GP2X
Encyclopedia
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux
-based handheld video game console
and portable media player
developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings
. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea
only.
The GP2X is designed for homebrew
developers as well as commercial developers. It is commonly used to run emulator
s for classic game consoles such as Neo Geo
, Sega Mega Drive
, Sega Master System
, Sega Game Gear
, Amstrad CPC
, Commodore 64
, Nintendo Entertainment System
, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16
, MAME
and others.
.
A popular use of the GP2X was to run emulator
s, which allows one to use software from a video game of another system on the GP2X.
Shortly after the release of the GP32
in 2001, its maker Game Park
began to design their next handheld. A disagreement within the company about the general direction of this system prompted many of the staff to leave and create their own company, GamePark Holdings, to produce a 2D
-based handheld system which they saw as the sequel to the GP32.
GamePark Holdings spoke to previous GP32 distributors and developers to determine the specifications for the new machine and how it should be promoted. Meetings were held in Seoul, Korea, where the final design of the new console was agreed upon.
The first name of this console was the GPX2. However, it couldn't be used as a final name due to a possible trademark violation with the name of a Japanese printer, the GPX. A contest for a new name was announced on August 3, 2005. Around 1500 names were submitted in total. The winner of the competition was Matt Bakse who chose the title GP2X. For this he was awarded a free GP2X console, although delivery of his prize was rather delayed.
The GP2X has seen several minor hardware updates, most notably the changes from the First Edition to Normal Edition and the Normal Edition to the MK2. Also, a new version called the "F200" was released October 30, 2007 and features a touchscreen, among other changes.
, the GP2X had sold 30,000 units. On August 31, 2008, the CEO of Gamepark Holdings told German GP2X distributor Michael Mrozek (aka. EvilDragon) that 60,000 GP2X units had been sold.
On 26 August 2008, GamePark Holdings
announced the successor to the GP2X, the "Wiz
".
As of September 1, a version of the GP2X is still being sold in Korea by Vocamaster that is geared toward Koreans who wish to learn English. In fact, according to the official GP2X distributor for the UK, Craig Rothwell, most GP2X units sold to date have been sold through Vocamaster as English-learning tools.
The ARM940T was used by GPH's implementation of Linux to control video processing. Using the 940T core in Linux for other tasks apart from video processing is difficult but possible. Accessing the hardware directly makes it easier to use both CPUs.
The F-200 version of the GP2X hardware replaced the joystick with a directional pad and adds a touchscreen
.
The connector used to expand the GP2X is hard to come by on its own but it is used with a few other devices. The Samsung e810/e730 and LG U8110/20/30/36/38 mobile telephone data cables, along with the official GP2X TV-Out adapter are suitable connectors.
This connector isn't proprietary; the specifications of this connector are fully open, encouraging home cable construction.
-sized batteries if not running from an external power supply. Due to the high current drain, standard alkaline
batteries will not function for very long in the GP2X; NiMH or lithium
batteries are recommended.
Battery life varies depending on the type of activity being performed and can last anywhere from 10 minutes (using alkaline batteries) to over 6 hours (using high-capacity NiMH batteries). When listening to music, power can be conserved by turning off the backlight and display.
The GP2X has a socket for an external power supply. It must be rated 3.3V DC at 1A with a standard center-grounded (negative center) connector. The power supply should be regulated, as voltage spike
s can permanently damage the unit.
, which can be placed into a socket at the top of the unit. Older firmware only supported SD cards up to 4 GB
in capacity. SD cards must be formatted as either FAT16, FAT32
(32 is more reliable), or ext2
. The GP2X also has 64 MB
of internal flash memory
storage, of which 32MB can be used for user data.
From firmware release version 4.0 the GP2X F200 is capable of addressing the new SDHC standard and thus now works with SDHC cards up to 32GB in size.
which is used to play music and video, an image viewer, an e-book reader (which can display the contents of standard text documents on-screen) and a utility to adjust the LCD update frequency to eliminate any flickering.
Other applications available (though not accessible directly through the menu) were a Samba
server, for transferring files to the machine using the default Windows network file sharing protocol; an HTTP server, for providing web pages; an FTP
server, a different way of transferring files; and telnet
access allowing for direct command line access from outside the machine.
