Just Need Some Basic Info

[Conker]

Hi guys.
Its almost christmas and for it i will be expecting about £250 worth of money to spend on whatever i want, i read about the GP2X in Games Master magazine several months ago and after investigation i'm pretty set on getting the power pack + 4gb SD card with my money.

Anyway, to be certain of my purchase i require a few questions to be answered:

1) Can the GP2X be connected to my PC via usb? if so, can you view the SD card files through that or do you need to plug the SD card into an SD slot in your comp?

2) I really want a GP2X to be able to play SNES/Genesis Games, i looked at the downloads section and their are several versions of each, could someone tell me which one is the best and how much Roms it supports?

3) Is it delicate? do i need a case for it? if so where can i get one? (are there any sites specifically for GP2X peripherals?)

I look forward to hearing from you...

Conker

p.s. I know ROM discussion is not allowed but could someone email/pm (if they have pm's here) a few links to good sites.

 

[TelcoLou]

1) Can the GP2X be connected to my PC via usb? if so, can you view the SD card files through that or do you need to plug the SD card into an SD slot in your comp?

Yes, but just get a cheap card reader, it's faster and more stable.

2) I really want a GP2X to be able to play SNES/Genesis Games, i looked at the downloads section and their are several versions of each, could someone tell me which one is the best and how much Roms it supports?

I suggest nk's SNES emulator, it supports transparencies (but requires overclcking to run at a decent speed)

Also, Picodrive for the Genesis (again, some games may require overclocking for optimal performance).

Support is maybe 80 - 90% (in my experience at least)

3) Is it delicate? do i need a case for it? if so where can i get one? (are there any sites specifically for GP2X peripherals?)

That depends on how brutish you are.
Need is a subjective word .. see above.
Lik-sang, Play-Asia, GBAX, etc... I just use an old GBA case.

p.s. I know ROM discussion is not allowed but could someone email/pm (if they have pm's here) a few links to good sites.

No.








Now folks, what's missing from my reply? Hmmm......

 

[fluffyhamster]

Hi guys.
Its almost christmas and for it i will be expecting about £250 worth of money to spend on whatever i want, i read about the GP2X in Games Master magazine several months ago and after investigation i'm pretty set on getting the power pack + 4gb SD card with my money.

Anyway, to be certain of my purchase i require a few questions to be answered:

1) Can the GP2X be connected to my PC via usb? if so, can you view the SD card files through that or do you need to plug the SD card into an SD slot in your comp?

2) I really want a GP2X to be able to play SNES/Genesis Games, i looked at the downloads section and their are several versions of each, could someone tell me which one is the best and how much Roms it supports?

3) Is it delicate? do i need a case for it? if so where can i get one? (are there any sites specifically for GP2X peripherals?)

I look forward to hearing from you...

Conker

p.s. I know ROM discussion is not allowed but could someone email/pm (if they have pm's here) a few links to good sites.

1.Yes it can be connected via usb, and yes you can see the files on your sd, but it's recommended to have a sd card reader

2.DrMDX is the best genesis one (from my opinion), the fastest SNES needs to be overclocked and recquires some searching this forum for all the info.

3. Pretty sturdy, i don't have a case(a backpack works fine), gp2x.co.uk , gp2x.de(if you speak German)


p.s. Have you ever tried google?

 

[gaterooze]

1) Can the GP2X be connected to my PC via usb? if so, can you view the SD card files through that or do you need to plug the SD card into an SD slot in your comp?

It can, but it can be a bit fussy (I've never tried to be honest). Card readers are much faster and easier, and are super cheap nowadays ($3).

2) I really want a GP2X to be able to play SNES/Genesis Games, i looked at the downloads section and their are several versions of each, could someone tell me which one is the best and how much Roms it supports?

Genesis: either DrMDX or PicoDrive. Both are superb, and compatibility is about 95% with DrMDX and 99% with PicoDrive.

