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The Portable Linux Based GP2X is Here

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sun Sep 18, 2005 05:03 AM
from the might-as-well-have-a-laptop-with-all-these-portal dept.
Portables Software Hardware Linux
An anonymous reader writes "Today sees the opening of the Official GP2X Site where you can see the new console from Gamepark.com, who last brought you the GP32 a fantastic console for homebrew developers. This console is a major step up with Dual 200Mhz cpus and is basically a Portable Linux handheld that can easily do ports like Quake, Doom and Emulators like Mame. Its Open Source SDK gives all amateur and commercial Developers the ablity to release software on a brand new console like the old Amiga/Commodore 64 days. More screenshots of the GP2X can be found at GP2x news."
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Related Stories

[+] Mobile: Gamepark Holdings Officially Announces the WIZ Handheld 166 comments
Croakyvoice writes "Gamepark Holdings, the makers of the GP2X Console, have today announced the successor, which is called the WIZ. The new GBA Micro-sized console features a touchscreen, Linux OS, an Arm9 533MHZ 3D processor with 64MB of ram and will have commercial games on sale at launch in October. Best of all for fans of homebrew and emulation on the GP2X, all that needs to be done is recompiling of sourcecode."
[+] Games: Gamepark Releases the GP2X Wiz 145 comments
Craig writes "Gamepark have officially released the follow-up to its successful Linux handheld, the GP2X. The GP2X Wiz is a 533Mhz Linux-based handheld that's a similar size to the GBA Micro, with a touchscreen and 12 games preloaded into memory, many of which are demos of commercial games. The system comes with 1GB of flash memory, which can be expanded with SD cards. The Homebrew Community have already released ports of games such as Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, Warcraft and emulators for SNES, Genesis, Commodore 64 and the arcade emulator Mame."
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The Portable Linux Based GP2X is Here 50 Comments More /

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  • Pre-orders are already being taken... (Score:5, Informative)

    by BluhDeBluh (805090) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:07AM (#13588741)
    UK pre-orders for the machine are being taken at GP2X.co.uk [slashdot.org] (formerly GBAX) at £125 for the machine. It's shipping in October :)

  • Capacity? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Sorthum (123064)
    What kind of storage can you realistically get on SD cards? I have to wonder, given that most XBox/PS2 games are now pushing the 4-5 gig range. Quake was good, but a smidgen outdated.

    I do realize there are games that are less than a gig, but does this have a realistic chance of becoming a mass market item?

    • Re:Capacity? (Score:3, Informative)

      by crwl (802043)
      You can now get SD cards with at least 2 GB of capacity, and they're getting cheaper all the time. I wouldn't worry about the storage.
    • You do realize that this is a handheld console? The storage capacity of SD cards should be enough for a lot of apps (emulators), some music, maybe an episode of American Dad, plus tonnes of snes, nes, and gameboy ROMS.

    • Re:Capacity? (Score:4, Informative)

      by romiz (757548) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:28AM (#13588791)
      What kind of storage can you realistically get on SD cards?

      The theoretical limit of the format is 4 GB without formatting. Nowadays, it is commonplace to find 1 GB flash cards, or even 2 GB cards, but quite pricy (~60 $ per GB). Read-only cards, when produced in large quantities, would probably be less expensive.

      I do realize there are games that are less than a gig
      The size of a game doesn't make its quality. And we're still talking about portable games, where the UMD is the largest format to date, with only 1.8 GB...
    • You can get 2 gig cards for around $140 now, and they're dropping fast. SD is a really good format... still thick enough to be tough, but easily tucked into a wallet or other small carrier. CF can store a lot more, but the cards are much less convenient.

