Our New Machine, Pandora

[Damume]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

The compatibility list says yes: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/comp_list.php?letter=C

 

[God Ginrai]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

C&C Red Alert is the reason I hope that DOSBox will run much better on the Craiginator than it did on the GP2X.

-God Ginrai

 

[Squidge]

No doubt it'll be tested one Craig gets some hardware to try it on.

 

[sam fisher]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

C&C Red Alert is the reason I hope that DOSBox will run much better on the Craiginator than it did on the GP2X.

-God Ginrai

Can't wait to play them. I've lost me old DOS versions of RA and C&C Also covert ops is gone too So many great DOS games!

Edit: Awesome, just found my two old star trek games work with DOSBox!

 

[Vorporeal]

Windows 95 or better, 90 MHz Pentium, 16 MB RAM, DirectX-compatible, 2x CD-ROM drive, 640x480 8-bit display.

Looking at the sys reqs for StarCraft, it's definitely possible that the Craiginator could play it through wine. I'm not an expert on hardware requirements for Wine, but if this thing is really as powerful as it seems to be, I'm sure it could emulate a 90MHz pentium without any trouble. Also, the resolution would work out pretty well.

 

[A_SN]

I was reading TI's page for the OMAP3430, and I noticed something, it can take 12 megapixel camera sensors and thus be a pretty good camera, plus since it has wifi you could basically take a picture and email it as soon, or even have webcam programs or what not.

Now I'm not suggesting to put a camera in every Craiginator, but to make 2 models of Craiginators, one with no camera, and one with a camera, with an extra cost, of course. Doing 2 such models is fine, companies do that all the time, and it's not like it'll cause a compatibility gap between the two or anything, and some people might love to have a camera in it, plus Nokia does it with its N800/N810. Oh well we'd have to see first if anyone would want a camera there.

Also, does anyone know when the OMAP3430 is supposed to go from 65 nm to 45 nm? If not soon enough Craig might want to update the Craiginator with that whenever that happens

Looking at the sys reqs for StarCraft, it's definitely possible that the Craiginator could play it through wine.

Wine, on a ARM platform... You lose 10 credibility points.

 

[gaterooze]

Now I'm not suggesting to put a camera in every Craiginator, but to make 2 models of Craiginators, one with no camera, and one with a camera, with an extra cost, of course. Doing 2 such models is fine, companies do that all the time, and it's not like it'll cause a compatibility gap between the two or anything, and some people might love to have a camera in it, plus Nokia does it with its N800/N810.

Sounds like a terrible waste of resources to develop a second model. Craig & Co are not Nokia.

GP tried to do a similar thing with the XGP and look how that turned out.

 

[A_SN]

Sounds like a terrible waste of resources to develop a second model. Craig & Co are not Nokia.

Maybe, maybe.. it might be interesting to probe the market for that tho, and by that I mean, ask people if they want it or if they couldn't care less. I mean we need a poll, I guess.

 

[A600]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

I don't think so. Even the xbox with the dosbox dynamic core can't run them very well so there is no way in hell the craignator with a dynamic core for ARM (that doesn't exists) runs them at playable speeds.

 

[MWeston]

Putting a camera module into something that doesn't take pictures as its primary function usually turns out bad (ie. almost every cellphone ever made!). Without out all the optical zooming capability, I personally couldn't be bothered and adding a 12MP module (or similar) with the mechanism to provide the zoom is expensive. Then there is the fact that we would have to find a place to put it on the unit! It would be cool to add that, Bluetooth, GPS, WiMAX,WiBro (depending on where they are sold), finger print recognition......... but then what we would have is another UMPC with similar price. I hope that isn't what the core users of the new system are really hoping for.


About the LCD: I think it will have problems in direct sunlight. I have never found a WVGA panel that uses transflective technology. They are all transmissive. If anyone has a link to one, please send it. Unfortunately, we are limited by what manufactures provide for us. Now, if we can sell 100 million units I bet we can get them to make whatever we want

 

[Nova]

Yeah, I'm not too keen on adding features for the sake of it.

Remember the device is to primarily be used for games.

 

[Ravnos]

Agreed. A camera is one of those "nice to have, unless I have to pay extra for it" things.

