Mn860

[pcklee123]

Got this as a birthday present.
http://www.freewebs.com/gkglobal/
Anyone know about this cant find any info on this apart from the website above. It uses sunplus chips. Free sd card with games on it.(some format which can't be opened on windows or linux.

 

[Epicenter]

Quite a few workalike/lookalike systems have been posted, and they looked pretty much just like this, or like shitty PSP clones. Most of them claimed to have 400 MHz processors (probably ARM) but probably had no form of 2D or 3D acceleration at all, so they wouldn't really be much an improvement over the GP2X hardware. Also, their controls are very poorly placed and the build quality looks very low (though the GP2X is no star in either of those categories.) If they do indeed run Linux and homemade apps can be run easily they may be worth a look, but at their extremely high prices and with such ambiguous specs, that's quite a blind investment, really.

Some shady UK company which speaks rather poor english had a suspect project claiming some Chinese distributors copied their product or were producing it or .. something and that theirs would be somehow better ... yet just like this ... or not. They spoke nonsense, basically.

Do you know exactly what chip(s) it's using from 'Sunplus'? I don't see any mention of that company on this page. If I could at least see some specs on its SoC (which is probably what it's using) I could make a better assessment of how it'd be for running actual games.

 

[pcklee123]

the cd that came with it had an sp ca536 driver. On windows moviemaker it is detected as icatch(vii) (If I switch to camera mode). Otherwise it is detected in windows as usb mass storage spca536.
When it starts up , it says IHTOOM

 

[Epicenter]

Maybe interface chips though, I wish we knew the real SoC type. Can you take internal photos, some good up-close ones? Does your camera have macro mode?

 

[TwoHeadedBoy]

How could you possibly trust a website that looks as shitty as that with over $200? I award your bravery.

 

[pcklee123]

How could you possibly trust a website that looks as shitty as that with over $200? I award your bravery.

$239 is actually USD150 It came with a pair of external speakers(with power supply).
In the box was power supply, tvout cable (which also acts as av in cable,) usb cable, another cable which I have not figure out how to use) earphones.
Start up time is about 7s shutdown time about 3s
In comparison with gp2x savings of
external speakers with power supply(USD15)
earphones (USD2)
TVout cable (USD10)
Power supply(USD10)
Batteries (USD8)
512MB NAND (USD15)
games card (not worth anything-they look like copies but seems to be original i.e not emulated)
When you plug in to the computer via usb, it automatically switches on USB-storage.
screen is half the size of gp2x
I'll see if I have time to take photos of it today

 

[pcklee123]

These are the things inside.
LCD:
A(Lamba)UO
34S673B000-XX-0026378
59.02A14.006-20060807
Chips:
1) 512MByte Nand Flash http://www.hynix.com/datasheet/eng/flash/d...Y27UF084G2M.jsp
hynix KOR
HY27UF084G2M
TPCB 630A
M9TAAB77Q
2) LOW POWER AUDIO CODEC FOR PORTABLE APPLICATIONS http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/...SON/WM9711.html
WM
WM9711G
61CBGR3
3) 4 MByte SDRam 133MHz http://www.hynix.com/datasheet/eng/dram/de...7V281620HCT.jsp
hynix 236A
HY57V281620HCT-H
KOREA
4)
Icatch
SUNPLUS
SPCA536A-HB111
0631-B
MDM7460.00
5) Video IC
IHT935
1906A


Took some photos. How do i upload it?

 

[Epicenter]

http://www.imageshack.ws

The Sunplus chip looks like a video capture IC rather than an SoC, but it could really be both. Photos of it would really help. I'm not very familiar with Sunplus' product lineup, but I do know they licensed the ARM11 core with a max speed of 400 MHz in their products; if this is one of those '400 Mhz' rated devices, it could be that. If they opted for a model with a VFP11 VFPU, that'd be quite formidable.

How does the actual construction of the unit feel, how are the controls, and what OS is it running?

 

[pcklee123]

http://www.imageshack.ws

The Sunplus chip looks like a video capture IC rather than an SoC, but it could really be both. Photos of it would really help. I'm not very familiar with Sunplus' product lineup, but I do know they licensed the ARM11 core with a max speed of 400 MHz in their products; if this is one of those '400 Mhz' rated devices, it could be that. If they opted for a model with a VFP11 VFPU, that'd be quite formidable.

