Super Newb - Help Me Obi Wan Gpnobi


Diplomat

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Dec 6, 2007
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Hey I just got my GP2X F200 in the mail today. I love it and think its wicked but I have the spent the last few hours scouring the internet looking for some kind of starter guide or faqs and came up mostly empty. I figured I would try here and see if I could get a few quick answers. I got an SD card in it and got movies to play fine, thats pretty ovious. But how do I install all these emus or launchers that change the UI? Do I just drop them in somewhere? It says it has firmware v.4 when i turn it on.
 
Diplomat said:
Hey I just got my GP2X F200 in the mail today. I love it and think its wicked but I have the spent the last few hours scouring the internet looking for some kind of starter guide or faqs and came up mostly empty. I figured I would try here and see if I could get a few quick answers. I got an SD card in it and got movies to play fine, thats pretty ovious. But how do I install all these emus or launchers that change the UI? Do I just drop them in somewhere? It says it has firmware v.4 when i turn it on.
I'm a GP2X noob as well. And I have same issue over getting any basic info about using this device as a novice user. You will be basically told to just search around the forums. Or wiki page that has more spec oriented datas.

I even made a post in the suggestion thread about wanting a dedicated sticky or page about something like this and all response I got was pretty much something like above or someone saying "why don't you do it yourself?".

-_-

If I know how, I wouldn't be asking... would I? Also, would you trust a start up guide made by someone who has no idea how to use this system/

Anyways... going back to your original post... From what I see, there isn't much development that gives you freedom to customize menus for F200's firmware 4.0. Since it's been out for such a short time, I don't think there was any updates or development for it yet. Which is a huge issue since firmware 4.0 is really a gimped OS for the device... Sort of like Vista...

You can find other stuff you need at this link

GP2X downloads
 
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Shinneri's site is useful: http://gpnewbie.com/gp2x/index.htm

I suggest Gmenu2x as an alternative launcher. Read the readme that comes with it, the installation is as simple as dragging and dropping some things in the root of your SD card.

GP2X software does not require any fancy installation, 99% of things are drag-and-drop.
 
Alex. said:
Shinneri's site is useful: http://gpnewbie.com/gp2x/index.htm

I suggest Gmenu2x as an alternative launcher. Read the readme that comes with it, the installation is as simple as dragging and dropping some things in the root of your SD card.

GP2X software does not require any fancy installation, 99% of things are drag-and-drop.




Does Gmenu2X work with F200's new firmware (4.0)?
 
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That user guide will really get you going even with firmware v. 4.0

It has the basics in it at least.

The problem with a user guide like this is that nothing is really standardized for the gp2x. Each software (game or emulation or utility) works in its own way. The readme files included with each program will really tell you how the use the specific program.

It would be really difficult to keep a user guide up-to-date since things tend to change around here so often.

Sorry, we're not trying to brush you off as a noob but we've seen these questions over and over and over. A little searching will usually go a long way. I'm more of the "teach a man to fish" philosphy too. If you do this stuff yourself now...you will learn much more about it for later.
 
Cheers for the tips. And im not adverse to tinkering around with, which I have already done a bit with movies and stuff. What troubled me was seeing v4 firmware on my F200 and everything i see online refernces v3 or lower. As a general rule do most v3 apps work with v4 or should i go ahead and rollback the firmware? And does the GP makes a root directory on my SD card when i use it? I drag and dropped movies into the 'video' folder on the SD and that worked fine, but where would i drop the .exe for the emus?
 
linoleum13 said:
That user guide will really get you going even with firmware v. 4.0

It has the basics in it at least.

The problem with a user guide like this is that nothing is really standardized for the gp2x. Each software (game or emulation or utility) works in its own way. The readme files included with each program will really tell you how the use the specific program.

It would be really difficult to keep a user guide up-to-date since things tend to change around here so often.

Sorry, we're not trying to brush you off as a noob but we've seen these questions over and over and over. A little searching will usually go a long way. I'm more of the "teach a man to fish" philosphy too. If you do this stuff yourself now...you will learn much more about it for later.
I don't think any user wants complete list of everything you need to know about every single different version of MAME or other emulators.

