GP2X Terminal For Windows/linux On Gp2x

[Zeladin]

I'm just reposting this as a separate topic; for discussion, if anyone thinks it would be good elsewhere as well feel free to quote and repost in the appropriate forum. I'd like the attention of some devs..

Cool idea; Oblivion* for Gp2x... Am I serious - deadly - how...

My idea it this simply, over a network connection (usb is a little stupid, wifi would make sense...) either...

1. Screen capture and convert to mpeg4 video real time to be scaled down/ zoomed in as preferred to Gp2x res and streamed over a wireless connection, a client deals with input, ie stick = virtual mouse sent over wifi/usb networking.

Problems; Mpeg4 real time encoding, no wifi, potential syncing problems.

OR 2.
Using a terminal/virtual PC client thing. I was testing windows terminal services the other day, using my 450mhz laptop to wire into my PC. I was able to play scummVM on my Desktop full speed from my laptop (I know pointless). I was also able to browse the internet, and watch full motion video - all without sound though, over a 54mbps wifi connection.. There are a number of these virtual service PC things available for linux and Windows, - linux, I believe some of them are open source.

Problems; Again, pointless without Wifi, couldn't use most Graphics card stuff, no 3d acc using windows terminal services, potential synching problems.

Peak speed I saw was about 8mbits. Sound can also be compressed real time...

I'm not really interested in playing Oblivion on my GP2x over usb, nor over wifi - I'm actually thinking something much more grand... If this concept can be proved to work on a Gp2x, even just for internet browsing... I'm thinking a 'GP3x' with 4G wireless internet (broadband quality), may come into being.

Basically there was a reason I was testing this, and some people are looking for a suitable system to run it on... Currently in favour is a geode (x86 platform, for easy porting of drivers for wireless modem)....(Which looking at my laptop, you can see that is no problem.) But the Geode has poor media support - Gp2x is pretty good on that, it already has an Os , and brilliant HW media player, and on an Li-ion pack, it should in theory live longer than a geode.... especially with a 4" 640x480 oled display. MMsp2+ anyone?

The people in question are most interested in running whatever instant messaging service they like and not in porting millions of programs... Which is also why they want it highly documented and totally open source (except modem and drivers of course )..

So my wish is two apps/drivers; Terminal for windows/linux and wifi/4G wireless(later) - just need a proof of concept.. a good one, bearing in mind we can have Xp running on a geode in less than an hour... To begin with the terminal only has to do web browsing, email and (using usb keyboard) instant messaging. I can't promise anything of course, but it would be a cool app for the GP2x even if we don't get a "GP3X" out of it...

I should post this separately, and in that Gp2x revision topic. Anyway, I hope someone is as inspired as me. And Yes this is practical, and its going to happen - the question is, on what platform - SOC Linux style, or x86 windows style? I don't know if the Gp2x has to oomph but terminal for windows is supposed to be able to run on a 286... Hope you guys are as inspired as I am by this...

I'm not official, just close to R and D head.

*Or any other Pc based application.

edit; link to linux based remote desktop for windows, source is available.
http://www.rdesktop.org/

 

[icurafu]

Discussed this with the devs at Tversity. (in regards to transcoding game output from PC onto a uPnP device...)

Won't work because of buffering when you transcode, which introduced a noticeable lag.

You'd have to custom make a transcoder engine that works without buffering.

I guess this is possible. QVGA transcoding is very simple. 3 year old PCs can do that. But with current encoding tools it will not work with acceptable laglessness.

I want my gp3x to be similar to what makes gp2x great. except with more functionality and power, worthy of being 2 generations up from the gp32.


Also, if you are at wireless distance from your PC why would you wanna use a 3.5" instead of your 22" LCD and beefy speakers?

If you're interested in the geode with an OS, the PepperPad 3 is a decent choice and will let you play around with this kind of stuff on a nice screen with a full keyboard.

I was going to pick one up form hanbit, however my korean holiday just got canceled.

 

[Zeladin]

Also, if you are at wireless distance from your PC why would you wanna use a 3.5" instead of your 22" LCD and beefy speakers?

Theoretically, if one was at a Wifi Hotspot, one could log on to your home PC over the internet - that is, with a Gp2x with wifi... Advantage being you don't need to port the web browser you would like to use, email client, or particular instant messaging service you want.

