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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Gaming => Topic started by: on April 06, 2003, 03:23:24 PM

Title: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 06, 2003, 03:23:24 PM
Just bought me a new toy - a little wonder known as a GP32.  Dunno if anyone has heard of them here, but they're a little handheld games thing that can do absolutely loads. They're supposedly the first open-source handheld, and they're mostly used as portanble emulators.  They can run everything from Speccy and C64 games to Sega master system and Megadrive (soon), NES, Super NES, MSX, PCengine (turbograx16), Gameboy, Gameboy colour, Gameboy Advance (soon) etc etc etc.  Can also play MP3s, display image files and play DivX movies!  :-o   All done via Smartmedia cards, with files transferred from PC via USB.    All for only £99+VAt!

Its based on a 166mhz ARM processor (RISC I think?), so should, in theory, be capable of running a ported Amiga emulaoor, for playing games... Would be absolutely cool if it could (pocket SWOS and Speedball 2!!!!! wahay!)!    What do people think?

for more details, take a look at www.gp32emu.com, www.gp32x.com and www.gbax.com.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Unit21 on April 06, 2003, 03:42:32 PM
Yeah...
I've heard about it, and seen pics of it on Norwegian tech-sites. I didn't know that it had hit the stores yet, though.
Have you gotten round to playing any C64-classics yet??
If this thingy is as good as the producers claim it is, I am off to the closest dealer as soon as I get my paycheck... ;-)

For Amiga-gaming a UAE-port would do the trick.
Does anyone feel up to the task of porting it??
It already runs on the Zaurus which has an ARM-processor, so the task cannot be THAT hard... am I right?!  :-D  :-D  :-D

Keep us posted as you get to know how it works, Axeman...
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Karlos on April 06, 2003, 03:44:12 PM
Wahey, that sounds cool!
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Karlos on April 06, 2003, 03:48:26 PM
Where can I get a dev kit for one of these gizmos?
I assume there are cross compilers and the like :-D
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Calen on April 06, 2003, 04:04:00 PM
I just learned of this handheld a few days ago, a few  hours after i had ordered my GBA SP.
 I was actually thinking of cancelling my order in favour of the GP32 as it does sound like an impressive handheld, i'm just not sold on its design, but the emulation it can do and play movies and mp3's has got to be a big selling point for it.

Ah well all is not lost, it seems the GBA has a C64 emulator in the works and its close to release (i'd be suprised to if it runs full rate with it's 16mhz or so CPU) :-) and the wealth of Amiga games coming to it is whats sold me.

-EDIT
WOW! it does MAME  also, hmm

@Axeman

Did your order it from http://www.gbax.com, if so, did they sting you much for delivery?  so erm if i'm reading this correctly you get this GP32 for 99 UKP which Includes the link up cables to PC, you get a little smartmedia card in that price also ?
Sounds great if it does get all that cause on the GBA it doubles it price if you where to purchase link up cables/256Meg F2A Cart
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Crumpster on April 06, 2003, 04:41:17 PM
Wow. that thing is cool!!!

I'd never heard of this before, where'd you order it from Axeman??


Smart Media Cards?!? Hmmmmmm, surely this would be an excellent product for AmigaDE/AmigaAnywhere to run on!!


Cheers,

Crumpster
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Crumpster on April 06, 2003, 04:43:17 PM
Plus RF as standard!!!

DUDE this thing rocks! :-D  :-D
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: lempkee on April 06, 2003, 05:04:18 PM
april joke+? .. damn this sounds too good to be true.... are they available in norway?

please tell me more about this....

Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 06, 2003, 06:06:15 PM
Right - one by one..... :-)

@ Unit21

Havent actually hot the thing yet, though I have read loads about it.  

[EDIT - Hehe - where have I heard this before :-)  Luckily, there's plenty of evidence to suggest there's plenty of these available, unlike a certain other computer system I could name.]

The C64 emulator is apparently fantastic, and with a back-catalogue of stuff like that, I'm sure I'll be happy for a fair while...  :-P  Worth it for the SID emulation alone :-)

Hasn't hit the stores as such.... got mine from an importer in Newcastle, Uk.  The console itself is actually Korean.  Seems like there MAY be an official UK release, but probably not for the American market, cos of Nintendo's suing power over there (sue now, look at the legal morality of it later!).

