New GP32 owner (well, in a few days) ;)


RadEd

Still Fresh
Joined
Mar 2, 2003
Messages
23
Hi everyone :)

Just wanted to say I've been reading this forum for a few days now after deciding to get a GP32 for myself and it's nice to see a good community spirit here.

I ordered my GP32 from gbax.com on Friday and should have it by Wednesday at the latest. I'm really looking forward to seeing what it can do and will try to contribute here if I can.

Another (soon to be) proud GP32 owner :D
 
raded
why is it taking so long to get it
thats like 5 days
i ordered mine on the wednesday had it by the thursday 24hr delivery,
i must this is one kool machine many of my mates are envious,
there all gonna get one as they are into emulation like myself
im just waiting for a good megadrive emu and snes
any way have fun with it
the emus do get some getting used to ie transfering them over and what have u :D
 
Hey RadEd, any way you can contribute is great.

Don't forget to stop by #gp32dev, guys. (Please hold off on the GBA emulator or any emulation questions in general.. people are getting irritated because of the same questions constantly... :)

Ciao
 
gbax.com were out of stock Friday and got more in today (Monday) I got an email saying it shipped today so hopefully it'll be delivered before I have to go to work in the morning.

Can't wait to get it loaded up with goodies :)
 
I Got my GP32, read on for 1st day impressions...

The day got off to a good start when the postie arrived with my GP32 in a nice silver special delivery bag at 8:00. I had just enough time to quickly try and install a few things before I had to leave for work.

First impressions of the hardware when opening the box were that the screen looked even bigger than I expected and that the joystick was similar to the NGPC (microswitched but with more travel) so far so good. :)

I didn't have any official software to try out so I thought I'd go straight for the C64 emulator and give the Divx player a go too. I've got an official game on the way from Lik-Sang which should be here Thursday so I'll post more on that later.

With the GP32 you need to do a few things before you can start running the emulators and homebrew software that's out there on the net. Step one is to create an account at the official English GamePark website, this is free and easy to do. Next you need to sign in to the site and download the software that is used to connect to register your GP32s unique serial code with GamePark, this again is pretty straight forward. Once you have the software downloaded you connect the GP32 to the PC and switch on, Windows should find the new device and ask for the drivers which you also download from the site. When you have the drivers loaded and the link software running you can start to install things onto a smartmedia card (not supplied, can use 16MB to 128MB cards)inserted into the GP32.

After formatting the SMC with the link software (which creates all the GP32 required folders) the first software you will need to install is what's called FreeLauncher, this is offical GP32 software from GamePark that is used to access almost all other home made/free software (the emulators etc.) Official software is run from the main bootup menu of the system without need to go through FreeLauncher.

For now I am using a 32MB SMC orginally from my digital camera. I quickly copied the C64 Emu (with an IK+ ROM), a Divx AVI and the Divx player software to the SMC and set off to work.

When I first ran the C64 Emu it was great to see that old familiar blue boot screen just waiting for a game to be loaded. The C64 is one of my all time favorite game systems so to have an (almost) fully functioning C64 in the palm of my hand with full screen res and the possibilty of playing all those old classics again was great! :)

I fired up IK+ and was amazed by the quality of the screen, it is not backlit but it is so much better than the original GBA. The screen res is 320x240 (the same as most PSX games), 3.5" in size diagonally and a lot less reflective than the GBA. It is easy to see the screen from most angles and the lack of a built in light of any kind really isn't an issue unless you want to play in the dark.

The feel of the unit itself is light but well built and comfortable with a nice amount of travel on the buttons and a microswitched stick.

Next up to try was the Divx player, the night previous I had re-encoded an mpeg clip from an episode of Top Gear. Using the GP32 format of 320x240 10fps and 22khz mp3 audio compressed with Divx 4.12 the original file reduced from 35.2MB to just 5.7MB for a 4:20 clip. The quality of the video was very impressive and definitely watchable, I will definitely be using it to watch full movies/TV episodes in future, a 128MB SMC should easily hold a full length film.

At work I made use of the CD that www.gbax.com include with all their GP32 systems, this contained all of the emulators released so far (except C64 which has only been available for a few days). Also on the CD were demo versions of Doom and Day of The Tentacles, these PC ports are very impressive to see in action at their original screen res and using the original PC graphics. Doom looks so superior on GP32 compared to GBA it really shows the difference in the capabilities. Day of The Tentacles runs on a port of the engine used by LucasArts for all their point and click adventures from Monkey Island 1/2, DOTT, The Dig, Indiana Jones, Sam & Max etc. if you have the original PC versions then you can simply copy the main data files onto a SMC along with the emulator (gpSCUMMvm) and start playing.

During the day I also tried several other games including a few more C64 titles, a demo of Pinball Dreams which is being ported officially and a demo of a new beat 'em up by a Korean company. As all software for the machine comes on SMC it allows the release of demos of full commercial games on the net, several of which are already available.

