GP32 Creating A New Game-console. Homebrew Project

[Magus 86]

Well, for those of us who know nothing about electronics or how they work, this is the only thing we can discuss. If I knew anything about coding or the parts that this machine will be built out of, I'd gladly discuss that... But I don't, so I can't... the only things I can discuss are the case and the controls.

 

[Fishbong]

OK, thats a point. Well, you could draw a concept drawing of it, then

 

[Vimacs]

i hate dpads, a exchangeable stick would be nice, and not hard to do, jsut do 2 analog plates at the board and make the case so you can put in a dpad or a analog/digital stick.

 

[Sonic-NKT]

i dont care about what kind of Dpad or stick.. both are great if the are used in a good way.
so only the buttons are important, i would like to have a SNES layout... perhaps even more , but i dont think they are needed (it wont emulate N64) and for PSX (which could be possible) snes buttons are enough for almost every game i think.

about OS, even if i really like linux its still faster (if we have a good SDK i think, and we will have one to run programs like the way on the gp. but linux should be an option right in the mainmenu of the firmware and i would really like to use that console as PDA.

one main cpu would be also enough for me, ok something like what is used in the DS would be great too, but it makes the console bigger and more expensive, so if we dont really need it, we should shi* on it :-D

so what are the first problems with hardware now, the things mirko said sounds very good. what do we need for a first prototype, except the hardware of course?

PS: if you need money for the first prototype, parts, tools and so one, i would donate some.

 

[Intruder]

Hello folks,

Indeed this project look very interesting.

Ok here is some interesting that people should take a look at

http://chinasuppliers.alibaba.com/

I found some LCD that might be interesting (though I think it isnt thin enough to make a console not so bulky)
http://szsjd.en.alibaba.com/product/500520...le__2_5___.html

Also did you guys think about Motorola Dragonball processor (the one use in the Zodiac, which is also have an ARM core)?

 

[Intruder]

Here is another link for TFT-LCD module

http://www.fpdisplay.com/Trade/catalog.asp...d_class_id=3450

Btw we do want a TFT-LCD screen right? (not those difficult to see STN)

Also what resolution does people want? And what about the LCD size?

 

[Talyz]

Here is another link for TFT-LCD module

http://www.fpdisplay.com/Trade/catalog.asp...d_class_id=3450

Btw we do want a TFT-LCD screen right? (not those difficult to see STN)

Also what resolution does people want? And what about the LCD size?

​

We want a touch screen... (TFT-LCD)
Size: Like the one on the GP32, (or a bit larger, IMO)...

 

[Talyz]

i dont care about what kind of Dpad or stick.. both are great if the are used in a good way.
so only the buttons are important, i would like to have a SNES layout... perhaps even more , but i dont think they are needed (it wont emulate N64) and for PSX (which could be possible) snes buttons are enough for almost every game i think.

about OS, even if i really like linux its still faster (if we have a good SDK i think, and we will have one to run programs like the way on the gp. but linux should be an option right in the mainmenu of the firmware and i would really like to use that console as PDA.

one main cpu would be also enough for me, ok something like what is used in the DS would be great too, but it makes the console bigger and more expensive, so if we dont really need it, we should shi* on it :-D

so what are the first problems with hardware now, the things mirko said sounds very good. what do we need for a first prototype, except the hardware of course?

PS: if you need money for the first prototype, parts, tools and so one, i would donate some.

​

Well, simply QTopia is Linux redesigned for PDAs, and it has development tools for porting real linux programs to it, so it seems to me like the best choise.

EDIT: This tool for porting is called Qt, and also ports programs from Windows, Mac OS X, Unix and other embedded systems. Not only to QTopia, but from all of these systems to all systems...

 

[Inopia]

I'd say go for an all-in-one wonder chip such as the one mr.mirko proposed, don't add any coprocessors or crap like that because that just eats power and makes everything more complicated. Soldering that samsung chip is not something you can do at home, so you can't really make it into a diy kit.

