First Beta Units

[Slowfinger]

In the www.GP32Spain.com Spanish site Anarchy say the next week will be recive the first 'beta' unit. At this time it looks like there are some problem with the batteries (thas because we have never seen the GP2X power up by itself) and some other minor issues related with the firmware.

I hope this problem will be resolved soon and the next week can see some photos and perhaps some video too.

(Sorry for my bad english).

 

[garteth]

I assumed the dev units didn't have battery compartments..

 

[Eolair]

Sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more. It feels like the information flow at this time is sorely lacking

 

[junker]

yeah, and it's so close to launch too. dying for more info here

 

[Leshrac]

I think the post he references is this one: http://www.gp32spain.com/foros/showthread.php?t=23175

A rough translation of it would be: (made by me, might not be 100% accurate)

Hello:

We have confirmation that they have sent us the first beta unit. Why beta? Because, even though the machine is complete it is not really finished.

The unit they have sent includes a firmware and a media player in beta state, so it is pretty buggy. On top of that, they are still working on a problem with the batteries, that's the reason behind the fact that the console shows up using an external power supply in every published image.

Taking this into account, we expect to receive the first "half finished" unit next week.
I promise I will post photos and videos, even if I know that won't be anough to do the machine the justice it deserves.

They will send us the rest of the test units when the hardware problems are fixed, problems with soft and firmware will be fixed with an update that they expect to have ready soon.

Anarchy

 

[garteth]

Sweet can't wait to see it. I hope they manage to sort out all the problems

 

[Leshrac]

There's also a second post, here's my translation:

If I remember well, production begins in 20 days aproximately. Until then, they only need to fix some already detected hardware problems, it looks like everything fits into the schedule. If a serious problem that can't be fixed by software updates is found before production starts, launch will be delayed (Let's hope it won't be necessary).
Of all the little probles they have told me the only one that looks "grave" is the one with the batteries, and I doubt it'll take much time to fix.

I'll keep informing.

 

[reallynotnick]

What is the battery problem?

 

[Aaaaaaaa]

proberly isnt powering up

if they knew what the problem was they proabaly would have finxed it, and thus it wouldnt have been a problem. thatr means that anarchy wouldnt have said anything about it, and he wouldnt have created a thread. Leshrac wouldnt have had to translate it, and he would have used the spare time to make himself a sandwich.




i love coffee

 

[Leshrac]

It looks like no one knows. Some people in the thread are talking about battery life being much shorter than intended. But I presume (as none of them actually have a gp2x) that's just the mindless speculation you usually find in this kind of threads.

 

[DaveC]

That sounds quite serious. I mean if it is not lasting on batteries because it takes too much power there really is no quick solution. They would need to redesign the whole system but not even sure how. What could they do to save power? The only thing that would do it would be to make it with a non-lit screen, or to slow down the CPU to 100 MHz which would totally suck. They could use custom batteries too which would add alot of cost and limit flexibility.

This could delay it well into next year, not good

 

[Alpha2]

It's probably a much simpler problem with the batteries like not providing enough power.

 

[Leshrac]

Yeah, but as I said, that's only speculation.

With the info we have, it might as well be that the slot is too small to fit the batteries.

 

[DaveC]

It's probably a much simpler problem with the batteries like not providing enough power.

​

That is not too simple. How do you increase power without decreasing battery life dramatically.

I would have thought they would have calculated the power requirement when designing this to know if the batteries would provide sufficient power. Maybe they could add 1 more battery and run it off of 3 AA batteries.

 

[Alpha2]

I wouldnt be against it! But yeah you're right it probably is a bit more complicated than it sounds for the technicians atleast. My thinking, to be more exact, was that prehaps there's some part of it that's hindering power flow through the unit, which is why they've had to use exernal power. I mean if they're just going to show us pictures why not use the batteries? it's not like it's going to run out before the flash goes off, and no one will sit around downloading a 6 hour video of the thing playing.

 

[x68000]

the problem with adding a third AA battery would not just be the weight, but the extra bulk to an already bulky battery compartment.

Let's hope this is somthing simple and easily rectifiable.

 

[second exodous]

Hmm, if they added 2 more batteries then it would make the battery compartment go all the way from top to bottom. See here how it only is a little half of the back? Two more batteries will make the compartment stretch all the way to the top, making it sit better. A change this late would mean a re-machining of the case, setting the production at least some time. look how it slows down the release of the AlphaGrip. I hope they got some pre-pre-production models that have power problems that have already been fixed in the pre-production models. Craig hasn't mentioned anything about this on his unit, lets hope the GP2X will come out on time.

Thanx,
Stan

 

[Eolair]

One would hope that long before this stage they have already verified that two AA batteries can power the system. Anything else would be one major unbelievable mistake and a total disaster.

 

[second exodous]

Hmm, maybe AA's aren't exactly standard in every country, maybe in Korea they have a little more juice. I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just saying there might be a reason that makes sense why GPH made the mistake.

Thanx,
Stan

 

[junker]

nope, AAs are pretty much the same everywhere. they differ in capacity, though.