Our New Machine, Pandora

[realyst]

though I agree it should probably be CGX, I have a soft spot for WTF

 

[mavsman4457]

Even if it is debian based we still can't just use .deb packages? That is a disappointment. So that means that most everything will have to be either compiled from source or ported? And am I right that we will be able to run some stuff without a port and just compiling it from source? That would be really nice if we could.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Even if it is debian based we still can't just use .deb packages? That is a disappointment. So that means that most everything will have to be either compiled from source or ported? And am I right that we will be able to run some stuff without a port and just compiling it from source? That would be really nice if we could.

Nooo, there are ARM packages for just about everything in Debian. If it does run on Debian, we can install any Debian package we want. (Most of them are the same as Ubuntu packages).

And if it doesn't work, it's powerful enough to compile stuff itself.

 

[Vorporeal]

Even if it is debian based we still can't just use .deb packages? That is a disappointment. So that means that most everything will have to be either compiled from source or ported? And am I right that we will be able to run some stuff without a port and just compiling it from source? That would be really nice if we could.

Nooo, there are ARM packages for just about everything in Debian. If it does run on Debian, we can install any Debian package we want. (Most of them are the same as Ubuntu packages).

And if it doesn't work, it's powerful enough to compile stuff itself.


Gentoo rly?

 

[atomicthumbs]

Even if it is debian based we still can't just use .deb packages? That is a disappointment. So that means that most everything will have to be either compiled from source or ported? And am I right that we will be able to run some stuff without a port and just compiling it from source? That would be really nice if we could.

Nooo, there are ARM packages for just about everything in Debian. If it does run on Debian, we can install any Debian package we want. (Most of them are the same as Ubuntu packages).

And if it doesn't work, it's powerful enough to compile stuff itself.


Gentoo rly?


What? Gentoo has nothing to do with anything.

"Compiling" is not a Gentoo-only procedure, you know.

And why would anybody want Gentoo on their Craiginator? Who wants to wait?

 

[A_SN]

Please note that it most likely won't ship with Debian ARM, but rather a a la Open2X firmware. I don't see craig just being lazy and putting Debian on it, nor do I see him using Gmenu2x, but rather have a menu made internally by them, hopefully something much better than Gmenu2x (sorry Ryo but I just can't get used to it, and I'd find it awful if the new console shipped with such a menu)

 

[atomicthumbs]

Please note that it most likely won't ship with Debian ARM, but rather a a la Open2X firmware. I don't see craig just being lazy and putting Debian on it, nor do I see him using Gmenu2x, but rather have a menu made internally by them, hopefully something much better than Gmenu2x (sorry Ryo but I just can't get used to it, and I'd find it awful if the new console shipped with such a menu)

Ah, but a debian-compatible root file system structure would be nice. Instant, massive, software base!

 

[cappuchok]

A quick question for Craigix:

IIRC, it has so far been confirmed that this device will have
* TV-out with an included adapter
* High-speed USB-On-The-Go (USB 2.0 Host and Device compatible)

Does this mean that in order to use this device with a TV set and several gamepads, USB mass storage and whatnot, all that will be required is a powered USB hub and no other extra custom hardware like the GP2X cradle? Will an "USB-OTG" to "USB 2.0 Type A Female" adapter be included?

And on a related note, I'd just like to reiterate the need for a compatible TV-out for the European market (which seems to be the biggest market for these homebrew devices by far). S-video isn't accepted by many European TV sets or other TV-related equipment for that matter, as it was never considered a viable standard here in comparison to YCbCr and especially RGB-SCART. So I hope that the video signal format will be selectable to provide the best possible output for both Europe and other regions (of course this would also require a suitable custom connector on the device coupled with a range of adapters to the various required connectors).

 

[Julius]

Hmm what's wrong with those S-video to RGB-Scart adaptors?
(Really asking)

 

[Vimacs]

svideo over scart isn't widely supported aether,
RGB would be best, but that would need quite a few pins more....

Now that i think of it, many gfx cards have those svideo-ish connectors with quite a few extra pins and deliver rgb/component/s-video/composite over them, that would be ideal.
MAybe they could even use the same pinout so one could use the cheaply available cablewhips for gfx cards.

like those

That connector has 9 pins, but i think you could get that down to about 4-5 by just reusing some lines and switching modes in software.