Another highlight was "Wind-Ups" a Windows style desktop interface to all the programs and files stored on the SMC. With Wind-Ups you can create icons on a desktop much like on a PC, it even has a "myGP32" icon which allows you to browse the contents of your card. Included with Wind-Ups are a dictionary/eBook reader/text editor and a contacts database. The desktop is completely customisable, you can choose icons and background images stored as .GIF files on the card (mine now has a pic of me and the GF ;)) and you can add icons for any program stored on your card for easy access.

Tonight I installed the PCEngine/TG-16 emulator which runs at full speed with sound (some emulators like the SNES ones aren't up to 100% speed and/or lack sound support). After a few goes on Outrun, R-Type and 1943 I knew I had made the right choice when I decided to get hold of a GP32.

Well after all that I hope you didn't fall asleep and maybe even considering purchasing one of these fine machines for yourself. I am very impressed by the amount of things this small piece of kit can do, I didn't even mention the built in MP3 player did I? :D

For anyone looking for something different or loves gadgets then I can't recommend it enough, sure it'll never have the backing the GBA has but look at what it DOES have and it's hard to resist. I really hope GamePark can sort out an official release for both USA and Europe and get this thing the recognition it deserves.

RadEd, GP32 owner. :)
 
Wow, RadEd...

That's quite a speech. :)
Thanks for taking the time to write it though, because up until now I had not much idea of what to do if I got a GP32; that explained a lot.

Unfortunately, as someone on this board mentioned in another thread, all the information on the GP32 is scattered all over the place, so it's nice to see somebody finally saying everything that a beginner needs to know in one post.
It's too bad that information isn't on a website somewhere... ;)


Yeah, this is my first post, and I'm still trying to decide on whether to get a GP32...
Until about a week ago I was divided between that and a GBASP; now, after visiting GP32Xtreme and GP32News the decision is a no-brainer.

The SMS/Game Gear emulator sounds fantastic. Finally, blur-free GG games!

Besides, I figure if I need to play something in the dark I can always get out my Sega Nomad. :p

I'll be looking forward to your next post; which game are you getting?

Oh, and BTW, is the GP32's screen really slightly blurrier that the GBA's?
 
The only advantage the GBA-SP has is it's going to be readily available in stores (in most places), as will be the software. Well, sort of. Having to pay extra for the microphone jack and over here having to actually get it via MAIL ORDER is a big minus.

If you can afford a nomad, you can afford a GP32 :) SMS emulation is all it is cracked up to be, absolutely no mistake there.

I've never had a problem with blur on the GP32, and rarely on the GBA. They really shouldn't have any noticable differences in that department anyway...blur is more of a LCD problem, and the GBC, GBA and GP32 don't have any significant blur problems. (I dunno if GBC is TFT, but I assume not because the GBP already greatly improved the bluriness of the horrid old GB screen)

Beginners info on the GP32 appears to be coming on the main page of this site, but isn't up yet. I agree, it's a void that needs to be filled, and before that unactive link appeared, I was considering doing it myself, based upon the posts on these forums :)
 
RadEd, YOU ARE THE MAN! Thank you so much for explaning EVERYTHING and what the GP32 can do! I think I will order mine very soon! Again, thanks alot! :D
 
I ordered my GP32 last Thursday, so it should arrive today or somewhere this week. I've already tried a friend's GP32 and I was impressed. :)

Best experience so far with it was that it ran Spectrum games. I grew up with that machine ^^

Thanks for the useful chunk-o-info RadEd :)
 
Thankyou RadEd!

You're list of things you attempted with your GP32 is exactly what I wanted to hear (and exactly what I would've tried in that order!) :lol:

I've ordered mine now.

Oh sweet lord... the possibility of playing Monkey Island on the bus... :eek: :lol:

(Roll on the 256MB cards is all I can say!)

:D
 
I believe that the 256mb cards are/will be 5 volts.. the GP32 only pumps 3.3volts to the SMC so im not sure if they will function correctly? Perhaps someone can confirm this?
 
Check out my site it tries to explain what a gp32 does, but as i dont have it yet ill make it even better when i do get it.
 
Demonix posted on Mar 12 2003 said:
I believe that the 256mb cards are/will be 5 volts.. the GP32 only pumps 3.3volts to the SMC so im not sure if they will function correctly? Perhaps someone can confirm this?
current SM cards are available up to 512MB - but as you correctly surmised, these run at a different voltage. But from what I've picked up on in many a forum, there may be a lower voltage 256MB card in the pipeline...

(I really hope so!)

:D
 
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Ordered my GP32 from LikSang and got it in 6 days from HongKong. Anyway. I love this thing. It's amazing. Have no official softaware, but love the EMUs that I bought it for. NES EMU is slower than I expected, but the TG16/PCengine stuff is awsome.
 
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