Gp2x User Guide Preview Release


Guyfawkes

Certified Idiot :)
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
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Website
www.emuholic.com
The GP2X User Guide is now in a mostly finished state so I have uploaded the PDF version at http://www.emuholic.com/GP2XUserGuide.pdf

I am looking for feedback on anything that could be changed or expanded on, for example if a part of the guide isnt clear enough or more information is needed. There are a couple of parts that are unwritten or incomplete, the Troubleshooting part, Advanced Usage and some info in the Video guide.

I need some information on the Video guide in particular, if anyone could tell me what file formats and codecs are supported at the moment that would be great. Also I would like someone to write the movie encoding guide. I dont know much about encoding movies and seeing as its an important part of the GP2X it would be very useful to have an encoding guide.

Any feedback on the guide is much appreciated :)

Note to site owners, please dont post about or distribute this guide yet as its not finished and may contain mistakes etc.
 
I don't yet have my GP2X, but I'm fully willing to write a section on movie encoding. I'll pretty much go on what's said about DivX working and nothing else, though I have to ask: does MPEG encoded video saved as an AVI work? I've heard nothing to indicate one way or another, but that's how I've prepared everything...

Also, may I ask what you use for layout? It looks almost like the document was made in Word, printed and scanned to PDF, though the pictures are rather clear even though the font looks as though it's made of iron filings...

Also, if you like once it's assembled I can make a print version that can be assembled into a pamphlet, if you aren't familiar with the psutil command line thingies yourself.

This is a great effort - I'd be very happy to be in on it.
 
i encode ll my stuff as divx6 with lamemp3(64-128kbit 22khz)) full framerate(~20-30) full res(~320*240-7XX*XXX), runs fine.
 
Sounds good, Vimacs. I'll need to install the DivX codec myself, but it should be easy to show the manner in which that is done using Avidemux, which is (thankfully) cross-platform, meaning it should help everyone.

Except maybe those with Macs, the poor saps.
 
That's looking really good. Thanks for doing this.

There seems to be a demand for more info regarding setting up a devving environment. Are you hoping to include idiot guides to configuring codeblocks and dev-c++ etc. ? Some DH said that if you can't set up an environment what chance have you got of learning to code. To me that's like saying if you don't know how to strip down your engine how are you ever going to learn to drive. Especially so if you are just starting out coding.
I have yet to start exploring the GP2X and will probably be trying to set up an environment for it using dev-c++. It may not be for a couple of weeks yet ( other commitment ) but if no one has produced a guide in the meantime could you use one if I have a go at setting out the steps ? (assuming I can get it to work :) )
 
Thanks for the feedback Prothall. The guide is made in Word then saved as a PDF file (new feature in the Office beta), I chose this as when the guide is finished an HTML version will be made so I didnt want to make the layout too complicated, this way its easier in my opinion but it does mean the guide looks like its been made in Word :)

The text font is named Calibri and heading text is Cambria. As far as I know PDF should embed any used fonts in the PDF? It could be that this doesnt work on all PDF readers? I could use a common font like times new roman if this is the case.

Depending if the guide is popular a pamphlet version would be great. Definately something to consider down the line if stores or gamepark wanted to distribute the guide with the GP2X.
 
One thing that could be added is that very large photos are not displayed and should be scaled down. I for one had no luck viewing photos with 4 Megapixels, but scaled down to 1280x1024 or below that, they work fine.

Minor mistake: in the chapter about the media player (page 18) you write that one should highlight the ebook viewer instead of the movie viewer.

I think it would also be useful to add the FAQ on flashing the firmware from this thread:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=22383
 
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Did it get moved or something in the last 5 minutes? Because I get "The connection was refused when trying to contact www.emuholic.com". The main emuholic page loads up just fine though.
 
flashing firmware and installing patches is something I plan to add to the advanced usage part of the manual. If i get time later tonight I might start adding some of the planned advanced usage guides.

thanks for the info on the photos, ill try and check that out tonight and add some information on it to the guide. ill also fix the wrong text on the media player.

theres loads of spelling mistakes in the GP2X menus, midium instead of medium for the battery level is one that springs to mind :)
 
Wow, brilliant, making me want my GP2X even more now.

Hope you get the development section done soon, can't wait to get stuck in!
 
I have updated the guide which now uses Times New Roman as the font, hopefully this will be easier to read instead of the previous font. I will do some more work on the guide tomorrow and fix any reported mistakes.

Thanks for all the feedback!
 
the old emuholic server where the above file is hosted seems to be going up and down today, ive just uploaded it to the main server at http://www.emuboards.com/GP2XUserGuide.pdf

I'm not a professional writer nor am I an expert in the English language, but I did notice a few minor things. I could be wrong, so you might want to ask others:

On page 9 of the user guide, change "one you are happy with the settings" to "once you are happy with the settings"

On page 22, change "delete files once at a time" to "delete files one at a time".

The user guide is looking good. keep up the good work. Too bad I don't have my gp2x yet, otherwise I could verify your instructions.

Did anybody else notice that the battery charge level on page 25 says "MIDIUM"? :lol:
 
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