Tapwave Zodiac
Encyclopedia
The Zodiac is a mobile
entertainment
console
, launched on 5 May 2003, and released in October 2003 by Tapwave, a former private company that was based in Mountain View, California
.
The product was designed to be a "high performance mobile entertainment system” centred on game
s, music
, image
s, and video
, aimed at 18 to 34 year old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm’s personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community.
With fewer than 200,000 units sold, the Zodiac is the third worst selling handheld console, after the Gizmondo
and the R-Zone
. This was primarily due to strong pressure from the PlayStation Portable
(PSP) from Sony
, and the DS
from Nintendo
, both released approximately a year after Zodiac.
The Zodiac was discontinued on 26 July 2005, with Tapwave subsequently selling off its assets and winding down.
An MP3
music player is included in the system's applications, and allows the creation of custom playlists using drag-and-dropping of files. MP3 music files can be played from either SD slot, or the internal memory of the device. MP3 files can also be used as alarms, along with conventional PalmOS alarms.
Photos (JPEG
or PNG format) could be downloaded to the device using the Palm Desktop software or loaded onto SD cards, and could be shared and made into a slideshow (with background music) on the device.
The bundled video player on the device, Kinoma, would only play videos in a proprietary format, converted using the Kinoma Producer software (which supported conversion of MPEG1, MPEG4, QuickTime, AVI and DivX). The software however was limited in its conversion abilities, enticing users to pay for the full version. It has been suggested that this difficulty in converting video for the device diminished the Zodiac's success. Several aftermarket DivX
and XviD
players have been developed (such as the TCPMP
), and, at the time of bankruptcy, Tapwave were working on an update to supply MPEG-4
hardware decoding.
Device design
Due to the metal construction of the Zodiac, the device was seen to be more solid than other PDA
s. However, on some models the adhesive on the shoulder buttons failed, and occasionally the screen was scratched by the screen cover when grit entered. Furthermore, due to the insecure clip holding the stylus, they could be knocked loose and potentially lost. Some alternative cases solved this problem with their own stylus holder.
Compatibility
The Zodiac is a PalmOS 5-compatible device, and most software compatible with PalmOS 5 runs without issue. In particular, most PalmOS 5-compatible games play on the Zodiac. Tapwave also provided proprietary APIs to allow developers to take advantage of the Zodiac's graphics and sound hardware. A great deal of freeware
and shareware
games and emulators are therefore available. For example, there are versions of Doom, Quake, Hexen
, Hexen II
, and Heretic
as well as versions of emulators such as UAE
, ScummVM
, and LJZ/LJP
, a multi-system emulator. There have also been attempts to emulate PlayStation
games onto the Zodiac, the most successful emulator being PPSX. It is, however, nowhere near completion and many games are not playable as of yet.
Battery
The device has a total battery life of about 3 hours when using audio, backlight+screen and CPU-intensive tasks, and while running as a dedicated audio player it is closer to 6 hours. The original battery was a 1500mAh Li-Ion; third party replacements with 2000mAh capacity are still available from some manufacturers.
Software
The Zodiac used a modified version of the Palm OS, designated version 5.2T. The main navigation menus consisted of 8 radially-arranged choices selected using either the touchscreen or thumbstick. It also came with the Palm OS Productivity Suite (containing a calendar, to do list etc.), an eBook reader, the Wordsmith word processor and the powerOne graphing application. It came bundled with two games, AcidSolitare (by Red Mercury) and Stunt Car Extreme (by Vasara Games).
Models
The Zodiac console was initially available in two models, Zodiac 1 (32MB), and Zodiac 2 (128MB). The Zodiac 2 was $100 more expensive than the original Zodiac.
Some of the games were never released due to the discontinuation of the Zodiac in July 2005. However, the testing builds of some of these games were leaked and are playable.
Zodiac exclusive titles
Zodiac exclusive titles, also available on SD card
Unreleased but leaked games
(freeware) games were released on ports.
Some of these include:
including as recently as the 10th Season as a sensor device used by Col. Samantha Carter
and Vala Mal Doran
. It was also used in the first season of Stargate Atlantis as well by Dr. Rodney McKay and other staff as well.
During development of the Zodiac, the code name of the device was "Road Dawg" and the code name of the desktop software was "Elvis".
The AlphaSmart
Dana is the only Palm OS device aside from the Zodiac with two slots for SD card media.
Mobile computing
Mobile computing is a form of human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. Mobile computing has three aspects: mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software...
entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
console
Entertainment center
A home entertainment center is a piece of furniture seen in many homes in North America, which houses major electronic items, such as a television set, a VCR and/or DVD player, stereo components , and cable or satellite television receivers...