If you're going to be serious about this, get some help from the gplinux guys as they should be able to provide you with the OS you need for the thing. And another thing, if you're going to run linux, make sure you chunk a shitload of memory in it because linux (even embedded linux) likes to spend.

About power consumption, a 400mhz processor uses three times as much juice as a 133mhz one, so get a decent battery.

Last thing, there are a lot of available parts out there, use them! Nintendo wants to make some extra cash of batteries and peripherals so they user propriatary connectors etc. It would be really nice to let people use existing battery packs (phone batteries, PDA batteries etc), you can use a standard PDA stylus (like palm or smth) etc.

A last note, what about wireless? RF modules are dirt cheap, but would require a protocol and code for it. There's ofcourse bluetooth, wich would be really nice because it let's you connect to a PC as well (and onto the internet) but I don't know if bluetooth is really suitable for multiplayer. WiFi would probably consume too much power but at least we would be able to access a wide range of cool possibilities, like browsing the web (posting on this board), streaming music, and ofcourse playing multiplayer games.

 

[lubidog]

Want to second the Wifi bit! We are a gaming community, and the ability to be actually able to play this thing multiplayer ONLINE via wifi routers, would be key to the whole ethos of the thing! A forum based, community machine, that devvers could take advantage of so that we can actually play together!

Think it's important.

 

[Talyz]

Oh, one thing; It has to flashable/upgradable...
Inopia: You don't think QTopia is a good idea? (You're probably hell alot better at this than me...) I downloaded the Live CD form www.trolltech.com, and the userability is at 100%. Much better than Palm OS 5...

 

[DuderJace]

As far as getting a screen to build a prototype with, it might be worth picking up one of those PS1/PS2 flip down lcd.
Jace

 

[Myth]

Yeah, WiFi should be really nice, awsome etc... But could we have it trough another SD, like Zodiac ?

And what about chatboard ? Will it be include into the hardware or external, like the current GP32 ?

 

[LHC]

Why does anybody care about touch screen?

 

[Myth]

Well, i guess touch screen has already attracted many devs on DS, and i hope some of them will come back !
But it can also open the GP32 - Next Gen on the PDA world, and - why not ? - emulate the NDS ? (no, it was a joke, stop crying my girl, you'll be a woman soon...)
I could also lead the devs on the homebrews GAMES, and not only ports...
But concerning ports, imagine GP-SCUMM with touch screen... More enjoyable (even if it is really awsome now) !

And what about an internal clock ? ^.^ The GP32 really miss that !

 

[Talyz]

Why does anybody care about touch screen?

​

Lots of fun games, the CPU has built-in support for touch-screens and as the OS (if it'll be Linux or QTopia) 'needs' one (quite useless without one...).

 

[Jaw]

it won't have an os! it's a homebrew machine, it will only have an os if there is one ported to it.

 

[Octoate]

The idea is great, but one thing: Keep it simple!
I already saw nice hardware projects fail because the users wanted too much ("Eierlegende Wollmilchsau"). The original suggestion by Mr.Mirko seems to be great, it's simple and powerfull. The touchscreen would be an option, but only if it is easy to integrate and isn't much more expensive.
So please do a feature freeze if you have the opinion that the hardware part is well designed and after a first prototype is ready and running you can speak about the case design and joysticks

 

[Sonic-NKT]

yes linux should not be the main OS, but it should be an option. also since its allready ported to that chip it wont take much time until a first version for this homebrew machine.
about wifi, if the thing has a USB port than it would be no problem to connect a USB Wifistick, but then it would only work under linux.

another thing about USB, how many connectors do we talk about, we dont need more than 2 i think, and one should be a small one. A big one would be nice for USB sticks, Wifi sticks and so on.

 

[LHC]

I already saw nice hardware projects fail because the users wanted too much ("Eierlegende Wollmilchsau").

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Would you mind explaining this please? I did a quick search, but inevitably everything was in German and I had no idea what was going on.

Thanks.