A UAE port would be perfect, and I reckon it's easily possible if someone's done an ARM port already....  Get over to the forum at www.gb32x.com and post about this.... the more people who do, the more likely someone is to get off their arse and do it :-D

@Karlos

There is LOADS of home-brew development going on in the GP32 community.  Try the sites in the first post for pointers, including the excellent forum on GP32x.com.  Its a developer's dream - the first hand-held that you can easily release beta versions for!

@Calen

The delivery is only 6 GBP, and that's next-day special UK delivery.  He'll ship worldwide though.  One thingh to add on is the VAT if you're in the UK.    I paid 123 GBP for mine, including VAT and delivery.  That includes the console, accessories and a CD of the emulators and various apps.  It doesnt include a Smartmedia card, but this didnt bother me, as I have loads for my digital camera already.  

If you need Smartmedia cards and you're in the UK, take a look at www.7dayshop.com.  You can get a 128Mb card for about £24 there.

Yep - MAME!!!!  Ghosts and Goblins here I come :-D

@Crumpster

Ordered it from www.gbax.com.  As mentioned above, it's in Newcastle upon tyne in the UK, but will ship worldwide.

As for AmigaDE, my sentiments entirely!  A more perfect platform has rarely presented it's pretty head! :-)

@Iempkee

I thought the same, but apparently not.  Just trawl through the forums at www.gp32x.com and you'll see the enthusiasm for it.   I've rarely come across a platform with more dedicated followers (apart from here, of course).  Looks like it's ghot a long life in it yet!.  Its one of the only other places where I've heard of a platform being referred to as "our pride and joy".  People seem to love it!

Man - I cant wait for the thing to come through.

Anyone with a fat pipe connection can get a vid of the thing running at

http://www.varovision.com/_data/videoclip/gp32.wmv (http://www.varovision.com/_data/videoclip/gp32.wmv).

EDIT - BTW - the guy who's doing it is Korean, so most of the demos and the built in OS are in Korean, but you can get an English version.

Anyway - I'll let all of you know what its like when I get it (24 hour delivery, but not sat or sun - I decided to order it friday night, so I'vce probably got to wait till tuesday! Waaaah!)

Cheers
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Calen on April 06, 2003, 09:03:20 PM
Quote
If you need Smartmedia cards and you're in the UK, take a look at www.7dayshop.com. You can get a 128Mb card for about £24 there.

Axeman

Yeah that media has indeed come down alot over the past few years, it's a pity i use memory sticks for my cam.
Lets us know how you get along with it and your thoughts on this new and very interesting bit of kit.

Another quite interesting GP32 site i've just came across

gp32news (http://www.gp32news.com/)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: MikeB on April 06, 2003, 09:30:50 PM
Click here (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3016472229&category=38579)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Calen on April 06, 2003, 09:42:17 PM
I sure hope people shop around before even thinking of paying that, looks like he couldnt fully describe it emself either as his description looks alittle like that from the gbax.com review (http://www.gbax.com/gp32review.html)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: iamaboringperson on April 07, 2003, 01:50:54 AM
 :-o  :-o  :-o  :-o wow! somebody has just invented the best thing in the world!!!!!  :-o  :-o  :-o
thats the coolest thing ive seen

Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Dan on April 07, 2003, 03:00:19 AM
I have checked it out, it has an 133Mhz ARM7 processor and there is players for divx,mp3,wma and ogg formats.
It has picture and text viewers. It even has a amigaprotracker player.  And some guy hacked the extport on his gp32 to have 2 serial ports, he also made a terminal program.
All it lacks is an amigaemulator, usbkeyboard driver and a htmlviewer.
Imagine playing speedball, sensible soccer and superfrog on that!!!
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: tumash on April 07, 2003, 03:54:22 AM
as I'm involved in handheld game developing I've seen this console beginning and saw its end. It jumped out of nowhere some time ago with very very veeeryy promising specs but it turned out to be long range failure, similar to the SAM (anyone remember this computer?).
It has everything that is needed to be a HIT besides one thingy - it isn't Ninten'doh.

