Project Ninja

[mr.mirko]

Things that cost next to nothing to implement should be implemented, simply because it would create a wider target audience, and thus would most likely help to sell more of these. Also, a wider audience means the possibility of a broader range of software. It would be nice to be able to use the same machine to keep your todo list and appointments etc.

Now, since we are going to try and emulate as many machines as possible with this console, it would help a lot if we could incorporate something that could easily emulate the ic's from old machines, and leave the main processor for other tasks. The best thing for this would be some type of FPGA - they can be used to emulate almost any existing digital chip - for example, a Z80, NES or SNES GPU or SPU, etc.

Just imagine doing snes emulation with the GPU in hardware

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Sounds great, but, design would explode, have a look at the C=one mainboard, its not really a small thing, and does not support a fast main cpu. I think its great, but not possible. There are some arm11 cpus, with dsp support included, but this chips lack all other features we need (like lcd controller ) ...
I thing, to have success, we need a simple/fast and cheap design.

 

[Squidge]

I agree, an FPGA would give so many more possibilities, but there are not many people that can actually code for them (you have to think in logic where multiple things can run in parallel, rather then a software program that runs sequentially), and the additional complexity could cause some problems.

Keep it simple for now, we can always design one later on for the 624Mhz NinjaMk2

As a suggestion, I would try and update the webpage as often as possible to keep people interested (say once per week).

 

[moz]

why not have a native z80 processor ?have a slot where you could buy "processor" cards from gbax and slot it in? just the chip costs about $3

 

[Fire_Blade]

It would be nice to be able to use the same machine to keep your todo list and appointments etc.

You will need a clock that keeps running even when you turn it of then, to bad the GP32 hasn't got one

 

[xboxit]

This machine is sounding really cool. The moment I see that this has become reality it will be added to the top of my to get list.

 

[Jarska333]

Any thoughts on the physical dimensions and design? Clamshell? (Some sort of protection is a must!)

Or do we just use the WWII GI way to protect their Garands from mud and dirt?

 

[Squidge]

It would be nice to be able to use the same machine to keep your todo list and appointments etc.

You will need a clock that keeps running even when you turn it of then, to bad the GP32 hasn't got one

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It would take about $2 to add one, all you need is a simple coin cell, the rest is built into the samsung ic.

 

[lek]

I've always loved the Neo Geo Pocket's design and shape. Obviously it has a square screen though and such a design might not accommodate a rectangular screen very well.

Case design isn't too important at the moment anyway, it all depends on the size of the PCB and also how buttons, etc are placed and mounted. Things which could alter many times during development.

 

[EvilDragon]

as stated before, no, its not possible, you need either hardware or software scaleing wich booth look ugly, i think 320*240 would be enugh again, maybe a 300ish res, but 640*480 is way to much, it would cost more, drain more power, and will only be better for some apps, while nearly all emus would be worse and need scaleing for it.

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It wouldn't look ugly - because you simply have to double the pixels.
It only looks ugly if you have a scale factor of x.x, not if you have a simple 2x, 3x, 4x, etc. scale factor.

It wouldn't need much processor power to be calculated - simply draw every pixel twice instead of once, and that's it.

Though I also think 320x240 should be enough.
Only homebrew games could look better with a higher res.

 

[DaveC]

No problem, just saying I don't see any point to it.

edit: and as for price, I meant cost of the whole unit vs cost of a watch, not a RTC+cap

edit2: I would only see the point in RTC if it was going to have any sort of wireless internet capabilities. And for a homebrew, I don't think many people would take advantage of that even if it did. Not in any serious way anyway.

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A capacitor wouldn't power the clock for more than a few minutes. They are good to keep power in the unit long enough to change batteries not much more.

 

[DaveC]

NO custom batteries.  When the battery goes so does the usefulness of the system.  Use STANDARD batteries that can be purchased anywhere.

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What do you mean by "Standard"? Standard is any battery you can pick up in a supermarket, the most popular of them being the mignon (or AA) cell.
If you really hope to use those, please keep in mind that they may deliver enough voltage, but a high current drain (as required for a fast processor and big backlit screen) will speed up the chemical processes inside the batterys in a way that destroys them, so they could only deliver a part of their max. charge.
The common guideline says that a "Standard" battery can only drained with one tenth of its max. capacity per hour, or else the battery will deliver only a part of its charge (because of the speeded up chemical processes).
That´s why PDA manufacturers use "Custom" batterys, which can handle a high current drain.
And as you have pointed out before (in one of those Zodiac threads), even "custom" batterys can be replaced, so what´s your problem?

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If you use NiMH batteries they drain almost to the max. The thing you speak of is characteristic of alkalines. When My IC-3 NiMH batteries go in my GP32 they have enough power left only to power a nonlit GBA for 5 minutes. That is pretty good. If you read the other thread about the battery in the zodiac, past the fanboi comments that make it sound like you can just go to a supermarket to get a replacement, you will see that it is NOT that easy. These types of batteries have all kinds of circuitry to monitor the charging and are hard to find direct replacements for. Since you can't count on the makers of this new system to be around to support it forever you have to choose something that is easily obtainable and wont be discontinued in a year or two.

Having removable standard batteries are great for when you are on the road and not near a charger. You can just have a few sets charged and swap them out when needed.

 

[DaveC]

...
I'm still on the fence about the aspect ratio that would be best for the device. Just so the vertical resolution is at least 240, I would have to go with the 16:9. A 16:9 touch screen though... pricey?

Oh, and how about calling it the GBAX FreeStyle?