      Realistically, SD sizes aren't likely to be a drawback. As an example, my entire Thief2 installation, including the unofficial T2X mod (which is a bit uneven, but really amazing for a fan remake), weighs in at about 1.8 gigs. That's voice, movies, and e
    • Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 was far less than a gig (about half of one) and managed to have some pretty cutting edge content. Oh, and one must remember that the gamecube disks don't fit much more than 1 GB.
    • IIRC, DS games are only 128 Megabytes (1 gigabit) in size, max. So, pretty darn big. I may be off -- it may be 1 Gigabyte (8 gigabit), but still... SD cards aren't exactly 1.44 meg floppies, ya know. ;)

  • Battery Life (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jeffv323 (317436) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:17AM (#13588762)
    With two processors and a screen as big as it is, how long will 2 AA's last I wonder?

    I think it would be fantastic to see this take off, perhaps it could jumpstart open source games. (yeah yeah insert comment about Tuxracer)

    • Re:Battery Life (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:22AM (#13588775)
      From the site:

      "It takes 2 AA batteries, but gives you 6 - 10 hours from them. No need to worry about having to recharge when outside. Everywhere has AA batteries."

  • um.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by metricmusic (766303)
    seems in some ways a downgrade.

    they went from a 4inch screen to a 3.5 inch one. screen res went down and they took out the wireless.
      • I'm look at this page ( http://www.gp32x.com/gpx2xgp.php [gp32x.com]) which compares the two handhelds. Is there another page I should be looking at?

        I like big screens too. I read a review the other on the gb micro that just came out and while the guy said the screen is a lot nicer rpgs are difficult becausethe text is too small. I mainly play rpgs so I think I'll be giving that one a miss and sticking with the sp. the gp2x looks appealing though.

  • Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rm999 (775449) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:34AM (#13588805)
    Wow, this looks really cool. I especially like the AA batteries. I have about 10 rechargeable AAs and could easily pack them with me on vacation and keep this thing going for a long time. Not something you can do with proprieatary batteries
    • Yeah...'cause keeping extra AA batteries around is far more convenient than plugging your gaming device into an outlet when you're sleeping or driving...

      Oh, wait...no it isn't. Why is it better, again?

  • Resolution (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jeffv323 (317436) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:35AM (#13588812)
    I'm a bit miffed on the resolution of the device. The big bold text claims 720x480, while the specs say 320x480. I am going to guess that it's the latter, as 720 on a 3" screen would be a really expensive lcd.

    • Re:Resolution (Score:5, Informative)

      by saldek (139594) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:49AM (#13588845) Journal
      And a bit further on :

      Yes that's right, this handheld can connect to the TV, console style. Watch your DivX movies on the TV. Play emulated classics on the TV. Try big screen Quake. Or just play them all on the GP2X's large 320*240 backlit screen. You get the best of both worlds.

    • Re:Resolution (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      the LCD has 320x480 resolution but the machine can play divx files upon 720x480.

      For example, as divx players for the TV, they cannot manage every resolution, they have a top one.

      You'll see the films and games in 320x480
  • I'm curious if twin CPUs is enough to handle the likes of Doom and Quake full speed. I'm using a Sharp Zaurus (Linux PDA) with a 400Mhz+ ARM processor. On it, Doom is a bit jagged around the edges. A Gameboy Advance ROM barely gets off the ground. I'm sure the likes of a Commodore 64 is possible though, but I'd hope the thing is fast.
    • When Quake was originally released, my housemate had a PC with 64MB of RAM and a 200MHz Pentium Pro, and I remember Quake running just fine.

      Of course, when he later downloaded GLQuake it ran like an aboslute dog without a 3d accelerator card, but that's a different story...

      • Re:Dual 200Mhz, is it enough? (Score:5, Informative)

        by bani (467531) on Sunday September 18 2005, @08:18AM (#13589146)
        your ppro has 256k (or more) l1 and l2 cache. it can also issue and execute instructions out of order. the strongarm has none of these features.

        the cache alone makes an enormous difference, the out of order execution on top of that results in a cpu which is about 50% faster than the strongarm right off the bat.

        not to mention -- much of doom was hand coded x86 assembly. the zaurus arm port obviously can't use that, and afaik no arm assembly equivalents have been written so the doom port uses straight C.
    • A bit rough around the edges? Have you tried turning AA on?
    • I think it's not enough. Its lack of 3D hardware is another nail in its coffin. Can it compare with PSP in gaming? No at all.
      • Its lack of 3D hardware is another nail in its coffin. Can it compare with PSP in gaming? No at all.

