so yeah, I just got one a couple days ago
one thing I noticed is that it isn't back lit, so there's a light in the front but only at the bottom
so some of the colors look distorted (as in kinda dark and over saturated) when I hold the unit pitched back a little
it doesn't bother me much but is this normal?
The only normal thing that might bother some people and is not solvable is the viewing angle, if that is what bothers you, am sorry to tell you that there is nothing to do about it, I found it very annoying at first but now I got used to it, guess you will too.
If you have any other difficulties with the screen, you can try adjusting the settings either with the built in settings menu in the firmware, or using an application that is called the LCD Tweaker that can be found in the archive.
also, I tried looking every where but I can't find much info on the breakout board
how many usb pheriphels can it support without the need for extra drivers?
like can it support my external harddrive and Logitech Gamepad?
and if they do need drivers, where can I find supported ones?
It has 4 USB 1.1 ports, support for game pads, dance mats, keyboards, and mice depends on the application you are using.
Hard drives are supported natively, but they have to be self-powered or by powering the BOB through a PSU, for example, if you had a normal external hard drive, that doesn't have a power adaptor for it, you should have two PSUs (one for the GP2X and the other for the BOB).
Some devices can work without the need for powering with the PSU, we refer to them here usually as low voltage devices, of these devices card readers and flash memories.
Some devices might need working around to get them to work, for example there are drivers available to have wi fi sticks working on GP2X, but those need to be of specific chipsets, check before you buy any.
welcome to the community, enjoy your time here and with your GP2X, remember that if you faced any trouble that you have several steps to follow:
1) Reading the read me files that come with the application you are having trouble with.
2) Checking the wiki, on the GP2X newbie websites.
3) Using the search feature on this site, or google to search within this site for answers.
4) If all this didn't solve your problem, post it here, ask nicely, made your question clear, and you are likely to get a response quickly (less than an hour ago, I asked a question in one topic and recieved a reply after less than 4 minutes), if it took more than a day or two it means that either your question is not clear or have been answered zillion of times.
Thanks again to the community, enjoy

Edit: Beaten to this one, anyways, the emulators that support gamepads are Pico Drive (Mega drive), MAME (Arcade), Alexx Kid (Master System) and the lates test 5 of the CPS2 emulator (what is CPS2? arcade again, but capcom's arcade: Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Marvel vs Capcom games and so)