potential PPC Amiga REAL CHEAP

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
Hey, how do you like buying 8 copies of a game in order to play against 7 of your near-by PSP-owning friends?  Not so on the DS, everyone just downloads it from the one with the copy and all can join in on the fun.  Advantage - Nintendo.

Some more facts for you...

- Not all games will support "DS Download Play" single game card multiplayer, some games still need copies for each player.
- Of the games that do support it often they don't offer the complete game in multiplayer. (ie like GBA single pak multiplayer)
- PSP games like THUG and Twisted Metal DO support this (un-oficially)
- PSP works on wireless LAN/hotspot NOW (not in development, promised, etc.  NOW!)
Advantage - PSP

[adolescent]

mdma wrote:

adolscent: They have never had a backwards compatible home console system, FACT!

Who they? Nintendo?

GBA is compatible with GBC and GB carts.
GBC is compatible with GB carts.

The discussion was refering to Nintendo "home consoles" only (or actually how Nintendo quickly learns from their mistakes and is offering backwards compatibility...  yet takes more than 20 years to actually come to that conclusion (not exactly quick)).

As you mentioned, most other brands have had some sort of backwards compatibility.  Of those you didn't mention Atari 5200/2600 (with add-on), Sega Megadrive/SMS (with add-on), PS2/PS1, etc.

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:

adolescent wrote:

Some more facts for you...

- Not all games will support "DS Download Play" single game card multiplayer, some games still need copies for each player.
- Of the games that do support it often they don't offer the complete game in multiplayer. (ie like GBA single pak multiplayer)
- PSP games like THUG and Twisted Metal DO support this (un-oficially)
- PSP works on wireless LAN/hotspot NOW (not in development, promised, etc.  NOW!)
Advantage - PSP

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7885

Considering the hype... If you look at Japanese sales, the PSP is losing ground again.  http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4645
Keep in mind that these are 2005 stats and don't include the launch of the DS in Japan. (sold over 500,000 at launch)

Advantage - Nintendo

Again, you ignore the facts.  Why respond to the multiplayer arguments with sales figures?  I guess you agree that the PSP is better for multiplayer?

Now on to the sales figures.  Had you actually read the article you posted you'd have caught this:

The figures are healthy by comparison with previous product launches in the space - the Nintendo DS, for example, shipped half a million units in North America before Christmas and took over a week to work through that initial shipment.

So, (sales) advantage PSP.

[adolescent]

Waccoon wrote:

adolscent:  They have never had a backwards compatible home console system, FACT!

I'm rather surprised that it took this long for any of the consoles to have any form of backwards compatibility.

I'd like to see when older titles will actually run better on new hardware.  This is still where all forms of PCs excell.  Software techniques on consoles are just not advanced enough these days.

I'm surprised also.  Nintendo up to this point seems to think that we have unlimited real estate under our TV sets to proudly display it's consoles.  In fact, the Gamecube manual has a section on how to hook up your GCN and N64 to the same TV.  :-)

The improvements would be ideal, but I'm not sure how far they can push it.  Maybe faster CD access (like PS2) and some polygon smoothing (like PS2) or AA.  

Anything more can actually hurt a game.  For example, and not a good one,  I recently got Half Life 2:CE that comes with Half Life:Source.  The old game runs great on the new engine but they didn't change the textures, shading, etc. so at 1280x1024 things look terrible because of the low resolution textures.  I can imagine this happening on a system that doesn't allow for updates.

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
On multiplayer - Nintendo had the 'download' feature from the start and Sony is only psuedo supporting it because of Nintendo.  Nintendo can't force 3rd parties to support that feature.

Force 3rd parties?  Nintendo doesn't even use it in all of their games.

So, (sales) advantage PSP.

LOL...LMAO...ROTFL!

ps,
Hey how's the battery life on those PSP's?  LOL again...

What does that have to do with sales?  I'm trying to figure out whether you are crazy, or have AADD.  Instead of answering to something you keep changing the topic.  

But, to try to keep up with your attention defecit, the battery life is just fine, for what the PSP can do.  I watched Spiderman on UMD without recharging.  I haven't really tried playing 6 hours straight to test the battery life during gameplay but so far it's fine.

[adolescent]

strobe wrote:
You know, the more I think about it...

I never considered AROS that viable as a desktop replacement, but it could be an interesting console platform (much like the original Amiga). The price of the GC is the most appealing aspect. One can even use an emulator to test the AROS CG ROM.