These servers operate over the included USB networking functionality, allowing one to connect the GP2X to a wider network through a PC. The new GP2X-F200 supports none of these network programs.
Version 3.0.0 of the firmware comes with 5 games pre-installed in the NAND memory. The games are Payback (demo), Noiz2sa, Flobopuyo, SuperTux
, and Vektar (freeware version). This firmware is currently shipped with new GP2Xs.
; GNUboy2x, Game Boy
and Game Boy Color
emulators; MAME
, an emulator of various arcade machines; DrMD, which emulates the Sega Master System
, Game Gear
and Mega Drive/Genesis; SquidgeSNES and PocketSNES, which emulate Super Nintendo
games; and Picodrive, which emulates Mega Drive and Sega CD games; psx4all which emulates PlayStation
games. Stella
, an emulator for the Atari 2600
has also been ported to the GP2X
, there are very few commercial games available for it. At the time of writing, Vektar, Payback, Quartz², retrovirus RTS
, Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles
and Blazar
have been released as commercial games for the GP2X, and the games Odonata
and Elsewhere were released in October 2006 for Korean distribution only.
However, there are many ports of games from other platforms, mostly Linux, to the GP2X. Popular ports include Super Tux and Frozen Bubble as well as the Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, and Doom engines (which can run the original games if you own a copy with the correct data files). There are also hundreds of original freeware games such as Tile Match and Beat2x, made by GP2X programmers in their spare time.
that allows you to play several RealMedia and Windows Media formats. Since the release of the MPlayer source code, several unofficial builds have been released for various purposes. One of these adds support for playing music in the AAC format.
. SDL is available for many systems, allowing for cross-compatibility of code with other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and GNU/Linux.
A port of the Allegro
game programming library is also available for the GP2X, as are ports of the Fenix
& BennuGD
game toolkits.
Other libraries under development include Minimal Library SDK, which allows for direct hardware access inside the GP2X Linux environment, and sdk2x a set of libraries and a program which allows you to leave Linux completely for total control of all the hardware with no operating system to interfere.
Currently in development is gpu940, a soft 3D renderer that can do many rendering types, including true perspective texture mapping/lighting. It utilizes the ARM940T CPU of the GP2X, and allows for the GP2X to run basic OpenGL functions. In January 2007, the renderer's OpenGL functions allowed for the 3D roleplaying game Egoboo
to be ported to the GP2X at a playable speed, and a month later updated with increased speed and added lighting effects.
in the GP2X. However, since release, the GP2X platform was shown to be clear of any form of DRM.
code, including MPlayer
for its media functions and the Linux kernel
for its OS. The GPL requires for the release of the source code to users of the binary application (i.e. GP2X users); however, the source code was not initially released when the GP2X was released to consumers.
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
-based handheld video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings
GamePark Holdings
GPH, formerly known as GamePark Holdings, is a South Korean company responsible for creating the GP2X that was founded by former employees of the game maker GamePark in 2005.-History:...
. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
only.
The GP2X is designed for homebrew
Homebrew (video games)
Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods...
developers as well as commercial developers. It is commonly used to run emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
s for classic game consoles such as Neo Geo
Neo Geo (console)
The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
, Sega Mega Drive
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
, Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, Sega Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
, MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
and others.
Overview
The GP2X was designed to play music and videos, view photos, and play games. It had an open architecture (Linux based), allowing anybody to develop and run software. Also, there was the possibility for additional features (such as support for new media formats) to be added in the future due to the upgradeable firmwareFirmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
.
A popular use of the GP2X was to run emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
s, which allows one to use software from a video game of another system on the GP2X.
History
GP32
The GP32 is a handheld game console developed by the Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea only.- Overview :The GP32 is based on a 133 MHz ARM CPU and 8 MB of RAM...
in 2001, its maker Game Park
Game Park
Game Park is a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. Gamepark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.-Foundation:...
began to design their next handheld. A disagreement within the company about the general direction of this system prompted many of the staff to leave and create their own company, GamePark Holdings, to produce a 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
-based handheld system which they saw as the sequel to the GP32.
