Zodiac

[birdofprey]

I've just looked at a few zodiac sites and it looks pretty sweet! What does everyone here think? Does it size up to a GP32? is it just a GP32 but better? Does it run emulators etc? Is it just a PDA with some released games? What sort of price is it? I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna stick with my baby (GP32) but I just got pictures of what it can do and wondered if anyone could shed some light onto the topic.


Thanks (and sorry fi there is already a smilar thread)

 

[Anox]

wanna click here?

should give you an impression auf the community

 

[gary]

seems like a good piece of kit and potential is massive, just needs to gather momentum like the gp did and i'll get one.

forums dont seem as good as the gp comunity - thats no reason not to get one tho

 

[Vimacs]

pleas use the search funktion

 

[Hwrd]

The GP32 -vs- Zodiac reminds me of the old Atari ST -vs- Amiga.

The Amiga (Zodiac) is definitely superior games-wise to the ST (GP32),
but only marginally; and definitely do not represent a generational leap forward or anything.

You know, I don't think there has been as wide a gap between two competitive machines as when it used to be "Atari -vs- Intellivision".

 

[khephren]

I dunno, in my mind the Amiga was a generation a head of the ST (although I loved my ST as well) I mean the ST: 320x200 in 16 colours (upto 640x400 mono) with a spectrum 128K sound chip? Compared to 320x256 in 16,32 or 4096 (upto 640x512+ in 32 colours) and a blitter, copper and amazing soundchip for the Amiga? I think the snes was the first machine to give the A500 a run for it's money- and the Amiga chipset was 6 years old by then.
I think another a difference between the zodiac and GP is freeware aspect of the GP compared to the zodiac, and I think Tapwave have to sign all programs off? while the GP is trully an open platform.

 

[Hwrd]

I won't get into arguing the merits of the ST/Amiga becuase it's an already dead horse.

A generational leap from those two (to me) would be the SATURN.

 

[greven]

I agree with khephren i tink taht the bigest difference is that GamaPark allows (and want ) the homebrew, but i don't think it is the same with Tapewave, because i haven't seen a trully developpement scene for the zodiac

 

[Techno]

I don't know there are a lot of home brew stuff for the zodiac. Only problem alot of these people are wanting pay for their work. With a few exceptions like Viciousbytes, and Fofo. Not to mention not just anyone can make stuff for the Zodiac you actually have to sign up to become a developer (wich is not hard to do) it does not cost anthing either. But that is why I think the GP32 has some what of an advantage over the Zodiac.
To answer your question Yes you can have emulation. So far (I hope I get them all right) They have several Superb NES emulators, one SNES, 2 GBC and GB, GBA soon to be released, ATARI ST, Sega Master System, Game Gear, Turbo Grafx (beta), and a few others that I don't use like C64 and more that I cant remember.
The movie playback through MMplayer is great I love watching movies on this thing (as I did before on my GP32 and you encode the movies almost the same way).
The games I will have to disagre, I love the games on this. Spy Hunter, THPS, Doom 2 (not yet out) Duke Nuke (not out yet) ok... so the games arnt the greatest with exception to THPS I love that game.

 

[moz]

i got both


the zodiac is better for doing PDA stuff

the GP32 is better for emulation.


if you want both emulation and pda function in one go for zodiac

if you want a better emulation machine get gp32

i got both so i can and do comment.

btw the analog joystick is rubbish for doing digital input

these are MY views

and did i say i do own both!

ask questions if you want my opinions on other things comparing them

 

[Memnoch]

btw the analog joystick is rubbish for doing digital input

On the Zodiac or the GP32? My diagonals are shoddy on my GP32 is why I ask and if the big Z has the same problems ... madness. They don't build these new fangled things like they used to y'know (said in old mans voice).

 

[spray]

I've spent a long long time considering which system to get.

I've had my gp for two weeks now and am so glad i got this!

Hardware wise, we're talking an extra 33mhz of processor plus 32mb minimum ram. For me the 8mb vram isn't a good selling point. Let me explain, to me it seems that by developers be able to utilise this unique hardware they have to be far more competent than your average "hobbyist" coder. Therefore, the only way for it to make sense to spend so much time and effort on utilising the full power of the machine is to charge for the finished product.

Also, the screen. The dimensions they've choosen seem perfect for pda work, yet from the screen shots i've seen, mess up all emulation efforts.

I'd say stick with the gp, you've got a solid machine that isn't far from emulating perfectly all worthy systems, zodiac may one day get psone but it will be so stripped down as to render it pointless!

