Our New Machine, Pandora

[PeterM]

Has there been any word on the 3D API?

I would love OpenGL (or OpenGL ES), but would settle for register poking.

 

[Yuglooc]

Has there been any word on the 3D API?

I would love OpenGL (or OpenGL ES), but would settle for register poking.

Core: Texas Instrument's OMAP3430 System-on-chip. [1]

* PowerVR SGX GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0, several million polygons per second). [2]
* 128MB of DDR SDRAM.

 

[PeterM]

Thanks.

That's just the hardware's support for the GL ES 2.0 features though, isn't it?

Presumably we also need Linux drivers and GL ES library/ies. Maybe it's all preinstalled and works fine - I'm not very knowledgeable about SOCs or Linux.

 

[StealthBagel]

The way I see it a lot of how this machine will be received is involved in how much a feel of professional design and support the buyer feels when they open the box and fire the unit up, or begin to run software/develop for it. When the GP2X launched no real SDK was provided (not to the extent of which the impression was given would be included, anyway), and a lot of aspects felt unpolished and just out of place. I won't go into them because I think everyone who has owned a unit would have come to the same general opinions.

The biggest of these I think involve the system having everything the average user needs right out of the box, like a rechargable internal battery, AC adapter, and a USB cable to link to a PC..... no need for a customer to buy extra batteries he doesn't know about, no need to buy a charger or cables. Everything pre-assembled, no installing your own LCD lens..... It also can't feel like a toy when it comes out of the package.

But a lot of these things are software too. In the early days of the system there will be unstable software, and even in the later days. Software will have bugs and it will crash. And this may drive a lot of users crazy, who wants to power off and back on and launch it again, when so simple an option exists as to have a background process running to catch program crashes and return you to a menu. This could be a feature that can be turned off, if it becomes a serious performance issue, which is very unlikely with such a powerful chipset as is being discussed.

Some other things.... for users of emulators it would drive lots of people crazy that their interface is nonstandard and so are the button assignments. Here is a idea... how about if developers can use a common series of globally set values for button assignments in their applications. These can be set in a system 'control panel' so to speak, along with other settings like to turn the 'crash catching' process on or off. the machine is obviously meant to work more like a multipurpose PDA-like device than just a pure game console you put a game in, turn on, and turn the unit off to stop playing, so this makes sense anyway. Being able to operate the device in a multitasking environment would be welcome anyway and some fault tolerance for crashed processes is a critical aspect of that. Same for being able to return to the menu without shutting the unit down.

As a developer I would consider one of the most important aspect to be able to start developing for the unit right out of the box, and that means provided development tools, an IDE, compiler/linker, libraries/headers needed. While Paeryn's hardware-accelerated SDL Lib was nice to have it is something that should have been provided from the makers/distributors of the GP2X in the first place, and such should be the case with this new handheld. Same for an easy set of libraries to get at the OpenGL API, use OpenGL contexts w/in SDL apps, so on and so forth. Developers who want to work at the lower hardware level just need proper documentation available to them so there are no 'secrets' in the hardware. And as someone who wanted to develop for the GP2X from the start I can say that if I buy one, I want to be able to bang out some software in SDL and see what it is capable of and not have to worry about "is someone in the community, unrelated to the company making the handheld, going to come out with software that lets me do that?" an open handheld needs a proactive company standing behind it, empowering developers from day one.

Just some ideas I hope are well received.... sorry for the length of my post.

edit: double post...... in one post! awesome!

 

[Yuglooc]

Great points, and way to doublepost in a single post ;P

 

[predatorramboxxx]

Great points, and way to doublepost in a single post ;P

how cool if it had built in flash memory of like 4gig or an actual hard drive

 

[cappuchok]

the analog control and especially the screen look good (for both 16:10 and 4:3 modes! really love it!). i was slightly disappointed by the analog control being flat like the PSP's. but i guess it will have to be an improvement (the PSP's thing slips and can't be used as a button either).

someone mentioned a battery-backed RTC. that's a really good idea if you want to give it some palmtop functionality. i recommend using a type with an exchangeable battery, not the things you have to solder (!) when they run out. my atari falcon has one of these (ok, it lasted for twelve years but still.. now i gotta do soldering, bah..)

overall, i'm damn excited, although i'll be using the F-200 in the meanwhile. i guess we'll have to wait till 2008 to see the first prototypes of the craiginator.

my 2 cents

Personally I think it goes without saying, that in a modern handheld with a battery-backed RTC, this (and also any other non-volatile memory for settings and stuff) would be powered by an easily replaceable Lithium cell battery as has been the tradition in notebooks, desktop computers and handhelds for ages.

A battery-backed RTC would of course be of great benefit not only to enable PDA-like functions (a secondary trait, compared to gaming, but nevertheless it appears many users want it), but also potentially open up new possibilities for many homebrew games, and it would also be of great use for many emulators, in particular computer emulators like Amiga, Atari and Mac, but also emulation of other handhelds like GBC and GBA that used battery-backed RTC's in some games.