        Bear in mind what a lot of people are saying about the PSP: "Okay, there's no games on it apart from half a dozen identical racers, but it's really cool for running homebrew software! I hope I don't have to upgrade to firmware 1.50 and break all my emulators!"

        This GP2X? It's half the price of a PSP, and while it doesn't have the racing games, it does have the cast-iron guarantee that the company that makes
        • calling it "homebrew" does a disservice to people who try to own their own property.

          it's called Arbitrary Code Execution.

          you wouldn't call programs written by non-corporate people as "homebrew", would you?

          they're all just programs but full access to those devices are willfully denied to you, the true owner of the product. using legal and technical means to remove property rights is immoral and unethical.

          if you want to rent devices, then call it renting and treat it accordingly. but if you sell something the
  • The `screenshots' in the link look more like photographs than captures of the device's screen. I think the article submitter might need to spend some time away from the computer, and realise that not everything in the world is displayed on a screen...
  • It says it uses SD storage, that almost guarantees there wont be open source drivers.

    Usually SD slots can be used with open mmc cards.

    Poor choice of storage...

    • Re:No open source drivers (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Malor (3658) on Sunday September 18 2005, @08:38AM (#13589213) Journal
      What crack are you smoking? I've been using SD cards with Linux for years. If you don't have a device that uses the security features (nearly all of them), then it just works like any other flash device would.

      It might be possible to lock content on an SD card so that it wasn't accessible from Linux, but one you purchased blank and formatted yourself isn't going to give you any problems.
        • I use a 4-in-1 reader and it just works. With everything. I don't have it handy right now to look at, but it was a $25 or $30 job at Best Buy. (I *think* the brand name was ImageMate, but that could easily be wrong.)

          Support's built right into the kernel. Plug it in, wham, it works. No hassle. Each slot looks like a different SCSI device. I've used it for both CF and SD and it works fine.

          Via VMWare, the built-in card-reader on my monitor also works perfectly with OpenBSD and with Linux, both for CF and
        • It JUST WORKS. Plug it in and you're good. You don't have to think about SD or MMC, you just get a universal reader, plug it in, and off you go. The SD encryption features aren't used by any device I know of. You can argue semantics about it "being used as an MMC card", but no normal human cares about that. They want to plug it into the computer and have it work. If you buy an SD card, that will happen. That's all that matters.

          SD is better than MMC anyway... the MMC cards are so thin they're pretty f
            • So all SD cards must support MMC mode. MMC mode works. Therefore....(left as an exercise for the reader).

              I did say, if you notice, that nothing uses the encryption capability of the card anyway. It doesn't *matter* what the internal protocol is, as long as it works to do what we want, which is store and retrieve data. I can take an SD card, plug it into an SD slot, and it just works. That's all I really need. You can think of SD as MMC in a better package, with a write-protect tab.

              If they change the ru
  • Should we tell them they've plastered "GP2X" all over the website, but the device clearly has "GPX2" written on it?
  • tasty.

  • official website??? (Score:5, Informative)

    by PePeBoTiKa (903062) on Sunday September 18 2005, @09:43AM (#13589420)
    :-O

    That's not the official GP2X website. That's the GBAX website, an online GP2X distributor. Hardcore-gamer [hardcore-gamer.com] is the distributor on spain.

    Here [gpx2.com] is a list of official distributors.

    The official website is still www.gpx2.com

    The console will be released in october/november
    • I am curious how open the hardware is to the developers. Could one conceivably replace the dashboard (for lack of a better term) with a port of, say, Xbox Media Center? I would be hard pressed to find a better application for that software, besides Xbox of course.

      I am picturing filling a 1gb card with a couple movies and music, and jumping on a 3 hour flight. I imagine games will also come in SD format.
    • Gamepark actually encourages people to make homebrew apps, unlike other manufacturers.

