Should I Wait?

[thegoonden]

Firstly, hi folks.
I only discovered the existence of the GP2X recently.

I am now somewhat itching to get one. I can see used FX100's at reasonable prices, but I'm wondering if waiting for the FX200 will get me anything other than a dpad and a touchscreen (such is the impression I get from reading)? And given I think black's a nicer colour, what would you suggest, grab a used one, or wait a couple of weeks for the FX200. Of course in waiting I could get all my bits and bobs straight from the distributors nice and new.

I've taken a pretty good look around the site, and had a decent glance at the fora, but details of the OS used elude me somehow. Is it a totally custom Linux, or a spinoff from a known distro? Can I log in to a shell and fiddle about (or just run apps from a command line not icons even). Just wondering really, I wont be heartbroken if I can't hack around. I know you can develop for the machine, but I can hardly program a washing machine :lol:

Appreciate any advice.

 

[hal9000]

Yeah, it's mainly the DPad and the touchscreen. The touchscreen will be nice for Atari and Amiga emulation, maybe for some homebrew games. And many people here really hate the F-100 Joypad, so buying a F-200 makes sense. Furthermore, the wait should not be too long, it should be available this month.

The distro is a custom Linux. You can run a shell on the GP2X itself, using a third-party program. You can also telnet your GP2X through the USB connexion.

 

[thegoonden]

Yeah, it's mainly the DPad and the touchscreen. The touchscreen will be nice for Atari and Amiga emulation, maybe for some homebrew games. And many people here really hate the F-100 Joypad, so buying a F-200 makes sense. Furthermore, the wait should not be too long, it should be available this month.

The distro is a custom Linux. You can run a shell on the GP2X itself, using a third-party program. You can also telnet your GP2X through the USB connexion.

Thank you oh son of Shrivasubrahmanian Chandrasegarampeli (my machines are called hal9000 sal9000 and (as I'm a fan of Factory Records) Fac9000).

Sounds like hanging on is the way to go really.
Hanging on and buying a tin of black paint.

 

[sparr]

bah @ black. white case is a perfect opportunity to get some really classy paint work done. i am thinking of taking the case to an airbrush artist friend of mine and having something interesting put on there.

 

[atomicthumbs]

↓

 

[hal9000]

Yes, before buying a F200, you have to know that there's a much more advanced machine (codename Craiginator), designed by some people of the community, which is suppose to come in some months. More info on the link provided in atomicthumbs signature (see above).

 

[Orkie]

More info on the link provided in atomicthumbs signature (see above).

Thanks for explaining that, some people actually have signatures disabled so the screen doesn't get cluttered with rubbish and I was wondering why he posted a huge arrow . I see atomicthumbs' falls into that category.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Signature? I have a signature?

I was pointing to the "Invision Power Board" thing!

 

[Cervante]

7 Main rules of owning a GP2X

-No quick battery chargers
-Batteries must be NiHM 2500+ Rechargeables
-AC adapter is a must have for firmware upgrade
-The official carrying case sucks
-Buy a new USB wire, the pre-packed one sucks
-SD card reader is a must have, the GP2X sucks as one

 

[thegoonden]

7 Main rules of owning a GP2X

-No quick battery chargers
-Batteries must be NiHM 2500+ Rechargeables
-AC adapter is a must have for firmware upgrade
-The official carrying case sucks
-Buy a new USB wire, the pre-packed one sucks
-SD card reader is a must have, the GP2X sucks as one

I'm aware that fast charger=wrecked batteries.
EDIT: how quick is bad though, my current charger manages 4 cells in 4 hours, will that be OK, as it doesn't sound like a fastcharger to me, you know, 15 mins and glowing batteries, one of those.

How long will 2500's last in typical use?

There are people daft enough to flash a computer while on a totally unreliable power source? yikes!

Good, ta for the warning, I was going to buy a case, despite the fact the device will almost certainly live naked in my inside coat pocket (assuming the screen's not so soft that pocket lining will scratch it).

My house has so many USB cables my girlfriend thinks I'm breeding them.

Hmmmm, the GP2x will be my first SD based device. Do you mean that it's pretty useless for those tasks SD cards and readers usually perform (ie using the GP2x AS your PC's card slot), or are you saying that even for, say, transfering a downloaded program to it from the PC would be a painful experience without a reader?


I'm about to go and perv over the craiginator site, maybe my best bet would be to grab an fx100 off ebay cheap, to keep me going until the new wunderkind box arrives? Does that sound reasonable?

BTW, I can barely draw a bath never mind a nice design on a white case. Besides, I like gadgets to looks like scifi props (I suppose in that respect, white is good). I think I have a stigma from growing up in the 70's and seeing everything made of white plastic turn a sickly shade of p*ss yellow I'm sure modern plastics fair better.

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[sand_man]

I flash my firmware without an AC adapter. I think some people are overly paranoid. Most of the time, 2x's are easy to unbrick anyway.
If you use fresh batteries you have nothing to worry about

 

[Game_over]

There is one huge difference that you obviously need to take in to account.