 

[goobers]

I was reading TI's page for the OMAP3430, and I noticed something, it can take 12 megapixel camera sensors and thus be a pretty good camera, plus since it has wifi you could basically take a picture and email it as soon, or even have webcam programs or what not.

Perhaps there could be a camera module that would plug into an expansion port on the device?

 

[PokeParadox]

I'm all for an expansion slot (or expandability by USB devices), but I kinda agree that not so many devices should be built-in... it will just push the price up, or means sacrifices will have to be made elsewhere.

 

[sam fisher]

Camera by USB?

 

[PoisonedV]

Motion sensor, or rumble! I love motion sensing, *thinks back to wario ware twisted, kirby tilt and tumble, and more*

 

[Vorporeal]

Wine, on a ARM platform... You lose 10 credibility points.

Whoops, good point. As I said, I'm not an expert.

Dunno why I thought Wine would work on ARM... :huh:

Now to get my credibility points back... <_<

 

[DaveC]

Putting a camera module into something that doesn't take pictures as its primary function usually turns out bad (ie. almost every cellphone ever made!). Without out all the optical zooming capability, I personally couldn't be bothered and adding a 12MP module (or similar) with the mechanism to provide the zoom is expensive. Then there is the fact that we would have to find a place to put it on the unit! It would be cool to add that, Bluetooth, GPS, WiMAX,WiBro (depending on where they are sold), finger print recognition......... but then what we would have is another UMPC with similar price. I hope that isn't what the core users of the new system are really hoping for.

About the LCD: I think it will have problems in direct sunlight. I have never found a WVGA panel that uses transflective technology. They are all transmissive. If anyone has a link to one, please send it. Unfortunately, we are limited by what manufactures provide for us. Now, if we can sell 100 million units I bet we can get them to make whatever we want



Yeah I think all of that crap is not that needed like camera etc. Not only is that stuff more expensive, but it will cause the PCB to be more complex requiring more assembly time and higher chance for failures/manufacturing defects/supply problems etc. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule here. It is already pretty complex with analog sticks, d-pad, wifi, keyboard etc. let's not push it.

Transmissive LCDs usually have better contrast/brightness/color saturation than transreflective right? Transmissive is fine to me if so.

 

[pupnik]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

I don't think so. Even the xbox with the dosbox dynamic core can't run them very well so there is no way in hell the craignator with a dynamic core for ARM (that doesn't exists) runs them at playable speeds.


With stock dosbox, simple cpu core, expect roughly 16-24mhz 80286 performance on OMAP3430.

For the computer emus, a builtin or external keyboard option would be nice (USB, IR if not bluetooth).

Of course a dynrec would give a nice boost. And there are probably a lot of areas where existing dosbox can be optimized for ARM. Is anybody interested in working on this for current GP2x?

Oh yeah, thanks to me and c2woody ARM VGA alignment patches for dosbox 0.7x just got implemented two days ago, so build it on gp2x and let me know how it runs for you. Seems to be a little better syncing/scheduling than 0.65/0.71..

 

[atomicthumbs]

Could DOSBox be used to run C&C1? I know nothing of Dosbox or what it emulates other than DOS

I don't think so. Even the xbox with the dosbox dynamic core can't run them very well so there is no way in hell the craignator with a dynamic core for ARM (that doesn't exists) runs them at playable speeds.


With stock dosbox, simple cpu core, expect roughly 16-24mhz 80286 performance on OMAP3430.

For the computer emus, a builtin or external keyboard option would be nice (USB, IR if not bluetooth).

Of course a dynrec would give a nice boost. And there are probably a lot of areas where existing dosbox can be optimized for ARM. Is anybody interested in working on this for current GP2x?

Oh yeah, thanks to me and c2woody ARM VGA alignment patches for dosbox 0.7x just got implemented two days ago, so build it on gp2x and let me know how it runs for you. Seems to be a little better syncing/scheduling than 0.65/0.71..


Zodttd is going to be working on the dynarec for DOSbox. He's worked on the dynarec for gpSP2X and the playstation emulator.

And the Craiginator will have an internal keyboard. See the wiki. See my sig.