GP32 Creating A New Game-console. Homebrew Project

[Sonic-NKT]

means some like this: you shouldnt do more than needed and not more than what is theoretical possible... the name "Eierlegende Wollmichsau" is kind of a joke, it means egg making, cotton (the thing of the sheep) producing and Milk giving PIG. so just too much

 

[Fishbong]

yes linux should not be the main OS, but it should be an option.

Boot selector? :huh:

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.

​

It would work under whatever software supports it.
And i´d stick to bluetooth, much easier to implement and can be used to communicate with cellphones (so we could have mobile internet acess).

 

[Sonic-NKT]

yeah a wifi stick can be supported also under other applications but then first a driver has to be written or linux driver has to be ported, also everybody has to use the same stick.

i dont have a bluetooth handy so its useless for me, and to be honest i dont think that i will ever meet one with this unit in my village i can play with

 

[moz]

real time clock needed, think this has already been mentioned aswell as headphone jack

 

[Inopia]

About the OS bit: it kinda depends on what you're shooting for. The gp32 simply turns on/off, but has no native multitasking. Linux is a more suitable choice for multitasking (playing mp3's while reading ebooks and such) but requires time to boot and cannot be just shut down. A soft power on/off might be a suitable choice.

 

[Seraptin]

well i think we should do a native, gpish, os but also build in hardware that is suitable for linux.
With this solution both fractions should be statisfied

 

[mr.mirko]

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

​

I want to keep it as simple as possible. And very cheap. I think this is the goal.
I want to create a gaming machine, not an PDA.
3D chips (from ATI/nvidia) are out of the question, course design/cost would explode.
The main CPU, with 400MHZ is fast enought to emulate quake at real high framerates.
This means the machine, does not have bluetooth or w-lan,wifi.

It will not offer Touchscreen, instead i will use the biggest TFT screen i can find.
Everything under 3.5" is out of the question. If someone finds cheap TFT displays, please post the link here. I would prefer 16:9 displays.

Thinking about memory, a gp32 with 8MB, can emulate everything, very nice, without real memory problems. Mame, quake1/2, would benefit from more ram. To emulate big Games in the Future, more ram is needed. 32/64MB is a must have i think.

Thinking about an Firmware... It will not have one, only the smallest possible Flash Rom, with an little programm to boot an "boot.elf" file from the sd-card. This could be a Fileselector as a best match This also means you can not harm the machine with bad flashes, couse you never need to reflash the unit.

Thinking about wireless game play, with friends. I think irda with an range about 3meters, would make a lot folks happy, and is cheap.

One USB port is of couse standard. The mini usb jack from gp looks very nice for this.

Still searching the best parts on the net...

 

[mr.mirko]

Can please someone create a scan of the gp32 pcb, from both sites, in a high resolution ?
Or someone can tell me the exact numer on the Atmel chip ? I cant read it on mine.

 

[lek]

Can please someone create a scan of the gp32 pcb, from both sites, in a high resolution ?
Or someone can tell me the exact numer on the Atmel chip ? I cant read it on mine.

​

It's listed as AT49BV040-90VC on the dev'rs GP32 page (near the bottom with PDF link too):

http://www.devrs.com/gp32/docs.php#docshard

Just skimmed over Atmel's site and there are a few other chips that look to be be suitable. Atmel's AT49BV040A has superceded the chip above.

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/devices.asp?family_id=624

I think I remember that since the introduction of the BLU Gamepark started using a different but pin compatible flash chip as well.

 

[Vimacs]

smallest possible flash space sounds bad, nand isnt very expensive and a big flash can allow a os to boot without using much ram, a 16mbit nand should be considered minimum.

 

[DistWave]

Here is the atmel chip of my FLU:



Greetings.

 

[lek]

smallest possible flash space sounds bad, nand isnt very expensive and a big flash can allow a os to boot without using much ram, a 16mbit nand should be considered minimum.

​

Given the minimal space that would be taken up by a loader, etc, on an SD card, I can see the benefit of just having a tiny flash with boot ROM on it. Having said that, a larger flash memory chip would be nice as people inevitably like to tinker with devices. From what I've looked at the price difference doesn't seem much between, for example, 4 Mbit and 512 Mbit.

I suppose it comes down to balancing a fool-proof and user friendly device with the ability to code for it and hack around with it though.

Edit: Increased chip dimensions and pin count would mean a more complex circuit and PCB layout (possibly increasing PCB size), which is something worth bearing in mind.

 

[Digitalrat]

The thread is far too long and most aspects are really mixed. (didn't read everything by now) I suggest that ED makes a new forum for the project.

Hardware

I'm not able to say much about the components, but I want to mention that I don't think that some kind of "wireless" technics are needed, because there won't be many people who know somebody else who owns a similar console. So I don't even expect any programs with multiplayer-support.

Case

I think that we could deisgn our own case. I know that there are free and open programs for this jobs, just don't remember the names. It wouldn't be as expensive if we produce them in Asia, because big companys like Nintendo and Sony have contracts with much more than one country for one job (as example to build the case). They reduce the risk with that. The result is that these companys often produce under their limit. The problem is to find these companys.

Name

The name is one of the most important things for such projects. We should make a new thread for this.

Website

I worked for a webdesign-company a while ago and could make a website for the project. Others could help for sure.

Money/Company?

The biggest problem is to get money. I don't believe that financial help from one man in this community could help you that much with that. We need some more ideas.
A question is if mr. mirko or someone else wants to open a (non-profit-?)company for that. Without there could be serious problems with contracts and such. I have some basic knowlege of BWL/RC ("Betriebswirtschaftslehre" with "Rechnungswesen" and "Controlling" in german - things you should know if you own a company) and could help you out a bit. :> You could easily open an Ltd. in UK and could sell things in every country that belongs to the EU. (even if you are german) With a Ltd. you don't have that much risk, because you don't have a "Haftung". But, you need some money (like 500€) to buy a post-adress there. (einen Briefkasten ^^)

Help

I would help you out as much as I can with this project.

