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Handhelds Hardware

GP2X Surpasses Expectations 195

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the raising-the-bar dept.
Harry Trotter writes "Gameparks GP2X Linux Based Console had a lot to live up to with Some amusing boasts from Gamepark, but it has lived up to its pre-billing rather well with great ports of commercial games and emulators such as Mame, Vice (Commodore 64), NeoGeo CD, Duke Nukem 3D, ScummVM and another 150 more releases so far, all of which can be followed at GP2X News & GP32 Xtreme. The Open Source Development of this console has ensured a following that will keep the console alive for years to come."
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GP2X Surpasses Expectations More

GP2X Surpasses Expectations

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  • Long term viability? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Monday January 02, 2006 @02:52PM (#14380093) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure this is a slashvertisement, but this is a very cool device. I hope that they can profit where other gaming manufacturers don't: from the hardware itself. Not placing a financial income take in future sales of games is sort of odd, but it makes sense that someone has to try it. Doing so in an OSS sort of way is REALLY bizarre from a competitiveness perspective.

    I'll buy one or a dozen of them just as a show of faith. Many of my friends with kids could use an introduction into the great games of my time -- if only someone would make Mattel's Utopia [wikipedia.org], then I'd be happy.

    A few questions that I didn't see on the site:

    1. Is it Mac compatible? I assume it is just a basic Mass Storage device on the USB chain.
    2. Does anyone have a link to the actual technical specs? I can't find anything on that site about the tech specs, other than the ARM processors.
    3. How bright is the screen and how do they get 10 hours out of 2 AA batteries?
    4. What is the estimated profit margin per unit? Is the price enough to keep them solvent AND address tech support concerns?
    5. Is 320x240 enough? I'm an Action Quake 2 [aq2world.com] addict, but not sure I can play on 320x240.
    6. Can they hire a grammar and spell checker? :) It keeps trying to install the Korean fonts, so I guess they might have an excuse. Bad Engrish [engrish.com] is acceptable in some situations. (Do not click this link if you need to be silent in a cubicle, FWIW.)
    7. Does anyone want to go in with me to pick up about 100 of these so we can save shipping and make a few bucks on our friends?

    I'm pretty happy with the HP iPAQ I received for Christmas, but I'd love to screw around with this thing. Great, another freaking device I'll need a pocket for. I still can't see how they'll be able to fix bad units and support their customers merely on profit from the console sale, but if its built properly and an open source support community props up around it, anything's possible.

    • Re:Long term viability? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Nyago ( 784496 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @03:06PM (#14380164) Homepage
      As a new GP2X owner, I can answer some of these questions.

      1. Is it Mac compatible? I assume it is just a basic Mass Storage device on the USB chain.

      You assume correctly. An SD card is required though.

      2. Does anyone have a link to the actual technical specs? I can't find anything on that site about the tech specs, other than the ARM processors.

      links to tech specs [gp2x.org] (gp2x wiki)

      3. How bright is the screen and how do they get 10 hours out of 2 AA batteries?

      The screen is bright enough. It's similar to the original GBA SP screen (though it looks horrible currently - I assume this can be fixed with firmware upgrades). Also, they don't get 10 hours of battery life. They promise to somehow increase it with firmware upgrades (by reducing processor utilization, I believe)

      The rest I can't answer - but for #7. Too bad I own one already. ;)

    • Re:Long term viability? (Score:5, Informative)

      by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @03:20PM (#14380232)
      Just a few thoughts in response to your questions.

      The GBA got 20 hours out of 2 AA's, I'll believe 10 hours for this system. It's got a lot better hardware than the GBA, but it's got several years of technology evolution to help reduce the power usage.

      Google searching found these specs as one of the first hits: http://www.killerredcar.com/?p=news/2005-12-28-22- 18-05,%20Gp2x%20Review [killerredcar.com]

      To give you an idea of resolutions, the GBA is 240x160. I think the DS is 256x192 for each screen. Most N64 games ran at 320x240, with a few at 640x480 (and usually only with the RAM upgrade). I think most PS1 games were 320x240 as well.