GamePark Holdings spoke to previous GP32 distributors and developers to determine the specifications for the new machine and how it should be promoted. Meetings were held in Seoul, Korea, where the final design of the new console was agreed upon.
The first name of this console was the GPX2. However, it couldn't be used as a final name due to a possible trademark violation with the name of a Japanese printer, the GPX. A contest for a new name was announced on August 3, 2005. Around 1500 names were submitted in total. The winner of the competition was Matt Bakse who chose the title GP2X. For this he was awarded a free GP2X console, although delivery of his prize was rather delayed.
The GP2X has seen several minor hardware updates, most notably the changes from the First Edition to Normal Edition and the Normal Edition to the MK2. Also, a new version called the "F200" was released October 30, 2007 and features a touchscreen, among other changes.
, the GP2X had sold 30,000 units. On August 31, 2008, the CEO of Gamepark Holdings told German GP2X distributor Michael Mrozek (aka. EvilDragon) that 60,000 GP2X units had been sold.
On 26 August 2008, GamePark Holdings
GamePark Holdings
GPH, formerly known as GamePark Holdings, is a South Korean company responsible for creating the GP2X that was founded by former employees of the game maker GamePark in 2005.-History:...
announced the successor to the GP2X, the "Wiz
GP2X Wiz
The GP2X Wiz is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on May 12, 2009, and was also the first console from both Game Park and Game Park Holdings to be also released outside South Korea...
".
As of September 1, a version of the GP2X is still being sold in Korea by Vocamaster that is geared toward Koreans who wish to learn English. In fact, according to the official GP2X distributor for the UK, Craig Rothwell, most GP2X units sold to date have been sold through Vocamaster as English-learning tools.
Specifications
From http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/gp2x.cgi:- ChipsetChipsetA chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
: MagicEyes MMSP2 MP2520F System-on-a-chipSystem-on-a-chipA system on a chip or system on chip is an integrated circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single chip substrate... - CPU: 200MHz ARM920T host processor, 200 MHz ARM940T programmable coprocessor
- NAND Flash ROM: 64 MB
- RAMRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
: SDRAMSDRAMSynchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
64 MB - Operating System: GNU/Linux-based OS
- Storage: SD Card (Latest firmware supports SDHC)
- Connection to PC: USB 2.0 High Speed
- USB Host: USB 1.1
- PowerElectric powerElectric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
: 2 × AA batteryAA batteryAn AA battery is a standard size of battery. Batteries of this size are the most commonly used type of in portable electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell...
or via AC adapterAC adapterThe AC adapter, AC/DC adapter or AC/DC converter is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in what looks like an over-sized AC plug. Other names include plug pack, plug-in adapter, adapter block, domestic mains adapter, line power adapter, or power adapter... - DisplayElectronic visual displayAn electronic visual display is display technology which incorporates flat panel displays, performs as a video display, output device for presentation of images transmitted electronically, for visual reception, without producing a permanent record....
: 320×240 3.5 inch, 65,536 colorColorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
s TFT LCDTFT LCDThin film transistor liquid crystal display is a variant of liquid crystal display which uses thin-film transistor technology to improve image quality . TFT LCD is one type of Active matrix LCD, though all LCD-screens are based on TFT active matrix addressing... - TV output
- Physical size: 143.6 mm wide, 82.9 mm high, 27 mm (excl. joystick approx.) / 34 mm deep
- Weight: 161 gGramThe gram is a metric system unit of mass....
(without battery)
The ARM940T was used by GPH's implementation of Linux to control video processing. Using the 940T core in Linux for other tasks apart from video processing is difficult but possible. Accessing the hardware directly makes it easier to use both CPUs.
The F-200 version of the GP2X hardware replaced the joystick with a directional pad and adds a touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
.
Expandability
The GP2X had an expansion "EXT" port on the base of the unit into which a range of special cables (for USB host, TV-out etc.) or break out box could be plugged, allowing four USB devices to be connected to and used with the GP2X directly. The only thing limiting what can be used through this interface is the availability of drivers.The connector used to expand the GP2X is hard to come by on its own but it is used with a few other devices. The Samsung e810/e730 and LG U8110/20/30/36/38 mobile telephone data cables, along with the official GP2X TV-Out adapter are suitable connectors.