SNES: nkSNES is slow but has transparencies and high compatibility (90%). IMHO SquidgeSNES is better -- a lot faster, but transparencies are dealt with via hacks. With a script for overclocking and RAM tweaks, I find I can play ~85% of SNES games at full speed with sound. Also, rumors of a brand new SNES emu in the future are floating around...

But don't limit yourself to just these systems -- there is a whole world to explore on the GP2X! I'd recommend trying out the PC Engine (similar to Genesis/SNES -- use either gp2xengine or hu6280), MAME, Neo Geo (GNGEO), Atari ST (OutcaST), and then work your way backwards through gaming history

3) Is it delicate? do i need a case for it? if so where can i get one? (are there any sites specifically for GP2X peripherals?)

You can use any old case. I'm using a camera one. There is an official one, but reports are mixed. Delicate? Well, as much as any handheld electronic device. I certainly treat mine with care.

 

[Parkydr]

No it's not very delicate

 

[whiskthecat]

No it's not very delicate

Its wierd. Since I created that thread I havent dropped it since. :blink:

 

[Conker]

Thanks for the excellent replies, they are very useful.

What i don't understand is why you need to overclock the gp2x to run snes games? the snes was a lot slower...

Anyway after some investigation into christmas presents i should easily have enough for the 475mhz system plus at least a 2gb sd, from gp2x.co.uk, will this also need to be overclocked or will that be fast enough at default to run snes and other emulators?

 

[krosfyah]

I assume that 475 was a typo lol... it's actually just a regular GP2x but it's been tested to overclock to 275mHz. So yes, you will still need to overclock it yourself as it will be at the default 200mHz out of the box.

 

[xiaorico]

if they released a 475mhz gp2x.... it would be the best ever... would definitely run ps1 emulators full speed

 

[gaterooze]

Don't be scared about overclocking, it's usually as simple as choosing the speed you want in a menu.

The reason for overclocking on handhelds is simply to save battery life
-- some programs don't need more than the standard 200mhz, so you stay at that speed to save battery life, then bump it up when needed (SNES, Quake, some MAME titles, Neo Geo, Amiga).

 

[Conker]

ok, but i still don't understand why a dual core 275mhz system needs to be overclocked to run a 4mhz SNES game

Anywho, thanks for the help so far, could someone hook me up with a list of what is necessary (download wise) to have a nice gp2x with good firmware, easy overclocking etc. That would be helpful as there are so many to chose from and i have nothing to test them on yet, so hopefully i will be able to download them ready for when i buy it.

 

[namco]

What i don't understand is why you need to overclock the gp2x to run snes games? the snes was a lot slower...

i use squdgesnes and with the recent update i've found it a lot faster, esp games such as bomberman and mario kart. some of the games on the snes (Judge Dredd for example) needs to be overclocked more to get it to run at a decent speed (inc music)

 

[BradN]

SNES is hard to emulate not because of its CPUs (there's a separate slow one for sound), but because of the graphics hardware that combines 5 layers of graphics every frame with configurable ordering and tiling modes, so you can't just write one hardcoded renderer to draw it - it has to mix and match different modes. There's also a transparency (color addition) feature that's difficult to deal with, and some emulators don't even handle it because it's so expensive.

Oh yeah, and all graphics need to be converted to a different colorspace while displaying.

However, I'd expect SNES emulation to get more efficient after an ARM assembly renderer is written.

 

[epitaph]

However, I'd expect SNES emulation to get more efficient after an ARM assembly renderer is written.

... if that'll ever happen, as it's a huge task. Personally I don't think so.

... unless that's what Squidge is working on for SquidgeSNES-SE?

 

[BradN]

However, I'd expect SNES emulation to get more efficient after an ARM assembly renderer is written.

... if that'll ever happen, as it's a huge task. Personally I don't think so.

... unless that's what Squidge is working on for SquidgeSNES-SE?

Well, the thing is, you can probably selectively convert different inner loops as you identify which ones are the most time consuming. Like, you might have a code section that just handles rendering a tile - you could rewrite that part in assembly and probably get some noticeable gains.