Operating System Poll, And Os Info From Gamepark

[Epicenter]

I recieved this reply upon an inquiry about which OS the XGP/XGPMini would use from GamePark:

Thank you for contacting GAMEPARK Inc.

With current version of XGP/XGPmini (current specification), XGP/XGPmini will use Linux as their OS. WinCE might be used for XGP with GPS function. XGP will have DMB function which enables the user to watch TV with it. However DMB isn’t universal protocol of digital broadcasting. Some countries like Korea and Germany use DMB and other counties use DVB or MediaFLO. We feel that it is unfair to charge full $300 (approximate price of XGP) to the people in the countries where there is no DMB service available for them to enjoy the DMB feature of XGP. So we thought that the price of $300 will make more sense to those people if XGP had GPS function instead of DMB. Whether we will substitute DMB with GPS function isn’t decided yet. If we decide to add GPS function, the XGP with GPS might use WinCE as its OS. If not, XGP will use Linux as its OS.

So I propose these two polls. I personally suggested Linux due to interoperability of the machine with GP2X and PC software, and a more open platform to develop for. I also suggested the possibility of an RF TV tuner for the US market (I'm unsure what European nations use as their broadcast standard, but I would find a TV tuner invaluable here in the states, as I have no real dedicated TV to speak of and rarely get time to chill in front of a TV. Pulling out an XGP and watching the news from bed in the AM would be very nice.. )

I personally wouldn't have much use for GPS, though. Generally I know where I am and don't get lost that easily .. at least not so lost that I can't just ask directions. I also advised that there is GPS software available for Linux, of course.

 

[JyCet]

...
I personally wouldn't have much use for GPS, though. Generally I know where I am and don't get lost that easily .. at least not so lost that I can't just ask directions. I also advised that there is GPS software available for Linux, of course.

With a GPS it's mandatory to have touch screen, could we imagine to use the joy to move/write/choose ... not me
But GPS for a handhelp it's very very gadjet option ! It's more usefull to have a touch screen to emulate a mouse or a virtual keyboard and I dont speak about all gaming possibilty

For OS linux of course

 

[Epicenter]

GPS, a touchscreen .. it'd practically be a gaming PDA .. Though that is not necessarily a bad thing, I imagine it'd be kind of expensive to build.

 

[Vimacs]

I don't think building gps in the unit would be a good idea, it would only bump the price and most people wouldn't use it.

They should add a proper ext port with rs232/usb so people who need extra stuff can add it them self.

For the os, depending on the chipset, it would be nice if they would adopt open2x for it to provide good gp2x compatibility, but any Linux kernel will do.

DMB or DVB would be nice, we have booth over here in Germany, but i wonder how much this adds to the price, if its more then 40€ it would be a waste.

I take it they dropped WIBRO? I certainly hope so as its totally useless outside of Korea.

Wlan capability would be nice through, and i don't think it would be to expensive as there are even wlan cards for the pc for under 20€, so they can probably add that without bumping the price to much.

Oh and a touchscreen would surely be very great, depending on the price.

 

[___]

Yeah, WiFi would be cool. DMB is also quite a nice feature. I wouldn`t use GPS though. It`s nice to play around with but if you don`t have a touchscreen it is kind of pointless. It would just be way too awkward to navigate with.

 

[rei_yano]

heres the deal:

1. gps would be nice somewhat... however not necessary at all. so kill gps.
2.DMB is not usefull to anyone outside korea and germany. kill DMB.
3. linux = NECESSARY. keep it!!! kill WINce please....
4. wibro is korea only so kill it I think...
5. keep wifi!!! wifi is very necessary!
6. drop the price a bit due to no gps/wibro/DMB? cheaper xgp would be nice?


thats my two cents.

 

[Epicenter]

They should add a proper ext port with rs232/usb so people who need extra stuff can add it them self.

I'd personally prefer a Mini-USB port or two .. maybe RS232 on an EXT connector? Many many more people will use USB devices than serial ones, of course.

I'm pretty much in your boat, Rei Yano .. I'd rather skip the TV functionality and GPS altogether if it means lower price; GP did say that one of their philosophies is to sacrifice profit to provide inexpensive hardware and software, and $300 would overshoot the PSP or Nintendo DS' average retail prices easily... and you will still need to buy an SD card. And maybe NiMH AAs if the machines will support them later ...

 

[rei_yano]

They should add a proper ext port with rs232/usb so people who need extra stuff can add it them self.

I'd personally prefer a Mini-USB port or two .. maybe RS232 on an EXT connector? Many many more people will use USB devices than serial ones, of course.

I'm pretty much in your boat, Rei Yano .. I'd rather skip the TV functionality and GPS altogether if it means lower price; GP did say that one of their philosophies is to sacrifice profit to provide inexpensive hardware and software, and $300 would overshoot the PSP or Nintendo DS' average retail prices easily... and you will still need to buy an SD card. And maybe NiMH AAs if the machines will support them later ...

maybe you can suggest these ideas to Nathan? let him know we would rather see a cheaper product than any of these functionalities? hopefully it will support double As when it comes out but I have a feeling they wont...