 

[moz]

btw the analog joystick is rubbish for doing digital input

On the Zodiac or the GP32? My diagonals are shoddy on my GP32 is why I ask and if the big Z has the same problems ... madness. They don't build these new fangled things like they used to y'know (said in old mans voice).

rubbish on the zodiac, the controls are coded that it registers a "right" when the stick has moved all the way to the right thus the time it takes to travel to the hard right doesnt move the charecter its even worse if you do a right to left as the joystick has to travel even more distance (this is the same for all directions

the only other way to describe it is like a GTI petrol engine compared to a TDI diesel

on the petrol you have instant acceleration

on the diesel you press the accelerator and a short time later the car accelerates


so imho

gp32=petrol car
zodiac=diesel car

and yep i own both a GP32 zodiac and also a petrol and a diesel car!!!

 

[Efompor]

Yes but a diesel engine can often pull heavier loads than a petrol

I think I kind of know what you mean with the digital input for the Zodiac... on some laptops, there are two digital "+" and "-" buttons for the volume control, and it displays the volume on the display with a little meter like a TV would. This is very cool, but it is a little redundant considering you can't turn down the volume if the computer is just starting up, has crashed, or anything else that may not let it take the signal right away. Kind of stupid considering those "Volume Knob" laptops turn the volume up and down right away with absolutely no delay, just like a CD player would. If the Zodiac is under heavy processing stress (fully clocked, or overclcked if it can), do the controls get any slower?

 

[DaveC]

btw the analog joystick is rubbish for doing digital input

On the Zodiac or the GP32? My diagonals are shoddy on my GP32 is why I ask and if the big Z has the same problems ... madness. They don't build these new fangled things like they used to y'know (said in old mans voice).

rubbish on the zodiac, the controls are coded that it registers a "right" when the stick has moved all the way to the right thus the time it takes to travel to the hard right doesnt move the charecter its even worse if you do a right to left as the joystick has to travel even more distance (this is the same for all directions

the only other way to describe it is like a GTI petrol engine compared to a TDI diesel

on the petrol you have instant acceleration

on the diesel you press the accelerator and a short time later the car accelerates


so imho

gp32=petrol car
zodiac=diesel car

and yep i own both a GP32 zodiac and also a petrol and a diesel car!!!

I know what you mean about the analog stick. The main problem with the Zodiac analog is really not the actual stick itself. It is the way it is implemented in many emus as they just use the default sensitivity. You need to press almost to the stick's limits to get it to register as a digital input making control seem very sluggish. The fix for that is a simple sensitivity adjustment slider that could be put into the emu and the stick would be great. The problem is for some reason emu coders seem to refuse to put the sensitivity adjustment in their options menu. I have e-mailed some of them and got responses ranging from "it seems fine to me" to "we will look into it for the next version". I noticed this in the first emu I tried on the Zodiac and I think it ruins the gameplay. The good news is that it is not a hardware problem and *if/when* the emu/game coders can be convinced to put sensitivity adjustment in, the stick would be ok. Sensitivity does require a Tapwave API to use it which means you need to get it signed by Tapwave. Maybe that is why many developers are dragging their feet about it.

 

[Alpha2]

My honest unbiased opinion of the Z before I ever even heard of the GP32:

It looks like a glorified PDA with a joypad that plays a few PC game ports and a couple of emulators here and there. More expensive than I feel it needs to be(advertising for like 299.99 at the time). I have a pretty nice(well at the time) Sony clie PDA which I spent like 150 bucks on so I dont need another one... and so I passed on it and didn't bother to follow up on it.

that's what I felt then (like a year and a half ago) and frankly i still feel like that after buying a GP32.

 

[Jr2swiss]

In my opinion, i THINK that the Zodiac has nice features, the bluetooth, The screen looks beutiful, the applications, does almost everything that the gp32. But its too expensive, i will get the zodiac, but when the price decreases alot, mayb when psp comes out next year, so get it off ebay for cheap or sometin.

It also sucks that you have to pay for the emulators and such

NO once again my ideas r mixed around, sry bout that

 

[bringoutthegimp]

i would have probably got the zodiac instead of the gp32 if it came out at roughly the same time.............but whats the point now? the gp32 can do all the emulation and the psp (when it arrives) can play the high quality games

 

[Techno]

Yeah I'd have to say I hate the joystick for the Zodiac I wish it were more like the Neo Geo Pocked that thing has a great joystick. When I'm playing Dragon Warrior on the Zodiac often time when I want to go right I dont press Right it might be a diagonal a bit. So then my character either goes up or down.

 

[moz]

im half tempted to redefine the 4 fire buttons as the movement controls and rotate the zodiac 180 degrees so that i can use it as a joypad instead of joystick.