Personally I just recently bought my F-100 Mk2 and am very happy with it (as opposed to the cradle) so I'll probably give the F-200 a miss and wait for the Craiginator (which will hopefully do much better in the TV-out department and won't need a clunky cradle), but I'd encourage anyone with an older F-100 or new to the GP2X to pick up an F-200 while waiting for the "successor".

One thing I think would be great as an accessory though, would be a simple stand (possibly with a charger function) in which to place the device when it's not being used. I'd use this to enable use of the Craiginator as a streaming radio (Icecast or whatever) when I'm not playing games or using programs on it (the use of a charger stand would be good for A. making sure the device is charged, while B. making the device look like a cool media player with LCD display, as opposed to it just laying around on the desk with a random-looking bunch of cables attached to it). With the WiFi I'd be able to control the device over the network to change channels and things like that. That'd be fun, and look good too!

 

[efegea]

I agree with Stealth Bagel, it should have a control panel where you specify your desired controls. The control scheme is then saved into a text file on /etc and aplications, games and emulators should read it

 

[Squidge]

how cool if it had built in flash memory of like 4gig or an actual hard drive

Yeah, just what you want. A not easily replacable 4gig internal drive. What we could really do with is something removable, such as SD cards

 

[predatorramboxxx]

how cool if it had built in flash memory of like 4gig or an actual hard drive

Yeah, just what you want. A not easily replacable 4gig internal drive. What we could really do with is something removable, such as SD cards

you could do both
look how cheap the internal flash drives like on those mp4 players are.

 

[Alex.]

Cheap or not, you already have SD cards, so why increase the price of the unit for something redundant? Besides, flash memory has a limited life span, so it's better for a removable component to die rather than a built-in one.

 

[StealthBagel]

That brings me to another thing; on the gp2x you needed to edit text files and make configs, and use the right text editor as to insert the right kind of line breaks, and it was the biggest pain in the ass. Even the best developed emulators like Gngeo you still needed to do this, or install separate frontends.. it was the same to use gmenu and replace the horrible original GUI. The end user needs to be able to use this machine without being a linux guru or hacking around with configs on an SD card...... everything needs to be menu based wherever humanly possible. Otherwise it will be what the gp2x was and at the end of the day that's a toy for hardcore geeks, no widespread appeal and people telling less tech savvy friends not to buy one because they don't want to explain how to operate the thing and get actual useful software on it...

 

[Alex.]

And hence the nice community that formed around the GP2X

 

[prairiefire]

And hence the nice community that formed around the GP2X

I also want to restate these sentiments It's the community that makes the 2X special. And I think as long as Craig has the support of everyone here, it will be alright

 

[atomicthumbs]

Let's make sure that the AC adaptor is a standard plug shape and voltage and polarity and current.

I'm sick of having only on adapter that works with my GP2X (my battery charger/AC adaptor).

Also, making external battery packs and alternative methods of powering things would be awesome.

 

[pupnik]

Let's make sure that the AC adaptor is a standard plug shape and voltage and polarity and current.

I'm sick of having only on adapter that works with my GP2X (my battery charger/AC adaptor).

Also, making external battery packs and alternative methods of powering things would be awesome.

Another option is charging through USB. Mini or the new Microusb will be ubiquitous.

It's amusing to see people pissing themselves over a 5" 800x480 LCD when they have been available on the Nokia 770 for two years. They are the best displays though. Congrats for using them.

 

[Squidge]

That brings me to another thing; on the gp2x you needed to edit text files and make configs, and use the right text editor as to insert the right kind of line breaks, and it was the biggest pain in the ass. Even the best

That's upto each and every developer to implement themselves, it's not really something for the console itself. Your going to get that everywhere - if the developer is happy editing text files and configs, they are likely to spend more spend on the emulation code than writing a pretty gui. Later on in the emulators progress, someone else may come along and make a replacement frontend that bypasses the text file, and someone else may decide to package it all up together to make it all seemless.

That's the GP32X community spirit. Don't knock it.

 

[realyst]

I second the power-through-usb thing. It would also help localization, since we all know we all don't all share the same power widgets

But a 5V USB current is the same in London as in Halifax

 

[trooper]

The power via usb seems a good idea, But as long as you can turn off charging (via a menu that pops up on the devices screen when you connect it) just like my nokia N73, So that the poor battery is not constantly being charged, Thus killing the battery when i don`t what it to.

Trooper

 

[sam fisher]

I second the power-through-usb thing. It would also help localization, since we all know we all don't all share the same power widgets

But a 5V USB current is the same in London as in Halifax

Its not the current that matters, not in the slightest. It's the voltage that matters. But never mind that, USB has a far to low current through put to charge this at any acceptable speed.