Gamepark GP2X Linux handheld

[Bob Russell]

Not too long ago, we introduced the Gamepark GP2X to readers. It doesn't seem to have gotten much press, but I think it's definitely worth another look. In a way it's almost too good to be true, but there there is some coverage out there, so it appears to be legit, and simply in need of some marketing buzz.

A recent post at Engadget give a nice quick view of the Gamepark GP2x-F100 is "Linux-powered, 3.5-inch QVGA LCD, SD slot, USB 2.0, 64MB flash, 32MB RAM, plays back MPEG, MPEG-4, Dvix, XviD, WMV, MP3, OGG, and WMA)" You can always count on Engadget for great gadget coverage, but shame on them for not pointing out that it also looks like a great e-book reader!

The official site seems to make it easy to get in touch with them, whether you are just interested or whether you want to buy a wholesale lot of devices. A very interesting summary page helps us understand what it's all about, and which tells us (pardon the formatting... it looks much better if you take the jump to the full article)

To sum up the GP2X:

It can play games. It can play your Movies. It can play your music. It can view photos. It can read Ebooks. It runs on just 2 AA batteries - And it can do all this in the palm of your hand or on your TV screen.

Yes that's right, this handheld can connect to the TV, console style. Watch your DivX movies on the TV. Play emulated classics on the TV. Try big screen Quake. Or just play them all on the GP2X's large 320*240 backlit screen. You get the best of both worlds.

It runs the free Linux operating system. This means a whole world of Games, Utilities and Emulators are at your disposal. Quake, Doom, SNES, Megadrive, MAME, Media players and Applications to name just a few.

It's powerful - Two 200mhz CPU's with 64meg of RAM, custom graphics hardware and decoding chips. Takes SD cards and has 64M of NAND memory. Plenty to play with. One of the most powerful and advanced handhelds today.

That means it can play movies without any re-encoding. Just put them onto an SD card. Any size. Any resolution. No messing about. The GP2X scaling chip will resize to fit the screen. No other handheld can do that.

It's cheap. Just £124.99.

It's open. You want to develop your own games for the GP2X? Go right ahead. The SDK is included with the system free. Not since the days of the Amiga has a system been so easy to develop for, commercially and for fun.

The GP2X isn't just another wannabe be Gameboy. Its a whole different design. A whole new idea for a handheld games system.

But wait, we're not new to the scene. Heard of the GP32? An accidental experiment in an open source handheld that went right. Some 30,000 units were sold worldwide, mostly in the UK and parts of Europe. The machine has an astonishing following. The GP2X is the successor.

We hope you will enjoy it.

-Craig Rothwell

I'm not sure who Craig is, or whether he's part of the official GP2X team, but he does seem to be involved with the port of Doom, which seems to already be done.

For more information, the official site also points us to the following resources...
Centre of the community, massive GP2X and GP32 message boards
Covers all underground handheld news, often first with reports
Underground coding and mainstream news site, covers all formats
Massive GP2X and GP32 scene site in Spanish
A good summary of a unique handheld
A new page for the GP2X console, with information on the system background

One more site I want to add is myGP2X which I add with many thanks to Richard, who sent us a note to tell us about his site. Without his heads-up, I might never have taken this second look at such an impressive Linux device. Now I'm quite eager to hear lots more about this pathbreaking handheld which is doing its part to usher in the Linux in your pocket revolution.

As you know, I don't usually spend the time to gather this much information on many topics. If I do, I think it's either pretty amazing or pretty important. This little device could be both if people catch on to it.

The lack of press seems pretty amazing to me given the Linux approach, TV out and an amazing price/features ratio. And, think about it, even the novelty of e-book reading on your TV!

Hopefully this post will help raise awareness. If you have one of these devices or are an interested follower, be sure to keep us abreast of news to help us keep an eye on Gamepark devices!

[Henrycat]

Only what not i see is the screen res :|

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Henrycat

Only what not i see is the screen res :|

That's true, the screen is only 320*240, but that's what you see in almost every Pocket PC even now, and with that price it's hard to imagine more. The bigger question is probably how readable the screen is in room lighting or sunlight.

It would have been interesting to also have a "premium" VGA version out there, but those sort of devices will come in time.

[Henrycat]

If i was sure that it could handle my emulator needs, and that it was sold in Portugal, i wouldn't hesitate to give it a try

Chrono trigger anyone (snes), sonic’s, metal gear's (msx)

How about Chrono Cross (can it handle psx games)?

No n64 because of the controls :|

Definitely buy it instead of the psp if i can use the linux emus on it :|

Wonder also how the sound is like...

Have my dream device for ebooks, next a gaming device

[stustaff]

I know this thread is old but just got the GP2X and it is fantastic having great fun playing all of my old games

going to get a couple of books on to see what its like, but wont really use that feature as I have a 505 for that.