GCW Zero - Open Source Gaming Handheld

[elwing]

^ That's something we do anyway to check for issues. They're not the same person.

sorry to disgress, but ip!=identity...


even court recently agreed on this...

 

[gruso]

^ This is known. IP is just one bit of information to check when determining things like this.

 

[craigix]

We're still not getting confirmation that this machine isn't just going to show up in China (and on all the Chinese export websites) as the latest Dingoo.


Seeing the estimated price does not fill me with confidence.

 

[Nintendo]

jutleys is on the dead other forums as jutley, I think?

 

[elwing]

^ This is known. IP is just one bit of information to check when determining things like this.

for sure, but i'dd be baffled if peoples that hang there don't know that kind of thing and how to use tor or similar things...

 

[quartercast]

@craigix


How much do you think it should cost with quality components?

 

[jutleys]

@all of you stop I am no spy lol I knew this would happen I have nothing to do with the device I am nobody well I am somebody cause I have a body you see.

 

[Nintendo]

@all of you stop I am no spy lol I knew this would happen I have nothing to do with the device I am nobody well I am somebody cause I have a body you see.

Quoted

 

[jutleys]

I just reorded myself a white dingoo a320 just to pass the time until this baby shows up dingux will have to do still a great device for a great price £45 deal extreme delivered . I am as curious as all you guys as well about this machine.

 

[Nintendo]

Dingoo A320 is one of my biggest purchase regrets.

 

[gibberish]

Dingoo A320 is one of my biggest purchase regrets.

why's that?

 

[SNESFAN]

well...when it first came out it in '09 it was awesome.. the options at the time were like PSP, GP2x, F200 or a dingoo... and the dingoo was cheaper than all of them by a lot


I don't regret that purchase at all.


back to the subject of hating on the cheap Chinese handhelds... why all the hate? It's not infringing on any mainstream device patents. Looks like an open source handheld to me... As long as they don't blow the specs out of proportion or put it in a psp or nds shell... what is the problem? Is it because they manufactured it in a country that uses cheap labor and materials? I have no problem with that buisness model... china's gonna take over the world someday... country manufacturers >80% of the worlds goods... yea stop lying to yourself...


Anyway... If I bought hardware in china, took the open source kernel spun up my own flavor of OS and gave it a fancy front end.. I would feel completely justified reselling the device as my own. I would not be at fault either. Tell me how that's bad or misleading? The gamegadget.. while misleading in their "first handheld console made in the uk in blah blah blah" that's the only thing they are at fault about... not rebranding and reselling a modified dingoo, even if they just sold a dingoo with dingux flashed to it... that's completely legit... just don't go around bragging about something you're not doing is all....


This GCW Zero... very much looking forward to it, it probably is a clone, or it will be cloned very quickly after being released... making it seem it's self was a clone, even though it may have started that batch of clones Regardless it's a step forward in the right direction. Cheaply made, powerful specs, now only if they made it completely open source, (not just the source code for the chipset, but all modifications done to the code ingenic supplies as well) then it would be a perfect purchase. This looks like an upgrade to the dingoo... treat it as such. Welcome it even if it isn't 100% not made in china... what's that saying people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

 

[Surkow]

Dingoo A320 is one of my biggest purchase regrets.

why's that?

Because he probably doesn't know about OD.

 

[craigix]

well...when it first came out it in '09 it was awesome.. the options at the time were like PSP, GP2x, F200 or a dingoo... and the dingoo was cheaper than all of them by a lot


I don't regret that purchase at all.


back to the subject of hating on the cheap Chinese handhelds... why all the hate? It's not infringing on any mainstream device patents. Looks like an open source handheld to me... As long as they don't blow the specs out of proportion or put it in a psp or nds shell... what is the problem? Is it because they manufactured it in a country that uses cheap labor and materials? I have no problem with that buisness model... china's gonna take over the world someday... country manufacturers >80% of the worlds goods... yea stop lying to yourself...

Just... no.


Chinas manufacturing is in decline as the people demand more money, they can see the outside world these days and they want a piece of it. There are several companies moving away from China now because it's becoming uneconomical to manufacture there. I think the hourly wage has gone from about 20c to closer to $1.20 in recent times.


Africa will become the new China, although probably ran by foreign powers. I know someone who has a factory in Kenya and they pay their workers about $40 a week for 14 hour days with half a day off a week. China can no longer offer such costs.


