To Buy, Or Not To Buy?

[Jez]

Hi there all

I only came across the GP32 very recently, but after reading a couple of reviews I'm very tempted to buy one. There are just a few things that concern me though.

1) If I buy this, what are the chances of the community surrounding it dying within a few months and me ending up with an obsolete little machine in my hand? In other words, is the GP32 going to stay 'alive' long enough for it to be worth buying at this stage?

2) If I was to buy a GP32, I'm pretty sure I'd want a lit screen. I say that because of my experiences with the GBA's horribly hard-to-see screen, which was then massively improved when the SP added a backlight. So that said, I'm pretty sure I'd want to buy a BLU. The question is though, that there seems to be a number of different models available from here on GBAX.com. Are these actually different models, or is GBAX overclocking them then selling them at different prices? That is, could I buy one of the cheaper models then overclock it to 180mhz?

3) It seems like there's quite a lot of development for the GP32 going on at the moment. How much free software (games particularly) is currently available for the GP32? Are all of the good games (excluding emulators/ports/remakes etc.) commercial? How much are the commercial games selling for?

4) On a diagram of the machine I have seen, there was one little hole labelled simply, 'adapter'. Is this a power adapter, or an adapter for something else? I'm hoping it's a power adapter since the battery life is something that I'm a bit concerned about (seems a bit short?).

5) On the subject of power and batteries, are there any devices available such as rechargable battery packs? That is, a pack that fits into the battery slot that can be recharged. Otherwise I guess I'll have to stick to rechargable AA batteries.

If anybody can clue me in on some of these things I'll be very grateful. Thanks

 

[Axeman]

1) Ain't a chance of that happening in the near future...!

2) The models on gbax.com are all guarnateed to overclock to the specified levels. You could buy a standard one, and then get the voltage mod done on it, and it could clock as high as about 200Mhz...

3) MOst of the commercial games are not so good. If you buy a GP32 for the commercial stuff, you'll be dissapointed (apart from a few gems).

4) It's for a power adapter (3v). Battery life is fine - especially if you use decent rechargables...


5) Rechargable HiMH AAs are king..!

 

[Kop_007]

I'll take:

1. Unlikely, but even if it did, there is enough to keep you going for a life time. Doesnt look like folding anytime soon though.

2. Consider the lit screen carefully. Where do you play it the most?

If it's natural light, a BLU is no good, if it's largely dim or dark areas the BLU is excellent. I have never had a FLU, but the original was brilliant in the day time, no glare or reflection.

3. Most of the commercial games are crap. There are a few good ones though.

5. Batteries do the job good.

 

[lek]

1) I think it's unlikely, the community is thriving atm, and with the recent release of the BLU unit there are now more and more people signing up to the boards (and hopefully more people wanting to develop for the GP32 therefore).

2) They are the same model. Some of the overclock to 166 or 180Mhz out of the box, whereas other can be modded to allow them to reach such higher clockspeeds. If you bought a "normal" speed GP32 though, it may or may not be overclockable without modding. The ones that GBAX sell are guaranteed to overclock to the speeds mentioned.

3) Most of the commercial games are crap, save the odd one or two (Pinball Dreams and Gloop Deluxe spring to mind). There are quite a few free homebrew games available though. Just look under the downloads section.

4) There is a socket for a mains adaptor to plug into. 3.3v. Most people use rechargable AA batteries btw.

5) Some people have made battery packs of a kind, using lithium-ion batteries. They last longer and if fitted into the GP32 battery comparement, are portable. They would need charging using a charger specifically for lithium batteries though.

The FAQ on this site has a lot of info as well.

[EDIT] beaten to it

 

[Jez]

Wow thanks, I wasn't expecting replies so quickly.

Now I have a couple more questions!

6) Is the DS or PSP going to make the GP32 seem like a piece of junk?

7) I've seen people mentioning a 'GP32 2'. Is this still a long way away? (i.e. is it worth me waiting?)