This connector isn't proprietary; the specifications of this connector are fully open, encouraging home cable construction.
TV output
The GP2X also supported TV-out with a special cable that plugs into the EXT port. This allows videos that are normally scaled down to fit the GP2X's screen to be played at native resolution on a TV. It also lets software be displayed on the higher resolution TV rather than the screen. Not all software supports this natively, but 3rd party software exists that enables TV-out functionality in all applications. This is done by launching a background process.Power
The GP2X requires 2 AAAA battery
An AA battery is a standard size of battery. Batteries of this size are the most commonly used type of in portable electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell...
-sized batteries if not running from an external power supply. Due to the high current drain, standard alkaline
Alkaline battery
Alkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
batteries will not function for very long in the GP2X; NiMH or lithium
Lithium battery
Lithium batteries are disposable batteries that have lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode. Depending on the design and chemical compounds used, lithium cells can produce voltages from 1.5 V to about 3.7 V, over twice the voltage of an ordinary zinc–carbon battery or alkaline battery...
batteries are recommended.
Battery life varies depending on the type of activity being performed and can last anywhere from 10 minutes (using alkaline batteries) to over 6 hours (using high-capacity NiMH batteries). When listening to music, power can be conserved by turning off the backlight and display.
The GP2X has a socket for an external power supply. It must be rated 3.3V DC at 1A with a standard center-grounded (negative center) connector. The power supply should be regulated, as voltage spike
Voltage spike
In electrical engineering, spikes are fast, short duration electrical transients in voltage , current , or transferred energy in an electrical circuit....
s can permanently damage the unit.
Storage
The GP2X's primary storage device is the Secure Digital cardSecure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
, which can be placed into a socket at the top of the unit. Older firmware only supported SD cards up to 4 GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
in capacity. SD cards must be formatted as either FAT16, FAT32
File Allocation Table
File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture now widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras. FAT file systems are commonly found on floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital cameras, and many other portable devices because of...
(32 is more reliable), or ext2
Ext2
The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system ....
. The GP2X also has 64 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of internal flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
storage, of which 32MB can be used for user data.
From firmware release version 4.0 the GP2X F200 is capable of addressing the new SDHC standard and thus now works with SDHC cards up to 32GB in size.
Overclocking
The two ARM processors in the GP2X can be overclocked beyond their rated speed in software. The maximum speed one can reach through overclocking varies from system to system, with about 1 in 50 reaching over 300 MHz and others barely reaching 240 MHz (many systems can be overclocked beyond 240 MHz with no problems. The highest they are advertised to overclock to is 266 MHz.)Video
- Video formats: DivXDivXDivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. , including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.There are two DivX codecs; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2 DivX codec and the...
3/4/5, XvidXviDXvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
(MPEG-4MPEG-4MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
) - Audio formats: MP3 and Vorbis
- Container files: AVI and OGM (WMAWindows Media AudioWindows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
and MPGMPEG-1MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
via additional software) - Maximum Resolution: 720*480 (scaled to 320x240 screen resolution using built in scaling chip)
- Captions: SMI, SRT
- Battery Life: 3.5 hours average, longer times possible with high capacity batteries and with use of the power saving modes within.
Audio
- Audio Formats: MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, VorbisVorbisVorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
(more with alternative players) - Channels: Stereo
- Frequency Range: 20Hz - 20 kHz
- Power output: 100 mW
- Sample Resolution/Rate: 16bit/8–48 kHz
- Equalizer: includes "Normal", "Classic", "Rock", "Jazz", "Pop" presets
- Battery Life: ~6 hours (information given by manufacturer) with 2 x 2500mAh AA batteriesAA batteryAn AA battery is a standard size of battery. Batteries of this size are the most commonly used type of in portable electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell...
.
Software
Because the tools required for development on the GP2X are freely available, there is a wealth of software available for the GP2X, much of which is free. Types of software available includes emulators, games, PDA applications and multimedia players.Built-in software
The GP2X has several pieces of software built directly into the firmware. There is a version of MPlayerMPlayer
MPlayer is a free and open source media player. The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS are also available. The Windows version works, with some minor...
which is used to play music and video, an image viewer, an e-book reader (which can display the contents of standard text documents on-screen) and a utility to adjust the LCD update frequency to eliminate any flickering.