I've been on GP32-dev mailing list for few months.. besides few "Hi" not much going on there. In fact, there wasn't any new post in days.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: iamaboringperson on April 07, 2003, 04:01:29 AM
@tumash

i suppose its a competitor to the GBA, isnt it?

perhaps you would prefer people dont buy one because you develop for GBA?



i probably buy one soon...
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: gonzoninja on April 07, 2003, 04:12:50 AM
I heard about this a while ago, but I'm not sure how it will catch on.

if you go to www.liksang.com you can see all sorts of stuff for it.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: tumash on April 07, 2003, 05:13:31 AM
@iamaboringperson

Quote
i suppose its a competitor to the GBA, isnt it?


It is, or atleast it ought to be. As the main (and only) market was meant to be Korea this shouldn't be IMHO considered as competitor.
And IIRC the official release date of this handheld was February 2002.

Quote
perhaps you would prefer people dont buy one because you develop for GBA?


Not a bit.

If you like GBA, buy GBA. If you like GP32, then buy GP32.
We aren't talking about Amiga market where every new user makes the difference ;)
GBA has over 3M users.

My personal GBA is currently covered with 1.5 cm of dust. I hate using it because of the ####ty LCD.
I hoped GP32 would beat the GBA but it didn't.. it simply didn't mean to.

If you want to look for a handheld that is supposed to be GBA's competitor, take a look at NOKIA N-GAGE. It has ARM9 109MHz processor and 4096 on-screen colors.
BUT it also won't beat GBA because..... it isn't that impressive as the specs say. It has ####ty keys layout and is still a phone....
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: iamaboringperson on April 07, 2003, 05:50:31 AM
@tumash

ok,  :-)  got nothing against that, ok  :-)
Title: I heard it on a website: gp32 comes from korea
Post by: on April 07, 2003, 05:58:57 AM
i really do not know its sound quality but it displays 65536 colors on screen.
Title: Re: I heard it on a website: gp32 comes from korea
Post by: iamaboringperson on April 07, 2003, 06:09:39 AM
Quote

powerpufffan wrote:
i really do not know its sound quality but it displays 65536 colors on screen.

and it has an ARM9 processor...
Title: Re: I heard it on a website: gp32 comes from korea
Post by: KingTutt on April 07, 2003, 08:15:01 AM
This sounds like the kinda toy my fat wallet has been itching to splurge on.

Bring it on.

crosses fingers for an Arm UAE port soon
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 07, 2003, 09:00:08 AM
Devkits for gp32 are free for dl. And this machine has been available for quite some time. Measuring not in months or weeks, but over a year. iirc, it will soon be pushed into the american market as well (ofcourse, you can always order it from lik-sang or so).
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 07, 2003, 09:30:19 AM
@erol

Apparently - there's a guy selling GP32s on ebay whos pissin' people about (don't know if it's this one), so buyer beware!

@Dan

Can be overclocked to 166Mhz too apparently (or even underclocked to extend battery life!)

@Tumash

Hehe - the Sam!  I've still got one of those gathering dust in the attic :-)  Cool little machine, just no support.  This one's different, cos there's already a massive back catalogue of stuff to use with it, and these days we have the all-powerful internet to get it from :-D

God knows if this thing is gonna catch on.  In a way - I hope it doesnt gain massive commercial success, because the 'spirit' goes out of it all then, and it turns into just another alternative platform.  Its cool to be part of a community of enthusiastic users (a la amiga.org), so I hope that if it does well, that still remains.

Who's tempted to get one then?  (only one more day until mine arrives!!!)

Cheers
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Bobsonsirjonny on April 07, 2003, 11:23:46 AM
Me :-) this is very very very cool! ;-)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: dezignersrepublic on April 07, 2003, 12:18:41 PM
ME WANT!!!
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Martyn on April 07, 2003, 01:04:48 PM
There also appears to be a conversion of Pinball Dreams available.  Yes, that one. (http://www.gp32news.com/?page=showgame&id=94?=en)
Create by a company called Logik State (http://www.logikstate.com/) from Sheffield, UK.  Does anyone know who they are? Or if this is a legal conversion?!

