GCW Zero - Open Source Gaming Handheld


Looks like a decent option for the thrifty gamer. Love your vids by the way BAFelton. ;)


Unrelated lighthearted jesting ahoy: Fingernails should always be trimmed before filming gadget closeups. :p

Not my vid ;) Qbert's fingers :D
I know. :lol:

EvilDragon said:
Thanks to the current ongoing production, the Pandora will be available from stock in about 2 weeks :)
That's wonderful news. Sooner than I thought actually and i'm happy for you guys. B)
 
where you getting that chipset information from for this mystery device?

http://obscurehandhelds.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-dingoos-spiritual-successor/


I don't get the hating on this device, to me it looks to be a very capable prototype.


Few Q's...


1. Is GCW the company, or the device?


2. Is the Gemei 330 case simply being used as a prototype enclosure?


3. How does one get hold of a prototype like this? Do chinese companies send prototypes out in general, or is this a western company that qbertaddict works for/with?
 
where you getting that chipset information from for this mystery device?

Well, he mentioned it's an Ingenic SoC with 800 MHz that can run up to 1 GHz and has a dedicated GPU. The only ones close to that are the 4760 and the 4770, so I assumed it would be the 4770.


However, reading the article quartercast linked to, it might as well be the 4760.


We all know now from seeing these Yinlips things that chinese love to add the speed of the GPU to the CPU, so it might very well be the 4760, which has a 2D GPU only usable for video processing.... so it would not really be usable for gaming or emulation.


The 4760 would be slower, but it would be able to run the shown emulators at that speed.


However, I don't think they'll become much faster. qbertaddict always mentioned these emulators are not yet optimized, but as it's an Ingenic device, they most probably are using the emulators available for the Dingoo and these are pretty optimized already.

also you're saying the pandora is as fast or faster than a galaxy S? I always thought the pandora had the same SoC as the original Motorola droid. And the galaxy S mops the floor with the motorola droid.

Well, that's the issue with benchmarks that run on top of an OS, optimization, etc.


The specs of the Galaxy S are not much better than the ones of the original Droid.


A couple of MHz more, basically.


It might feel faster to you, if the OS itself is much more optimized.


My N900 also has the same SoC as the Pandora, but sometimes feels a lot slower.


The NES emulator struggles to run without stuttering whereas the Pandora easily plays PSX at 600 MHz. The N900 has an animated OS overlay and a lot more services running that are disabled on the Pandora. It uses Pulseaudio, which eats CPU.


So while the specs are the same, my Pandora feels a lot faster.


Therefore, a benchmark running on an OS is only a very rough comparison.


Also, most benchmarks only check the raw CPU power, which won't help much.


It ignores additional features like the NEON we have on the Pandora.


Thanks to NEON, PSX emulation runs at 600MHz fullspeed for most games. Before the emulator was using NEON, we needed to overclock to 800MHz for the same speed.


The Ingenic doesn't have such features. It's a plain SoC with some video processor.


The L1 and L2 cache also make a speed difference in normal usage, and the Pandora has way more cache than the Ingenics.


As you can see, benchmarks are not really usable, especially not when comparing different architectures, and an overall experience on the system always derives from the optimized OS as well.


Looking at the Ingenic SoC specs, it should probably be a lot slower than the Pandora if it uses the 4760 and still quite a bit slower if it uses the 4770.


However, I don't really see a reason to compare it to the Pandora at all. The Pandora is a mini PC with gaming and emulation features (in fact, I'm lying in bed and typing that post with my Pandora, and this would not be possible with this mystery device ;) )).


The mystery device looks like a neat little handheld though, a faster Dingoo for probably a low price. And it doesn't look like a PSP, so this would finally be a device which I can stock and sell :)
 
We are currently looking for resellers worldwide and will allow


Only two resellers/vendors per country. If you’re interested in making orders for the


Consoles please contact me @ GCWNow@gmail.com to make arrangements for a fulfillment


Contract on release date. Tentatively release date in Mid July to Early August 2012.


Developers may also contact me for interest in development on the unit and we can arrange


To send you a prototype at discounted cost for the console.


There have been a lot of questions as of late about the prototype Qbertaddict has


Been reviewing and testing for further development. As for answers here they are in


No particular order.


1. What is the current OS? The current OS is based on Linux 2.6 but will hopefully be


Open Dingux by release date.


2. What is the menu system? That is currently under wraps but we are working on a


Completely new menu system for it and hopefully will be done before release. If not


We may go to GMenu2x with permission of the developer of course.


3. There are two 1 GHz processors under clocked to 800 MHz with potential to over clock


To 1.2 GHz. It also has a FPU and a 3D GPU clocked at 496 MHz


4. Memory is 256MB DDR2


5. Internal Storage is 4GB but can be bumped to 8GB or 16GB by release date.


6. External storage is MicroSD and capable of supporting 32GB MicroSD card we think


It can support 64GB but this has not been tested as of yet.


7. It has G-Sensor and Vibro shock built into the system.


8. The analog nub currently is mapped to duplicate D-pad moves but will be changed


To independent mapping so it can be used as separate controller


9. The console has HDMI out and Analog TV out and is capable of 1080P on the HDMI TV-out.


10. The console has Wi-Fi built in and is 802.11b/802.11g
 
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We are currently looking for resellers worldwide and will allow


Only two resellers/vendors per country. If you’re interested in making orders for the


Consoles please contact me @ GCWNow@gmail.com to make arrangements for a fulfillment


Contract on release date. Tentatively release date in Mid July to Early August 2012.


Developers may also contact me for interest in development on the unit and we can arrange


To send you a prototype at discounted cost for the console.


There have been a lot of questions as of late about the prototype Qbertaddict has


Been reviewing and testing for further development. As for answers here they are in


No particular order.


