Should I Get A Dingoo For Mega-drive Emulation?

[conso]

Hi! Me and my nephew are big mega-drive(genesis) fans. I've got a huge library of original mega-drive cartidges and the console is still connected to my TV. When I first read of the dingoo, I read that mega-drive emulation is suboptimal, but better emulators are to come in the future. My thought was to remember the dingoo for my nephews birthday in October and see how mega-drive emulation evolved till then. I then wanted to put some money together with my cousin or grandma and give him a dingoo for bithday. For myself, I've preordered a pandora on day one and am currently pretty fed up with waiting for it. So, I rethink my plan and consider buying a dingoo for myself as a filler till I get my pandora. Hopefully that would be before his birthday, but otherwise I would just live with not having a console for that time.

Would you tell me to buy a dingoo right now, or should I wait till the emulator gets better (or picodrive gets ported)?

 

[satanic virus]

Dual booting (i.e original os & linux) is literally hours/ days away - is already up and running this week, and awaiting a few tweaks before release. Once this happens, I think we will get loads of quality emulatord including mega drive. I'd say get one now if you can - prices seem to be starting to creep up as they realise full potential is about to be unleashed!

 

[Drak]

From my experience nothing is really 'playable' on it except a few strategy games. With overclocking, Shining force 2 runs at almost fullspeed with auto-frameskip, however; there is massive screen tearing which makes it unenjoyable to play.

Outrun 2019 plays decently, but still it's not full speed. There is no screen tearing, so it's not unenjoyable.

Sonic and Knuckles + Sonic 3 is completely unplayable. Don't listen to what anyone has to say about that, autoskip, fs1, fs0, it's all the same. Way too slow to enjoy.

Basically the screen tearing makes a lot of games unenjoyable at this point. I'm sure once linux is out someone will do a quick port of pico and they'll run at pretty much fullspeed and get rid of that nasty tearing.

 

[conso]

Thanks for your replies, but now I'm even more confused ^^

quick port of picodrive? Isn't it supposed to use lots of arm-assembler? I forgot who is the genius behind picodrive (notaz?), but did anyone ask him if he is interested in the dingoo at all?

I'm not a big fan of the gba and the sonic-ports I tried didn't really feel like sonic for me, so genesis emulation is really crucial for me. Still wiz isn't a candidate, as it's to expensive for a dedicated birthday gift .

 

[satanic virus]

I am not sure if Notaz is interested in Dingoo, but i think Picodrive is opensource under GPL, which means the source code is available if someone else wants to port it.

The fact that a dual boot system (do not underestimate this!) is almost available shows how much interest and talent is working on Dingoo.

I actually think this whole dual boot thing is so close, if you can just wait a couple of days and see if it has happened. If so, the chances of excellent mega drive emulation are very good and likely to happen quickly.

I agree with Drak that the built in emulator is far from perfect which is why we need linux to be easily available!! If you are desperate to get portable mega drive emulation immediately, consider buying a PSP with CFW or a GP2X if you don't have them - picodrive is pretty much perfect on both

I'm sure there are other users here closer to the dev scene that will hopefully help you.

 

[conso]

hehe, didn't know picodrive was portet to the psp. That means it's way more portable then I assumed. I guess I'll buy a dingoo now

 

[satanic virus]

Picodrive is also on Gizmondo & Symbian devices too (N95 etc ..) <_<

Don't think you will regret the Dingoo!

hehe, didn't know picodrive was portet to the psp. That means it's way more portable then I assumed. I guess I'll buy a dingoo now

 

[euleberlin]

Just a quick note:
If you connect the Dingoo to a TV, the picture is normal, no distorted scanlines/tearing/whatever. I also think, that many games are very playable and close to fullspeed, with exceptions ofcourse, like Sonic 3 (laggs once in a sec). Sonic 1 and 2 play great though.

 

[pongplaya]

i have a gp2x and a dingoo.... what i dont play with dingoo is mega drive.... the emu suxx big time.... if you only want smd emulation then atm dingoo is not the choice ...on the other hand all other emu's on dingoo are quite good but buy it anyway its cheap

 

[Consequence_9]

Get one, you won't regret it =] By the time you get it there'll probably be a good genesis emu for linux & if not you'll have plenty to fiddle with while you wait for one. Genesis (cd/32x) is easily my favorite console as well & was one of the main selling points for me as well, and proper emulation isn't too far off. If you want to keep updated with the latest info on the dingoo visit/bookmark the site in my sig =]

 

[christo930]

Does this apply to the snes and gba as well? If the dingoo can't keep up with a sega genesis, how can it keep up with a snes or gba?

I wouldn't mind picking up one of these because I would like the idea of playing youtube files Does it play the new fli files?

Chris

 

[absolofdoom]

From my experience nothing is really 'playable' on it except a few strategy games. With overclocking, Shining force 2 runs at almost fullspeed with auto-frameskip, however; there is massive screen tearing which makes it unenjoyable to play.

Outrun 2019 plays decently, but still it's not full speed. There is no screen tearing, so it's not unenjoyable.