They list their dev team's partial CV as:

Mr Blobby (Amiga/Millenium)
Super Street Fighter II The New Challengers (Amiga/US Gold)
Sports Trivia (Sega Gear/Adrenalin)
Newman Haas Racing (Playstation/PC/Psygnosis)
Formula One 99 (Playstation/Psygnosis)
Soldier Of Fortune (Dreamcast/Crave)
Super Troll Islands (Sega Mega Drive/Millennium)
Shadowman (PC-Playstation-Dreamcast/Acclaim)
Spec Ops Omega Squad (Dreamcast/Zombie)
Pinball Challenge Delux (GBA/UbiSoft)

Martyn.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 07, 2003, 01:33:56 PM
Hey guys,

I just found this thread when someone put up a link over at GP32x forum, thought after reading all this id leave my 2c on the GP32...

First of all im an absolute MASSIVEEEEE Amiga fan, still got my A500+ and A1200 and all the games... the thought of Amiga emu for this little machine is a dream i hope comes true one day, would totally kill anything :)

As for the GP32, heres a quick rundown of what it can do so far, this is stuff ive directly tested and how good/bad each are, so you can get the lowdown from a user point of view and make up your own mind (so it aint no sales pitch, simply what it can do 'so far' :) )

FULL GAMES (ive seen)

DOOM - its great tho theres currently no sound, a new update on Saturday added full saving :)

Rick Dangerous - perfect :)

Pinball Dreams - only a demo released for now but its seriously perfect, being a fan of the Amiga pinball games im
chuffed to bits about how good this is on the GP32 :)


EMULATORS

Commodore Plus 4
 - never tried it

Commodore64 - Frodo
 - Works like a CHARM, this is perfect emulation, sound, gfx, speed, but you cant save yet

Game Boy / GB Color
 - Works great, the GBC runs a little slow (you especially hear crackling and slow down) when in full screen mode, but apart from that its great

Msx1 / Msx2
 - Apparently works perfect from my m8 testing it but ive yet to try this one

Nes
 - perfect except for crackling in the sound which is quite off putting in this one

PC Engine
 - perfection, except salamander in which the scenery draws way to late, no saving yet but worth a GP alone this one :)

SMS / GameGear
 - brilliant, full battery saving, some games do have a little too fast but i love this emu!!

Super Nintendo
 - 2 versions, 1 with sound/save but slow, one without either but playable speed, im hopefull but as they stand, i cant play with either

SCUMMVM
 - Perfect... nuff said, plays all Lucasarts adventures perfectly, apparently new version in the works to support MP3 sound... hope so :)  Theres also a new version in the works to play games like Beneath a Steel Sky ect

ZX Spectrum
 - This is so close to being perfect it hurts that its not, when you turn sound on it crackles like mad and you just cant use it.... Spectrum EMU is one of my biggest wishes.  The guy who made ZXadvance on the GBA (a fantastic EMU) is keen to convert it for the GP, only time will tell :)  Also a further new EMU has just been announced that also supports 128k Spectrum :D

DivX, MP3, Pic viewers

 - DivX works by compressing your movie to a size of 320x280 at a frameskip of 3 (meaning 10fps more or less).  This might sound a bit naff but on the screen it works perfectly, and makes the movie files small enough to fit on a single 128Mb SMC.  As an example currently ive got 3 episodes of Friends on mine (which look fantastic) and tons of games for the EMU's :)

 - MP3 is perfect tho currently you cannot have bitrates less than 128, so they do take up a bit of room currently.  There are new versions in the works for this, and even an OGG player.

 - Theres a few picture viewers and there all great, can viw pics of any size on the GP32 with scrolling and most even let you resize to the little screen.... some of the file managers on it even let you save the pic as the background :)

Right, thats enough for now, i hope this helps give a good picture on what it can currently do.

