2Fl4xneY5g%2FX%2BF1HE1uVrfByevZymqif0Rf4JaiIUo41U4pNrG0pKl8SyNyOfP2gorsCYm5bWEYyHjXKb8BpuCiXM%2FU%2FXlutqRb2AoqZsLjRBpg5owK3cUwKnMuX4V9mlX8GJW%2B
    http://youa.baidu.com/item/3758aed4fb8e0a13b840dfc8

    It's called the Dingo A320. Also known as the Gemei A320.

    Display: 16,000,000 color 2.8-inch LTPS-TFT true color high-definition
    screen , broadcast effect 320 * 240, the true and clear picture quality,
    unique DVD Optimization technology .

    Games: play games in (8 bit/16bit/32bit) GBA/3D GBA/NDS/PSP formats
    and play more by upgrading the software
    AV-out:AV-out technology gives DVD output quality, can be a portable DVD
    player and game console.

    Video player: Video function supports in various format such as RMVB,
    RM, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG, DAT, MP4, ASF and help users encold video files
    in an easy and convenient way.

    MP3 player: Audio function supports MP3,WMA APE, FLAC audio format,
    synchronous lyrics display function, multiple EQ options,3D virtual
    sound field, surround sound effect and play mode options. Music can keep
    playing while using other application.

    Digital recorder:Voice recording and supports MP3/WAV formats.

    Image Browser: Image browsing format includes JPG, BMP GIF, PNG, with
    zoom, rotate and image slide show function.

    E-book: Feather function includes bookmark, auto browsing, font sizing,
    TTS oral reading and can open with music player application.

    U-disk virus protection: Build in anti-virus software protect and keep
    the system at its best performance.

    USB2.0 Transmission Interface: Support WIN2000/XP?VISTA/MAC Operation
    System.

    Capacity: 4GB memory, supports inserted MINI SD card to expand capacity.
    up to 16GB.

  13. MAME / GP2X Wiz by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

    So, could the Dingoo A320 run MAME decently? Is the GP2X Wiz a better buy?

    1. Re:MAME / GP2X Wiz by ezelkow1 · · Score: 1

      It cant run mame yet, but zodttd who ported mame to the p2p and iphone has already been working on a direct port of it to the original shipped OS. No doubt if/when linux becomes more stable a mame port will be very easy as well. Personally I went with one of these, half the price of a wiz, smaller form factor (it actually fits in your pocket). I dont regret it at all since it plays pretty much everything out of the box as well as most videos without having to re-encode them.

    2. Re:MAME / GP2X Wiz by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      How does the A320 compare to the Wiz in terms of hardware specifications?

    3. Re:MAME / GP2X Wiz by ezelkow1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just going by the specs on wikipedia for the wiz, the wiz is better in most aspects. It has a 533mhz proc vs. a 380-400mhz on the a320. 64mb ram vs. 32. The wiz also has a 3d accelerator and the a320 does not. On space the a320 has 4gb nand built in while the wiz only has 1gb, and both support some sort of expansion card. The wiz has an amoled screen while the a320 is just regular lcd, however they are both the same resolution. They both also have about the same battery life as well, the a320 may be a bit better since i have seen reports that it can last 8-9 hours, and thats not really holding back on doing anything, while the wiz only lasts 7 (going by wikipedia).
      Of course the big difference is price, where the a320 is half the price of the wiz, for alot of people its actually in the range of not having to really think about it and its easy to splurge on it. The wiz on the other hand may make many people stop and think before buying since it is pricier.

  14. How to unbreak? by tepples · · Score: 1

    the fact its not legal to put compilations of old games out when shows that IPR/copyright is broken

    The Supreme Court of the United States disagreed with your assessment of the copyright term's brokenness in Eldred v. Ashcroft. Or did you mean that national constitutions themselves are broken for allowing runaway extensions of the copyright term to happen? In any case, is there any way to unbreak the copyright term without leaving the Berne Convention, leaving the World Trade Organization, and losing export markets?

  15. Nobody cares about you by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Your personal ignorance has no bearing on the value of this hack.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  16. Wow! by WarlockD · · Score: 1

    Dingoo A320 Detailed Diagrams

    Model: A320
    Time:2008-11
    Company: Shenzhen Dingoo Digital Co. LTD
    Color: White

    Detailed Diagrams.

    I don't know how less detailed you can get from that:P For anyone to know, here is the Rough Datasheet of the all in one CPU its using. I am honestly VERY impressed. That cpu is running a small size, built in MMU, starts at 336mhz ( I think thats what this is running at) and has all sorts of built in features (Sound codac, build int LCD display, lots of IO pins and Dram controller). Its even more interesting that the hardware is even designed to boot RIGHT off a usb drive. Makes me want to get a demo board for this thing.

  17. Does anyone know... by sardaukar_siet · · Score: 1

    ... which OS it ships with?