Another new machine...

[Poem58]

Having tried to learn more about the Evo console, it seems that while the wiki has no info to back it up they claim about 3000 were sold. It appears that maybe it actually had some decent games on it, as there are a couple of Youtube comparisons to some games on it vs. other systems like the Wii and another machine I don't remember. There were articles that bashed it as an overpriced way of using the term "open" to bilk people into paying too much money for what was essentially a much lower cost linux PC stuffed into a DVD player case.


Overall, I was intrigued by the idea, and wish the company itself had left up some documentation on the device. It may not have been perfect, but what little I did fine seemed to be creative (games on SD card allowing anyone to price and sell a game, some titles I never knew were available for Linux etc.)


Let's be honest, even our beloved hand held, is not without it's detractors and faults can be found. But for those of us in it's target demographic, it's the best thing since canned bread (which according to the Spongebob episode my son just watched is the greatest thing since sliced)


The troubling part is that about a year and a half after it's launch, it's been entirely erased. You would think they would be proud of the achievement and keep up some info and or support pages about it. NADA. Not even mentioned in their company info as Craig posted earlier.


Now on to the next one. Then what? A year, maybe a year and a half later. Nothing? There is just too many points of warning to this whole scenario. I think they need to sit down and revamp their whole scheme. Else it just appears like one.

 

[craigix]

He's totally reading from a piece of paper, he isn't putting his heart into it!


At least craig will sit out in the snow with the pandora slightly drunk and say it as it comes.

It's obvious he has no idea what he is reading out isn't it?


You know he reminds me of my first job, I used to work for this guy part time when I was about 17.


He really wanted to make games (while paying me and other teenage programmers pennies) without knowing the slightest


thing about ... well... anything. He didn't want to learn about the hardware, how to even slightly understand assembler (later c), how system specs dictated what was possible (port doom to the gbc, use giant sprites which don't flicker and other such guff) etc.


He just wanted to be the 'man' without knowing the slightest thing about the business he was in and spend his bank loans on expensive cars and business premises and sell himself in magazine interviews and fancy advertising.


That attitude works for about 12 months and then, like a house of cards, it all comes crashing down as questions can't be answered and due to lack of understanding problems can't be solved. One of his final flaws was getting 'working' games from us programmers then not paying us our final wages - only to realise to his horror games are made from something called 'source code' which he didn't have.


If you're not willing to do the ground work you are building your business on sand.


I bet this guy just can't be arsed to pick up a book and start to understand hardware or software. 'Man that shits all too complex for me! I'm da man!'. 'I'll leave all that geek shit to you nerds!'. 'Now make my evo console!'.


Once he stops reading from bits of paper and sounds like he actually knows what he is talking about I might be able to take him seriously, but for now this guy is in dream land.

 

[x68000]

He obviously knows that we are onto his little scam now, judging by the lack of any further posts.


At first i was convinced it was the RedBaron flying back into our lives

 

[maplesugarlover]

Craig, doom on the gbc impossible ? but it was on the spectrum

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3v7cFGneuaw?feature=oembed

 

[Dead1nside]

My favourite bit was the "here's the specs" *vague specifications momentarily flash on the screen*

 

[craigix]

Craig, doom on the gbc impossible ? but it was on the spectrum

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3v7cFGneuaw?feature=oembed

That's not a port though, also the spectrum video hardware makes doing raycasters much easier.


The GB/C has a tile mode rather than flat 1 bit ram like the spectrum.


The GB/C does support a pixel based system but as far as I remember it's more just that you can use the tile memory as a flat ram and there is not enough to actually use the whole screen.


I'd say I'd rather try to code a raycaster on the Spectrum than the GB.


(I do enjoy pushing old hardware though so I think about these things too much!).

 

[Jourdy288]

He obviously knows that we are onto his little scam now, judging by the lack of any further posts.


At first i was convinced it was the RedBaron flying back into our lives

I wouldn't say that it's a scam, he has legit intentions but he needs serious help!