Bonks
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 07, 2003, 06:35:53 PM
This is cool!  The two forums seem to be crossing over rather well :-)  

I phoned GBAx.com today and they told me the unit had been dispatched and should arrive tomorrow morning, so I'm kind of excited!  It's weird - I haven't been so excited about a piece of hardware for years!  I feel like it's 12 years ago and I'm waiting for my A1200 to come fgor my birthday.  Oh.... Happy Days!!!

Well.... I'll just have to sccot over to the GP32x forum now and find out what's happenign there.....

Thanks a lot to Bonks for the info on the system.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Rigger on April 08, 2003, 07:26:57 AM
Sounds cool. I want one  too.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: th4t1guy on April 08, 2003, 08:05:58 AM
I heard about these things quite a while ago.  Apparently the software support for it isn't very good, and there's not a lot of developing going on for it.  I've also heard the processor was too slow for most things.  However, if cellphone ability was added to it, I'd buy one in a heartbeat!
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 08, 2003, 10:47:31 AM
Waaaaaahhh - it's 10:30 and my new toy hasn;t arrived yet!  Got to got to work at 11:30!!!  

Hurry up!!!!!

Well... at least it's been days and not months a la AOne... :-)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: bloodline on April 08, 2003, 01:13:53 PM
Quote
Well... at least it's been days and not months a la AOne... :-)


Cough..Years...Cough cough cough cough.... cough.. splutter... choke... :-P
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 08, 2003, 01:37:03 PM
th4t1guy,

The software support throughout the GP32 has picked up dramitatically in the past few months, its true there was a slow few months pre 2003, but its getting there seen as its very new outside Korea

As an example only in the last week weve heard of the new SCUMMVM ports, 2 new ZX Spectrum emulators, OGG support, and only just this morning, a MAME emulator... you can see this here....

http://www.gp32x.com/?artc=290

Like Axeman, ive never been so excited over a computer/console like this since my first A500, and ive owned one for nearly a month now, still use it every day :)

Bonks
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 08, 2003, 10:33:44 PM
Yeah - and I havent even got it yet!  

Hehe - Tell you what though - GBAx.com (the suppliers of the GP32 in the UK) are a bunch of diamond geezers.  I Phoned uypi this morning and said that I hadn;t had it yet, and was promptly told that they were really sorry, but the demand had totally outstripped the supply (apparently hundreds per week at the moment!), but they had a spare they would send out straight away because they had promised me it this morning.  If only we could do that with teh AOne eh?

Will post a bit of a rundown on the thing tomorrow some time.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: lempkee on April 09, 2003, 09:36:16 AM
a question about the file transfers from the computer directory to the smartcard.

can i use an amiga with smartcard reader + smartcard ? ...

its a question about wheter i need this special software to create the special dirs needed + fs on the smc.

if i have the hw + the smartcard reader driver...will it then be easy to create dirs and such manually? ..

like for mac, linux people?...

or is this just for WINDOWS based ####?

Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 09, 2003, 10:12:20 AM
As far as I know - you can just create the folders on the smartmedia card (it reads fine in a normal SM card reader).  There are link programs available for download for the Mac and Linux too, so AOne owners should be laughing if they have Linux up and running.

By the way - IT CAME THIS MORNING, and it's COOOOOL!

Its a great piece of kit.  All I've had a chance to do so far is transfer a few MP3s, install the Rick Dangerous port, and install the PC engine emulator GPengine and have a mess about on a few ROMs (the wonderful R-type and Turrican included :-) )

All running absolutely perfectly so far :-)

Will post more later
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: dezignersrepublic on April 09, 2003, 01:35:13 PM
@Axeman

I am soo tempted to buy one but want to ask a few questions first:

- have you tried the divx playback?? if so whats the quality like?

- is the controller any good, I read in some reviews that it is very sensitve, is this too sensitive or is it ok??