 

[aapje89]

Well I don't think wifi would be very expensive to add, and it would be very nice.
I'd rather have wifi then gps or dvb.

 

[Vimacs]

Maybe you could point gamepark over here? would be nice if they participated in such threads.
Im sure that beeing actualy involved in the community could give them an edge over gph.

 

[rei_yano]

Maybe you could point gamepark over here? would be nice if they participated in such threads.
Im sure that beeing actualy involved in the community could give them an edge over gph.

maybe.. but I dont think our forums are the only forums he pays attention to.

GPS, a touchscreen .. it'd practically be a gaming PDA .. Though that is not necessarily a bad thing, I imagine it'd be kind of expensive to build.

it would be fucking badass if they gave it a touch screen. that would be sweet if the stylus fit in the unit like the dslite. however a high price would not be good. if they want to keep the price at 300 bucks for some reason then get rid of al the dmb wibro gps nonsense and throw in a touch screen. Id love that for 300 bucks.

 

[Vimacs]

I dont think it would do well over 250$

 

[rei_yano]

I dont think it would do well over 250$

agreed. 300 bucks is alot but you have to also realise that sony took a loss for the psp and probably the same for the DS. gamepark needs to make a profit off these things.

 

[Goity]

Is DVB the thing in the UK? That would be cool.

 

[PokeParadox]

I think it's the Digital TV standard.... Freeview... not sure though.

 

[rei_yano]

Is DVB the thing in the UK? That would be cool.

I think it says currently that the xgp only supports DMB not DVB. so no. I think this is just further from the point of this EXTREME game player. it plays games right? drop this stuff anbd replace it with a touch screen. would add some cool games with touch screen play. if not drop it all for a cheaper price. 300 bucks is steep for a handheld.

 

[Epicenter]

Maybe you could point gamepark over here? would be nice if they participated in such threads.
Im sure that beeing actualy involved in the community could give them an edge over gph.

They said they visit several forums for input, including GP32X. Whether they want to actively participate in forum conversation, I don't know-- time will tell. I'd rather not push them to, though, as things get messy here sometimes.

If it were my call, I'd have it include the S3C2460 and 96MB+ of MobileDDR RAM, a 3"+ 320x240 non-touchscreen LCD, a circular D-Pad, a WiFi adapter with adjustable transmit power and a software on/off switch (for battery life reasons), at least 1 onboard USB port, headphone jack, volume and LCD backlight potentiometers. If components don't randomly fall off of it like my GP2X, that'd seal the deal for me, and I'd pay $300 for it. That SoC is very robust hardware, it'd be reasonable compared to the cost of a high-end PDA.

But the price may have to be lower for widespread acceptance; and that's what I'd really hope for. After all, as a developer I know it's not enough to have the ideal development platform. I need people to be able to afford the system my work runs on!

The price plans are confusing at best; a $150 price difference between XGP and XGPmini. With the same chipset and the main differences being the screen type and inclusion of WiFi, I'd have to wonder if the difference is artificially set rather than based on production costs (since there is no production run or finalized design and actual costs are not known.) When a USB WiFi adapter costs under $15 and the displays have no vast difference in production cost next to say, a 640x480 touch-sensitive transflective LCD and a simple 320x240 display, you have to assume GP just came up with general ballpark figures. What costs the most should be the SoC, and as long as it's the same, a $150 price gulf is illogical. It's my suspicion the full units could cost much less.

 

[JaqMs]

I think GP should keep the widescreen. It is what makes the XGP unique, and not to mention that 320x240 is terrible for web browsing, etc. People can try something new by creating widescreen games, or they also have the ability to make 320x240 games too.

And AA batteries is definately a no-no. Whether it would be cheaper to buy AA batteries or the extra priced XGP with a li-ion battery, SLEEKNESS is an important factor for its success.

 

[oryhara]

I'm not an expert on this, but I really can't see a problem with developing gps software for linux. I mean, it is an open-source, community driven OS. I'm sure somebody would be able to come up with a gps device driver/software.

Anyway, though gps would make it the ultimate cheap wardriving device (provided it gets halfway decent wifi reception...), I'd personally like it to be cheaper and with no gps. Or, even better, have an option to buy it with gps or without.

Edit: Oh, and touchscreen... *drools*

 

[Orkie]

If it ran Linux (and the kernel could allocate memory from the whole of the 64MB) and had a touch screen, i see no reason why you'd want to buy a PDA. With that setup X/GPE could be ported very quickly and it would run very smoothly. If they had a way of running programs directly off the built in flash memory (I don't know if that is possible but I thought that is what they do in Familiar Linux on the iPAQ), things would run even better since nearly all of the RAM would be free.

Then you'd get the ability to play games too.