      You might want to be a little careful of this statement... You see, the company that you knew as Gamepark that made the original GP32 has since split up into two companies: "Gamepark Holdings" is the company that is working on the GP2X (Or GPX2 [gpx2.com], as some references call it... there was a contest to decide on a name, so there is some ambiguity). However the other company, known simply as "Gamepark" is working on a completely
    • Gamepark just doesn't STEAL your access to your own hardware.

      "homebrew" is a red herring. other manufacturers block access to your property through legal and technical means.

      arbitrary code execution = "the right to read". that's the logical conclusion.

      over the next 2-3 decades, DRM/Insidious Computing will creep its way through society (it's international) and will become more and more generally accepted.

      enjoy these carefree days because your children won't be able to, not without paying a per-fee for ever

    • Re:Harddrive? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tpgp (48001) on Sunday September 18 2005, @05:58AM (#13588860) Homepage
      Now that harddrives are becoming so small and the price isn't that bad, I reckon they are really limiting their device by just supporting SD, especially when they try and flog it off as a portable movie player. I'm sure if they stuck in 20gb hdd and had to add a tiny bit onto the overall width people wouldnt moan and you'd probabaly get more sales out of it

      1) HDDs have moving parts and are prone to failure in portable devices.
      2) HDDs have moving parts requiring more power - a nono in a portable device.
      3) SD == expandable - need more storage? Buy another card. You will be able to buy a 4Gig SD card next year for next to nothing.

      Frankly, I think the lack of a HDD is a good thing - I would kill for a mp3 player with a CF slot....
    • Its got USB 2.0. You can attach a harddrive pretty easily that way and it would be plenty fast for loading games or watching movies.
    • You buy this and can play a lot of (admittedly "old") games on it, I'd love to take Sam 'n' Max on a plane journey! This clearly isn't aimed at the kid who "wants something cool to play with", it's for people who know that this really is something cool to play with/work with/develop for. I have a friend who is really into the previous console and I believe has one of these pre-ordered, he makes them sound very cool and useful. However, personally I'd probably rather have a PSP. I can play most of these gam
    • They probably do it because they can, not because they can compete over Sony. And the GP32 was reasonable successful as I've understood it, and I read they sold 30.000 of them, and that isn't that much..
    • This system seems more aimed at a niche market, so they're not directly competing with the PSP. Also, it appears that their previous product, the GP32 was profitable enough.

      Personally, I'm more interested in this console than a PSP. An affordable handhold Linux system with USB and twin 200MHz processors does sound tempting. Shouldn't be too hard to get a terminal on this thing, and the USB connection opens up the possibility of buying a small keyboard for it.
    • well whoever makes them... I want one... I was going to get an Ipod for Xmas and stick Linux on it [ipodlinux.org], but this beastie is far more usefull and cooler than an iPod... iPods.. every Tom, Dick and Harry's got one... far too common...

      • Re:How does the XGP compare to this... (Score:4, Informative)

        by oneandoneis2 (777721) * on Sunday September 18 2005, @09:06AM (#13589300) Homepage
        Ok, it's like this:

        GamePark created the GP32. It didn't do so well, so they open-sourced it. Then it did pretty well, selling to hackers.

        So then Gamepark wanted to make a successor. They argued over whether or not to make it open-source again.

        They couldn't agree, so they split up into Gamepark & Gamepark Holdings.

        GP went on to develop the XGP, a closed-source, high-powered console. GPH created the GP2X/GPX2, a less-powerful but open-source console.

        They're both successors to the GP32, but very different concepts, made by two different companies.

        Hope that helped. . .

    • Every single game I know (Ok, I'm old-school) has a linux version or runs in a console for which linux has a working emulator... approximately 1000 games.
    • "Here is your order summary, including shipping costs and any taxes.

      Items in cart: 2 x GP2X Console Value Pack
      Total Items cost: £ 249.98
      Shipping cost: £ 17.5 (International)
      Total cost with shipping: £ 267.48
      To pay please click proceed.

      Firefox users any problems please use Opera or Internet Explorer."

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