potential PPC Amiga REAL CHEAP

[Louis Dias]

Update:

Haven't heard back from the makers of the qoob chip on an alternate power source.  I'll try the 'boards' next.

Got my 50" 1280x720 16:9 Samsung DLP TV in.  Plugged in my original Cube's component cables - and was blown away.  F-Zero GX is brand new all over again.  As are many games.

How about that Revolution 3D spacial controller? Sweet!  And the 'behind closed doors' demos that the editors got to see had it running on a good old Gamecube!  Since they did a Metroid Prime 2 demo with the controller, maybe they'll release an MP2 Special Edition!  That would look excellent on my new TV.

I wonder if the Cube's RAMDAC can be pushed to a 1280x720 display...  This TV has a VGA-in and my Windows desktop looked pretty sharp on it.

Now let's see, AO4 on Revolution with that controller (direct pointing device) replacing a mouse - excellent indeed.

In the meantime, I think I will order the SD card adapter/loader ($14.99).  That way I can get Linux running on the GC sooner than later.  I also ordered a PS/2->Serial adapter so I can plug in a ps/2 mouse into my pc and see what it's sending to the serial port.  I may write a mouse driver for the ps/2->Gamecube controller adapter that I have.

[_ThEcRoW]

so?

[Louis Dias]

_ThEcRoW wrote:
so?

Are your 21 other posts equally as impressive? :roll:

By the way, Frieza's a pansy.  You could have chosen someone a little cooler like - Cooler.  :-D

[billt]

>Well, Amiga isn't a console company which sells hardware at a
>loss... Hence Sales yields profits which yields growth.

Sales needs to reach a certain level to break even. If as an example you invest $200000 to create something, and you make $100 "profit" (after manufacturing/distribution costs) on each unit sold, you need to sell 2000 units to break even on the initial R&D investment. You don't make any "true profit" until you sell unit 2001, at which point you have $100 to show for yourself.

While we don't know what any real-life numbers are for Eyetech or the Troika thing, we can't say how many sales are required to surpass investments and start generating actual real-life profit. Eyetech hasn't given out numbers so we'r left to guesstimate on them, and Troika is purely guesswork as well for now.

[som99]

I just want to reply on waccoons reply about the 10Mbit internet connection and download speed, you said that its hard to even get over 520Kbs download speed, i dont know where you live dude but here in sweden where i live i got 24Mb Broadband by dsl no problems with it ive  been up around 2MB (2048KB) per second on mine but almost maxed donwload on near 3MB per second so dont know what internet you guys got but mine work fine at 24Mbps.

//som99

[Louis Dias]

@billt

Yes but it's easier to sell 2001 units to a potential customer base of 20,000,000 people who shell out $50-150 a month on NEW software vs. 2000 "Amigans" who cling to antiquated technology.

Again, that's why I feel a licensed product, which would be reviewed by major gaming magazines for free, would do Amiga as a whole a lot of good.

Sell a package that includes:

Keyboard, mouse, OS4 Native for GC in licensed disc, bundled Hyperion software(games), browser, chat client, email client.  Support Progressice scan.

Let the consumer buy the broad band adapter from Nintendo to get the internet access stuff.

IBM proved that you can have a mini-hard drive in the parallel port expansion.  Toshiba makes an 80GB 1.8" HD.  Heck they got a .85" HD that will hold 20GB.  This could come as a future expansion.

Yes, a little to late in the console's lifecycle but it would run on Revolution due to backwards compatibility (except the HD).

[_ThEcRoW]

Frieza is the master  :-D

[Louis Dias]

Frieza got his arse whooped by Goku when he first became a super saiyan, then turned into a cyborg and got his arse handed to him again by teen-aged future Trunks, then when Goku died and Cell and Frieza teamed up in HFIL, Goku didn't even have to go Super Saiyan to whoop him and Cell's ass.  Then in the GT series (and/or a movie as well) when they let everyone out of HFIL, Gohan handed his his ass.

