Project Ninja

[Jaw]

the 68k is huge! the board would have to be about 3 layers then!
plus, robbing them out of megadrives will not work as the ones in megadrive have such low clockspeed, it would be pointless sticking one in as it would not run the arcade boards on the same processor. IIRC the megadrive runs 68k@8mhz and the system 16 arcade board runs 68k@12mhz. i might be wrong on the specs, but the megadrive cpu is deffo slower, as it was not fast enough to replace the dead CPU in an ESWAT arcade board

 

[junker]

the more i think about it, the more a six button saturn style layout makes sense! also, the d-pad of the saturn gamepad is PERFECT. that's what would make this great, six buttons along with the shoulder pads!(not counting start/select).

 

[x68000]

the original japanese saturn gamepad is in my opinion the best pad ever created!

again people are losing track regarding the point of this project. So what really are the benefits of a costly clamshell design along with touch screens and wifi. for what this system is trying to achieve these would purely be expensive gimmicks.
Look through the histiry of videogame systems, every time there has been a new one released the manufacturer always promises add on devices which either never materialise or come out years later only to a luke warm reception.

lets keep this thing simple and make it perform the tasks we all so want it to do. Solid, achievable emulation and home brew.

PSP's are great, but the screen is crap for emulated older systems and protected to the point that sony will forever keep trying to force update the firmware through inserting new games into it or they might even start 'wifi'ing updated firmware through your own network at home on the sly. Sony have been likened to 'big brother' in the past so god knows what they are capable of. A system designed especially for the homebrew scene will never have such headaches.

 

[Squidge]

I don't know why people keep comparing a machine built for homebrew and a machine built for commercial games in such strange ways.

The Ninja will be able to play homebrew *only*, it will not have any commercial games whatsoever, apart from those that run under emulation. You'll never have a problem running homebrew on it, as that's all it's made for.

Likewise, if you take a PSP with suitable firmware (and buying an American PSP at the moment is pretty much guaranteed to get you a 1.50 for some time yet), and then decide to use it for homebrew only (just like the Ninja), then there's no way in hell that Sony is going to take this capability away from you. If you buy a commercial game that updates your firmware, then it's certainly not being used as a 100% homebrew system, and then can not be compared to homebrew consoles such as the Ninja.

However, the Gizmondo (despite the stupid name) is looking more and more like a decent platform. It already takes SD cards, has a powerful Samsung 400Mhz ARM9, plenty of ram, and plenty of gadgets to play with. It just needs hacking to provide homebrew support, and we are pretty much sorted. I certainly wouldn't mind buying one for emulation.

 

[x68000]

deciding to use a psp for homebrew only is fine in principle, but there will be one commercial game you are going to want to buy at some time or another which is going to compromise the psp to the point of having one system for homebrew and one for commercial games - not ideal.

The fact remains though, that if the gizmondo does get cracked, will their be any need for a similarly specced system which will be manufactured in tiny numbers next to a mass produced and therefore probably more reliable system? Could prove difficult for the ninja to compete.

 

[Squidge]

Personally, having a closed source system gives devs much more to get there teeth into, as they constantly wonder what the machine is capable of and are always trying new tricks and techniques. Having everything laid out in front of you can give you a "lets see how fast we can make it", but can also give you a "there's nothing to discover, so this is more of a chore, than being enjoyable".

The first is what is currently driving the PSP homebrew community - people are trying to see what the PSP is capable of, and they have still only tapped into about 5% of whats available.

but there will be one commercial game you are going to want to buy at some time or another which is going to compromise the psp to the point of having one system for homebrew and one for commercial games - not ideal.

True, but then you must admit that the PSP is then no longer a homebrew system, but a commercial gaming system which *may* come with the possibility of playing homebrew, so it's clearly no longer a valid comparison to a Ninja, which will not have any commercial games whatsoever.

The fact remains though, that if the gizmondo does get cracked, will their be any need for a similarly specced system which will be manufactured in tiny numbers next to a mass produced and therefore probably more reliable system? Could prove difficult for the ninja to compete.

Yup, and don't forget, things mass produced are normally a lot cheaper than items which are produced in much smaller numbers. For example, do you think we could produce a homebrew system with similar specifications to the Gizmondo (Bluetooth, gps, 400Mhz, 64Mb, SD, etc) for £130? I very much doubt it.

 

[LHC]

Personally, having a closed source system gives devs much more to get there teeth into, as they constantly wonder what the machine is capable of and are always trying new tricks and techniques. Having everything laid out in front of you can give you a "lets see how fast we can make it", but can also give you a "there's nothing to discover, so this is more of a chore, than being enjoyable".

The first is what is currently driving the PSP homebrew community - people are trying to see what the PSP is capable of, and they have still only tapped into about 5% of whats available.

​

I agree, but on the other hand, this could considered a drawback. Maybe not for coders; I don't know. I don't/can't code so I'm not sure of the joys of intricacies or whatever.

Personally though I imagine I'd prefer to simply be able to know what I can do, so that I can do it to it's maximum potential.

 

[Squidge]

Surely though you would enjoy it much more if you wrote an app, and then could improve it over time as you learnt more, rather than write it once, and then never bother updating it again as there's nothing else to learn?

 

[x68000]

so the future of the ninja may boil down to whether or not the gizmondo's firmware is cracked in a reasonable time.

I take it the chances of them cracking this must be slim otherwise i doubt you would be considering building your own handheld.

 

[LHC]

Surely though you would enjoy it much more if you wrote an app, and then could improve it over time as you learnt more, rather than write it once, and then never bother updating it again as there's nothing else to learn?

​

Well I could still improve it with new features or whatever, but I would just prefer to be taking advantage of all the power straight away.

 

[junker]

I agree with LHC on that one. taking advantage of all the power right away, instead of updating a single app for a long time is the better option.

 

[Blah]

With an open-source system, instead of spending time "finding out what we can do" (hacking), you are honing your skills instead, without the headache of hacking, sounds like a better option to me.

 

[boubou]

Hey, can you help me answering a question?

How i can get the processor? i tried to find it in google but the bastard does nothing! argggg!
It´s very hard to find a processor it´s in the hands of evil corporations...

Can you help me, please?

 

[Squidge]

No hacking? Sounds boring and uninteresting to me. Then again, I do come from a reverse engineering background, and also do that for my job, so that could explain it.

Maybe the Giz is more for me than the Ninja, as it's less well documented (! )

 

[sir diggy]

Some guy over at the Gizmondo forums claims he has cracked it.
http://www.gizmondoforums.com/forums/index...?showtopic=1828

Any truth to this?


In a different post he claims:

"Also, just for the record, the Gizmondo protection is virtually identical to another existing protection, which has been cracked. So, it was very easy to crack the Gizmondo.

I want to see the Gizmondo do well, so I'm not telling the how-tos, but it has been done. "

What do you guys think he means? PSP protection?

 

[junker]

psp protection? hell no. probably another more common security standard.
damn giz and its small screen :angry:

 

[boubou]

Hi, I´ve found a company that sells the s3c2440x mcu.

Is this one: http://www.meritech.co.kr/eng/products/pro...view.php?num=14
bye!

 

[Squidge]

What do you think would be a good number for a first batch? I was thinking probably 100, until we have enough suitable (and working) prototypes.

 

[Jaw]

100 sounds about right for the first run

 

[boubou]

for the 3d acceleration we can use a s3 virge. it´s an intermediate solution.

Here is the page that sells it, you can found it with "search this page" of IE or mozilla:

http://www.nowcomponents.com/item1/page.cfm/2958