Now, the reason we are suspicious of this new handheld is because if it is indeed a new Dingoo it most probably won't have any of the tests or safety standards the Pandora (or any other handheld) has to have, it no doubt won't be registered with the usual bodies which we have to be with (for things like BT), it will may just ignore MP3 and Video codec licences (which we could never get away with) and as Ed mentioned they are questionable quality and seem to make no effort to improve this quality.


Also of course if this company is just pretending to make it, and they are actually just distributing it, it won't look good.


I really hope this company have designed the PCB and that Nub they are using, that they have developed with battery and charging system themselves, but my tech radar just tells me something else.

 

[gibberish]

Now, the reason we are suspicious of this new handheld is because if it is indeed a new Dingoo it most probably won't have any of the tests or safety standards the Pandora (or any other handheld) has to have, it no doubt won't be registered with the usual bodies which we have to be with (for things like BT), it will may just ignore MP3 and Video codec licences (which we could never get away with) and as Ed mentioned they are questionable quality and seem to make no effort to improve this quality.

OK I can see that's bad for you guys if you wanted to re-sell it. But if you're right and it's a 'new Dingoo' we'll all just buy it from China for cheaper anyway. None of those things matter in that case. They are problems for resellers, not for end users.


As for the questionable quality - as I said before I've had 3 Dingoos and they've all been solid as a rock. Incidentally, the number of build quality complaints I've read on the dingoonity forums are far outnumbered by the build quality complaints I've read about the Pandora on here and the GP32x boards.

I really hope this company have designed the PCB and that Nub they are using, that they have developed with battery and charging system themselves, but my tech radar just tells me something else.

Me too, it'd be brilliant to have a real homegrown (well, U.S. grown) system that competes with China developed stuff. But it's not the be all and end all for me.

 

[SNESFAN]

Chinas manufacturing is in decline as the people demand more money, they can see the outside world these days and they want a piece of it. There are several companies moving away from China now because it's becoming uneconomical to manufacture there. I think the hourly wage has gone from about 20c to closer to $1.20 in recent times.


Africa will become the new China, although probably ran by foreign powers. I know someone who has a factory in Kenya and they pay their workers about $40 a week for 14 hour days with half a day off a week. China can no longer offer such costs.


Now, the reason we are suspicious of this new handheld is because if it is indeed a new Dingoo it most probably won't have any of the tests or safety standards the Pandora (or any other handheld) has to have, it no doubt won't be registered with the usual bodies which we have to be with (for things like BT), it will may just ignore MP3 and Video codec licences (which we could never get away with) and as Ed mentioned they are questionable quality and seem to make no effort to improve this quality.


Also of course if this company is just pretending to make it, and they are actually just distributing it, it won't look good.


I really hope this company have designed the PCB and that Nub they are using, that they have developed with battery and charging system themselves, but my tech radar just tells me something else.

I'm glad the individual workers are getting what they deserve... or well ... closer to what they deserve. I hope it improves even more. They will still have the infrastructure to manufacturer even if it's not as cheap... I think maybe some of the cheaper less detailed manufactureing might move from china, but some of the high tech assembly, they are still way above anywhere else in the world. As long as they don't go crazy with regulations and unions and such like America did.


We (USA) used to be a manufacturing power house then labor unions and and regulations out the ass made it uneconomical or just a general pain in the ass to build anything here. Not to mention the taxes and "skilled labor" became anyone that can turn a wrench, push a button, or hold a soldering iron... a monkey can be trained to do the same repetitive action over and over if on a assembly line... but we have to now pay our workers $25-30/hr when they should be making $10/hr at the very max. Let alone if the worker is lazy or just generally shitty employee, he gets to stay on payroll and keep getting raises because he's been with the company for so long they can't fire him. I'm not a fan of unions... anyway... If they can keep the worker compensation to a sane amount, and not go overboard with regulations, they will still rule the manufacturing world aside from super greedy companies that would move their entire production just to be able to pay their workers pennies instead of nickles and dimes.


america has the similar CE requirements and in America if they are the "distributor/manufacturer" or whatever it will still need to get certified with the American FCC. So this might be processed/wired/assembled in china with specifications by American standards hopefully? ..but it will still need very similar certifications to be able to legally sell here. At least if he wants to be a legit company. That would be a good thing... but I as a consumer will buy the device where ever it's cheapest and least hassle for delivery... or a happy medium in between. I don't care if it interfears with other electronic devices or leaks EMI all over the place... as long as it does what it says it's susposed to do on the box. That's what the consumer really cares about...the government... they're the ones that care about all that other BS.