Oh and he wears lipstick and talks like a patsy too.

@adolescent: I think you'll be interested in the current poll.  :-D

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
IBM proved that you can have a mini-hard drive in the parallel port expansion.  Toshiba makes an 80GB 1.8" HD.  Heck they got a .85" HD that will hold 20GB.  This could come as a future expansion.

In your words, "bullpoo".  IBM has never had a HD developed or in development for the GCN.  Add this to the many rumors of zip drives, HDs, and other removable expansions for the GCN.  

[koaftder]

I figured i'd make a post here, since everybody else and their grandparents have. I wouldnt want to miss out on the fun.

*bump*

[Louis Dias]

adolescent wrote:

lou_dias wrote:
IBM proved that you can have a mini-hard drive in the parallel port expansion.  Toshiba makes an 80GB 1.8" HD.  Heck they got a .85" HD that will hold 20GB.  This could come as a future expansion.

In your words, "bullpoo".  IBM has never had a HD developed or in development for the GCN.  Add this to the many rumors of zip drives, HDs, and other removable expansions for the GCN.  

I posted a link a few pages back to a planetgamecube.com page announcing that the product was in development.

F.Y.I: the GBA player for the GC is jut a fancy data I/O device that specifically reads GBA roms and writes to them as well.  The included disc is the actual emulator that reads and writes to the hi-speed parralel port.

So don't say it's not possible.  BTW, what color troll are you again?

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:
I posted a link a few pages back to a planetgamecube.com page announcing that the product was in development.

Even the planetgamecube.com people later said it was phoney.  (keep in mind this is years old now, but at least you could do a minute or two of research before posting nonsense).

F.Y.I: the GBA player for the GC is jut a fancy data I/O device that specifically reads GBA roms and writes to them as well.  The included disc is the actual emulator that reads and writes to the hi-speed parralel port.

Totally incorrect.  The disc is not an emulator at all.  The Gameboy Player contains the complete GBA hardware, except for I/O (which is handled by the GCN). The disc is simply there to boot the GCN, setup the hardware, etc.  There is no software emulation or rom transfer to the GCNs memory.  

BTW, what color troll are you again?

If supplying correct technical information makes me a troll then I'll let you pick my color.  

[Louis Dias]

if that were the case, the GBA player would cost as much as a GBA.

The GBA player application draws a selectable border around the GBA display and allows you to swap carts without shutting off the GC and rebooting.

Your saying the parrallel port is lightning fast now, yet you've previously said it wasn't fast enough for anything.  If the parrallel port can do 30 frames per second of video as well as audio while receiving controller input, then hard drive access is trivial through that port.

How do you explain getting back to the cartridge swap screen?  The GC can emulate the GBA in it's sleep.  The included GBA hardware is the catridge connector and ROM reader.  If anybody knows how to emulate Nintendo hardware - it's Ninetendo.  Next you'll be saying that "Revolution" is going to have GC, N64, SNES and NES hardware in it because it will emulate all those machines.

Tell you what, open up yours and show me the GBA cpu+gpu+spu in there and I'll retract my trolling statements.

[adolescent]

lou_dias wrote:



Tell you what, open up yours and show me the GBA cpu+gpu+spu in there and I'll retract my trolling statements.

Why?  I've already seen pics of the circuit board, it's up to you to back up your insane claims.  But, to solidify things, how about some quotes from the creator of the GB Player himself.

IGNpocket: Did any of the assets from the development kits like the AGB Capture, or the Wide Boy, work their way into the Game Boy Player project?

Sashmoto: The hardware technology is essentially just the Game Boy Advance hardware. As far as the image processing goes, it's using the GameCube hardware. So it's a different project than the AGB Capture and the Wide Boy.

...

IGNpocket: Why did you go the route of requiring a boot disc for the Game Boy Player?

Sashmoto: For security purposes, the GameCube absolutely has to have a disc to start. So it was necessary.

IGNpocket: Does the disc have any code on it that's specific to the Game Boy Player, other than to boot it up?