      BTW, most game manufacturers do profit from the hardware. It's only those that are desperate for marketshare that don't (Microsoft and Sega with the Saturn). But in the end there's much more money to be made from games.
      • I currently get about 3-4 hours play time on 2100mah batts. But this is a short term issue due to: 1) The cpus are both going at full processor speed. They should turn off or throttle down when not in use. 2) TV out is also always running and using up power. These are firmware issues, and they claim sometime in Jan the 5th firmware upgrade will be out.
      • Not so fast...i don't think the PSP makes any money for sony either.
    • If it had GPS built-in that was programable I'd buy a bunch and write some custom programs for it. Maybe in the next version or as an add-on.
    • Based on my current unit and experience with Firmware Revision 1.1.0

      1. Is it Mac compatible? I assume it is just a basic Mass Storage device on the USB chain.

      The USB link at the moment is iffy at best. Current recommendations from most of what I've seen at gp2x is to have an SD card writer.


      6. Can they hire a grammar and spell checker? :) It keeps trying to install the Korean fonts, so I guess they might have an excuse. Bad Engrish [engrish.com] is acceptable in some situations. (Do not click this link if yo

  • Still very unfinished (Score:5, Informative)

    by metalmario ( 717434 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @02:58PM (#14380127)
    A friend bought one of these, and borrowed it for a couple of days. You get something like three hours when you watch movies (DIVX), and the thing looks like it skips some frames. Don't really know, but it's looks like that. Also, the emulators are very unfinished. SNES lacks sounds, many lack good interfaces. Some readme's are in Korean, and you need to install some kind SDL libs for some emulators. Didn't say that in the docs. Or is my Korean that bad? ;) Still waiting for hardware accelerated SDL to surface. I'd love to buy one, but currently the machine is lacking software. Very badly. Give it software and I'll buy one asap!
    • Odd. I wonder if it's a limitation of system power, or if they are just hell bent on writing their own emus. There are really good SNES emulators out there that do full sound, emulation of additonal processors foudn on carts, and so on. Open source too. ZSNES and SNES9x would be the two best, both OSS, both run on Linux. It would seem to me that porting one of them to your hardware and releasing the source would be the way to go. I mean if you are running an OSS OS anyhow, why not do it with the emulators,
    • Don't forget that's it's still early days.

      I got one for Xmas, and have spent most of the last few days playing Megadrive/Genesis games (DrMD is the best emulator on the GP2X at the moment, thanks to Reesy). The other emulators are coming on in leaps and bounds (there are updates every couple of weeks) -- there's a really strong community building up around it -- have a look round the Wiki http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/ [gp2x.org]

      It's linux under the covers, and there's already a terminal emulator (STerm, typing with a joy

    • Re:Still very unfinished (Score:4, Informative)

      by warith ( 121181 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @05:00PM (#14380747)
      I'm a GP2X early adopter, and owned a GP32 (2, actually).

      To answer some of your points:

      I've found DivX/XVid playback very smooth, in fact noticeably smoother than both mine and a friend's standalone players. I've seen one clip so far that was jerky, and chalked it up to the encoding. But, this thing is running mplayer so it should be able to easily take upgrades and improved codec support.

      Emulators: It looks like you've only tried NK's emulators. Significantly, he released very early versions of NES and SNES emus with no interface beyond a ROM selector, and requires the installation of SDL libs to run. Most people are pretty dissapointed with them. But give it some time, the damn thing's only been out for a month.

      You want GOOD emulation? Try Reesy's DrMD Sega Genesis emulator. It's pretty close to PERFECT. Ditto for the PCEngine (TurboGrafx-16) emulator. So right there, you've got hundreds and hundreds of great game possibilities. There are also tons of other emulators in various stages... I understand NeoGeo is quite good but I haven't tried it yet. (There's so much else to try!) I have C64 emulation running well enough to play Impossible Mission perfectly, which makes me very happy.

      There's also ScummVM for Lucasarts emu (Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, etc), and really sweet ports of Quake, Duke3D, and Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control II).

      There is new, great shit coming out every single day. Just in the last 2 days we've seen: An early but playable port of Exult (Ultima VII engine), a new version of Duke3D, a Mandelbrot generator written in ARM assembler, an early Flash player (no sound), new version of MAME, a remake of PacMan, an Atari2600 emu, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and various homebrew games and utils.

      Lacking software??? Not a chance. I lack the time to try all the existing software and it's only been out for a month!

      I bought this thing for emulation and am already very happy with what is possible, and I have complete faith (based on my experience with the GP32) that there will be perfect NES and SNES emus out within a few months. DivX/XVid/MP3/Ogg playback, ebook reading, and native games are just gravy. Heck, nobody is even really tapping the power of the second CPU yet that I know of. Endless potential in this baby, and the community is just exploding for it.
  • I have a friend who did something similar to this with a computer. (Bought a few cheaper consoles like Sega Saturn as well) - wanted to be able to play any game from any console. I don't think he got them all, but it's cool that now someone's marketing it all in one package.
  • But does it play Duke Nukem Forever?

