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GCW Zero: Another Linux Game Console Attempt

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  • #11
    I was shocked to see Liero in the page's screenshots. So many memories.

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    • #12
      Originally posted by curaga View Post
      I was shocked to see Liero in the page's screenshots. So many memories.
      Yes, we are using a fork of OpenLiero: https://github.com/gcwnow/liero
      In the future we'd like to port LieroLibre (does not require the dos EXE OpenLiero uses and fixes some sfx legalities), but we will need to solve some library dependencies first. With LieroLibre, we could preinstall the game on the system image.

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      • #13
        I have some questions for the devs...

        Will be there a FULLY black version ? NONE of the sown pics or in video versions is fully black....the "rim" is white...

        Will the buildin software include GCC,etc. dev tools or have we to use a desktop to do any compiling ?

        Will it be included in the software .... M.A.M.E. ?
        ....with full support for all ROM supported by M.A.M.E. ?


        TIA,
        AJSB

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        • #14
          Originally posted by entropy View Post
          Strange, I'd bet back in those days VGA referred to 320x240, wheres SVGA referred to 640x480.
          VGA was 320x200 (aka 13h, aka ModeY), 320x240 is so-called ModeX, its a hack and never seen a game using it.
          VGA was capable of 640x480 although only @ 16 colors and extremely slow.

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          • #15
            Originally posted by AJSB View Post
            I have some questions for the devs...
            Will be there a FULLY black version ? NONE of the sown pics or in video versions is fully black....the "rim" is white...
            Only the two color versions presented in the KS video are currently available.

            Originally posted by AJSB View Post
            Will the buildin software include GCC,etc. dev tools or have we to use a desktop to do any compiling ?
            So you are asking whether it will be possible to compile natively on the device instead of resorting to cross-compilation from x86 Linux?
            We have not thought of it. The device has no keyboard, so coding on it is a bit pointless. On the other hand, you could always plug it into the tv and connect a keyboard via usb-otg. Or you could just log into the device via SSH/Telnet and try to invoke the compiler. So perhaps this isn't such a stupid idea. We will think of it

            Originally posted by AJSB View Post
            Will it be included in the software .... M.A.M.E. ?
            ....with full support for all ROM supported by M.A.M.E. ?
            The preinstalled software is limited only to fully libre software (both in code and data files), at the moment this includes: Worship Vector, Puzzletube, SameGoo, Freedoom, Heroes and Blockrage; and software we got full author permission to include: Sqrxz 3, Dink Smallwood.

            The topic of emulation was left to the 3rd party developers and homebrew hackers. Our project originates from one of such communities and we have already a lot of people porting emulators to GCW Zero (check the youtube videos), however I can not tell you how well will one of your emulated platforms be supported because this is not what I am responsible for.

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            • #16
              Originally posted by crazycheese View Post
              VGA was 320x200 (aka 13h, aka ModeY), 320x240 is so-called ModeX, its a hack and never seen a game using it.
              VGA was capable of 640x480 although only @ 16 colors and extremely slow.
              Thank you crazycheese and Bridgman.

              I'm a bit confused now but it seems I was wrong somehow.

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              • #17
                why MIPS ....
                not compatible with arm :/

                screen resolution is really bad, psp 9year ago was 480*272 ! (and 4.3")


                but it's a great idea to release an "open source Game console" !
                Last edited by mum1989; 13 January 2013, 05:23 PM.

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                • #18
                  Originally posted by zear View Post
                  Hello. I'm a developer involved in the GCW Zero project and I have a prototype unit.
                  First, thanks for the coverage. It means a lot to us that we are mentioned in Linux related news services. If anybody has any questions about this handheld, I'll be happy to answer them.
                  I have the same question that most other people here have - why limit resolution to 320x240? 640x480 or 800x600 would be much better. Also, is there any USB port or bluetooth, so a keyboard, mouse or joystick might be used with the device? 256 MB RAM is also quite limiting, atleast 512 MB would be better.

                  Regarding the software, how many of the drivers are open source? Are you planning to use the recently announced etnaviv open source driver, or a proprietary driver for the Vivante GPU?

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                  • #19
                    Originally posted by sandy8925 View Post
                    I have the same question that most other people here have - why limit resolution to 320x240? 640x480 or 800x600 would be much better. Also, is there any USB port or bluetooth, so a keyboard, mouse or joystick might be used with the device? 256 MB RAM is also quite limiting, atleast 512 MB would be better.

                    Regarding the software, how many of the drivers are open source? Are you planning to use the recently announced etnaviv open source driver, or a proprietary driver for the Vivante GPU?
                    Some anwers on thier website :
                    Why did you choose a 3.5″ LCD over 5″ LCD any why a resolution of 320x240?

                    A bigger screen on the GCW Zero = less battery life / more work on the
                    CPU / less fps in emulation / blurry, rescaled graphics and a higher
                    manufacturing cost...

                    The reason behind choosing a 320x240 display isn't just monetary. Of
                    course, a larger display would have raised the final price of the
                    device, but it also has many other cons for a device aimed at retro
                    gaming. First of all, a higher resolution is not needed because most
                    retro games we support run at 320x240 at most. A larger screen would
                    require everything to be rescaled, so the CPU would have an extra load
                    of work and this would result in worse gaming performance and less
                    battery life.
                    Why did you choose mini-USB over micro-USB?

                    Mini-USB allows you to plug extra peripherals much better than
                    micro-USB. With micro-USB, we were afraid that the port would not
                    survive a heavy weight attached to it.

                    GCW Zero was designed so you can attach extra peripherals such as game
                    controllers or keyboard/mouse combo of your choice and use them
                    together with HDMI/analog video out.

                    Here is an example in this link with a USB Bluetooth dongle:

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                    • #20
                      Originally posted by sandy8925 View Post
                      Regarding the software, how many of the drivers are open source? Are you planning to use the recently announced etnaviv open source driver, or a proprietary driver for the Vivante GPU?
                      Is also answered:
                      Another thing that we are still working on is the OpenGL driver. Unfortunately, we will not be able to release this as open source. People who only want a fully open source system can simply leave out the OpenGL driver though; the 2D graphics system (Linux framebuffer) works fine without it.

                      The Wi-Fi module itself uses binary firmware, but the driver that runs on the MIPS CPU is open source. Every other driver we are using is fully open source and that source will be published on github as soon as the first unit?s ship.

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