Other applications available (though not accessible directly through the menu) were a Samba
Samba (software)
Samba is a free software re-implementation, originally developed by Andrew Tridgell, of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol. As of version 3, Samba provides file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain...
server, for transferring files to the machine using the default Windows network file sharing protocol; an HTTP server, for providing web pages; an FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
server, a different way of transferring files; and telnet
TELNET
Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
access allowing for direct command line access from outside the machine.
These servers operate over the included USB networking functionality, allowing one to connect the GP2X to a wider network through a PC. The new GP2X-F200 supports none of these network programs.
Version 3.0.0 of the firmware comes with 5 games pre-installed in the NAND memory. The games are Payback (demo), Noiz2sa, Flobopuyo, SuperTux
SuperTux
SuperTux is a free, open-source two-dimensional platform game. The game was originally created by Bill Kendrick and is maintained by the SuperTux Development Team....
, and Vektar (freeware version). This firmware is currently shipped with new GP2Xs.
Emulators
There are many emulators available for the GP2X which allow you to run software from other systems on the GP2X. Many emulators will run most software perfectly and at the intended speed, but some others may have various issues (often to do with speed or sound). Popular emulators include GnGeo which emulates the Neo GeoNeo Geo (console)
The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
; GNUboy2x, Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
and Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
emulators; MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
, an emulator of various arcade machines; DrMD, which emulates the Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
and Mega Drive/Genesis; SquidgeSNES and PocketSNES, which emulate Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
games; and Picodrive, which emulates Mega Drive and Sega CD games; psx4all which emulates PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
games. Stella
Stella (emulator)
Stella is an emulator for the Atari 2600 game console, and takes its name from the console's codename. It is open source, and runs on most major modern platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows CE/Mobile, Dreamcast, GP2X, Nintendo DS, and Wii. Stella was originally written in 1996 by...
, an emulator for the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
has also been ported to the GP2X
Games
Since the GP2X has a much smaller following than other handheld consoles, such as the Sony PSP or the Nintendo DSNintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, there are very few commercial games available for it. At the time of writing, Vektar, Payback, Quartz², retrovirus RTS
Retrovirus rts
Retrovirus RTS was one of the few commercial games released for the GP2X. It was the only native real-time strategy game for the system. The premise is that three astronauts have been infected by an alien virus and the player's gp2x is the medical device used to treat the patients.-External...
, Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles
Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles
Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles is an Independent developed commercial videogame developed by Yuan Works, a company based in Costa Rica. It is a puzzle game for the GP2X and Sega Dreamcast that combines strategy and action. As of January 31st, 2011, the game is freely available for Windows...
and Blazar
Blazar
A blazar is a very compact quasar associated with a presumed supermassive black hole at the center of an active, giant elliptical galaxy...
have been released as commercial games for the GP2X, and the games Odonata
Odonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
and Elsewhere were released in October 2006 for Korean distribution only.
However, there are many ports of games from other platforms, mostly Linux, to the GP2X. Popular ports include Super Tux and Frozen Bubble as well as the Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, and Doom engines (which can run the original games if you own a copy with the correct data files). There are also hundreds of original freeware games such as Tile Match and Beat2x, made by GP2X programmers in their spare time.
Multimedia players
There are several unofficial multimedia players available for the GP2X, intended to support more formats than the built-in music and video players can handle. One such program is a port of FFPlayFFmpeg
FFmpeg is a free software project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. The most notable parts of FFmpeg are libavcodec, an audio/video codec library used by several other projects, libavformat, an audio/video container mux and demux library, and the ffmpeg command line...
that allows you to play several RealMedia and Windows Media formats. Since the release of the MPlayer source code, several unofficial builds have been released for various purposes. One of these adds support for playing music in the AAC format.
