Break Out Box Available For Pre-order

[Flavor]

Hey guys. I just thought that this could be interesting "news" that you guys might care about.

I noticed that Play-Asia.com has the new official Break Out Box available for pre-order.

BOB at Play-Asia

I really don't know much about it, but if you look around the GP2X section of their site it seems that there will be two BOBs. One is a "Developer's Version" that seems to just be the board. Then there's a "Retail Version" that "comes in a housing, as opposed to the Developer's Version, which, just like a motherboard comes without any housing."

Anyway, it's nice to see that these are available soon.

 

[Paradox]

yay

 

[jmetal88]

Personally, I could care less about the BoB.

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm going to have a go at making the USB dongle, and perhaps power it with a 9v battery. I found a LM317K voltage regulator lying in a bin of random components at my house that I can use to keep the voltage at a steady 5v.

Hopefully, a 9v will have enough juice to power some of the USB devices that require higher amounts of current.

 

[TelcoLou]

Pics!! Please ... I'm dying for some images of the finished (non-developers version) product

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Pics!! Please ... I'm dying for some images of the finished (non-developers version) product

ditto

 

[nickspoon]

- In case of 1st and second batch GP2X, you should always connect external regulated DC3V adaptor to Interface board.

- In case of 3rd batch GP2X, you need to connect external adaptors only when you use high-power devices like HDD.

I'll probably get a dev version... I wonder what the difference is.

 

[Flavor]

Pics!! Please ... I'm dying for some images of the finished (non-developers version) product

I was under the impression that there wasn't a finished non-developers version yet. Otherwise, I think that both would be available for pre-order.

 

[Paradox]

how come play asia have the first word on this anyway? i think ill be getting the dev version, just for the extra jtag or whatever it comes with..even though i dont dev. hehe

 

[jamesthejust]

Personally, I could care less about the BoB.

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm going to have a go at making the USB dongle, and perhaps power it with a 9v battery. I found a LM317K voltage regulator lying in a bin of random components at my house that I can use to keep the voltage at a steady 5v.

Hopefully, a 9v will have enough juice to power some of the USB devices that require higher amounts of current.

Please post pics when you're done!

 

[mrsnature]

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm not sure why there are people complaining about the tv out being svideo and not composite: svideo gives a better output and it's easy to convert s-video to composite, or scart, and there are small cheap adpaters available. However, if they'd made them composite then it would be difficult to get back to s-video for people that wanted it.

sam

 

[nubie]

BOB at Play-Asia

I really don't know much about it, but if you look around the GP2X section of their site it seems that there will be two BOBs. One is a "Developer's Version" that seems to just be the board. Then there's a "Retail Version" that "comes in a housing, as opposed to the Developer's Version, which, just like a motherboard comes without any housing."

Looks like the design is crap from the get-go, weird choices have been made.

The power is 3V in, we will need another GP2X specific power supply, figure $75 to get a working BoB.

They plan to take extra power from the MKII EXT port to run the USB Hub, but only enough power is available when you use an AC adaptor, and not enough for a Bus powered HD either.

Personally, I could care less about the BoB.

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm going to have a go at making the USB dongle, and perhaps power it with a 9v battery. I found a LM317K voltage regulator lying in a bin of random components at my house that I can use to keep the voltage at a steady 5v.

Hopefully, a 9v will have enough juice to power some of the USB devices that require higher amounts of current.

I don't blame you, this is turning out to be crap, I will be waiting on techFreak for something more elegant. Or I will make my own version as well, I am positive it can be made with a flat ribbon cable and placed on the back somewhere elegantly without having that huge plug, maybe just a little bump.

But for at home and watching a divx collection or playing a huge game collection I would like a Full Docking BoB .

What kind of 9v are you using? I would suggest a 4-cell pack of AAA NiMH batteries at 850mAh and 4.8v, I got a 4-pack for $3.99 at Harbor Freight Tools, no word on if they are any good though.

