Gp2x

[nausea]

well, i'm definately going to buy one, when the 'proper' version is available..

[Ryan]

Yes, what a fool I am for not digging up information that the unit I receive was going to be essentially useless.  To be honest, that's biggest reason I feel robbed of my cash.

I'm happy to deal with firmware, and I'm happy to have a fiddle to get things working (as I already have, I'm not bitching at the state of the software) but some of this stuff just isn't likely to be sorted out.  No word from them as to when an update is coming either.

But the point is clear - other than devs, you'd have to be mad to buy one at the moment.  It's interesting to see it get covered in the Daily Mail and be called the top of it's group - I wonder how much Gamepark paid for that?

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I'm a bit miffed as to why they've not made it move obvious. It'd be hardly any work to write it up as "dev units", putting bit stickers on the box and ensuring retailers list the bloody things seperately.

I ordered myself before realising, though as I intend to develop for the unit I'm happy to go through the hassles..

[nausea]

PSX emu being worked on.. early days, but it is looking very promising..

SOTN anyone?

http://www.gp32x.com/

[Willei]

Aye, it's showing a lot of early promise, there's been a lot of developments since the release, including a steadily progressing NeoGeoCD emulator, a SNES emulator, an MD emulator (unreleased so far, but it's being worked on by the same chap who did the stunning GP32 MD emu), a Duke3D port, and of course, the PSX emulator - which is already looking much better than the Zodiac version that it's evolved from.

Of course, at the moment it's all for nothing since the stick/pad thing is useless. I've just got some 2500MaH MiMH batteries today, all reports suggest that improves matter enormously so I'll see how that goes.

Can't get the firmware update to work though, loads of other people have the same problem. Not too sure how many of these problems can be ironed out with updates if the updates themselves don't work!

[Willei]

MD emulator (unreleased so far, but it's being worked on by the same chap who did the stunning GP32 MD emu)

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...which has just been released! Living up to expections, many games are working at full speed with sound, just about all others need a little frameskip with sound but are mostly top whack with no frameskip if you turn the sound off. And the controls don't even seem too bad at the moment! In fact, the only problem is that the menu is slightly shafted.

Good stuff then! People getting the system in January won't be disappointed!

[spaceyjase]

The Ur-Quan Masters has been ported to the GP2X I might get around to playing it properly now.

Check it out: http://www.gp32x.com/

[Broker]

where on earth do you get ps1 roms from?

is the snes emu up to full speed?

[New York Mikey]

So, am I right in thinking that the second edition has been released now? Any news on the issues that were reported at the pre-release stage? Anyone else upgraded their PSP firmware and interested in getting one..??

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=...roducts_id=7728

[Willei]

The second edition is identical without some of the QA issues (such as headphone sockets breaking into the unit) and without the text that says "First Edition". The controller is still absolutely rubbish, which is a real shame.

Virtually nothing is fixed in the firmware so far, and the risk of a dodgy update bricking your unit is reportedly pretty high. The only comment I'll totally take back is about battery life - you can get a good 4-ish hours out of a good set of NiMH AAs which isn't too bad. The movie player has gotten a bit better, but it's still dodgy and crash prone. The screen interference can be fiddled with, so that's not really a problem any more and can be fixed in firmware any time Gamepark can be arsed to do an update.

Can I recommend one? No. It's got loads of emulators on it for machines such as the Megadrive, SNES (not tried myself but reportedly very good), MAME 0.34, Neo Geo MVS (!) and PC Engine (Super CD as well). But you can't play any of them properly since the controls are so bastard rubbish. You can make it better with the aid of a Retrocon and a little effort, but it's still not good.

Maybe they'll make a fully revised unit at some point (like the GP32 FLU and BLU), so it might be worth holding out if you can - it certainly won't be soon though.

[monobrow]

so er, what's the word on these then? Have any more of the issues been resolved? How are the ports and emus coming along?

There's something on Digg about using them as PDAs, which didn't really interest me, but got me thinking about these again.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

how are these compared to those Tapwaves?

[trickytree]

Bit late with an answer, but emulation is coming along reasonably well, although the scene isn't exactly huge.

There's now a full-speed PC Engine emulator, Megadrive is close to perfect (and full-speed), ST is also very good, Amiga is still rather slow, as is SNES. ScummVM works well, then there's Doom, Quake etc.

The latest firmware is much improved, boot time is only around 10-15 seconds and battery life has improved (around 5-6 hours from decent rechargeables)

Must say I only use it for Megadrive emulation, but that's more than enough to keep me amused.

Don't know much about Tapwaves, but I think despite the GP2X being slightly less powerful there's more emulators available.

[Paulando]

When you say the MD emulation is close to fullspeed, is that with masses of frameskip?

[trickytree]

When you say the MD emulation is close to fullspeed, is that with masses of frameskip?

No, it's 60fps @ frame skip 0 if you overclock (which my GP2X happily does to 280mhz - stock speed is 200mhz).

Most machines can reach 266mhz which is fine for 100% speed in 95% of MD games.

[Paulando]

Liking.

[Willei]

I believe a new revision of the unit has been released, but I've got no idea what's been changed on it. If they haven't improved the controls, I wouldn't bother getting one if you're planning on playing games on it. Still good as a technical marvel though, if such things interest you!