I am talking about collection simple step by step walkthroughs that will give noobs like myself good guidance as well we bringing up some key issues that plagues the system or even couple of different options as to what apps you can use to convert movie files and things like that.

I am not saying that the information isn't there. All I am saying is that it's all scattered around and it is very difficult for complete new people like myself to get used to a place where you can start enjoying the system as opposed to fighting it.

This in large part would be in a best interest for the GP2X community as well. More people get into this system, more development and support you will get from the dev and the GPH.
 
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The people who have the greatest motivation for putting together such a resource are those new to the system. Why don't you post specific questions in this topic, and people will link you to answers or give them to you straight. Then you could put them on a compact web page or a new pinned thread for others to use :)

As for movies, the easiest solution is PocketDivX.
 
Torokun said:
...couple of different options as to what apps you can use to convert movie files and things like that.
have you seen the wiki?
QUOTE

I am not saying that the information isn't there. All I am saying is that it's all scattered around and it is very difficult for complete new people like myself to get used to a place where you can start enjoying the system as opposed to fighting it.


I personally like the ultimate links topic.

QUOTE

This in large part would be in a best interest for the GP2X community as well. More people get into this system, more development and support you will get from the dev and the GPH.


I doubt you're going to get any support from GPH :D [/necessary bash at a company that continues to tune out their audience]


Now, to deal with your frustrations about the responses you've gotten thus far. There are a lot of awesome people on this forum that are more than willing to help out. I mean just look at the activity that happens in one day. Read the topic headlines... there's proof that a lot of questions are being asked and answers being given, daily.

Even though you're new to this forum, I'm sure you're probably not new to forums in general. Maybe you've been a regular at some others and know how tough it is to answer generalized questions, especially ones that are likely to be repeated every time a new person arrives. Granted the search capabilities are not the best here, i've had countless issues trying to find things (that I know are out there because I remember the topics happening in the first place, and I know where to look!)

That being said, welcome to these forums - both of you :D It's always great to have more people in this community!
 
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The MAME emu i got, i dumped it onto an sd and ran the autorun.gpu file and it just freezes the unit. Can i assume none of the emus or apps work with firmware v4.0?

hmm cancel that, i ran the file right below that and it worked fine
 
autorun.gpu is a file that you can put in the root of your sd card, if you want mame to run at startup instead of the firmware menu. admittedly, the readme is vague on what that means. if i didn't know, i might assume that meant this is the link i wanted. but in this case it's more like autorun in windows.

the main reason that the information feels scattered is that the software is made by different people. you can't force every single dev to make their programs work the same, or put documentation in the same place, etc. so it's very important that you read the readme that comes with software.

typically the order you should follow when looking for info (for english language) is:

general gp2x info
1. user guide - can be downloaded at archive.gp2x.de
2. gpnewbie.com
3. wiki.gp2x.com
4. boards: stickies, search, ask

specific program info
1. the readme!!!
2. if brand new program, read the appropriate news post on the boards
3. wiki.gp2x.com
4. boards: stickies, search, ask

Diplomat said:
Can i assume none of the emus or apps work with firmware v4.0?
don't assume anything, ever :D for instance, that autorun file isn't freezing your gp2x, it just isn't letting you exit, so the menu isn't relaunching. of course, the practical result is the same, you have to restart the unit.

like alex said, the trick is to be specific. even though you just got the thing and you might feel swamped because a lot of stuff isn't working as expected, treat everything as a separate issue, and troubleshoot them one at a time. everyone here will be more than willing to help you with everything you need.



crash course: most gp2x software is released as a compressed file, like ZIP, RAR, or less frequently a gzipped tarball (tar.gz). in most cases you can unzip this to a folder and put this folder anywhere you want on your sd card. in some cases the program needs to be run from a certain place, in these cases it will say so in the readme.

if you want to run a program like gmenu2x right when you turn on the unit, and it came with an autorun.gpe file, put that file in the root of the sd card. if it didn't come with one, you have to make it. it's not hard, but hold off on that one till you get your other stuff working.

hope that helps.
 
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