It would be better, easier, and cheaper to just use an Xbox.  x86 architecture, built in hard drive, fullsize CD/DVD drive, 10/100 NIC, USB, etc.  By the time you add all of this to the GCN, you're spending well over the ~$150.  (Not to mention there isn't a working HD, and the GCN exploits to actually load homebrew software are more expensive than on the Xbox)

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
Interesting find.  They should have just got this http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=77&products_id=1575& and left well enough alone.  The thing you do lose with the 'Q' is progressive scan mode.  Strange to offer DVD playback but take away progressive scan mode...

Wrong.  The Q supports 480p (progressive scan) for games that support it, just like a regular GCN.  The DVD however is not progressive scan.  

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
http://brokensaints.com/blog/

holy shiznit, a 3D addon for the gamecube at last year's E3!
Revolution with stereoscopic 3D!

Yes, the second coming of the Virtual Boy. :lol:  Glad to see Nintendo has the gimick market in the bag.

[adolescent]

Since we're on the Linux topic.  How about a fully supported, fully featured, linux distribution of Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) for Xbox?  Available now.

   
Limited Edition 2005, a special new version of its operating system that blends the most up to date popular open source applications, including Firefox 1.0.2, with specific customisations resulting in advanced multimedia, internet and development capabilities. These features include out-of-the-box Web content RSS reading and software sound mixing (so multiple applications can play sound at once). Limited Edition 2005 is the only Linux system to allow the trouble-free coexistence of 32-bit and 64-bit applications. It also offers enhanced hardware support for removable devices, including the ability to boot from USB keys.

Summary of important applications:
Linux kernel 2.6.11.6 ; KDE 3.3.2 (with some backports from version 3.4, including kpdf) ; GNOME 2.8.3 ; Firefox 1.0.2 ; GCC 3.4.3 ; The GIMP 2.2 ; Cdrecord 2.01.01a21 (with DVD+R dual-layer support) ; OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 ; MySQL 4.1.11.

A special feature that will certainly appeal to gamers and enthusiasts is that the new release from Mandriva has support for the Xbox console, empowering users to bridge the divide between gaming and other computer activities.

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
Oh, and I was playing Metroid Fusion on my 'Cube's Game Boy Player.  After some thought, I've come to the conclusion that the disc loads a software emulator and the device is just an interface to read the GBA cartridge.  I say this because you can eject the cartridge and switch games without powering down the system.  Also, it draws a changeable border around the screen to make up the resolution difference.  The GBA's resolution is 240 x 160 pixels and the cube is running at 320x200 for this emulation.  Again, this just points at the high speed parrallel interface on the 'Cube as a potential solution to adding an internal hard drive, usb ports and the like.

The Game Boy Player has the complete GBA hardware in it (minus inputs and outputs).  There is no real emulation going on.  The frames and screen filters are running on GCN which is acting as the I/O and framebuffer.  I wouldn't be surprised if the audio was passed straight through, which means the bandwidth needed would be very small.

[adolescent]

Viper, Qoob, and Ninja mods have been out for a long time.  There is no software issue (or hardware) to overcome to load full size DVD-Rs other than the standard streaming problems which plague certain games (note: illegal use).  If you take the case off, you can use full size DVD-Rs.  Mini DVD-R is hit and miss in quality, and most can't be read without adjusting the GC laser.

How this will help the OS4 port, it won't.  There's still a lack of a local writeable filesystem.  Things like SDLoad aren't usuable or fast enough to be used for local storage.  And, no other HD exists.  

True, the Linux is progressing.  But, I'd say it's about where Xbox Linux was 1-2 years ago (as well as being slower, and having less supported hardware).  Sorry, it's still not even a viable computing platform for Linux, much less OS4.

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
I'd like to flash to qoob chip with the UBOOT BIOS. UBOOT can be ported to Gamecube hardware just like it was ported to A1 hardware.  Maybe the GC-linux people can get this done.  It's better than the PSOload hack.

This won't work.  The Quub firmware is not a generic BIOS like UBOOT, but a specific application for bypassing Nintendos copy protection.

SAMBA could be used to access network hard drives.

Why Samba?  Samba has a lot of overhead, and will really show how slow the 10mb/s half duplex NIC in the GCN is.  It would be much better to use NFS.

Hopefully someone would write a USB port driver that accesses the qoob chip's USB port.

That's not what the USB port is for.  The qoob is a USB device, not a controller.  The usb port is only there for programming the qoob chip.