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I don't know why you are insisting on 16:9. What would be the advantage? I can only see a disadvantage for emulation. Do you want everything stretched to a weird aspect? Or have black bars on everything which would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place? That would look like absolute shit. Makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Vimacs]

hm addon fpu's arent very expensive

Overview
The uM-FPU V2 floating point coprocessor is easily interfaced with virtually any microcontroller to provide support for 32-bit IEEE 754 compatible floating point and 32-bit long integer calculations. It can be connected using either an I2C or SPI compatible interface. The uM-FPU uses an internal oscillator and requires no external components. It is available in an 8-pin DIP or SSOP-20 SMT package.

Suggested Retail Price: $14.95 USD

http://www.micromegacorp.com/umfpu-v2.html

what dio you think, would it be a good idear to add a chip like that?

Simple things/gimmiks that should definality be in couse they cost next to nothing and provide additional possibilitys:
Cap or battery to backup the rtc = 0,5$ max
Cheap microphone = ~0,5$
Tempreture sensor = ~1$
Infrared/IRDA, support allready in chip = ~3$

Also dont forgett to connect the battery to one of the ain ports so we can mesure the battery. = 0$

Things that would be nice to have:
FPU = ~15$

 

[reaper79]

...
I'm still on the fence about the aspect ratio that would be best for the device. Just so the vertical resolution is at least 240, I would have to go with the 16:9.  A 16:9 touch screen though... pricey?

Oh, and how about calling it the GBAX FreeStyle?

​

I don't know why you are insisting on 16:9. What would be the advantage? I can only see a disadvantage for emulation. Do you want everything stretched to a weird aspect? Or have black bars on everything which would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place? That would look like absolute shit. Makes absolutely no sense.

​

Concerning Ninja32:

I have to agree, 16:9 offers absolutely nothing as far as emulation is concerned. Unless someone gets a PSP emulator running (not happening ever), it's simply more cost for the LCD, more power drain for essentially unused pixels, and extra back lighting.

16:9's only possible use would be for new homebrew, which will probably be the lifesaver to keep this project afloat. It will be a lot of work porting existing emulators (those with available source codes) over to this unit, not to mention many devs have their attention drawn to other handhelds at the moment, and probably very few new emulators will come out (for GP32 or Ninja32). An emulator would certainly be programmed for a devs personal reasons, not because he wants to please the writhing mass of 150 who may acutally buy this.

As for everyone who wants to add a battery here, a head phone jack here, A/V in or out there, "and it only costs a couple of bucks", you have to realize that you have to multiply that number times the amount of units that will be made in the first run. $2.50 for a battery, $1.50 for a headphone jack, $10 more for touch screen, times 1000 units, you would need an extra $14,000 dollars for the first production run (this is all an example). Add wifi or lan, added expenses for lith-ion battery, make it 16:9, 128mb of ram and other various slots, suddently this will be 50-75 dollars more expensive, plus double the design headache. Yes, yes, pre orders can help negate this, but how many will preorder? 10%? This stuff can be added later after the initial run.

Cheers!

P.S. D-pad all the way.

 

[lek]

A cool looking FPU chip

That actually looks pretty good to me! I'm no expert though; would this provide a nice floating-point boost and complement the S3C2440 well?

Seems very cheap and interfaces via I2C or SPI too, so I don't see any problems in getting it to work...?

Edit: Just not sure if this would make much difference in computing power...don't know whether it operates quickly enough to make it worth using alongside the S3C2440?

 

[greven]

How much will cost a wifi support ? this is just a question, i don't ask (now) for a wifi support ..... About the IRDA, if u have a cell phone whoch has IRDA, that means that both can "communicate" ? (it works wit PC i know but there are drivers, software...)

 

[Vimacs]

wifi would be cost at least 40$ it would of course be cool, but its jsut to expensive, irda is cheap and we have allready support for it, and yes writing a driver for it to comunicate with cellphone modems shouldnt be very hard.

good question lek, well, just try, it can even easyly added to the gp32 to test.

 

[moz]

...
I'm still on the fence about the aspect ratio that would be best for the device. Just so the vertical resolution is at least 240, I would have to go with the 16:9. A 16:9 touch screen though... pricey?

Oh, and how about calling it the GBAX FreeStyle?

​

I don't know why you are insisting on 16:9. What would be the advantage? I can only see a disadvantage for emulation. Do you want everything stretched to a weird aspect? Or have black bars on everything which would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place? That would look like absolute shit. Makes absolutely no sense.

​

16:9 for playback of movies?

 

[moz]

...
I'm still on the fence about the aspect ratio that would be best for the device. Just so the vertical resolution is at least 240, I would have to go with the 16:9. A 16:9 touch screen though... pricey?

Oh, and how about calling it the GBAX FreeStyle?

​

I don't know why you are insisting on 16:9. What would be the advantage? I can only see a disadvantage for emulation. Do you want everything stretched to a weird aspect? Or have black bars on everything which would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place? That would look like absolute shit. Makes absolutely no sense.

​

woot x2 post

 

[Squidge]

hm addon fpu's arent very expensive
The uM-FPU V2 floating point coprocessor is easily interfaced with virtually any

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# I2C compatible interface up to 400 kHz
# SPI compatible interface up to 4 Mhz

Nice chip, but I fear that with a 4Mhz serial bus, a 400Mhz ARM9 is just going to be waiting around for the results, so may as well just do it itself, as it'll probably be quicker.

I think the uM-FPU V2 is meant more for 8-bit Microcontrollers such as the Microchip PIC and the BasicStamp's, which is why it also contains 32-bit maths functions.