The $25 Energizer pack at Sam's club has 8 AA 2500mAh and 4 AAA 750mAh NiMH and a charger, might be worth checking out.

It might not even be necessary to use a battery pack if you aren't using bus-powered HDD or are you thinking Wifi? Either way I think a 9volt will not work very well, the cells are too small, especially if you want them to power a HD or Wifi for any length of time.

Since this IS the dev version I guess it is always possible to hope for a proper docking cradle, yeah right.

I notice also the choice for S-Video, for the love of god, if you do that throw a $0.20 convertor in the package, so many people that don't know how to convert that are getting very pissed off.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

how come play asia have the first word on this anyway? i think ill be getting the dev version, just for the extra jtag or whatever it comes with..even though i dont dev. hehe

if it comes with a jag then hells ya, i can use that cable to buy bricked gamepark systems and fix em!

 

[jmetal88]

BOB at Play-Asia

I really don't know much about it, but if you look around the GP2X section of their site it seems that there will be two BOBs. One is a "Developer's Version" that seems to just be the board. Then there's a "Retail Version" that "comes in a housing, as opposed to the Developer's Version, which, just like a motherboard comes without any housing."

Looks like the design is crap from the get-go, weird choices have been made.

The power is 3V in, we will need another GP2X specific power supply, figure $75 to get a working BoB.

They plan to take extra power from the MKII EXT port to run the USB Hub, but only enough power is available when you use an AC adaptor, and not enough for a Bus powered HD either.

Personally, I could care less about the BoB.

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm going to have a go at making the USB dongle, and perhaps power it with a 9v battery. I found a LM317K voltage regulator lying in a bin of random components at my house that I can use to keep the voltage at a steady 5v.

Hopefully, a 9v will have enough juice to power some of the USB devices that require higher amounts of current.

I don't blame you, this is turning out to be crap, I will be waiting on techFreak for something more elegant. Or I will make my own version as well, I am positive it can be made with a flat ribbon cable and placed on the back somewhere elegantly without having that huge plug, maybe just a little bump.

But for at home and watching a divx collection or playing a huge game collection I would like a Full Docking BoB .

What kind of 9v are you using? I would suggest a 4-cell pack of AAA NiMH batteries at 850mAh and 4.8v, I got a 4-pack for $3.99 at Harbor Freight Tools, no word on if they are any good though.

The $25 Energizer pack at Sam's club has 8 AA 2500mAh and 4 AAA 750mAh NiMH and a charger, might be worth checking out.

It might not even be necessary to use a battery pack if you aren't using bus-powered HDD or are you thinking Wifi? Either way I think a 9volt will not work very well, the cells are too small, especially if you want them to power a HD or Wifi for any length of time.

Since this IS the dev version I guess it is always possible to hope for a proper docking cradle, yeah right.

I notice also the choice for S-Video, for the love of god, if you do that throw a $0.20 convertor in the package, so many people that don't know how to convert that are getting very pissed off.

The voltage regulator that I have requires at least 7v to properly output a regulated 5v, so I thought that a 9v battery would be a very convenient solution. I'll do some experimenting though, but first I'll need to actually get the cable built.

 

[nubie]

The voltage regulator that I have requires at least 7v to properly output a regulated 5v, so I thought that a 9v battery would be a very convenient solution. I'll do some experimenting though, but first I'll need to actually get the cable built.

Hmm, interesting, could 4.8v do the job though? Wouldn't even need the step-down that way.

What do you plan on powering? Maybe a tiny pack suited for each high-drain device specifically would be best.

External Hard Drive? Or Wifi? I should hunt for a step-up transistor.

 

[PokeParadox]

What I would like is a battery-powered USB-host dongle (single port), and a TV-out cable that has composite instead of S-Video.