No VIA DMA/IDE bug

No IDE at all.  In fact, no usable re-writable local filesystem at all.  

no usb stack bug

Again, no USB, so no bug.  Hmm...

no overpriced extremely outdated hardware

I'll give you that much, the GCN is cheap.  But, it's definately outdated.    

and an easy upgrade path to Nintendo Revolution hardware.  Not to mention Revolution being able to offer downloadable Amiga (ported) apps running on the Nintendo DS...and that feature is already built-in to the DS.

Picture Super Skidmarks ported to use Revolution as a server and have 8 Nintendo DS's running Super Skidmarks and racing against each other!  on-line!

Huh?  So, write a new game, add multiplayer, and it's related to Amiga or the old game how?  You need to start checking your facts a bit more.  It's fun to read your sometimes insane rambling but I'd hate it if you really spent real money trying to make the GCN a computer.  It just isn't usable as one.  If you are serious about getting a <$200 Linux box then you can pick up an older computer that will do just fine.  

[adolescent]

@lou

Do some research.  

Phantasy Star Online connects at 10Mb/s half duplex.  Therefore, anything that uses that exploit (ie. Qoob, NinjaMOD, etc. network boot) will use that speed.  The bus itself has a thoretical max of 27Mb/s but this is shared with the memory cards, etc.  If the gc-linux guys have gotten a 10mb/s full duplex connection working I don't know.  The software allows you to set 100mb/s full duplex but the bus can't keep up with it.

The 2MB of flash on the qoob is not a filesystem, it's firmware.  Yes, you can modify and reprogram the firmware.  But, the purpose is to upgrade when newer/better exploit methods are found.  Remember, these devices only purpose is to circumvent Nintendos barcode protection scheme.  (I'd say that there's probably 1-2% that would actually use it for homebrew development, the other 98-99% are just pirates)

Regarding porting to the Revolution.  Lets just wait until the vapor is cleared and the actual unit is out (or at least in 3rd party developers hands).  

BTW, how's the porting going?  :lol:

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
If you read the forums, which I've glanced at, one user has gotten 100Mbit at half duplex to work.

Like I said.  You can set the NIC to 100mb/s full duplex if you want.  But, the bus can not support recieving at these speeds.  Especially since it is also shared with the memory cards, sram, RTC, etc.

how's the porting going

Well, I don't have the A/R usb or SD card adapters yet.  The latest version of PSO_Load doesn't even require PSO and can have you booting homebrew code in 10-15 seconds.

I believe you'll still need PSO to do the initial install on the SDCard, unless they've figured out the format.  (Or, if you have a mod chip of course...) But, good luck.  Make sure to set your PC to 10mb/s half duplex.  :-D

Keep laughing, btw, do you own an A1?

No.  But I'll keep laughing.  Spending ~$250 to get GC-Linux running on your GCN is enough entertainment...

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
my net expenses will be ~$120 because I already own a GC w/Broadband adapter (BBA).  BTW I noticed you are selling this:

CSMK2 060/66MHz w/128M RAM $300
A2065 Ethernet NIC w/10bt transceiver $85

LOL!  You could just about have 2 full GC systems setup ready to run OS4/AROS/Linux with that money.  Funny, the GC has about 10 times the processing power of that accelerator at 1/6 of the cost.  Now I see where the bitterness comes from.  You have Nintendo-envy.    Oh goodness, I can't believe you'd run only a 10bt NIC, the horror! LOL

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

I already have 2 full GC systems (one black GCN, and a Q), with BBA, SD, PSO, etc.  But, I use them for playing games (and/or MP3, VCD, DVD on the Q), not for some fantasy of making them into a computer.

As for the price.  You can do so much more with a big box classic Amiga than you can with a GC running Linux.  

Anyway, good luck.  I'm sure you'll find your Linux experience is worth the $$$.   :lol:

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:

Ah, so you own a gamecube (2 even) and not an A1...imagine that and how many other Amigas own GC's and not A1's...

What does that matter?  20 million GCN owners aren't wishing they had OS4 or an A1.  The count is just one, you.

The Q is way overpriced.  A GC is $99, a DVD player is $40, a Q - $3XX.  Insane.

When I got the Q a few years ago, GCN's were $199 and DVD players were $100.  Of course, back then the Q was ~$450.  But, I got it because it's a neat looking box and a good collectors item.  However, even with it's added capability I still wouldn't think it was a computer.