 

[mr.mirko]

The thread is far too long and most aspects are really mixed. (didn't read everything by now) I suggest that ED makes a new forum for the project.

Hardware

I'm not able to say much about the components, but I want to mention that I don't think that some kind of "wireless" technics are needed, because there won't be many people who know somebody else who owns a similar console. So I don't even expect any programs with multiplayer-support.

Case

I think that we could deisgn our own case. I know that there are free and open programs for this jobs, just don't remember the names. It wouldn't be as expensive if we produce them in Asia, because big companys like Nintendo and Sony have contracts with much more than one country for one job (as example to build the case). They reduce the risk with that. The result is that these companys often produce under their limit. The problem is to find these companys.

Name

The name is one of the most important things for such projects. We should make a new thread for this.

Website

I worked for a webdesign-company a while ago and could make a website for the project. Others could help for sure.

Money/Company?

The biggest problem is to get money. I don't believe that financial help from one man in this community could help you that much with that. We need some more ideas.
A question is if mr. mirko or someone else wants to open a (non-profit-?)company for that. Without there could be serious problems with contracts and such. I have some basic knowlege of BWL/RC ("Betriebswirtschaftslehre" with "Rechnungswesen" and "Controlling" in german - things you should know if you own a company) and could help you out a bit. :> You could easily open an Ltd. in UK and could sell things in every country that belongs to the EU. (even if you are german) With a Ltd. you don't have that much risk, because you don't have a "Haftung". But, you need some money (like 500€) to buy a post-adress there. (einen Briefkasten ^^)

Help

I would help you out as much as I can with this project.

​

The biggest Problem atm is that iam here alone, and my spare time is not 24h/day.
And the Project is not a one week project, it needs some time...

1. Find the right parts...
2. Create a layout with eagle
3. Find a Firm to create a prototype board, and assemble it.
4. Create a jtag cable
5. Check if the Board works, write some Software, test all parts.
6. If the layout is okay, and all parts are working the way they should, i would say the biggest part is done.
7. Create a case for this Board.
8. Find some Korean Firm to assemble the board in mass production (1000 units)
8. Show the World the work, and take preorders. Minimum is 1000 units... to get the lowest prise
9. Now comes your part, we need money... We need some kind of commercial ground...
10. money part is no problem atm.

Iam at step 1, and learning how to handle the layout programm, so help is needed for step 1,2,3,...

And i dont want to think about step 9 ....
But thanx for your help, later it will be helpfull i think...

cu

 

[LHC]

Well whatever help you need, I'm sure you'll find enough people willing to try. So whatever you need just ask, and I'm pretty sure we will all help where we can. B)

 

[mr.mirko]

Well whatever help you need, I'm sure you'll find enough people willing to try. So whatever you need just ask, and I'm pretty sure we will all help where we can. B)

​

One of the biggest Problems atm is, i cant decide the RAM to use.

I want to use one RAM chip, to reduce pcb, layout and assemble costs.
I want to use one 64Mbyte Ram chip. The s3c2440 docs say, i can use the following Ram chips to do so:
x32 128Mb (4M x 8 x 4B) x 4 A[25:24]
x16 256Mb (8M x 8 x 4B) x 2
x32 256Mb (4 M x 1 6 x 4 B ) x 2
x8 512Mb (1 6 M x 8 x 4 B ) x 1

I want to use this RAM chip :
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconduc.../K4S511533F.htm
It is a 8M x 16Bit x 4 Banks Mobile SDRAM in 54FBGA,
would it fit ?

Who knows it ?

 

[Sonic-NKT]

i wont use the gp32 usb thing, its some costum thing, i would use the normal small usb jack, its used in most digi cams and so on...
also, you said it will have usb in host mode, thats nice for linux, but it wont be powered right?
about the battery, is it possible to use the ones of the gbasp or DS, they are small and good in my opinion, but i dont know if you can get them cheap

 

[Fishbong]

Who knows it ?

​

Maybe Rob (from cobbleware) could help you out?
He created the GP32 RAM upgrade mod and is electronics engineer, so he should know his way around this stuff.
His email adress is: rob@REMOVEcobbleware.com
It´s just suggestion, of course i don´t know if he´s intrested or has time. His site hasn´t been updated for more than a year now, so the mail adress may be outdated, but you could still give it a shot...

 

[lek]

...I want to use this RAM chip :
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconduc.../K4S511533F.htm
It is a 8M x 16Bit x 4 Banks Mobile SDRAM in 54FBGA,
would it fit ?

​

I think FBGA will end up making the production of PCB's more expensive due to the nature of how they are attached onto boards. Better to stick with TSOP or similar chips in that respect. BGA will also mean it could get pretty tight having tracks to all the memory "pins", this could lead to design problems.

Also, is there a similar chip to the S3C2440 but without the camera interface (maybe something else in it's place?). It seems a waste of silicon having something like that dedicated to cameras.

Edit: The S3C2440X is FBGA, I didn't realise that

 

[Intruder]

Mr. Mirko

Here goes another link for TFT-LCD let me know if this kind of models would be ok (I think it is a bit thick)

http://szsjd.en.alibaba.com/product/500520...ule__3_5__.html

Btw you can take a look around Alibaba website they are alot of interesting supplier, also if it is located in Shenzhen like this company well I could help you out. My wife come from there ;-) (yes shes chinese) my parents in laws still live there and several of my wife friends. I went in the electronic district and have alot of cool stuff... as in components ;-).