F-200 uses a SDHC slot


It's pretty much a higher capacity card that while the slot is backwards compatible with regular sd cards, once you actually use a SDHC card (4-8 GB 16 next month, 32 in january 64 end of 08 from what I've heard) you will need a SDHC card reader unless somehow (which I doubt) the f-200 is a damn good one as a card reader.

Why is this so important?

The SD assocoation has pretty much made this upgrade the same price to manuafactuer for all of it's subscribers (which makes this a free upgrade to the subscriber list) which means EVERYONE who produces ANY hardware with a SD slot ARE going SDHC/miniSDHC in there very next hardware iteration.

So F-200 IMO is worth the small wait. You could alway get a GP2X value Pack wait it out for any future problems the F-200 may have (stuck D-pad, unresponsive touchscreen, SDHC spring slot stuck, stylus scratching the screen making everyone just use there DS pens,etc)

-Hope that helps

 

[hal9000]

I'm aware that fast charger=wrecked batteries.
EDIT: how quick is bad though, my current charger manages 4 cells in 4 hours, will that be OK, as it doesn't sound like a fastcharger to me, you know, 15 mins and glowing batteries, one of those.

How long will 2500's last in typical use?

There are people daft enough to flash a computer while on a totally unreliable power source? yikes!

Good, ta for the warning, I was going to buy a case, despite the fact the device will almost certainly live naked in my inside coat pocket (assuming the screen's not so soft that pocket lining will scratch it).

My house has so many USB cables my girlfriend thinks I'm breeding them.

Hmmmm, the GP2x will be my first SD based device. Do you mean that it's pretty useless for those tasks SD cards and readers usually perform (ie using the GP2x AS your PC's card slot), or are you saying that even for, say, transfering a downloaded program to it from the PC would be a painful experience without a reader?


I'm about to go and perv over the craiginator site, maybe my best bet would be to grab an fx100 off ebay cheap, to keep me going until the new wunderkind box arrives? Does that sound reasonable?

BTW, I can barely draw a bath never mind a nice design on a white case. Besides, I like gadgets to looks like scifi props (I suppose in that respect, white is good). I think I have a stigma from growing up in the 70's and seeing everything made of white plastic turn a sickly shade of p*ss yellow I'm sure modern plastics fair better.

Thanks again for all the input.



Some answers:
- 2500 mAh will last about four hours.
- You maybe need an adapter if you flash your firmware, but it is not clear that you will need to do that, especially on the F200.
- You can use your GP2X as card reader, but it is slow and not very convenient: you have to connect your cable then to choose an option in a specific submenu. Some said it was not reliable, too.
- You could also wait for some F200 feedback on this site. If the joypad is really great, it could make the difference.

 

[Jorbas]

I'm in a similar boat to this guy, I want a GP2X but I'm not sure if I should get the F200 or wait longer for the "Craiginator". I'm thinking of getting the F200 to hold me over until people release some good apps for the Craiginator.

 

[kevcal]

My only comment - You could spend your whole life waiting for the 'next big thing'...
If you like what you see on these boards, then get a 2x

 

[tim0391]

I flash my firmware without an AC adapter. I think some people are overly paranoid. Most of the time, 2x's are easy to unbrick anyway.
If you use fresh batteries you have nothing to worry about

tried it once

now i am my second gp2x


<_<

 

[RockOut]

SDHC can be done with the current GP2X. It's just not in the firmware, so a hack must be done. h34r:

 

[thegoonden]

My only comment - You could spend your whole life waiting for the 'next big thing'...
If you like what you see on these boards, then get a 2x

Well, I looked at the craiginator, and assuming it's not vapourware, I WILL be having one of those.
I therefor decided to pick up an F100 on Ebay for 70 quid. If the craiginator never appears I'll maybe upgrade to the 200 once I'm sure the gp2x is my kinda gadget (yeah, like I'm at all likely to dislike a pocket penguin).

What I really want it for is MAME and the other emu's, the odd video, and strangely enough, reading ebooks in a "book like" way, I believe it auto scrolls too....bliss.

I want to thank you all for filling me in and helping out.

I will doubtless be back, as a dribbling mewling newbie, asking really stupid questions.

 

[Game_over]

SDHC can be done with the current GP2X. It's just not in the firmware, so a hack must be done. h34r:

I don't think so, I maybe wrong but It's more then just copying the "Data addressing over Data Sectoring" technique they use but has alot to do with the new type of hardware you would need to use the cards, Thats why you can't use SDHC cards with regular card readers. If someone can reverse engineer the SDHC card slot in the SDHC card reader they can further see if there is any more differences in the hardware. But Yeah if it was soley software then it would definitley be possible, however I don't think that's the case this time 'round.

 

[Orkie]

But Yeah if it was soley software then it would definitley be possible, however I don't think that's the case this time 'round.

That just shows how much you know - it has been done twice now, a long time ago by both notaz and DJWillis.