Title: the GP32 comes from Korea...
Post by: on April 09, 2003, 06:40:04 PM
Not a place you would expect a game console to come from worldn't it? Also the emulator seems to be on the www.emuunlim.com website.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Trooper on April 09, 2003, 08:51:00 PM
THE WORLDS GONE GP32 CRAZY !!!!. :-D

Hi,

Ordered one of these Sunday, As soon as i had read some of this thread. I heard about it sometime last year and it was a toss-up between getting a GP32, Wonder Swan (WS) or a Gameboy Advance. I didn`t buy any of then, Because the GP32 and the WS were new and not very popular and the GBA games were to bloody expensive. :-o

Anyway, Back to the point, Anticipating the arrival of my GP32, I checked my email today and found this note from a kind lady called Debs.
____________________________________________________________
From:
"GBAX Orders"

To:
****************************  (Email address removed)

Subject:
***********  (Order number removed)

Date:
Wed, 9 Apr 2003 13:42:53 +0100

Hi,
 
There is a delay in despatching your order as we are temp out of stock due to the high demand for the GP32. Our delivery is due on Friday and your order will be despatched immediately. You will receive an email from us on the day it is sent.
 
Please accept our apologies for the delay.
 
Thanks
 
Debs
_____________________________________________________________

As i have said, The world has gone GP32 crazy, Which can only be a good thing.  :-D  Can`t It???.

Regards

Trooper
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Calen on April 09, 2003, 09:56:33 PM
Trooper:
Quote
The world has gone GP32 crazy, Which can only be a good thing.  Can`t It???.

Well i dunno about the world but i can vouch for the UK going alittle crazy on this unknown gem.
I was talking to craig from GBAX yesterday and he told me to phone before ordering one online as the demand recently has been really HUGE so they may run out of currents stocks, the reason for his is that its seems to be a great bit of kit, and because it was just recently Slashdotted!

Axeman:
Quote
If you need Smartmedia cards and you're in the UK, take a look at www.7dayshop.com. You can get a 128Mb card for about £24 there.

I'm gonna get one in a few weeks time, but in the meantime i have got myself some cheap SMC'S :-)  
Thanks for that info Axeman!

As a side note, i have been talking with some of the guys who have been using them for some time and some who develop things for it to, and there take is that only in the past while things have really started to pick up for it, emulators our starting to get very recent updates, some commerical games have been released and as said before in an earlier post, Pinball Dreams is available for it with possibly more in the pinball trilogy to follow.
 Native commerical games for me our not the selling point anyway (there ain't many), it's the emulation, C64 on the move!  wohoo:)
Mame is also in the works and there has been a release of that a few days ago, not sure if it has sound yet but its running some of the older titles pretty well like Ghost "n" Goblins, Genesis/Megadrive emulator also has been in the works for some time but the author does not want to release it until its perfect, but its coming along nicely from what i've heard.
 I Think also its just a matter of time before we see a GBA emulator, thats gonna smoke it's CPU if it can do that :)
There also seems to be a big demand for some sort of Amiga Emulator for it also, i've seen quite big threads/chat (nice one Axeman) about this subject and and in various IRC GP related channels,  most would agree that this would be the jewel in the crown if it's ever pulled of,  i won't hold my breath in that one though.

I will say one thing about the GP32 owners i've talked with recently, they remind me of Amiga users and how we look upon our classic bit of hardware, friendly/helpfull know what there speaking about and most of all, they love it and very protective/dedicated  to it
They also see a possible huge future for it, when the world knows,  sounds familar huh ;-)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 10, 2003, 01:52:16 AM
@dezignersrepublic

Quote
- have you tried the divx playback?? if so whats the quality like?

- is the controller any good, I read in some reviews that it is very sensitve, is this too sensitive or is it ok??


Divx playback is actually pretty good.  At the moment it is limited to 10fps, but aparrently someone has produced one that does 20fps.  It is definitely good enough to watch a few episodes of yer favorite tv stuff or even a whole film.  It looks good considering it fits on a 128mb SMC and its on such a small screen.

As for the controller - I actually really like it.  It IS sensitive, but I actually find that to be a good thing.  I, too, like the feel of the microswitches on the controller.  They emit a nice reassuring click (quiet one) when you move it.  

@Trooper

I was one of the lucky ones!  Apparently (and I think it was Debs), they shipped their last one to me and are now waiting for some more in.  I;ve got a feeling this is gonna get really big (at least in a cult kind of way :-p )  I think it's great that something like this is getting the recognition it deserves.  Its a great piece of kit.

