You could always get yourself a GP32. This little-known Korean-made handheld is also available from Lik-Sang, and very amateur-developer-friendly
- 320x240 screen (dumb framebuffer, no gfx hardware)
- 66-133Mhz ARM9 (with cache)
- 8mb RAM (16 bit wide, though, quite slow)
- Takes Smartmedia cards
- Fairly open platform for development, despite some (flawed) DRM for official game releases
The console is more expensive than a GBA, but a GP32+128MByte SMC card will cost less than a GBA+Flash cart kit
There's a pretty good port of Doom to it, but it's quite lacking in other software. But could handle some nice 3D stuff, or emulators, with a bit of careful ARM coding:)
See www.gp32news.com or www.gp32emu.com for more info
The biggest quality issue is dead pixels. They seem rather common, and manufacturers policies on thme really suck - In some cases you have to have up to 8 dead pixels before they'll replace the screen!
Until I can be guaranteed 100% working pixels, and replacement if a single pixel fails when under warranty, I'm not getting an LCD. Especially when they cost over twice as much as a top-of-the-range CRT
>Then why not simultaneously release in the United States and the United Kingdom?
Because the US release is normally a one-language, English-only build. And the European build often needs support for 3-5 languages (including English)
Our GBA project has a 4Mbyte English-only build, but the European build needs an 8Mbyte cartridge, to fit the localized audio/graphics
The US version will be out by the end of this year, the European version won't:(
Aren't most XBox mod chips basically BIOS replacements? Probably containing significant portions of Microsoft's original XBox BIOS?...
So it'd be a simple case of copyright infringement.
Everything else Lik-Sang sold, including GBA 'backup devices', PSX mods, and perfectly legit consoles, games, and accessories, were probably perfectly legal in most countries. Maybe they made a genuine mistake by stocking the XBox mods - not knowing they may have contained Microsoft's code?
The XBox will turn out to be very profitable, in the much longer term, when MS deploy future DRM systems based upon lessons learned from it
The XBox is being used as an experiment in locking-down PCs. It's like a honeynet for hardware hackers - people *will* try to hack it - either to pirate games, play MP3s, or run Linux. MS will learn from each hack, to build a more secure system, before releasing a system that really matters... in future generations of Windows and PC hardware
Is this really a version of Windows that won't allow you to run Winamp/Audiocatalyst etc? (XBox style - only runs digitally signed code)
Or just more restrictions on the bundled Windows Media Player?
Can't imagine it being 'only run signed code' - How can they stop you running Winamp/AudioCatalyst/Gnutella/CloneCD without stopping you running all other Win32 software?
Maybe it's a driver-level attempt to stop CD ripping/digital audio recording. But how the fuck do they expect to stop you playing an downloaded MP3? Only allow signed apps to play audio? What about games etc?....
PS2s, Gamecubes, GBA's... no-one will notice them...
but surely someone will notice the gravitational distortions produced by the excessive mass of an XBox....
more than a couple in a confined space and there'll be a black hole to worry about....
Don't expect to be able to get broadband. Even if you're living in a city centre. You could well be stuck with a 56k dialup
I'm in Manchester, right near Piccadilly Station, and the exchange *still* isn't ADSL enabled. And I don't think NTL's cables come near enough us yet...
Unfortunately, it's far more profitable for the government to tax motorists and let public transport go to shit:(
Good public transport == far less money for government - not just the cost of public transport, but the loss of massive amounts of revenue from motorists
Let the customer provide their own HD...
Just make 'em easy to open and install as standard 2.5" drive of your choice...
(Then bundle the 2 separate products...)
Strangely, on my last plane trip, security weren't interested in my Visor, phone, or digi cam... but in the collection of around 16 minidiscs... Luckily the more senior security drone knew what they were....
No, because these fucked CDs mess up the digital output (at least Cactus Data Shield does on my Yamaha CD player with optical out) - it inserts 'new track' signals every second or so...
It certainly stops recording to minidisc via optical, anyway:(
So how long until this is used to make sure people don't buy import DVDs, games, or even music, online?
I can see the RIAA/MPAA coming up with some 'if you don't agree to use this technology, we won't let you distribute our products' contract.... The larger retailers (Amazon, etc) would probably agree quickly enough, as it reduces the hassle of international shipping (lost orders, returns, etc) anyway...
(I buy lots of import CDs... many that are never released in the UK. Region coded music (DVD-Audio) is going to piss far more people off than region-coded DVDs ever have... you'll first need to get your player chipped, then shop through a proxy to get the discs... Or just use a napster clone...)
...until new CD-ROM drives are compatible with this?