Also if this is just one guy, or just a couple guys working in their basement, I think the build quality of the dingoo is pretty much what you'd expect from the size of operation. Also considering this is made/assembled in china. There might be more QC to stop units that are DoA, But the difference between actual physical build quality would probably be the same either way... no disrespect...you would probably know better than any what that's like.

 

[EvilDragon]

Now, the reason we are suspicious of this new handheld is because if it is indeed a new Dingoo it most probably won't have any of the tests or safety standards the Pandora (or any other handheld) has to have, it no doubt won't be registered with the usual bodies which we have to be with (for things like BT), it will may just ignore MP3 and Video codec licences (which we could never get away with) and as Ed mentioned they are questionable quality and seem to make no effort to improve this quality.

OK I can see that's bad for you guys if you wanted to re-sell it. But if you're right and it's a 'new Dingoo' we'll all just buy it from China for cheaper anyway. None of those things matter in that case. They are problems for resellers, not for end users.

Yes and no.


The importer is responsible for the device, regardless of whether it is an end user or a distributor.


You have to ensure that it follows all the safety needed for your country.


Normally, it's no big deal, as no one will care about that... unless something happens BECAUSE of that.


i.e. if the WiFi chip somehow affects a public paid hotspot so that it doesn't work properly anymore and the company finds out your device is responsible for it, you're liable if you imported it yourself.


They could demand by law to cover their loss.


If you bought it officially from a distributor within your country, he's liable for it and has to cover the damage (and he probably has to pay a fee because he sold an illegel device).


It's very unlikely something like that will happen with such a device, that's why I said "Yes and No", but in theory, it could be an issue for the end user as well.

 

[hitbyambulance]

when they should be making $10/hr at the very max. Let alone if the worker is lazy or just generally shitty employee, he gets to stay on payroll and keep getting raises because he's been with the company for so long they can't fire him. I'm not a fan of unions...

$10/hour is not really a liveable wage. i take it you're a fan of lowering the U.S's standard of living?


also, unions help prevent the exploitation of workers by the owners. we have too many examples of this happening to conveniently ignore.

 

[SNESFAN]

when they should be making $10/hr at the very max. Let alone if the worker is lazy or just generally shitty employee, he gets to stay on payroll and keep getting raises because he's been with the company for so long they can't fire him. I'm not a fan of unions...

$10/hour is not really a liveable wage. i take it you're a fan of lowering the U.S's standard of living?


also, unions help prevent the exploitation of workers by the owners. we have too many examples of this happening to conveniently ignore.

I grew up dirt poor lower lower class and worked my way up to upper middle class by means of personal drive and hard work and determination in a little over a decade. Not on the back of others and without any hand-outs. If I can do it under the situations I was in, then anyone can. Your job should be paid for the amount of work it takes to do the job with a combination of mental, physical difficulty and stress and responsibility, experience and knowledge should also take a part in compensation and put you at the high end of a range of pay. If $10/hr is $3 over the federal minimum wage and more than twice what I made for my first job doing back breaking labor almost 20 years ago. If cost of living has doubled in 20 years then that's a different problem all together. But I feel it is a good compensation entry level position such as factory line worker.


I had an uncle that worked for firestone making rubber gaskets for airliners, he made 3 a week and was paid $30/hr for 40 hours a week, he told me it took him approximately 1 1/2 hours to make each gasket, afterwhich he slept... he was caught and written up multiple times for sleeping on the job, but held the position because he filed a harassment grievance with the workers union and they moved the supervisior to another division within the company. He gets paid almost as much as I do to literally sleep a majority of his work week. This kind of stuff happens literally all the time... unions are bad. The concept is good, but the reality is bad. There is a union at my job now that doesn't require dues etc to be a member... I opt out.


I understand what the unions are for, but there has to be alternative means to help the oppressed other than good ol boy systems and the hierarchical organizations that have become today's workers unions. I'm also a hater of home owners associations... same kind of evil.

 

[Nintendo]

Dingoo A320 is one of my biggest purchase regrets.

why's that?

The d-pad wasn't perfect for SF games and the L & R shoulder buttons were too clicky for my liking. Battery life was awesome though.