    Now THAT would make it an amazing console.

  • Odd error message (Score:3, Funny)

    by killjoe ( 766577 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @03:17PM (#14380226)
    Here is what get from their home page.

    Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e31'

    ½Ã£ Á¦ÇÑÀÌ áǾú½ÀÏÙ. //global.asa, line 72

    WTF???

  • interesting details (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02, 2006 @03:25PM (#14380260)
    as gp32 (and future gp2x) owner, i'll just state some things (hoping they won't be discussed/used as slander)

    -the current units are poor (both soft and hardware): hardware is pretty much okay, i think they had to fix 1 thing after their first shipment (poorly soldered audio jack), software is still in development, consider the current units more like devkits and units for the true fanatics, the software will improove :)

    -a lot of the current problems are due to this...:
    *low battery life: clockspeed is higher than default atm, so it requires very good batteries (2300mah+, rechargable ofcourse, 4hour life to be expected), how this will improove, nobody knows
    *bricking units: firmware is early, and flashing can go wrong, will improove, and if you're careful, you won't suffer from it
    *video playback is not what it's said to be (little formats supported): the will iproove with newer firmwares, if all promises will be made, noone knows, lets hope for the best :)
    *poor joystick: dunno, have heard some complaints about it, haven't had one in my hands yet, the same was said about the gp32, but i adore it's joystick, the gp2x joystick however is completely different
    *memory cards support: will improove with firmwares
    similar with most other problems you can think of :)

    about software support i'm sure you can expect a lot from the gp32/2x community, just don't expect to buy it now and get a fully functional super emu machine in your hands, most emus are alpha stage, unstable and slow, pretty normal for a handheld that's not even really released yet, more like devkits atm... and only available for nearly 2 months or so...

    take a look at the gp32 progs, (www.gp32x.de is the gp32 filearchive), and in a year or two you'll may expect similar things for the gp2x, with better emus for snes and better systems (we hope thigns like gba, amiga, psx, although those are the limits of the handheld)

    • Re:interesting details (Score:5, Informative)

      by swf ( 129638 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @05:10PM (#14380793)
      I've got a GP2X and I have just started developing with it. It's a nice piece of kit. The hardware is pretty nice and the software coming out of the GP2X community is amazing. But I'd caution anyone who was thinking of buying it. It is not a PSP or a DS. It will never have super-fancy commercial titles released for it.

      If you are a gamer, buy a DS or a PSP. You'll get better games and have more fun. If you want to program games/apps for an embedded system, buy a GP2X. We have good down-to-earth programmers who write games/apps for the love of it, and not because they think they'll "break in" to the games industry. You can test out new games ideas, port currently existing games and apps or write your own. It's very fun, but it isn't for everybody.

      So if you are thinking of buying a GP2X, please consider if you really want it. It's a great machine but it's not for everybody. You might be better off with a DS or a PSP.

    • More details from an owner point of view (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I own one and i can give my opinion (and some facts) about it.

      Some things good and some things bad about it:

      Bad:
      - Heavy interlaced screen (can be fixed by software: i added it to the profile script and now its OK)
      - Long startup time, about 20 secs (think it have lo load a linux kernel)
      - Troubles reading some SD cards (erratic, will be improved in next firmwares)
      - Analog like feeling joystick (i prefer the less hard to move joystick of the GP32, but this seems more durable)
  • You cant be serious. These games have all been done, and probably done better before, and are history for most people. There is _nothing_ to live up to when you produce a cheap copy of old technology because expectations have already moved way beyond your implemention.
    • Um, all the "games" listed (save Duke) are emulators. While not exactly legal, they allow you to play games that you never did before, or (legally) take the games that you own with you. If you doubt the popularity of old games, look at all the "classic" collections you can buy for PS2, GBA, etc. Nintendo especially loves doing this.
      • Um, all the "games" listed (save Duke) are emulators. While not exactly legal, they allow you to play games that you never did before

        This assures, more than anything else, that this system will never go "mainstream." The second these things started to really sell the company would be hit by so many lawsuits that they would be declaring bankruptcy before they even got to enjoy a dime of the profits.

        -Eric

    • There is _nothing_ to live up to when you produce a cheap copy of old technology because expectations have already moved way beyond your implemention.