Music Creation Tools
The GP2X natively runs the free homebrew application Little Game Park Tracker, a music tracker program which was created by chip musician M-.-n specifically for the GP2X. Little Game Park Tracker, also known as LGPT or Little Piggy Tracker, allows for sample-based music production with a myriad of sample tweaking abilities. LGPT borrows the interface of the popular Game Boy music tracker Little Sound DJ. It has since been ported to the PSP, Dingoo, Windows, OSX, and other platforms.PDA Applications
Two popular PDA desktop environments have been ported to the GP2X: Qtopia and GPE. Both contain a range of programs such as a web browser, word processor, etc. and can be controlled with either the GP2X controls or a USB mouse and keyboard connected through a USB cable attached to the EXT port.Open source development
SDKs (software development kits) are freely and easily available for the GP2X allowing anybody with the required skills to write an application or game. Most SDKs are based around a gcc cross-compiler toolchain and SDLSimple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
. SDL is available for many systems, allowing for cross-compatibility of code with other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and GNU/Linux.
A port of the Allegro
Allegro library
Allegro is a free and open source software library for video game development.The functionality of the library includes support for basic 2D graphics, image manipulation, text output, audio output, midi music, input and timers, as well as additional routines for fixed-point and floating-point...
game programming library is also available for the GP2X, as are ports of the Fenix
Fenix Project
Fenix Project is the codename for a GNU project to create a free compiler for a scripting language derived from the one created by Hammer Technologies for the game development suite, DIV Games Studio. However, several features have been added which make it incompatible with most games programmed...
& BennuGD
BennuGD
BennuGD is a high-level open source video game development suite, originally created as a Fenix Project fork by Argentinian hacker SpliterGU...
game toolkits.
Other libraries under development include Minimal Library SDK, which allows for direct hardware access inside the GP2X Linux environment, and sdk2x a set of libraries and a program which allows you to leave Linux completely for total control of all the hardware with no operating system to interfere.
Currently in development is gpu940, a soft 3D renderer that can do many rendering types, including true perspective texture mapping/lighting. It utilizes the ARM940T CPU of the GP2X, and allows for the GP2X to run basic OpenGL functions. In January 2007, the renderer's OpenGL functions allowed for the 3D roleplaying game Egoboo
Egoboo (computer game)
Egoboo is a 3D open source dungeon crawling action role-playing game with current support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux, Mac OS X, and some earlier versions of Windows...
to be ported to the GP2X at a playable speed, and a month later updated with increased speed and added lighting effects.
GP2X executables
GP2X executable files have one of two 3 letters file extensions. For games, the .gpe extension is used. These are listed in the Games section of the menu. Utilities have the extension .gpu, and appear in the Utilities section of the menu; in firmware 3.0.0 they appear along with the games.DRM
There was debate before launch over the implied inclusion of DRMDigital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
in the GP2X. However, since release, the GP2X platform was shown to be clear of any form of DRM.
License violations
The GP2X firmware uses a significant amount of GNU GPLGNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
code, including MPlayer
MPlayer
MPlayer is a free and open source media player. The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS are also available. The Windows version works, with some minor...
for its media functions and the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
for its OS. The GPL requires for the release of the source code to users of the binary application (i.e. GP2X users); however, the source code was not initially released when the GP2X was released to consumers.
- February 18, 2006 - Kernel source for Firmware 1.4.0 released.
- July 5, 2006 - Modified MPlayer source code released.
- "U-BootDas U-BootDas U-Boot is an open source, primary boot loader used in embedded devices. It is available for a number of different computer architectures, including PPC, ARM, MIPS, AVR32, x86, 68k, Nios, and MicroBlaze.- Supported File Systems :...
" bootloader source code released. - Kernel source for Firmware 2.1 released.
See also
- GP32GP32The GP32 is a handheld game console developed by the Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea only.- Overview :The GP32 is based on a 133 MHz ARM CPU and 8 MB of RAM...
- Predecessor device - GP2X WizGP2X WizThe GP2X Wiz is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on May 12, 2009, and was also the first console from both Game Park and Game Park Holdings to be also released outside South Korea...
- Successor device - GP2X CaanooGP2X CaanooThe GP2X Caanoo, branded as CAANOO, is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by the South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on August 16, 2010 in South Korea, United States and Canada, and were also sold throughout Europe...
- Successor device - List of other Linux-based, handheld gaming devices
External links
- Developer and User Wiki Site
- GP2X Software Archive
- http://www.console-spot.com/2006/02/21/gp2x-review/