Neat Tricks For Your Gp32

[FabreNZ]

I've only had my GP32 for a short while, but I thought it was time I contributed something to the community. Please excuse me if any of these have been suggested already, but I haven't seen them anywhere else. The first three tricks are meant to be used with GPDrive (or equivalent) on your GP32. Now, onto the info!

Autorun.inf

If you have burnt your own CDs before, you may already know that Windows (and some other operating systems) are configured to automatically load settings for the media from a file. What you may not know is that the GP32 can also be used with an autorun file. Firstly, create a file called 'autorun.inf' in a plain text editor like notepad, and insert the following text,and save it:

[autorun]
icon=icon.ico
label=GP32 Drive
Shell\Option1=Open Command Prompt
Shell\Option1\Command=cmd

Download an icon file (A package of GP32 icons is available at http://members.cox.net/kamranjabbari/gp32_.../gp32icons.zip) and rename the icon to 'icon.ico'. Place the icon and autorun file in the root directory of your SMC. Remove the cable and reinsert it. Now go into 'My Computer' or equivalent. The icon you saved will be shown on the GP32 drive, and it will have the label specified on the 'label' line of the autorun file! Now right-click on the drive. You will see an option called 'Open Command Prompt'. Click on this, and a command prompt window will open up! Edit the text and command on the last two lines to change the text and action. You can also add a 'Shell\Option2' etc for tons of options! How you use these capabilities is up to you. Of course, you can have custom icons and labels for each of your SMCs to make it easier to differentiate between them.

GP32 OS

You may also be able to run an OS off your GP32, depending on your computer's BIOS. Try installing a small Linux distribution (like Damn Small Linux, http://www.damnsmalllinux.org) on your SMC, and configuring your BIOS to boot from a USB drive. If it isn't the geekiest thing ever to be able to boot a computer off your gaming console, I don't know what is Alright, there is one thing geekier - booting from a GP32, then using a second GP32 as a mouse

Xbox Hacking

Using a hacked up USB cable, you can use any USB mass storage device like an Xbox memory card. You could even put a hacked save file for certain games on there and get Linux running on your Xbox Or just use it as a slightly more expensive 128 MB memory card

USB Power Adaptor

By wiring the battery enclosure to the power input (and stepping down the voltage along the way), you can power your GP32 from a USB cable! With some clever design, you may even be able to get rechargable batteries charging while they're still in the GP32!

Um... I had more ideas, but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. I'll edit this post if I can come up with any more.

 

[aapje89]

Nice, I never thought of making an autorun file for the gp32, only I have the autorun fucntion turned off (I dont like autorun) so it wont work at my pc.

Edit: your links arent working. About the os thing: slax and knoppix are also very good linux distro's (only too big for the gp32).

 

[FabreNZ]

Edit: your links arent working. About the os thing: slax and knoppix are also very good linux distro's (only too big for the gp32).

​

Thanks, I've fixed the links (Invision automatically linked them and messed them up at first).

 

[Nilsiboy]

yay the autorun thingie is cool..thought about it a bit and remebered a script that compares directories....its a *.bat . could it be possible to launch the bat through autorun.inf and have a folder on your PC called "to GP32" or something so that everytime you plug it in/put the smc in your card reader it copies the files to the smc? would be cool. prepare the folder, plug in, go and eat something
here's a link to the script. i dont know the parameters and couldnt find them... if you dont want to use interactice mode, it has to be something like
[scriptlocation]\pcw1-1.bat [folder on the pc] "[folder on GP]" 2

THAT would be l33t neat

 

[sam fisher]

i gotta try some of these things.

 

[aapje89]

yay the autorun thingie is cool..thought about it a bit and remebered a script that compares directories....its a *.bat . could it be possible to launch the bat through autorun.inf and have a folder on your PC called "to GP32" or something so that everytime you plug it in/put the smc in your card reader it copies the files to the smc? would be cool. prepare the folder, plug in, go and eat something
here's a link to the script. i dont know the parameters and couldnt find them... if you dont want to use interactice mode, it has to be something like
[scriptlocation]\pcw1-1.bat [folder on the pc] "[folder on GP]" 2

THAT would be l33t neat

​

what does that sript do?, its so big.
why not make a script that copies everyting in the folder it is in to the gp32:
copy *.* <drive here>

 

[Nilsiboy]

the script adds missing files to the target folder and removes files that are not in the start folder from the target folder. it has a gui, i think this makes it big....will see if i can rip it out


okay shortened it and wrote another *.bat with the command line in it. dont know whether this could be in the autorun.inf , cause i dont know much about autorun at all
i even wrote a little readme (

okay, will now upload a .zip package including 2 *.bat files, autorun.inf and a readme to the "beta testing" section

 

[devlkore]

I was thinking about getting a USB adaptor (or making one) for my Xbox, so when I get my GP32, I could transfer ROMs from the Xbox to the GP32 and not have to use a computer, especially since my full ROMsets are on my Xbox anyway.

