DOS games, how does Pandora and Pyra compare to GCW Zero


M

Martin

Guest
Hi!

I would like to have a handheld device for playing DOS games like One Must Fall 2097 and Duke Nukem II. I've heard about the Pandora and it's impressive but I just can't afford one. I saw that the GCW Zero (https://www.dragonbox.de/en/32-gcw-zero) has DOSBox and it's much cheaper.

How does Pandora and Pyra compare to GCW Zero when it comes to DOS games?
 
Performance wise about the same, but the Pandora has a higher resolution screen(800x480) for games that render above 320x240 and it has a physical keyboard.. so it's a more optimal DOS environment IMO.

Edit: Just thinking, I'm not sure how optimized the dynarec the GCW version of DOSBOX uses compared to the ARM version that the Pandora uses.
 
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OMF is slow on all devices afaik. Duke Nukem II is available for purchase on the Pandora and runs smoothly.
 
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How does Pandora and Pyra compare to GCW Zero when it comes to DOS games?
You can't compare the two.  Pandora is basically a full handheld Linux computer complete with keyboard and gaming controls.  GCW Zero is just another handheld console.  I applaud the GCW Zero for its open concept, but I say the Pandora beats the GCW Zero hands down on every aspect except for the price.  Anyway, it targets a different crowd so it works there I guess.  

Where was I?  Oh, and you can't play DosBox games and games like Oolite properly without a keyboard... 
 
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The music is part of what made OMF awesome, and that doesn't reproduce the music very well :)

I haven't done any research into this, but what's the actual overhead in emulating DOS games that makes them so slow, even though they were playable on a <90MHz system?
 
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The Thing what the Pandora Qemu Version make so slow is Grafical Related.


Many Resolutions are not supported with our Pandora Qemu Version.


Known Bugs are:


-800x600 in Fullscreen and Qemu stay out


-320x240 and its a stretches Screen in the length


-256Bit Colour are much faster than 16Bit or 24Bit Colours....


-no 2D Acceleration exept a little boost with Univbe


-The Keyboard Map does not fit exactly to the Pandora


@LinuxBochs:


Maybe you can compile a new Version of Qemu for us to play with your Performance boosts?


Some early beta Versions had Touchscreen support too,but it was ever the Pointer visible.


And some Versions runned in 800x600 too on the Pandora.


We released then tha fastest Version from this Tests ;)


(i tried to copy a newer SeaBios and Cirrus Driver inside but did never worked)


With more grafical Options have we realy a good Chance for the original RPGMakerGames without Bugs like EasyRPG and others.
 
This could potentially be solved with Notaz' SDL if it would support the keycodes.

There wouldn't be the need for qemu to scale the image, what results in higher performance.

I think I patched it once to not scale the image in the sdl output.
 
Hmm was that not @ a Time where we had


Keyboard/Input Problems when using NotazSDL?


Maybe a new Build of this old Qemu Version help a bit ;)


Or mean you the newest Version work faster?
 
You could ask lunixbochs if he could give you a copy of his optimized qemu for testing.

Edit: Or just build newest Version 2.10 in Code::Blocks Pnd.
 
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The music is part of what made OMF awesome, and that doesn't reproduce the music very well :)
adequate music/sound emulation is one of the drawbacks when using Qemu instead of Dosbox. OMF plays smoothly (including sound) on my rebirth unit, with pickles rather old dosbox build. I guess the combination of a 1 GHz model and ptitseb newer build should give one a flawless experience.
 
Alternatively, you could take a look at zerox86 for the GCW Zero as a much faster alternative to DOSBox. Zerox86 has its roots in the DSx86 PC emulator for the Nintendo DS. The game compatibility list can be found here. Duke Nukem II appears to be playable.

@Pickle, The DOSBox version for the GCW Zero has an onscreen keyboard.
 
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Alternatively, you could take a look at zerox86 for the GCW Zero as a much faster alternative to DOSBox. Zerox86 has its roots in the DSx86 PC emulator for the Nintendo DS. The game compatibility list can be found here. Duke Nukem II appears to be playable.

@Pickle, The DOSBox version for the GCW Zero has an onscreen keyboard.
Sure, but not very useable, try playing something like ultima on it :)

Ive tracked down the segfault to SDL2 not opening gles library properly for function pointers.

Edit: tracked downt the issue and it works, and it works well :)

PND
 
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