 

[Prometheus]

^ It would have been nice if he'd actually answered the very simple questions we asked about his product, though, instead of seemingly pasting blurbwords from a press release...


Myself, I'm seeking a relatively low-cost and low-size battery-free ARM-based box on which I can install what I please (i.e., no ties to Android or suchlike), for connecting to a telebox for various uses (x86 hardware is not suitable in this instance, as it is far, far too expensive to build something like that in this country, and all the suitable pre-built stuff is higher in price and far too large in size). Since I never got an answer to my question about being able to use the Gamebox in that fashion, my money therefore is now on the Pandora Cube, if the team goes ahead with it.

 

[wardred]

Myself, I'm seeking a relatively low-cost and low-size battery-free ARM-based box on which I can install what I please (i.e., no ties to Android or suchlike)

If the BB, Panda Board, or Panda Cube just had 4+ SATA connectors, any of these would be perfect for my needs...well, maybe a plastic "carrier" to bump them up to the size of a mini-itx / mini-atx board so we can use standard cases. :-b (It would be nice if the Panda Box came with HDMI, DVI, or DVI with the HDMI connector. HDMI is supported on most newer monitors and TVs.)


My main problem with Arm, Atom, or similar mini boards when used in "desktop" or "server" configurations is they generally don't come with enough, or any, SATA connections. I'd *LOVE* to make an ARM based NAS using mostly off the shelf components, but the last time I checked, SATA was the big stopper for me. I ended up going with a fan-less Atom rig. Arm would've worked just as well and used a fair bit less power. The current configuration of the BB and Panda board works well as a client, but not having SATA limits it as a server, IMO. Even as a client in something like a gaming system, if it's not mobile, I want SATA connections.


I don't mind having a "default install" of Linux, Ubuntu, or even Android, just so long as there's a "vanilla" linux kernel build and drivers for the hardware that the kernel can access.


Edit: Cost wise I've found it tricky to beat the NAS / dedicated media players that bigger companies put out, but doing things myself makes my stuff more flexible, and I don't worry about some random company's proprietary RAID controller dying, and having difficulties finding it in the future. Software RAID works for my purposes. Run ons FTW!


Edit the 2nd: Been a while since I did this, there may be ARM solutions to my problems out there now, haven't looked recently.

 

[GizmoAgent]

^ It would have been nice if he'd actually answered the very simple questions we asked about his product, though, instead of seemingly pasting blurbwords from a press release...


Myself, I'm seeking a relatively low-cost and low-size battery-free ARM-based box on which I can install what I please (i.e., no ties to Android or suchlike), for connecting to a telebox for various uses (x86 hardware is not suitable in this instance, as it is far, far too expensive to build something like that in this country, and all the suitable pre-built stuff is higher in price and far too large in size). Since I never got an answer to my question about being able to use the Gamebox in that fashion, my money therefore is now on the Pandora Cube, if the team goes ahead with it.

This might be something of interest to you.


http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/CompuLab-TrimSlice/


Out sometime in April I believe, might not be in the cheap category.


No prices listed but based on the fit-pc I'd estimate $300-$400 depending on options.

 

[Prometheus]

^ Thanks for the link, that's an interesting-looking device. Alas, if the pricing is indeed in that range, it means that in the UK it will probably cost plenty more, too...


I'll keep an eye on this one, though. Thanks again!

 

[mmielke]

This sounds like the Onlive console, which is already here and streams games and such as well. And what in the world is "sensory biometric application"? Does that mean that it has a fingerprint reader for security incase someone steals it, or it has some sort of motion-sensing apparatus, similar to Wii, Kinect, and/or Sony's Move (with PS Eye)?


It doesn't catch my interest in the slightest. And one more thing: storing everything in "the cloud" is not very secure, that goes for Google's proposed Chrome operating system. Everything being stored online? Pfft, no thanks, just look at the TJ Maxx fiasco.