GCW Zero: Another Linux Game Console Attempt

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?

[mum1989]

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" !

[entropy]

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.

[zear]

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.

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

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.

[crazycheese]

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.

[AJSB]

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

[zear]

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.

[curaga]

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

[zear]

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.

[[Knuckles]]

Well, I wish them the best of luck, but it seems a little out of time for 2013.

Why not do basically an android phone minus the phone part, but adding a decent d-pad, and the other keys?
Basically a modern version of the Tapwave Zodiac?

The Tapwave Zodiac was an excellent idea, but a bit ahead of its time. I can't see why it wouldn't work with android, and there'd be lots of games out of the box!

* - Fsck the zodiac came out in 2003!? I'm getting old