"Buy our new ultrafast SCSI 80x CD/20x DVD drive
Reads the following formats: CD-ROM,CDDA,CD-R,CD-RW,DVD,DVD-A.
*** Now also Fully compatible with Universal Music CDs ***"
If this happened, it'd basically kill any innovation in the US tech industry. It'd be left with a Microsoft-AOL-Time Warner-RIAA-MPAA cartel controlling all technology, the Internet, and all other media.
I'd expect many of the most skilled engineer/coders to want to leave the US at an early age, and move to a free country!... Or maybe people will completely lose interest in technology...
Maybe less developed countries will start to overtake the USA and Europe in the tech sector?...
Maybe we'll see 'geek terrorism' - unemployed and very angry programmers in suicide bomb attacks against the megacorps?
Or maybe we'll actually start to see the general public getting pissed off with copy/access controls - when CDs are unrippable, DVD audio brings region-coded music to the masses, and Windows XPP (Xtra Piracy Prevention) won't even let you make backups of you're own Word documents, which are only ever stored remotely on an MS central server...
What are they going to do about the hundreds of millions of PCs, MP3 players, and other 'unsecure' gadgets? They can't just make them illegal - it's cost the megacorps that are purchasing this law billions to downgrade their IT systems into compliance...
If this law was ever to come into effect, those with stocks of old, normal, 'unfucked' hardware could make *billions* selling them at higly inflated price!
Slashdot Mirror
You could always get yourself a GP32. This little-known Korean-made handheld is also available from Lik-Sang, and very amateur-developer-friendly
:)
See www.gp32news.com or www.gp32emu.com for more info
- 320x240 screen (dumb framebuffer, no gfx hardware)
- 66-133Mhz ARM9 (with cache)
- 8mb RAM (16 bit wide, though, quite slow)
- Takes Smartmedia cards
- Fairly open platform for development, despite some (flawed) DRM for official game releases
The console is more expensive than a GBA, but a GP32+128MByte SMC card will cost less than a GBA+Flash cart kit
There's a pretty good port of Doom to it, but it's quite lacking in other software. But could handle some nice 3D stuff, or emulators, with a bit of careful ARM coding
The biggest quality issue is dead pixels. They seem rather common, and manufacturers policies on thme really suck - In some cases you have to have up to 8 dead pixels before they'll replace the screen!
Until I can be guaranteed 100% working pixels, and replacement if a single pixel fails when under warranty, I'm not getting an LCD. Especially when they cost over twice as much as a top-of-the-range CRT
>Then why not simultaneously release in the United States and the United Kingdom?
:(
Because the US release is normally a one-language, English-only build. And the European build often needs support for 3-5 languages (including English)
Our GBA project has a 4Mbyte English-only build, but the European build needs an 8Mbyte cartridge, to fit the localized audio/graphics
The US version will be out by the end of this year, the European version won't
Aren't most XBox mod chips basically BIOS replacements? Probably containing significant portions of Microsoft's original XBox BIOS?...
So it'd be a simple case of copyright infringement.
Everything else Lik-Sang sold, including GBA 'backup devices', PSX mods, and perfectly legit consoles, games, and accessories, were probably perfectly legal in most countries. Maybe they made a genuine mistake by stocking the XBox mods - not knowing they may have contained Microsoft's code?
The XBox will turn out to be very profitable, in the much longer term, when MS deploy future DRM systems based upon lessons learned from it
The XBox is being used as an experiment in locking-down PCs. It's like a honeynet for hardware hackers - people *will* try to hack it - either to pirate games, play MP3s, or run Linux. MS will learn from each hack, to build a more secure system, before releasing a system that really matters... in future generations of Windows and PC hardware
OK... where's the details/facts?!
Is this really a version of Windows that won't allow you to run Winamp/Audiocatalyst etc? (XBox style - only runs digitally signed code)
Or just more restrictions on the bundled Windows Media Player?
Can't imagine it being 'only run signed code' - How can they stop you running Winamp/AudioCatalyst/Gnutella/CloneCD without stopping you running all other Win32 software?
Maybe it's a driver-level attempt to stop CD ripping/digital audio recording. But how the fuck do they expect to stop you playing an downloaded MP3? Only allow signed apps to play audio? What about games etc?....
If filename contains *.mp3, refuse to open/copy?
PS2s, Gamecubes, GBA's... no-one will notice them... but surely someone will notice the gravitational distortions produced by the excessive mass of an XBox.... more than a couple in a confined space and there'll be a black hole to worry about....
Don't expect to be able to get broadband. Even if you're living in a city centre. You could well be stuck with a 56k dialup
I'm in Manchester, right near Piccadilly Station, and the exchange *still* isn't ADSL enabled. And I don't think NTL's cables come near enough us yet...