In answer to Goaty's question, it's better than the Zodiac in most respects. The only thing it misses out on is the touchscreen, but I didn't see a single piece of software on the Zodiac that made good use of it. The emulators on the GP2X are much better than the ones on the Zodiac. The Zodiac is somewhere between the GP32 and the GP2X in terms of power, but not much higher than the GP32 in achievement.

[trickytree]

The new version has a slightly different screen and an improved joystick cap, but that's about it - nothing remarkable.

I had to adjust the joystick cap on mine to be more playable (basically cut the shaft off and put a tiny bit of paper in the hole to raise the joystick slightly - now it's more responsive but still not as good as a d-pad.

I'd advise anyone thinking of getting one to try one first as opinions vary massively on the quality of the controls. I'm happy with them but others can't stand the joystick.

[Dr Derek Doctors]

I ordered a mk2 last week, spookily. Looking forward to developing on it as there's a port of Allegro for it.

[Joyrex-J9]

I was really close to getting one of these until reading this thread!

I've got a v1.5 PSP and in hindsight I'll stick with that for emulators etc. The dpad is poor on the PSP but it sounds like the GP2X isn't much better.

[trickytree]

Hmm.. I know I said the joystick wasn't much cop but it's nowhere near as bad as either the d-pad or analogue on the PSP!

[Dr Derek Doctors]

Yeah, I actually like the stick on my GP2X. And the screen is SOOOO much better than the PSP for emulation. The PSP screen blurs to shite playing most things, but the GP2X's is rock solid for me. The only downside is that I can only overclock my machine a little bit (230Mhz on DrMD and it stays stable, 240Mhz and it'll crash at some point). Still, that's enough for 60Fps on Gunstar Heroes.

[fraggsta]

Can an owner post here about how well Mplayer works these days? I've been pondering buying one for a while, but I'd really like to know how well it will play videos. Also, does anyone know what the state of Amiga (or ST) emulation is on the machine right now?

[Ryan]

Apparently the media functions are spot on now.

Mega Drive emulation's fantastic, spot on.

Tapwaves: they're Palms, so have good PDA software. Screen's tops too. However, it has a built in battery, which only lasts a couple of hours of gaming.

GP2x uses replacable AAs.

GP2x for teh win.

[Joyrex-J9]

The dilemma I am in...

I've kept the PSP at 1.5 just for emulators/homebrew - which means new 'real' PSP games are pretty much a no-no; this means the PSP sits there and is just used for emulators.

So... IF the GP2X is as good at emulation as the PSP - I upgrade the PSP firmware to play some newer real games and get all my emulation kicks from the GP2X... (yeah and carry two machines around!)

I've been debating this one for ages...

Any thoughts guys?

[trickytree]

What emulators do you use on the PSP?

As said the GP2X screen and controls are better, so getting one would let you play new PSP games.

Megadrive is full speed and near perfect.

I don't think SNES is quite as good on GP2X yet, but then I don't remember it being brilliantly playable on the PSP (unless it's improved dramatically over the last 6 months?).

Amiga is quite jerky, you can get normal speed but frame skip 2 or 3 needed.

ST emulation is great though. Then there's ScummVM, Doom, Quake, movie playback etc.

Having said that I might be selling mine as I just don't get time for it really (too much on the DS). You could always buy mine, save some cash, then sell it on for the same price if you don't rate it. In fact, what a great idea!

[AlonzoUK]

The dilemma I am in...

I've kept the PSP at 1.5 just for emulators/homebrew - which means new 'real' PSP games are pretty much a no-no; this means the PSP sits there and is just used for emulators.

So... IF the GP2X is as good at emulation as the PSP - I upgrade the PSP firmware to play some newer real games and get all my emulation kicks from the GP2X... (yeah and carry two machines around!)

I've been debating this one for ages...

Any thoughts guys?

If you are happy with the emulation on the PSP then I'd stick with the PSP. If the mod chip that has been revealed recently is real then in theory it should allow you to run 1.5 and future firmware releases therefore allowing you the best of both worlds.

[spaceyjase]

Brilliant piece of hardware this, really impressed. More so than the crappy state of emulation of the PSP and the latest hardware is really nicely built. Just dump stuff on the card and go, literally. Movies, music and PDA software. Everything! It's ace!

[AlonzoUK]

More so than the crappy state of emulation of the PSP

The PSP emulation really isn't that bad - to say gp2x developments until recently are any better would be fibbing. Still some people are never happy.

The Squidge MMU hack looks it provides homebrew/emus on the gp2x the performance boost they need without the need to resorting to overclocking. Things are definitely looking up.

[spaceyjase]

It's the hassle involved in getting/running/maintaining PSP emulation that bugs me. Playing movies and games off the card is tiresome too, just that little bit too much hassle for me to be bothered with. Here, it's done and open. The PSP stuff plays well enough but no way do I want the hassle of maintaining it, you know?

[Vimster]

Okay, so this thread is 18 months old but it seemed the best place to mention the latest revision of the GP2X, the GP2X F200. It now has a touchscreen, though not much software makes use of it yet, but with any luck it'll pick up. The d-pad has been replaced by four separate buttons which, according to reports, whilst better than the 'stick' has it's drawbacks.

I have one on order and should hopefully get that next week.

Does anyone else have one?