Project Ninja

[junker]

is that an nvidia gpu chip or something?

and squidge, aren't those the microdrives?

 

[Squidge]

Yes, it's a Micro-drive, but it's got a USB 2.0 connection, available with 2gb or 4gb of storage, it's less than 1-inch in diameter, and weighs in at less than an ounce

"The drive will be made available through retail locations in mid-July at a price of $159 USD. The 4GB version will retail for $189 USD."

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Imation_Sh...rive/1119972995

 

[x68000]

if all these 'dream' components get added to the ninja, the bloody thing is gonna cost over £400-500!!

What kind of timescale are you guys working on to get a prototype up and running? could it be this year?

 

[DemonStar55]

Yes, it's a Micro-drive, but it's got a USB 2.0 connection, available with 2gb or 4gb of storage, it's less than 1-inch in diameter, and weighs in at less than an ounce

"The drive will be made available through retail locations in mid-July at a price of $159 USD. The 4GB version will retail for $189 USD."

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Imation_Sh...rive/1119972995

​

would it be too expensive to add a spot to add this?

EDIT: so we can buy it our selves and put it in

 

[Fishbong]

search "goforce" too in nowcomponents.com you will receive a surprise.

​

Normally, when you put a 3D chip on an embedded platform (such as the PSP), you talk either via a thin library to make things easier, or you talk directly to the chip (if the console manufacturer allows it, which is a plain "no" for modern consoles such as the Zodiac, Gizmondo, PSP, etc as they use chips which require NDA's...).

Since you need to sign an NDA to get the information on how to talk to chips such as the NVidia Goforce, someone would have to write a closed (binary only, no source available) 3D function library for it, or not sign the NDA and reverse engineer the chip to find out how it works, and I'm sure no one is going to agree to that for an open source console.

This is all in addition to the fact that asking for a 100 of the above will just get us laughed at. You may be able to purchase 10 for an initial sample order, but they'll be expecting your second order to be in the thousands.

​

Even if they would sell us a small amount, would we get the 3D libraries?

 

[DaveC]

Yes, it's a Micro-drive, but it's got a USB 2.0 connection, available with 2gb or 4gb of storage, it's less than 1-inch in diameter, and weighs in at less than an ounce

"The drive will be made available through retail locations in mid-July at a price of $159 USD. The 4GB version will retail for $189 USD."

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Imation_Sh...rive/1119972995

​

What would be the advantage? HDDs use more power (small motor constantly running), and are succeptable to shock, and slower. There are CF cards that are up to 4 gig, use much less power to read, have no moving parts, and are faster. I guess that drive is cheaper though. I think solid state flash media is still the best for a handheld.

 

[junker]

yeah, i have to agree. hdds wouldn't be a good idea for a handheld system. there are micro-drives that plug in to a CF slot though, right?
too bad this handheld won't have support for CF. what's the reason for that, by the way?

and projected date for prototype maybe?

thanks

 

[Squidge]

I imagine the reason for no CF is simply due to the fact that: CF cards are wayyy too big, and that there is no support for them in the chipset we are currently using, so everything would have to be done in software.

SD cards are a hell of a lot smaller, and support for them is integrated into the cpu

 

[x68000]

whilst i was in the usa the other week i bought two sandisk ultra II 1gb sd cards for only $70 each from costco - thats about £40 each. With quality sd cards available so cheaply and being as portable as they are, it would be totally unnecessary to need a microdrive or alternative flash memory. When you think about it, its staggering how many roms you can fit on your good old 128mb sm cards! obviously, newer mame and neo geo roms will eat up a lot more of your card, but sd is the future right now with 2gb already out and getting cheaper by the day.

 

[Jarska333]

Yes, it's a Micro-drive, but it's got a USB 2.0 connection, available with 2gb or 4gb of storage, it's less than 1-inch in diameter, and weighs in at less than an ounce

"The drive will be made available through retail locations in mid-July at a price of $159 USD. The 4GB version will retail for $189 USD."

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Imation_Sh...rive/1119972995

​

What would be the advantage? HDDs use more power (small motor constantly running), and are succeptable to shock, and slower. There are CF cards that are up to 4 gig, use much less power to read, have no moving parts, and are faster. I guess that drive is cheaper though. I think solid state flash media is still the best for a handheld.

​

Hum, I'm thinking those 4GB CF's are microdrives.

 

[trooper]

Yes, it's a Micro-drive, but it's got a USB 2.0 connection, available with 2gb or 4gb of storage, it's less than 1-inch in diameter, and weighs in at less than an ounce

"The drive will be made available through retail locations in mid-July at a price of $159 USD. The 4GB version will retail for $189 USD."

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Imation_Sh...rive/1119972995

​

What would be the advantage? HDDs use more power (small motor constantly running), and are succeptable to shock, and slower. There are CF cards that are up to 4 gig, use much less power to read, have no moving parts, and are faster. I guess that drive is cheaper though. I think solid state flash media is still the best for a handheld.

​

Hum, I'm thinking those 4GB CF's are microdrives.

​

Nope, They are CF type 1 flash based cards, So are the 8 gig cards too. But drive based CF cards do suck a great deal of power when compared to flash based ones, So much so, That i puchased a type 1 CF card and don`t use my Macicstor CF type 2 card any more.

Trooper

 

[greven]

just some questions :

-do you have a idea of the release date of a prototype ?
-will this console has GBA emulation ?

 

[Squidge]

-do you have a idea of the release date of a prototype ?

I think the answer to this one will be "When it's done"

-will this console has GBA emulation ?

Most likely, the GP32 has GBA emulation, and so does most other consoles, so I don't see why not. No one can estimate the speed at the moment though, so don't ask about that.

 

[junker]

whilst i was in the usa the other week i bought two sandisk ultra II 1gb sd cards for only $70 each from costco - thats about £40 each. With quality sd cards available so cheaply and being as portable as they are, it would be totally unnecessary to need a microdrive or alternative flash memory. When you think about it, its staggering how many roms you can fit on your good old 128mb sm cards! obviously, newer mame and neo geo roms will eat up a lot more of your card, but sd is the future right now with 2gb already out and getting cheaper by the day.

​

yeah, i didn't realize sd cards are so cheap(er)! much better than bulky CF now that i think about it.

 

[greven]

ok that's what i though about GBA emulation.
Do you think if there is a port of Quake it will run at full speed with sound ?
I know it has already been discuss but a touchscreen would be great. Take the DS for exemple, games like Wario were Touched are easy enough (i think) to do (the animation are quite simple, the sound too....) and it is a fun game. With a touchscreen dev will be able to do games like that, and it will be usefull for game port like SCUMM...
That's all.

 

[EvilDragon]

Looking at the specs, I'm sure it will run Quake at full speed.

 

[Jarska333]

How 'bout Half Life? (Not HL2, )

Not actually sure which is actually newer, Q or HL...

 

[finty]

Because that would be fun, I mean the source code is just all over the place, right?

 

[Squidge]

Yeah, a mouse or touchscreen is always useful, and since the former would be quite silly for a handheld...

 

[Fishbong]

http://ninja.gp32x.de/layout2.png

Only 32 MB of RAM?

I hope this design isn´t final...