1. What is the current OS? The current OS is based on Linux 2.6 but will hopefully be


Open Dingux by release date.


2. What is the menu system? That is currently under wraps but we are working on a


Completely new menu system for it and hopefully will be done before release. If not


We may go to GMenu2x with permission of the developer of course.


3. There are two 1 GHz processors under clocked to 800 MHz with potential to over clock


To 1.2 GHz. It also has a FPU and a 3D GPU clocked at 496 MHz


4. Memory is 256MB DDR2


5. Internal Storage is 4GB but can be bumped to 8GB or 16GB by release date.


6. External storage is MicroSD and capable of supporting 32GB MicroSD card we think


It can support 64GB but this has not been tested as of yet.


7. It has G-Sensor and Vibro shock built into the system.


8. The analog nub currently is mapped to duplicate D-pad moves but will be changed


To independent mapping so it can be used as separate controller


9. The console has HDMI out and Analog TV out and is capable of 1080P on the HDMI TV-out.


10. The console has Wi-Fi built in and is 802.11b/802.11g

^ Lol, you just joined up and called yourself GCW :lol:
 
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Actually to clarify yes I did just join the forum to get the information out on the device specs wise and plans for further development. What name should I have used it is my Company name? We are working right now on a website for the device as we speak but unitl that goes live the GCWNow@gmail.com e-mail will have to suffice for contact.
 
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The Product name is Zero it will be called the GCW Zero as it will be the first console we will produce.
 
The Product name is Zero it will be called the GCW Zero as it will be the first console we will produce.

When you say you will produce, do you mean you designed the case, PCB and software for this, or are you just buying and rebranding a chinese PMP?
 
This is a prototype teaser video so to answer your question yes we are involved in most of the hardware development and all the software of this console. The case is similar to the Gemei A330 but not exact duplicate.
 
This looks like a great device and I think the a330 body was a great choice hope it goes well and will support the device really hope it stands out hfrom all the cheaper units I just tried the game gadget dead pixel on arrival and USB port broke on first connection returned for refund now waiting for this to develop well done and good luck.
 
3. There are two 1 GHz processors under clocked to 800 MHz with potential to over clock


To 1.2 GHz. It also has a FPU and a 3D GPU clocked at 496 MHz

As far as I can tell, Ingenic does not have any SoC in mass production that can do SMP, so how do you manage to get two CPU cores in there? The only SoC they offer with a 3D GPU is the JZ4770, which iirc is used in some chinese device that was mentioned here, and it had a false claim of two CPU cores.


4770(3).jpg
 
most of the unnamed chineese device that claim dualcore just have a single CPU with an additional GPU or DSP...
 
This is a prototype teaser video so to answer your question yes we are involved in most of the hardware development and all the software of this console. The case is similar to the Gemei A330 but not exact duplicate.

So we're not going to open this up to discover it's just another rebranded Dingoo? If so you will be very welcome on these boards.


But please, if we're going to find this console for sale in China, made by the same people who made the Dingoo (etc.) then tell us now :)
 
Most people mistake the gpu as a second CPU core and call it duel core the game gadget claims this and it's just a nasty Chinese knockoff very badly manufactured and a terrible brick block design I think it's back to the drawing board for that one.But his GCW Zero looks promising aslong as the specs are as they say and it gets released as stated I can't see no reason why this wouldn't sell well oh and the price must be competitive with other similar devices out there.
 
that said it's hard to know if it's really a mistake... in most device you have a lot if tiny ARM/other processor for additional task, like managing battery, in the case of our pandora the nub contain such additional processor... if you consider "core" as any processor (including the various dedicated processor) I wouldn't be surprised if this GCW contain 10 or so core...
 
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This is a prototype teaser video so to answer your question yes we are involved in most of the hardware development and all the software of this console. The case is similar to the Gemei A330 but not exact duplicate.

So we're not going to open this up to discover it's just another rebranded Dingoo? If so you will be very welcome on these boards.


But please, if we're going to find this console for sale in China, made by the same people who made the Dingoo (etc.) then tell us now :)

You know that the hardware is different, vastly improved over the Dingoo. Why would it be a problem if it turned out the devices were being manufactured in the same factories as the A320 and were mostly compatible?
 
You know that the hardware is different, vastly improved over the Dingoo. Why would it be a problem if it turned out the devices were being manufactured in the same factories as the A320 and were mostly compatible?

Probably mostly because of quality issues.


I stopped selling the Dingoo as 3 out of 10 died within a few months. It cost me more than made money.


Yep, most of the time it was the issue that one coil got ripped off the PCB which needed to be replaced, but I needed to repair this all myself, cover the shipping costs, needed the time to do that, etc.


We don't know much about GCW yet, we don't know where the company is located, if it's their first device, etc.


I hope they either have a good PCB production company with long-living PCBs or some good after sales service.


GPH had both - I could sell the devices for a good price and GPH had a warranty repair center that took care of everything and very little devices failed.


As mentioned, I would be very happy to get a new device similar to the Caanoo, as the Caanoo is most probably at the end of its life and the Pandora, while it's a great device, is surely overkill for a lot of users who just want a small OpenSource device to play games for a little price.


So if price, quality, availability, etc. is fine, I'd be happy to sell it.
 

^ Lol, you just joined up and called yourself GCW :lol:

^ Lol, you just joined up and called yourself SONY :lol:

My username is SONY in most forums :p

Actually to clarify yes I did just join the forum to get the information out on the device specs wise and plans for further development. What name should I have used it is my Company name? We are working right now on a website for the device as we speak but unitl that goes live the GCWNow@gmail.com e-mail will have to suffice for contact.

Ah ok, thanks for that. Now that you've given me some background info I'm suddenly interested in your portable console. Cheers.
 
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