How does the actual construction of the unit feel, how are the controls, and what OS is it running?

Construction: cheap plastiky. Silvered buttons look ugly and the silver is already peeling off, screen is not protected.
On the plus side, nothing fell off or is rattling inside the unit (unlike my GP2X),LCD much brighter than GP2X

Controls: no LR buttons, no volume control
on the plus side, easy to use, d-pad doesn't cut my thumb like the GP2X joystick.

I saw on the web that sunplus has licensed a MIPS core as well.

Dont know what is the OS.

the games sd-card cannot be acessesd on a pc. tried vfat, ext2 what else to try?





[img=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4847/img4974custom2se5.th.jpg]

 

[pcklee123]

Tried all these filesystems
cramfs
iso9660
ext2
ext3
romfs
qnx4
udf
vfat
xfs
minix
jfs
reiserfs
adfs
affs
coda
efs
hfs
hpfs
msdos
ufs
xfs

 

[Epicenter]

Unfortunately I cannot seem to find any details about its SoC at all (the iCatch chip) except drivers for it when used in a camera device.

However.. the device looks like it was built at the factory that made the GP2X. Look at the PCB style, the component mounting style (giant globs of solder on the sides of all connectors), the power switch is the same model, the horrible headphone jack is the same model, the Hynix memory is the same variety (133 MHz-rated even, and same package size/type) ... and like the GP2X it's another simple SoC based system with a FBGA-package for the chipset, an SD card reader and other remarkably similar componentry...

 

[NaCCuRiT]

Maybe you can contact the wholesaler

chinavasion

Hope they can get some information about the OS ( I think they have contact with the factory )

 

[pcklee123]

Found this on the internet
1. Sunplus (Sunplus) SPCA536 program MIPS RISC MCU R3000-compatible
　　Image/Video Compression/decompression Processors
　　ROM/Flash/SDRAM interface
　　STN/TFT LCD panel controller
　　NTSC/PAL TVBS and RGB Monitor interface
　　CF/IDE/ISA-like interface for multiple storage devices
　　USB 2.0 Device and 1.1 Host/Device interfaces
　　CCD/CMOS sensor interface
　　CCIR 601/656 Video Input/Output Interfaces
　　AC97 Input/Output and PWM-Output Audio Interfaces
　　RS232 for program upgrade & debugging
　　GPIO for DI/DO & PZT controls
　　8-bit ADC inputsADC inputs lookahead

Sunplus (Sunplus) SPCA536 cheap solution, supported media types simple. single function; The relatively limited format support (only supports MPEG-4 Video Codec format. Audio format rather simplistic) video decoding and capacity, the solution will halt the documents and other video documents.

 

[KoH]

tell us again incase someone missed that

 

[Epicenter]

I found a site that will SELL you the datasheet for the SPCA536 but that's it.

 

[Nova]

Construction: cheap plastiky. Silvered buttons look ugly and the silver is already peeling off, screen is not protected.

Sandpaper the rest of the silver off, or pick at it with your nails till its all gone, then spray it thinly with a can of Plastikote in the colour of your choice.

 

[jmetal88]

Some shady UK company which speaks rather poor english had a suspect project claiming some Chinese distributors copied their product or were producing it or .. something and that theirs would be somehow better ... yet just like this ... or not. They spoke nonsense, basically.

They were not a UK company, they were in the Netherlands. And I can assure you, however odd this looks, they are not shady. But I guess you'll have to wait until their product line debuts in 2007 to actually see that.

EDIT: Their prototype for this device was a color that has not surfaced on the Chinese market yet, as well.

 

[Epicenter]

Soooo .. some chinese companies stole their design and made shitty MP4 players from it? Their product better be goddamn impressive, because these things aren't...

 

[pcklee123]

Soooo .. some chinese companies stole their design and made shitty MP4 players from it? Their product better be goddamn impressive, because these things aren't...

Filled up Sunplus's request form a few days ago. Didn't hear from them yet. I guess thay must be scared I'll steal their design.

 

[Epicenter]

Same. I asked for a datasheet or at least some hardware specs and they have not replied at all. But maybe they don't speak any English?