If you're interested in the geode with an OS, the PepperPad 3 is a decent choice and will let you play around with this kind of stuff on a nice screen with a full keyboard.

I had a look at a pepperpad, its pretty good, but I like the form of the Kohjinsha SA1 UMPC better. It's a pseudo flybook, at about E800. Will probably being doing some testing on a geode umpc, but the idea is an even smaller form factor.. To fit in your pocket (at a pinch) - in a similar way that the GP2x or NDS might fit in your pocket.. Suffice to say a lot of thought has gone into how to make this thing a games console, virtual PC, media player, and even Voip hand set (bluetooth headset.. no brick up to ear) - essentially a replacement for your, MP4 player, MP3, pda, potentially laptop(if really dedicated to a 4" scrolling screen) and wireless 4g internet.. The Geode worries me, I suspect it has much higher power requirements than an mmsp2 SOC.

I was thinking a different encoding process could be used, like for example, dxa (as in scummvm) which does some simple XOring with the previous frame, or something like that, I forget the details. Also there is some rather fancy MPEG4 hardware - buffering I think is useful for achieving best compression with few artefacts, ie on fast motion.. None of that is needed though, as you say for Qvga.. Dxa though would not be hard to implement to get some amount of compression.

I want my gp3x to be similar to what makes gp2x great. except with more functionality and power,

I was suggesting an MMSP2+ - It might be it, as the dev kit is advertised and a very clear site . There's loads of other SOC's so it really could end up anything at the level of hardware. Of course it may never happen.

Edit; Been looking at a quick and easy Java based Client; Unfortunately I can't figure how to execute it on JamVM (as used by laser2x). I'm guessing something else is required, I'm aware the much of the UI probably won't work... and that if it does anything, it will be slow.

http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html There's a Java Viewer.

 

[Parkydr]

How is this different from using VNC or a remote X session on Linux?

 

[evol]

How is this different from using VNC or a remote X session on Linux?

not different at all i presume ? (ssh would be nice also)

 

[Zeladin]

How is this different from using VNC or a remote X session on Linux?

not different at all i presume ? (ssh would be nice also)

I thought there was an ssh thingy for the Gp2x
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,8,1741
Or is that something else.

This is almost exactly the same as running VNC or remote x session on linux, - except its a GP2x, Arm, not an x86... I suspect that it would be a very easy port to do really. I'm not sure that the Gp2x hardware can handle it well though. It's not going to do video games anyway (I was fairly sure of that) - but still in my view a useful app - especially if I could show it off working by the end of next week. Not that it really benefits me as such, just proves my concept - or rather a concept that has been considered before the Gp2x was even actually released, I've been doing some google trawling.

@Parkydr, maybe you were saying these apps already exist for the gp2x??

Vnc is a bit clunky though (works with windows), but would still make the point, rdesktop is probably better, I've got to check that out yet though...

Edit; just got swapped to a virtual PC writing this post, someone messing around with windows terminal - grr...

Edit2; As further madness Vnc also works over Html, I was just trying to set up web browsing on opera on Qtopia, using usb and making my computer a bridge... Still haven't figured out how to set it up though.. This is the most fun I've had with my GP2x since working out how to compress files for Scummvm...

Edit3; Qtopia actually has a vnc viewer.. but it doesn't seem to work, or I've set up the server wrong...

No4. Wow! Actually is running !! In 8-bit mode only... And not quite as snappy as terminal for windows thing. Still Impressive. It's still running As I type, it would be grand for text files an etc if of course I had the Keyboard wired up...

I know its been done before... but I thought I'd post pics...
http://www.wattystuff.net/tiki/tiki-browse...amp;imageId=242
and
http://www.wattystuff.net/tiki/tiki-browse...amp;imageId=241

 

[Parkydr]

The X server is here

 

[Zeladin]

The X server is here

Thanks, that will probably be tomorrow's project... along with experimenting with rdesktop on a linux box...

I had problems with the usb keyboard on qtopia... if anyone has any thoughts on how to fix that...

Looks like I might get a grant of a wi-fi device to play with too This will probably be quite nightmarish, all the info seems a bit vague and thin on the ground. There is some way to do wifi...