Sashmoto: The boot disc has the image processing software as well as the security software. It's possible to update the disc to improve certain aspects of the Game Boy Player, if needed.

...

IGNpocket: Are there any undocumented features of the Game Boy Player that nobody's really stumbled upon yet?

Sashmoto: (laughs) It's just a Game Boy Advance system that you can play on your television. That's pretty much it. So, no secrets.

...

IGNpocket: Pokemon Box on the Game Boy Advance gives players the ability to play Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on the GameCube without the need for a Game Boy Player. So why do we need the Game Boy Player if this is possible?

Sashmoto: Yes, that's true, but that uses software emulation. And when you think about all the hundreds and thousands of Game Boy games on the market, making the emulator compatible with all of these games wouldn't be efficient or cost effective. That's where the Game Boy Player comes in, since the system is essentially the Game Boy Advance hardware. Compatibility isn't a problem

[Louis Dias]

adolescent wrote:

Sashmoto: The boot disc has the image processing software as well as the security software. It's possible to update the disc to improve certain aspects of the Game Boy Player, if needed.

What does that tell you?  It's not 100% GBA hardware.

[Waccoon]

if that were the case, the GBA player would cost as much as a GBA.

No screen, no batteries... there's half your cost right there.

CPUs and the like are "Jelly Bean" parts.  They're worthless compared to the cost that goes into the form factor.  Check the latest prices on those Sega Genesis Direct-to-TV units.  Wal-Mart recently had a sale on the 1st gen Atari Flashback for $7.50.

The GBA player application draws a selectable border around the GBA display and allows you to swap carts without shutting off the GC and rebooting.

I'd be willing to think the GC draws the border while the Player provides the underlay video.  Maybe it's all done in the Player, but I doubt it.

Seeing how the borders are not part of the "emulation", I don't see what you're getting so excited about.

Cart hot-swaps are hardly magic, especially when you don't have to rely on batteries.  I have a Gamecube, but not a Player, so I don't know the procedure for hot swapping the carts.

If the parrallel port can do 30 frames per second of video as well as audio while receiving controller input, then hard drive access is trivial through that port.

*cough* low resolution *cough*

What are the specs of that parallel port, again?  As usual, almost anything is possible, but not always practical.

How do you explain getting back to the cartridge swap screen?

The same way the PS2 returns you to the browser when you eject a game disc, or the Amiga brings you to Guru when the CPU stops responding.  This is hardly extrodinary.  It's all in the firmware.

PCs could do the same if it wasn't for the bloddy real-mode BIOSes.  If there weren't still millions of people running Win98 and flakey old versions of Linux, we could all just flash our computers with new BIOSes and rid ourselves of 20+ years of garbage.

If anybody knows how to emulate Nintendo hardware - it's Ninetendo.

The PC emulators I use are pretty damn good.  :-)

I should hope the official Nintendo emulators are good!  Remember when Nintendo was charging $20 for NES re-releases?  That's a lot of cash for such old games.

Next you'll be saying that "Revolution" is going to have GC, N64, SNES and NES hardware in it because it will emulate all those machines.

GC hardware... very likely.  The techniques game programmers use to write software is quite different from PC developers.  True forwards compatibilty requires a bit more going on in the hardware than what happens in Windows-Land.

Anything older is trivial to emulate in software.  However, the emulators will not be built into the machine, and will come with the games when you buy them.  They will just be programs.  The emulation quality is what makes it shine.  If Nintendo's SNES emulator for Revolution is anything like Atari's official 2600 emulator for the PS2, I'll puke.

What does that tell you? It's not 100% GBA hardware.

From that article:

"Sashmoto: (laughs) It's just a Game Boy Advance system that you can play on your television. That's pretty much it. So, no secrets."

Of course, the GBA needs a BIOS.  Patches for the BIOS can be read from the Gamecube disc, so that's what can be used to "improve" the player if such ROM patches aren't already available on the GBA carts.