As for my views - here's a brief rundown..... (getting late - work in the morning :-) )

MP3 player - great - recognizes ID3 tags etc and has a pretty little spectrum analyser.  

Rick Dangerous Port - Fantastic!  Think it uses the ST graphics, but we can forgive them for that!

PC Engine Emulator - WORTH THE ASKING PRICE ALONE!  R-type is perfect, as is R-Type 2 and aload of other games (Raiden, bonk etc).

SNES emulator - good but currently slow.

Master System Emulator - Really good - more or less perfect (few almost unnoticable sound glitches, but shouldnt take long to clear those up).

NES emulator - great if you're into those things (never liked many NES games myself!)

C64 Emulator - perfect, though a little clunky to use - again - according to author, this will be solved soon.

SCUMM emulator - Wonderful!!!!  Been playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis on it!  Perfect!

Hardware in General - Light, but not plasticky, great screen considereing its not backlit, long long battery life, Great that it uses SMCs.  I could go on forever, but I'm falling asleep!  Managed to get a lot done today with it.  Will post more tomorrow!

Cheers


 :-)  :-)  :-D  :-)  :-)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 10, 2003, 03:00:09 AM
The Bandai Wonderswan was cancelled recently.I bet this will help the GP32 a lot, since a lot of people don´t like the GBA because of its countless SNES-ports and the dark display.

Hey,I read that they sold 150,000 GP32 just in Korea.Not bad. :)

I like that the GP32 is even so powerful that it can emulate a GBA. :D
Extremely cool.

I want Amiga Anywhere on the GP32!
Maybe somebody could ask Fleecy Moss about it. *g*
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: jj on April 10, 2003, 08:38:52 AM
These things sound amazing.  I used to own an orginal gameboy, way back when.  never owned a colour and only seen someone laying on and advance.

But if u gameboy fans out there are interested the new gamboy sp is brill,, its been well re-designed and now has a proper back-lit. its basically a GBA in a new case design(i.e a flip down screen) with a backlit screen.

slightly more of topic, played Zelda on the GG last weekend, Im not a big fan of Zelda series, but the game looks really good and is interesting.  Its all cell-shaded.

 
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Bobsonsirjonny on April 11, 2003, 01:58:34 PM
I sort of have £100 - well sort of - overdraft etc... and i just phoned up GBAX cos they are quite near to me....

They've said that the shipment is arriving tommorrow, and if I want one all I have to do is call and I can go and collect :-D

I'm chomping at the bit for one of these babies - Ax has been telling me loads about them!

:pint:
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Troels_E on April 11, 2003, 02:21:11 PM
@MisterBrisby

I emailed Fleecy about this product just before it was released (which is actually a looong time ago now).

He said that they had allready been talking with the guys in charge and that something _might_ come out of it regarding Amiga Anywhere.

Seems nothing happened which is quite allright as it havent sold enough units yet.
Looks like more distributors are coming  and sales are better now so maybe Amiga should contact them again.?
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 11, 2003, 10:37:53 PM
Well.... been playing about on it again tonight - trying out new stuff,tweaking other stuff....

Been converting episodes of the simpsons to GP32 DivX format with VirtualDub (takes about 5 mins to convert each one).    The quality is absolutely fine for watching on the small screen, and they work out about 25meg each.   Took it to work today and had loads of people asking questions and where they could get hold of one etc.   :-D  

Been fiddling with the C64 emulator.  Put Last Ninja 2 on it (some of the best music ever on the C64).  Also a few others.  Can anyone suggest some games to put on there?  I never actually had many c64 games (got my miggy before long).  

All-in-all, it is money well spent.  

Cheers
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Calen on April 12, 2003, 05:17:58 AM
Quote
Been fiddling with the C64 emulator. Put Last Ninja 2 on it (some of the best music ever on the C64). Also a few others. Can anyone suggest some games to put on there? I never actually had many c64 games

Totally agree, fine music in all the of The Last Ninja trilogy very much including the later released Last Ninja 2 Remix.  Did it run 100% with the sound to?