Unfortunately, it's far more profitable for the government to tax motorists and let public transport go to shit :(
Good public transport == far less money for government - not just the cost of public transport, but the loss of massive amounts of revenue from motorists
Let the customer provide their own HD... Just make 'em easy to open and install as standard 2.5" drive of your choice... (Then bundle the 2 separate products...)
Strangely, on my last plane trip, security weren't interested in my Visor, phone, or digi cam... but in the collection of around 16 minidiscs... Luckily the more senior security drone knew what they were....
Dave
And after only 18 comments..... linking to a Geocities site from Slashdot is a bit stupid....
No, because these fucked CDs mess up the digital output (at least Cactus Data Shield does on my Yamaha CD player with optical out) - it inserts 'new track' signals every second or so...
It certainly stops recording to minidisc via optical, anyway
IE (at least IE5, Win2K) refuses to display .png's on their own, but will do if they're included from an HTML file.
:(
Another reason they aren't used that often
No. It's the other way round!...
Robot Wars is a poor rip-off of battlebots
So how long until this is used to make sure people don't buy import DVDs, games, or even music, online?
I can see the RIAA/MPAA coming up with some 'if you don't agree to use this technology, we won't let you distribute our products' contract.... The larger retailers (Amazon, etc) would probably agree quickly enough, as it reduces the hassle of international shipping (lost orders, returns, etc) anyway...
(I buy lots of import CDs... many that are never released in the UK. Region coded music (DVD-Audio) is going to piss far more people off than region-coded DVDs ever have... you'll first need to get your player chipped, then shop through a proxy to get the discs... Or just use a napster clone...)
mod this up!!
As described in a comment on FatChucks
(Tested it on 'Natalie Imbruglia - White Lillies Island' with a Yamaha 6x4x16x SCSI CDRW drive)
1) Get IsoBuster (A Win32 app)
2) Rip the entire disc as raw data. May struggle/take a while. Tell it to ignore any read errors
3) Open the raw file in CoolEdit (or any decent audio editor) as a 44.1Kz 16-bit stereo sample (with Intel byte ordering)
4) There you have it! The entire CD as one big sample!
5) In CoolEdit, you can use 'Edit->AutoCue->Find Phrases and Mark' to split the tracks up automatically
6) Save 'em out, and convert to MP3/Ogg if neccesssary
Exactly. It's a safe and easy job for the feds!
Geeks are highly unlikely to shoot them, or even run...
Go after real criminals and there's guns/bombs/knives/anthrax to worry about!
Dave
...until new CD-ROM drives are compatible with this?
"Buy our new ultrafast SCSI 80x CD/20x DVD drive
Reads the following formats: CD-ROM,CDDA,CD-R,CD-RW,DVD,DVD-A.
*** Now also Fully compatible with Universal Music CDs ***"
Dave
Another 'broken record' recently released is Heather Nova's new album 'South'. At least on the German version (UK release is not till Monday)
Apparently there's a small warning 'will not play on PCs'
If you want to buy a CD just to play with the copy protection, I'd suggest this one.... (Although her earlier 'Oyster' is *far* better)
Dave
Current GBA emulators on the PC only get around 70% speed on a P3-667.
They can probably all still be optimised... but I don't think there's much hope for a Palm, or even WinCE machine...
If this happened, it'd basically kill any innovation in the US tech industry. It'd be left with a Microsoft-AOL-Time Warner-RIAA-MPAA cartel controlling all technology, the Internet, and all other media.
I'd expect many of the most skilled engineer/coders to want to leave the US at an early age, and move to a free country!... Or maybe people will completely lose interest in technology...
Maybe less developed countries will start to overtake the USA and Europe in the tech sector?...
Maybe we'll see 'geek terrorism' - unemployed and very angry programmers in suicide bomb attacks against the megacorps?
Or maybe we'll actually start to see the general public getting pissed off with copy/access controls - when CDs are unrippable, DVD audio brings region-coded music to the masses, and Windows XPP (Xtra Piracy Prevention) won't even let you make backups of you're own Word documents, which are only ever stored remotely on an MS central server...
What are they going to do about the hundreds of millions of PCs, MP3 players, and other 'unsecure' gadgets? They can't just make them illegal - it's cost the megacorps that are purchasing this law billions to downgrade their IT systems into compliance...
If this law was ever to come into effect, those with stocks of old, normal, 'unfucked' hardware could make *billions* selling them at higly inflated price!
Time to start stocking up spare hard drives?....
That slows it down even more... as it has to dither everything down to the lower depth
Ever tried Win9x/2K in 256 colour mode? looks foul, and still runs slower than 16/32bpp modes...