 

[fusion_power]

Oh, theme "TV":
The new Handheld can be connected to TV, we know. But could we plug one of these small USB-Stick-TV Cards for Laptops on the Handheld? Are these devices supported by linux? Could be funny. Just watching TV on the Handheld, DVBT or just via Antenna Cable ^^

 

[b._.o._.b]

hopefully something much better than Gmenu2x (sorry Ryo but I just can't get used to it, and I'd find it awful if the new console shipped with such a menu)

This program is really community driven. A lot of comments and good ideas of the community are implemented by Ryo so I think you belong to a minority. Gmenu2x is imo the best thing happened to the GP2X. What is there not to like? Really.
The program should of course be rebuild and maybe from scratch for the touchscreen, and made usefull for the new machine. I think the best person to make the "perfect" menu for the new machine (and the F200) is Ryo.

 

[cappuchok]

Hmm what's wrong with those S-video to RGB-Scart adaptors?
(Really asking)

They're not converters. All they do is send the S-video signal onto two pins on the SCART connector (I've tested a fair number of them!), which is not supported by most SCART-equipped TV sets (in fact all that obey the "strict" SCART standard), resulting in only luma being picked up by the TV (hence resulting in a grayscale image). Luma is sent on the Composite video input, and Chroma is sent on the Blue input which the TV set does not accept (unless it supports non-standard "extensions" which most don't).
And even if they were converters, the quality would be far, far worse than native RGB (which is "arcade-accurate").

 

[Orkie]

Ah, but a debian-compatible root file system structure would be nice. Instant, massive, software base!

You mean like.... Open2x? Wow, what an awesome idea. Wish I'd thought of it!

 

[Squidge]

Does this mean that in order to use this device with a TV set and several gamepads, USB mass storage and whatnot, all that will be required is a powered USB hub and no other extra custom hardware like the GP2X cradle?

I don't see why the USB hub would be required unless you want several things connected... Gamepads don't usually require power and USB mass storage devices will probably be able to power themselves from the console anyway (unless of course it's something like a harddisk, then it'll most likely have an external power source anyway).

And on a related note, I'd just like to reiterate the need for a compatible TV-out for the European market (which seems to be the biggest market for these homebrew devices by far). S-video isn't accepted by many European TV sets or other TV-related equipment for that matter, as it was never considered a viable standard here in

That's no problem, just use composite instead

 

[atomicthumbs]

Ah, but a debian-compatible root file system structure would be nice. Instant, massive, software base!

You mean like.... Open2x? Wow, what an awesome idea. Wish I'd thought of it!


So open2x is Debian-derived?

Cool, I didn't know that.

 

[Orkie]

No, but it is mostly compatible. The GPH firmware would be too if they used up to date libraries .

 

[cappuchok]

Does this mean that in order to use this device with a TV set and several gamepads, USB mass storage and whatnot, all that will be required is a powered USB hub and no other extra custom hardware like the GP2X cradle?

I don't see why the USB hub would be required unless you want several things connected... Gamepads don't usually require power and USB mass storage devices will probably be able to power themselves from the console anyway (unless of course it's something like a harddisk, then it'll most likely have an external power source anyway).

Didn't my post say "several gamepads"? One accessory at a time would only require a USB-OTG to regular USB adapter (or no adapter if the accessory is also USB-OTG), though. But my intention with the USB hub is of course to let the device act as a computer or console (or a GP2X+cradle), with multiple input devices and external storage... (but maybe I didn't phrase my post clearly enough).

And on a related note, I'd just like to reiterate the need for a compatible TV-out for the European market (which seems to be the biggest market for these homebrew devices by far). S-video isn't accepted by many European TV sets or other TV-related equipment for that matter, as it was never considered a viable standard here in

That's no problem, just use composite instead

IMHO, that's the last resort as far as European TV sets are concerned. Workable, but not pretty. If RGB is possible, it would be far superior and for the American market the same pins could be configured in software to output YPbPr instead, perhaps alongside a regular composite signal (like most SCART devices do) for compatibility on all TV sets.

 

[moxie]

That's no problem, just use composite instead

For ultimate retro - An RF-modulator-box, set to UHF channel 36 :lol:

 

[Squidge]

Didn't my post say "several gamepads"? One accessory at a time would only require a USB-OTG to regular USB adapter (or no adapter if the accessory is also USB-OTG), though. But my intention with the USB hub is of course to let the device act as a computer or console (or a GP2X+cradle), with multiple input devices and external storage... (but maybe I didn't phrase my post clearly enough).

Fair enough, but before going out and buying hubs, I guess we should see how many usb ports this thing gets - if it ends up supporting 2 or more, then you wouldn't need a hub even for "several gamepads" But I'm just guessing here of course.