Gp2x Link Cables

[ryosaeba]

I've had this on my mind for quite some time.

We all know that, for multiplay, wifi/bluetooth would be a perfect solution but all the issues related to this matter have already been exposed. There are no pre-installed drivers for the wifi/bt cards, they are not so portable and need to be powered.

I also know that not many users on this board are interested in multiplay since there are too few users that know personally other gp2x owners to play with, but there could be an easy solution to allow multiplay between 2 gp2x.

The idea is to create a miniusb-to-ext(usb host) cable that would allow 2 gp2x to communicate between each other with usb-network.

I'm not very skilled on working with hardware but I think it should be no problem for someone like EvilDragon (or many other members of this forums...) to produce some cables and sell them.

There's only one thing... I'm not sure if the gp2x kernel already contains the driver for using the usb cable as a network cable (from the ext port).

Personally I have 3 friends with a gp2x and I would find it really nice to be able to multiplay with them.

 

[Orkie]

Yes, the kernel tree does have the driver (it isn't in the standard firmware though). Another possible alternative is to find a way of stopping output to the serial line and do an ext to ext serial network.

 

[ryosaeba]

Yes a serial cable would be fine too but using usb-network would allow for standard network enabled applications to work out of the box.

Anyway, if there is someone out there that could make such a cable I would buy one so that I could start doing some tests with it..

 

[pcklee123]

I suppose you can use the bob for this now

 

[ryosaeba]

I have the developer bob since when I bought the gp2x but I hardly use it at all, the gp2x is an handheld you know... a cable should be good enough for portable multiplayer but I don't have the skills to do it myself.

 

[pcklee123]

I could do the usb mod for you but its probably too expensive and risky to send the gp2x around.

 

[ryosaeba]

No, no...
This is far simpler then doing a mod on your gp2x, what I mean is just build a cable which is mini-usb on one side, and EXT on the other side.
The EXT side should connect with the USB pins on the EXT port, so that it just works like a USB cable but it actually is EXT-miniUSB

I don't know if I explained it well enough, I could make a scheme...

 

[PokeParadox]

it's a USB host adapter that connects to another GP2X's mini USB slot.

I wondered also is it possible to use a USB hub to network several 2Xs together?

 

[ryosaeba]

The hub should be connected to the EXT port of one of the gp2x and that gp2x should route all the network traffic between them.
The usbnet kernel module would be needed for the gp2x that acts as a gateway.

The settings available through the standard interface cannot set the gp2x network as needed, but it should be a trivial task to create a script to do that.

You could use a PC to route the traffic though