8) Bearing in mind what you've said about the 180mhz model being guaranteed to overclock to 180mhz, is it worth paying the extra cash for that?

Thanks for helping

 

[davey g]

6) The DS and PSP will not be open source. Their commercial games will kick the shit out of the GP32s commercial games and they will be infinitely more successful. The GP32 is over 3 years old which a lot of people seem to forget. They will be no competition to the GP32 if you're looking for an open-source handheld.

7) According to Hando and Gamepark the "GP32 2" will appear around March/June next year although knowing Gamepark the actual launch could be a mile away.

8) 166 mhz is good enough for most people.

 

[Jez]

One more thing that I can think of right now. What about the Zodiac? Opinions on it? Worth waiting for that instead of a GP32?

 

[lek]

There are a few GP32 vs Zodiac style thread on these forums, search for Zodiac related threads such as:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=12573

and

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=11701

It is better specced than the GP32, although has its downfalls.

Most notably (imho) homebrew software has to be digitally "signed" (approved) by TapWave before it can be ran on anyones Zodiac other than registered developers. This seems to have caused some developers to hit a brick wall in trying to get their Zodiac software out.

 

[generalnmx]

1) If I buy this, what are the chances of the community surrounding it dying within a few months and me ending up with an obsolete little machine in my hand? In other words, is the GP32 going to stay 'alive' long enough for it to be worth buying at this stage?

The GP32 is defined by it's homebrew scene, which will never really die, no matter what people say. I compare the GP32 scene with the Amiga scene, although less popular. In fact, we have a lot of Amiga lovers here Just like the Amiga, we have a handheld with brilliant hardware (for it's time), well-made and open source without being mainstream.

One more thing that I can think of right now. What about the Zodiac? Opinions on it? Worth waiting for that instead of a GP32?

Important note: Price. The Zodiac, especially the ones with higher memory, are MUCH more expensive then even the GP32 BLU. Same for the PSP's price, which I am sure will be around the Zodiac's range.

 

[Xyo]

About the Zodiac, I admit its more powerful but the only reason the Snes emualtio is better is the ARM EMulation has bee release, and GP32 is yet to have hat with its Snes. Also because Zodiac has an OS, developers can't access the hardware as freely as the GPAdvance develepors are using the GP32 hardware.

BAsically, if you'll benefit from a PDA go for the Zodiac however if its mainly for emulation you're paying 150-200£ more for very little improvement.. Nes PC ENGINE AND BELOW ARE ALL PRACTICALLY PERFECT only the SNEs, GBA and NGP are struggling at the moment.

Also to use any software as beta you need a program for developers, and to acutally get software the developer needs to get it signed.. Yoyo is struggling to release Little JOhnz..his multi platform emu for ZOdiac cos he's in large discussions with tapwave...

The only thing that atracted me about the Zodiac is t has two media slots so you could have up to 2 gigs of data at once.but then if you're playing games that only go up to like 400kb max like me its an extravagance.. all the nes games released only take 111 mb so an SMC is good enough..plus SMC are cheap..128mb is only 18£

COnclusion, for emulation - GP32 gp32_console , for PDA and more commercial style games - Zodiac. Sorry for the mistakes my wireless keyboard is dying

BTW : Kop_007 was leaning towards a Zodiac but decided to go for a BLU and he seems content

Just my two cen....pennies

 

[Vimacs]

2. i would get a blu. and there are only one model of the blu, the ones at gbax are testet/modded to overclock to 166/180 mhz, evry (nearly) unit can do 166mhz with the volt mod (arround 15$). when you buy from liksang you dont have any guaranty for the speed could be anything down to 133mhz, but its cheaper. i strongly sugest you getting a 166 or 180 mhz unit from gbax if you want to use much emulation (espacialy for snes its the best when you pick the fastest you can get).

