Not So Portable Handheld


slygamer

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Having just received the serial cable from Nigel, my GP2X is now even less portable than it was. Currently I have a power cable going to the power adaptor on the floor, the USB cable going to a USB port on the front of my PC and now the serial cable going to a serial port on the back of my PC. Rather hamstrung by cables, but it is all good because it all works. :)

Having the serial cable connected to the EXT port, and wanting a JTAG when one becomes available, I had the thought that someone could make a breakout cable for the EXT port so we can use serial, JTAG and TV-out (and possibly USB 1.1 host if that becomes possible) without having to unplug/plug cables all the time.
 
That dockingstation is a really cool idea. It would be nice if you could connect it to the GP2X with a cable, so you can hold it while playing games on the TV, and in some kind of hardware holder, so you could set it on the desk in a way you could view the screen easily while you are typing input on a keyboard or debugging a program.

Also, it doesn't look like there is a EXT "pass thru" so you could plug future compents into it without uplugging the GP2X (that keyboard I mentioned :) ).

With a keyboard like the Erickson chatboard, the GP2X sitting in the holder, and a web browser connecting to the internet through a USB wifi device, I could totally get rid of my workstation. Think of the deskspace I would save; I'll be laughing at the other kids with laptops taking up so much room on their desks :D .
 
That docking station looks incredibly cool. Pretty much a must-buy, actually, as long as its within a sensible price-range.
 
If we have a docking station, it is very plausible that we'll be able to mod controllers and stuff to play 2-player games.
 
You wouldn't have to take the lot with you everywhere. It'd be just like having several home consoles in one. :)

And besides, I have very big pockets. :p
 
The best idea, I would buy a gp32x right away if this was possible. Then again I should do anyway to pledge my support.
 
passtrough is a good idea, but not for keyboard i think, when you have it in the docking station you could use a normal usb keyboard or pda keyboard, thats much better than any chatboard. for playing games on tv a usb gamepad should work quite well, you maybe dont even have to change programs for this, but im not 100% sure about that.
 
Sonic-NKT posted on Dec 22 2005 at 12:20 AM said:
passtrough is a good idea, but not for keyboard i think, when you have it in the docking station you could use a normal usb keyboard or pda keyboard, thats much better than any chatboard. for playing games on tv a usb gamepad should work quite well, you maybe dont even have to change programs for this, but im not 100% sure about that.
If the USB host through the EXT port does work, the applications would need to specifically support any USB devices such as a keyboard or gamepad. They will not just work.
 
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I'd like to see a docking station like that with a dual power supply (ie, batteries or DC in) for powering USB devices... And while this thing has its own power, maybe it's possible to power the GP2X over the EXT port? The wiki claims there's a couple 3.3V and GND connections...

And as for things "just working" with USB - if game park made the kernel and SDL use the normal linux joystick interface, it would just work, but even if not, SDL could be hacked up to dual-support the built-in buttons and a linux kernel joystick device. It'd be nice if an on-screen keyboard were implemented in SDL so it could be bypassed if a real keyboard is connected. Actually, does anyone know if input is even handled by SDL, or is it just graphics/sound?
 
Joystick and button input is already handled by SDL.

But for those not using SDL, ie. most of the larger popular applications, putting implicit support for USB input devices into SDL is no help. I believe that once Squidge, DJWillis, Robster and the others have HH to a decent level, a lot of people will be ditching Linux completely, so kernel support is of limited use.
 
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