hi hanz...
The idea is to create a portal dedicated to development and the actual dev process in all areas...code, sound, graphics, etc. Our "different purpose" is shown clearly in the layout of the site's forums. They give high priority to the dev sections and low priority to the few non-dev sections we have. This is the direct inverse to all other forums that we have on the GP2X scene right now...and I mean no offence when I say that. Just compare for yourself. GP2Xdev has a large number of categories because a dedicated dev forum _needs_ to, we haven't done this just for the sake of it or to say: "look, our dev section's are bigger than yours!". I could go into the details of exactly why I think broad category ranges help...but this post would endup far too long. If you want an idea why, checkout gbadev.org's dev forum. You could not get this quality of dev discussion from a couple of forums.
Not only that but our news section will have an entirely different focus. I, or whoever eventually takes-over management of the news section, will not be posting news relating so much to _completed_ projects but perhaps more on news of updated Library extensions, new library extensions, compiler updates, new tools which gfxers will find useful for producing GP2X graphics, etc etc. For example, GP2Xdev will be more interested in searching for new info. on PC-based GP2X emulators (have faith...we WILL get one!) rather than GP2X .gpe emus. Basically because these will be very useful in the dev/testing process for coders. And yes we have a news item about Squidge's emulator atm...but it's the sourcecode
As for our downloads section too, this will hopefully not be directly comparable to the gp32x.de archives. Again, we wont be aiming to include _every_ compiled project out there. gp32x does this already perfectly well, so if there's a game you want you know exactly where to find it. We will probably only include a few completed projects submitted to us by our members. Our archive, I hope, will consist of tech-docs, compilers, audio tools and the like. Also we want it to encourage the idea that it's _ok_ to publish small little "Tech Demos" and (hopefully well-commented) source. Simple stuff like opening a screen at HH level, fading a palette, playing a sample through the AC'97, or calculating/shifting data using both the cpus. This is the kind of stuff that "users" (who are the majority on most other portals) don't really find interesting but coders find a LOT of value in them and they're great for learning. Again, take a quick look at gbadev's Demos section to see what I mean.
As for the comparison with teh wiki
I don't think that's really valid. A wiki, by its very nature, is there to solidify all the stuff we've discovered and learnt through chatting on boards, reading tech-docs, creating little demos, etc. It doesn't encourage these activities, it benefits from them. Besides many people just do not take to them and prefer portals. So it’s good to have a choice.
Anyway, that's my excuse!
I know that lot was pretty long (it could have been a lot longer, believe me) and I kept it as short as I could. My brains a bit fried atm as it's 3:00am and I’m knackered so things could have probably been explained to you all a little better. I just really wanted to elaborate a bit more on WHAT exactly GP2Xdev's purpose was or at least hopes to become soon. Thanks.