Sonic and Knuckles + Sonic 3 is completely unplayable. Don't listen to what anyone has to say about that, autoskip, fs1, fs0, it's all the same. Way too slow to enjoy.

Basically the screen tearing makes a lot of games unenjoyable at this point. I'm sure once linux is out someone will do a quick port of pico and they'll run at pretty much fullspeed and get rid of that nasty tearing. ;"]

Does this apply to the snes and gba as well? If the dingoo can't keep up with a sega genesis, how can it keep up with a snes or gba?

I wouldn't mind picking up one of these because I would like the idea of playing youtube files Does it play the new fli files?

Chris[/quote]No, it's not that the dingoo isn't able to "keep up" with the genesis, it's merely that the emulator is poorly written. The snes emulator is not that bad from what I've heard, but I haven't really used it much. The gba emulator is simply spectacular for the device, but this is only because they stole exophase's code, I believe.

 

[centrlink]

I have a dingoo (and a wiz) - megadrive is poor on dingoo, but it seems likely it will improve markedly.

GBA on dingoo is also quite overrated - before I got it, people were singing its praises - but I was quite disappointed to find that it runs at FS1 or FS2 on overclock. Wiz GBA is much better.

In fact, all is better on wiz except neogeo (we need an MVS emu converted to wiz and perhaps CPS. But wiz has a great version of MAME, which I have to say is utterly brilliant I sure hope slaaneesh is able to port an almost-as-good version to dingoo - I keep running out of battery power playing wiz MAME

Cheers
Simon

 

[fishybawb]

I was pleasantly surprised by the Megadrive emulator, I thought it'd be absolutely worthless from what I'd heard, but I've played Pirates for hours and it's perfect. There's some annoying screen tearing on fast paced stuff like Sonic and Streets Of Rage 2, but I don't find it bad enough to make anything unplayable.

Gameboy Advance Mario Kart needs FS1, but no overclocking to feel fullspeed, I don't play a lot of GBA games

 

[absolofdoom]

- megadrive is poor on dingoo, but it seems likely it will improve markedly.

GBA on dingoo is also quite overrated - before I got it, people were singing its praises - but I was quite disappointed to find that it runs at FS1 or FS2 on overclock. Wiz GBA is much better.

In fact, all is better on wiz except neogeo (we need an MVS emu converted to wiz and perhaps CPS. But wiz has a great version of MAME, which I have to say is utterly brilliant I sure hope slaaneesh is able to port an almost-as-good version to dingoo - I keep running out of battery power playing wiz MAME

Cheers
Simon

Well, obviously the wiz is better, but it's a hell of a lot more money. The point is, the gba emulator is really good for a device with the specs and price of the dingoo. Yes, it has to frameskip, but most games are fully playable and don't run with much slowdown.

 

[Polossatik]

I've got the dingo for the same reason as you - megadrive (also have a sh*t load of games -originals).

Like said, the current emulator is "useful" (but not great ) for a bunch of games but not for all (I don't hook up the dingo to my tv, that's where i have a megadrive for )

One thing you need to know is that the screen scratches very easily, so if you get it and you're taking it on the move (pockets and so), don't peal off the plastic cover/protector.
The good thing is that (minor) scratches don't show up when actually using the device.
But I can see it becoming a problem on the long run.

have fun,

 

[Kayday]

Well I finally decided to get a Dingoo while waiting for my Pandora after reading that linux is about a day or 2 away from release. It was between that and the Wiz and I can't justify paying $200 when I put a lot already towards the Pandora. So I think the Dingoo will compliment the Pandora nicely.

 

[PolloLoco]

Supposedly, if you add dual boot linux - it fixes the screen tearing in megadrive emulation. That's IN the original firmware. Booboo, who created dual boot linux - found and fixed an error with regards to screen refresh I believe.

 

[-Regii]

Supposedly, if you add dual boot linux - it fixes the screen tearing in megadrive emulation. That's IN the original firmware. Booboo, who created dual boot linux - found and fixed an error with regards to screen refresh I believe.

I'm not really into the flashing thing and such, but I'm still waiting for my Dingoo and wondering how this exactly works, does the Dual Boot not only enable Linux but also fix errors like this in the original firmware?

 

[PolloLoco]

Supposedly, if you add dual boot linux - it fixes the screen tearing in megadrive emulation. That's IN the original firmware. Booboo, who created dual boot linux - found and fixed an error with regards to screen refresh I believe.

I'm not really into the flashing thing and such, but I'm still waiting for my Dingoo and wondering how this exactly works, does the Dual Boot not only enable Linux but also fix errors like this in the original firmware?

That was the way it worked originally - but I don't think that's the case anymore with the current version of Dingux. I was unable to get improvement out of the native emulator once I installed the newest version of Dingux (FAT32).

That said, the point is now moot since today Pico Drive was released for Dingux - and it works great. I played many games, including two of the Sonics - and everything stayed above 58 frames per second. That said, I tried Comix Zone - and the on-screen reading cited around 40 fps. I don't think it was correct though, since the game still played fast and smooth.