Has anyone tried this?

LA!

The autorun idea is pretty sweet, I didn't know about the right click options. I'll definately try this out when I get my sodding GP32.

 

[FabreNZ]

I was thinking about getting a USB adaptor (or making one) for my Xbox, so when I get my GP32, I could transfer ROMs from the Xbox to the GP32 and not have to use a computer, especially since my full ROMsets are on my Xbox anyway.

Has anyone tried this?

​

If you go to http://www.xbox.com/en-ca/pso2/keyboardadapter.htm you can apparently get the USB adapter for free from Microsoft - just let them think you're using it for a USB keyboard in Phantasy Star Online

And yes, I'm 99% sure that it would work to transfer ROMs from your Xbox to your GP32.

 

[steven84]

ive allways wanted to try gp32 linux on my gp but its confuseing to what file iam ment to download and what the hell to do with it like compileing it...




Steve

 

[aapje89]

ive allways wanted to try gp32 linux on my gp but its confuseing to what file iam ment to download and what the hell to do with it like compileing it...

​

you dont need to compile it, its very easy (even I can do it ), goto www.gp32linux.com.
You dont need a keyboard, but if you have one its even better

 

[Nilsiboy]

USB Power Adaptor

By wiring the battery enclosure to the power input (and stepping down the voltage along the way), you can power your GP32 from a USB cable! With some clever design, you may even be able to get rechargable batteries charging while they're still in the GP32!

​

does that mean you can tranfer files AND power the gp32_console with one cable? would be sweet... i think im gonna open this little treasure chest called GP32 soon and do some neat things to it

 

[devlkore]

I was thinking about getting a USB adaptor (or making one) for my Xbox, so when I get my GP32, I could transfer ROMs from the Xbox to the GP32 and not have to use a computer, especially since my full ROMsets are on my Xbox anyway.

Has anyone tried this?

​

If you go to http://www.xbox.com/en-ca/pso2/keyboardadapter.htm you can apparently get the USB adapter for free from Microsoft - just let them think you're using it for a USB keyboard in Phantasy Star Online

And yes, I'm 99% sure that it would work to transfer ROMs from your Xbox to your GP32.

​

I'm in the UK, so I can't get that offer, but I could just buy one from else where, or make one, LA!

It would be pretty cool to have my ROMs stored entirely on my Xbox and not have to use a PC at all (for emulation), mmm... *drooling*

edit: damn typo

 

[p j]

u bring about very interestiing points fabreNZ, i may try the linux one. thanks, nice to see people who will go the extra mile to tell people about new ways to use their machines

 

[Dozer]

Xbox memory cards are just mass storage devices, but I think they're formatted in fatx. Meaning that you need to format the card with your xbox. If you setup the gp with a mass storage program in the firmware then I expect it would work, but if you run it as an fxe then it would be deleted during the format :S. But I don't think you'd be able to use the card as a gp card until you format it correctly again (I guess you could keep a spare xbox card).

If you wanted to swap roms etc, just boot to an xbox linux in whatever flavour (I use gentoox) and linux software onto that. Then make an adapter and plug it in .

 

[FabreNZ]

Xbox memory cards are just mass storage devices, but I think they're formatted in fatx. Meaning that you need to format the card with your xbox. If you setup the gp with a mass storage program in the firmware then I expect it would work, but if you run it as an fxe then it would be deleted during the format :S. But I don't think you'd be able to use the card as a gp card until you format it correctly again (I guess you could keep a spare xbox card).

If you wanted to swap roms etc, just boot to an xbox linux in whatever flavour (I use gentoox) and linux software onto that. Then make an adapter and plug it in .

​

Oh, I forgot about the FATX formatting. Yeah, your Xbox should be able to format the card itself, or you can use the Action Replay memory card manager software on the PC to format a card in FATX.

 

[devlkore]

I don't think it would require special formatting. Some people have plugged USB HDs into their Xboxes and they've shown up as memory cards automatically. No one has mentioned formatting though.

When I got my GP32 and a USB adapter, I'll give it a try.