3. http://pdroms.de/typ.php?system=GP32 http://www.gp32spain.com/top100.php http://www.gp32spain.com/mods.php?tipo=Por...2=Beats_of_Rage you see theres enugh fore your lifetime allready

5. good 2300mah rechargeables hold for a good time, i would say arround 10houers with light on, wich is more like 2-3days when you dont play to much.

 

[Jez]

Thanks, this is really helpful

The GP32 is defined by it's homebrew scene, which will never really die, no matter what people say. I compare the GP32 scene with the Amiga scene, although less popular. In fact, we have a lot of Amiga lovers here. Just like the Amiga, we have a handheld with brilliant hardware (for it's time), well-made and open source without being mainstream.

That's one of the first things that struck me when I stumbled upon the GP32 and its community, and one of the main reasons I'm keen to get one of the things - the homebrew scene . And I love Amigas... Ah... Nostalgia, dammit

I'm fairly convinced the GP32 is for me. I'll probably go with a 166 or 180mhz from GBAX, since I'll probably be using emulators quite a bit. Question: How significantly is the battery life affected by increasing the speed?

 

[mastaboog749]

Get good rechargables, Like 2300 NiMH. Thats what I got and they work good, It last 10+ hours for me now instead of 2-3.

 

[Kop_007]

Go for the 180mhz.

Although the 166mhz is more than enough for most things, you might as well get the extra for the price.

 

[Tidus]

I second that go for the 180 certified @GBAx more power you got, better all your emu will run in particular the "greedy" ones like Snes & one day maybe Amiga ^^ (at less I dream of that & I pray it'll come true ;p) + Genesis with sound @full speed wo FS lol ;op (edit for newg)
oh & I forgot to tell that it'll give you surely some extra fps at Quake which is always great ;p

concerning the battery life, with some really great rechargeable battery like 2300/2500 NiMH as sais mastaboog749, you can be sure to last at less approximatly 8 or 9 hours in worst cases at 166 (my Blu & my Flu runs that with 2500 Nimh), so I suppose you'll still have 7 hours @ 180 Mhz, which is already not so bad ;p Plan a second pack of battery & you'll have up to 28 hours with 8 battery ;p

oh and to answer your question about commercial games, imo they are not that bad some are really excellent (Her Knight according to everyone - Tomak according to me if you love shoot ;op - Pinball Dreams, simply necessay when you had an Amiga before ;op) and you can download them for extremly cheap at entware (not Her Knight)

 

[newg]

in particular the "greedy" ones like Snes / Genesis & one day maybe Amiga ^^

I beg to differ.
Have you tried fgen recently?
almost all games running perfectly at 133, and i have yet to have a problem at 166 with any rom (I have only tried 15 or so though)

 

[Jez]

Does it come with or without an SMC? I have one (possibly two) spare ones, but I think they were only 32 or 64mb... That's if I can even find them . Haven't seen them for a while.

 

[Tidus]

it comes without any SMC so I advice you to buy a couple of 128 Mb ones, they are cheap & they will surely be enough for the begining ;p

ok I admit that what newg said is true ;p the genesis emu isn't that greedy, so I'll edit my post ;op but in future with sound emulation, to get full speed @ FS1 or 0 you'll be happy to find your extra power

 

[CABBAGES]

if you get a 180mhz or 166mhz one from gbax does that mean they wont go higher than that ? i mean i got my blu from lik-sang and it goes to 172mhz on some emulators. I would get it from lik-sang as they are alot cheaper and seems like just about all blu`s get to atleast 166mhz.

 

[Tidus]

if you get a 180mhz or 166mhz one from gbax does that mean they wont go higher than that ? i mean i got my blu from lik-sang and it goes to 172mhz on some emulators. I would get it from lik-sang as they are alot cheaper and seems like just about all blu`s get to atleast 166mhz.

no it means only that they are tested & certified to run at those speeds
now it need to be said that you're lucky to get yours running at 172... Mine can't go over 166 for exemple, & I'm pretty sure that it got only a few percents which can go higher that this speed... but maybe I'm wrong