I'm not sure why there are people complaining about the tv out being svideo and not composite: svideo gives a better output and it's easy to convert s-video to composite, or scart, and there are small cheap adpaters available. However, if they'd made them composite then it would be difficult to get back to s-video for people that wanted it.

sam

I would prefer RGB scart than Svideo personally. But yeah Svideo is much better than having composite.

 

[Aninhumer]

if it comes with a jag then hells ya, i can use that cable to buy bricked gamepark systems and fix em!

I'd buy anything that came with a free jag!

 

[nubie]

if it comes with a jag then hells ya, i can use that cable to buy bricked gamepark systems and fix em!

I'd buy anything that came with a free jag!

If it costs you $50 how free is it?

I can make a Jtag for free from parts out of my desk drawer that I harvested from old 286 PC's

@PokeParadox,

How would you feel having layed out your own hard-earned cash, a not insubstantial amount either, for a TV-Out cable and finding it won't plug into 90% of TV's.

Scart carries a standard Composite signal, it does not have S-Video support, EVER. Edit: I rescind that (See below), I mean that the Scart standard has no S-video, it has been added, but only on recent TV's, see your user's manual for specifics.

I too want RGB, for a VGA port, check the wiki (see my sig), the chip is fully capable of VGA out, GPH cannot design worth a DAMN!!

If the headphone jack on the top of the unit had carried the Video signal and been a Through board connector to begin with we wouldn't even been having this discussion, you would have grabbed an unused Camcorder 3.5mm headphone to A/V Stereo cinch cable and just plugged right into your TV.

The USB Device pins on the EXT port provide 2 more lines, if they had been used for RGB I could have made a VGA BoB.

 

[jmetal88]

The voltage regulator that I have requires at least 7v to properly output a regulated 5v, so I thought that a 9v battery would be a very convenient solution. I'll do some experimenting though, but first I'll need to actually get the cable built.

Hmm, interesting, could 4.8v do the job though? Wouldn't even need the step-down that way.

What do you plan on powering? Maybe a tiny pack suited for each high-drain device specifically would be best.

External Hard Drive? Or Wifi? I should hunt for a step-up transistor.

If I just needed a step-down, I would use a resistor.


The problem is regulating the voltage, so it is a constant 5v and will not drop voltage until the power supply is no longer capable of supplying the correct amount of power.

 

[nubie]

External Hard Drive? Or Wifi? I should hunt for a step-up transistor.

If I just needed a step-down, I would use a resistor.


The problem is regulating the voltage, so it is a constant 5v and will not drop voltage until the power supply is no longer capable of supplying the correct amount of power.

*hint hint.

Quick edit, like I say, What type of 9v are you going to use?, and What do you want to power?

I find that 9v are not capable of a high-drain for an extended period, I may of course be wrong, either way AAA batteries will make 7.2 volts in a 6-cell pack and be capable of much more current capacity, depending of course on what you want to power.

If you make your circuit independant of battery pack, you can always move to a 6-cell AAA pack of NiMH later on.

If you want to be mobile consider making the battery pack suited to the load, be it a 1.8" HD, a 2.5" HD, a low power wifi, or a hi-power wifi. (You still haven't said what it is, could be a customised rumble pack for Lady Killer for all I know, Ewww.)

 

[PokeParadox]

@PokeParadox,
How would you feel having layed out your own hard-earned cash, a not insubstantial amount either, for a TV-Out cable and finding it won't plug into 90% of TV's.

Scart carries a standard Composite signal, it does not have S-Video support, EVER.

I too want RGB, for a VGA port, check the wiki (see my sig), the chip is fully capable of VGA out, GPH cannot design worth a DAMN!!

Erm.. I have done so. I have a TV-Out cable. and I can only get a black & white signal with it on my TV.
My TV doesn't have an SVideo socket so I have to use a scart adaptor. That being said, I prefer S-video output to standard composite. composite video sucks ass. The colours bleed and the picture is less sharp.
RGB wired scart would be the best option for me, since the picture quality would be the same, if not better than Svideo, and it would not be in black and white.