      Oh yeah, old technology like the video IPod, the closest non-free competitor. What exactly are you talking about? Can you point to a device that plays all the video and music formats this does AND does games and fits in your pocket? I don't think so.

      • i don't think it's completely fair to compare a device with add-on $120 2GB capacity (that seems to be the going rate for big SD cards) to a Video IPod that has built-in 30 or 60GB capacity for video. i'm trying to decide myself if 2GB would be enough for on-the-go TV viewing, as it seems like i'm getting about 600MB per hour encoding TV to DiVX (at standard definition, shrinking down to match this screensize would be smaller, but i'm not sure exactly how much) and that seems like it'd be insufficient for

  • Buyer beware (Score:5, Informative)

    by Sappharad ( 893163 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @03:33PM (#14380302)
    Just a fair warning for anyone thinking about buying one. I've got one, and it's a great device, but it sucks up batteries like nothing else. The day I got mine, I put in the set of batteries that came with it, and they lasted me less than 2 hours. I threw some brand new duracell batteries in, those lasted about an hour and a half as well. I ended up buying some 2500mah recharagable batteries the day after I got the device, because it really does need them. With those I get battery life around 4 hours, which includes the fact that I'm turning it on and off every 5 minutes or so to test a game I've been trying to port. The popular import store Lik-Sang isn't selling them at this point because of minor issues like that. (That, and it's fairly easy to brick them upgrading the firmware) So if you're thinking of getting one, be prepared with good batteries or an AC adapter. :-)

  • Alive in a few geek's hearts? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Halfbaked Plan ( 769830 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @04:18PM (#14380536)
    The Open Source Development of this console has ensured a following that will keep the console alive for years to come."

    Alive in the same way that the Dreamcast or Amiga remains alive?

  • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I compiled VICE 1.18 for OS X and I find it runs just fine although it does require X. Can you define "poorly"? A native OS X version of VICE is being worked on but the developers are tight lipped about it. Search comp.emulators.cbm and you'll find more information. Regardless, VICE is a very impressive piece of work.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Some flaws (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tiersten ( 58773 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @05:25PM (#14380867)
    I was given a GP2X for Christmas so I've not had too much time to use it. There are certain flaws which are evident though.

    1. The LCD screen has a problem with refresh rates as it appears to be interlaced. This apparently can be tweaked by running some third party utilities which adjust the clock speed of the CPU and the LCD timing but it isn't perfect. You either get a washed out screen or a flickery interlaced screen. Alledgely a future firmware upgrade will fix it...

    2. The unit is very plasticy and poorly finished. The edges around the shoulder buttons are quite sharp.

    3. It is very easy to brick the unit as the firmware upgrade system is very unreliable. The safest way appears to be using a third party utility.

    4. How it appears as a USB device is odd. It tells the computer that is a HD instead of a removable disk. This means that your PC expects the SD card to be formatted with a partition table.

    5. The unit is quite fat. They never show you a side profile view or the back for a reason and that is because there is a lump where you put the 2xAAs.

    I've tried the Megadrive/Genesis and SNES emulators so far and they both work quite well apart from the lack of sound in the SNES emulator. Playing DiVX files also works but I've had some problems where it crashes and required you to turn the unit on and off. Both of these problems should be fixable with new firmware.

    Basically, if you want a games console then buy a DS or a PSP. If you want to run your own stuff or that the idea of a games console running Linux appeals then get a GP2X.
    • I'm also a GP2X owner, and I feel you're being a little harsh. I'm running the 1.0.1 firmware, which I'm not sure makes a difference.

      1. The LCD screen has a problem with refresh rates as it appears to be interlaced. This apparently can be tweaked by running some third party utilities which adjust the clock speed of the CPU and the LCD timing but it isn't perfect. You either get a washed out screen or a flickery interlaced screen. Alledgely a future firmware upgrade will fix it...

      I have no complaints ab

      • I have no complaints about the LCD. It's not a "really nice" LCD that you would see on such things as laptops, gameboys, PSP's, pocket PC's, etc.. However, it's not bad either. It's a nice size and resolution, supports a good range of color, and refreshes plenty fast for any game. Because of its smaller size, games look better on it than they would on a large CRT.

        I said it looks like it is interlaced because of how it is being refreshed which you can adjust using "CPU/LCD-Tweaker" by "god_at_hell, Hermes/PS

  • Obligatory Links (Score:3, Insightful)

    by vga_init ( 589198 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @06:59PM (#14381267) Journal
    I invite those who are interested to check out the GP2X wiki [gp2x.org]. It has a lot of good resources. Also, please visit us on EFNet at #gp2x and #gp2xdev. The more the merrier!
  • I personally can't wait, I know there are little issues to be worked out, but it'ss get better with time just like the original unit.