As for C64 games to try, ermm, thats  a tough one at 5am but i would be personally trying Turrican 1 & 2, Creatures 1&2. Turbo Outrun, Myth, Flimbos Quest,  and X-Out, plus LOADS of others that don't come to mind at the moment.

Some of those games came to the C-64 later in it's life and prolly help push its capabilities, be interesting to know how well they run on the GP32.
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: on April 12, 2003, 09:35:12 AM
I brought my GP32 last July and have used it almost daily since.

The development scene has grown and grown and many amazing things have come out. I have brought only one game for it All for Princess but when I realised how much else it could do and how poor Korean games are :) I brought no more.

There is an online store JoyGP opening on Tuesday where you can buy Gamepark games for it to download.

I am running a bios which boots straight to  the operating system Windup's which allows you to have a customizeable desktop with shortcuts to programs and a filebrowser.

Mp3 Player - Very nice

MoviePark Divx Movie Player - Perfect, watching Animatrix or even whole movies on it great. I took it on holiday last year with 6 episodes of the Simpsons and sitting on the beach watching them was an amazing experience !!

Book Readers, JPG viewers, map reader, address book, many file managers and utility programs, different bios's,


Homebrew games - There are many to download from Tetris to shootem up and platform games. Many are poor quality but a few are of comercial quality.

PC Doom Port - Only missing sound and save game support but source code has been released now and I hear these will be fixed very soon.

PC Wolfenstien 3D Port - Perfect

SCUUM The Lucasarts Emulator - Amazing, no speech (Yet but very soon as the SCUUM Dev team itself is involved in porting it to the GP32) but many of the games are totally playable. I am currently playing through Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis in my lunch break at work :) Also I have tried Monkey Island, Sam and Max and Day of the Tenticle all appeard to be fine.

PC Engine Emulator - Perfect and a very fine console ;)

Sega Master System/Game Gear Emulator - Perfect

Gameboy/Gameboy Colour - Perfect although I have no interest in the Gameboy

Commodore 64 - Almost perfect, frequent updates

Commodore Plus 4 Emulator - Perfect? Think so but I do not use it.

MSX1/2 Emulator - Perfect

Spectrum - Perfect

NES - Good

 Super Nintendo - 2 Emus, one works full speed but with no saves/sound/keymapping, other runs about 70% speed but with saves/sound/keymapping. Both are being actively worked on.

There are many more things I have probably forgotten but I think you can see that there is something for everyone.


Other things I hear are coming real soon are the Megadrive Emulator, a full Mame .66 port, A Neo Geo Pocket Emulator, Atari Emus(console and computer), the new focus now seems to be for 16 bit computers to be emulated and I would absolutly love for the Amiga to be emulated on the GP32 - I defected from my Atari to the Amiga after I heard the awesome sound effects/music and the higher colour palette, being able to play some classic Amiga games (Federation Captive SWOS Cannon Fodder Speedball 2) would be the icing on the cake :)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Bobsonsirjonny on April 12, 2003, 07:42:51 PM
I've bought a GP32X and Tamar is a bit pissed off with me because I am already overdrawn by a couple of hundred quid - I get paid on the 18th though, and I'm owed £300 from work - so that will clear my overdraft easily. But she is still pissed at me. I'm crap at lying.

Anyway - to add insult to injury. I thought it came with a smartmedia card - and the only person I have easy acces to internet connection with is.... Tamar. So the handheld is basically useless untill monday...

She wanted me to take it back to the shop - but said that I can keep it as long as I make up the money. But If everything goes to plan I should be in credit by £300 at the end of next month.

Daft thing is she is so right... I really dont need one, and i could have spent my cash on better things.....
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: Bobsonsirjonny on April 15, 2003, 11:21:01 AM
Ok its all working and its pretty cool. AA on this would rule! :)
Title: Re: new toy!!!!! Anyone heard of a GP32?
Post by: odin on April 18, 2003, 12:38:50 PM
Does this thing also have any productivity software? Like standard stuff PDA's have? Addressbook/Agenda/etc. And how big is it? Can you stuff it in a pocket?