  • What is this? (Score:2, Redundant)

    by DF5JT ( 589002 )
    http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/Linux [gp2x.org]

      Drawbacks of Linux on the GP2X

            * Does not expose the full power of the hardware - Linux does not see the second processor or the upper 32MB of memory.

    Huh?

    If I were their marketing department, I'd fling a couple of these things among kernel developers.
    • The second processor is not identical to the first processor. It's also MMU-less. Stock Linux can't use the processor, and the various no-MMU versions of Linux have all been rejected by Linus for inclusion. (Note: My understanding of Linux MMU-less CPU support may be out of date.)

      As much as I like Linux, I'm not sure that it's the best thing to put on this device. As someone highly interested in developing games for the system, I really don't care which OS is on it (or if there is an OS at all), so long

      • The spec page [gpx2.com] lists the ARM940T as a "video coprocessor", so in a way it is a GPU. It might not have very high performance compared to a real GPU, but it uses very little power. And it can probably be used for other things as well. Sound perhaps.

        And the MMU-less uClinux [uclinux.org] looks to be doing well, with the uCsimm and uCdimm [arcturusnetworks.com] devices. I agree there's not much point in having an MMU and modern multi-user OS in a gaming platform that's only going to be running one thing at a time. But the hardware is becoming e

  • Legality? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rtechie ( 244489 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @09:47PM (#14381865)
    Umm, call me crazy but doesn't the fact that the vast majority of the games on the platform seem to be provided through emulation throw the entire legal state of this console into question? Does this thing come with lots of ROMS pre-loaded? Apparently not (from reading their website). Nor do they seem to offer any way to download ROMS through their website? So I'm assuming the only way to get the ROMS is through the usual sources (piracy).

    How practical is this for consumers? "Sure, it can play zillions of games but you have to download them from warez sites." So while this might hold some interest for the /. hacker crowd capable of doing this, this is hardly practical for kids (as suggested by some posters) or the general public.

    • Umm, call me crazy but doesn't the fact that the vast majority of the games on the platform seem to be provided through emulation throw the entire legal state of this console into question?

      Umm, call me crazy but doesn't the fact that the most reported-on use of guns is their use in killing people call the legality of guns into question? Just because something can be used for an illegal use does not make the thing itself illegal.

      So I'm assuming the only way to get the ROMS is through the usual sources (p

    • "Hardly practical"? I've been getting ROMs off the web since I was in 5th grade! Want a copy of Kirby Superstar?
  • The GP2X looks mostly like the Tapwave Zodiac, except it runs Linux instead of Palm OS.

    As a Zodiac owner, though, I have to say that running old NES/SNES/etc. emulators on it isn't such a great experience; I'd much prefer a digital four-way directional pad over an analog joystick. I don't imagine the GP2X experience would be much better.
    • As a Zodiac owner, though, I have to say that running old NES/SNES/etc. emulators on it isn't such a great experience; I'd much prefer a digital four-way directional pad over an analog joystick. I don't imagine the GP2X experience would be much better.

      What are you talking about? The GP2X has an eight-way digital joystick. Why do you think it is like the Tapwave Zodiac? Because they look alike?

      • What are you talking about? The GP2X has an eight-way digital joystick. Why do you think it is like the Tapwave Zodiac? Because they look alike?

        Uh, I did say it looked like a Zodiac, did I not?

        Even if the joystick isn't analog and is implemented with eight digital switches, so what? That's not the point; it's still inferior to a four-way directional pad, especially for emulating old NES/SNES games, which is one of their advertised selling points.

  • 1) Add a Compact Flash port
    2) Enable the CF port to use wireless lan cf cards
    3) Ditch 2nd cpu and replace with touch screen
    4) Provide some PDA apps (email client, browser, diary, address book, notepad, pdf reader) - I know most of these can probably be ported from their Linux equiv's but would be nice to have out of the box.

  • I realize many people here have been gaming for a couple of decades now and know exactly what's going on, but some of us either were never into consoles or just couldn't afford (or weren't allowed) to go out and buy a new console and a dozen new games every year for the last 20 years. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is completely out of the loop in this respect. So here's the stupid question from the ignorant side of the fence:

    Are there any actual GAMES on this thing when you buy it? Or is it just emulato

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