, launched on 5 May 2003, and released in October 2003 by Tapwave, a former private company that was based in Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
.
The product was designed to be a "high performance mobile entertainment system” centred on game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s, and video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, aimed at 18 to 34 year old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm’s personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community.
With fewer than 200,000 units sold, the Zodiac is the third worst selling handheld console, after the Gizmondo
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson....
and the R-Zone
R-Zone
The R-Zone was a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Tiger Electronics, released in 1995. The R-Zone was a largely unsuccessful handheld console and would only be manufactured for a short period of time...
. This was primarily due to strong pressure from the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(PSP) from Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, and the DS
Nintendo 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...
from Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, both released approximately a year after Zodiac.
The Zodiac was discontinued on 26 July 2005, with Tapwave subsequently selling off its assets and winding down.
History of Tapwave
- May 2001: Tapwave was founded in May 2001 by former PalmPalm, Inc.Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
executives - May 2002: Tapwave closed initial Series-A funding
- May 2002: Tapwave signed Palm OSPalm OSPalm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
licensing agreement with PalmSource - May 2003: Company was formally launched at Palm Developers Conference & E3
- September 2003: Zodiac entertainment console launched at DEMO conference
- October 2003: Zodiac console began shipping to customers directly from livescribe.com
- November 2003: Tapwave announced that “over 1200 game developers” signed up for the Tapwave developer program
- February 2004: PalmGear and Tapwave announced partnership to launch an online store to feature the best applications, game titles and ebooks available on the Palm OS platform
- April 2004: SynchronizationSynchronizationSynchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
between Zodiac and Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
desktops enabled by MarkSpace - June 2004: Zodiac launched into United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. retail distribution with CompUSA - October 2004: Zodiac launched in United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and sold through PC WorldPC World (magazine)PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
, Dixons and CurrysCurrysCurrys is an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland and is owned by Dixons Retail plc. It specialises in selling home electronics and household appliances, with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores...
. - October 2004: Zodiac launched in SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and distributed by ECS - November 2004: Zodiac launched in South KoreaSouth KoreaThe 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...
and co-branded with Sonokong (OEM) - December 2004: Audible announces audio book support for Zodiac
- December 2004: Tapwave announce Wi-FiWi-FiWi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
SD card for the Zodiac with “enhanced mail application and web browser”. - January 2005: Tapwave and Virgin DigitalVirgin DigitalVirgin Digital was an online music store operated in the United Kingdom and United States by the Virgin Group. It launched on 2 September 2005 in the UK, and was refreshed in November 2006 to run through an internet browser, rather than the former Virgin Digital Player...
announced strategic alliance for audio download and subscription services. - July 2005: Due to strong competitive pressures from the PlayStation PortablePlayStation PortableThe is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(PSP) from SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, and the DSNintendo DSThe 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...
from NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, Tapwave discontinued the sale of the Zodiac mobile entertainment console and sold substantially all of its assets to an undisclosed multi-billion dollar corporation in Asia and wound down operations.
Primary features
Music, images, and videoAn MP3
MP3
MPEG-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...
music player is included in the system's applications, and allows the creation of custom playlists using drag-and-dropping of files. MP3 music files can be played from either SD slot, or the internal memory of the device. MP3 files can also be used as alarms, along with conventional PalmOS alarms.
Photos (JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
or PNG format) could be downloaded to the device using the Palm Desktop software or loaded onto SD cards, and could be shared and made into a slideshow (with background music) on the device.
The bundled video player on the device, Kinoma, would only play videos in a proprietary format, converted using the Kinoma Producer software (which supported conversion of MPEG1, MPEG4, QuickTime, AVI and DivX). The software however was limited in its conversion abilities, enticing users to pay for the full version. It has been suggested that this difficulty in converting video for the device diminished the Zodiac's success. Several aftermarket DivX
DivX
DivX 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...
and XviD
XviD
Xvid 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...
players have been developed (such as the TCPMP
The Core Pocket Media Player
The Core Pocket Media Player is a software media player which operates on portable devices and Windows-based PCs. It is discontinued, but still available from the official mirror site. Supported operating systems include Palm OS, Symbian OS, and Microsoft Windows, CE, and Mobile. It is also...
), and, at the time of bankruptcy, Tapwave were working on an update to supply MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-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...
hardware decoding.
Device design
Due to the metal construction of the Zodiac, the device was seen to be more solid than other PDA
PDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
s. However, on some models the adhesive on the shoulder buttons failed, and occasionally the screen was scratched by the screen cover when grit entered. Furthermore, due to the insecure clip holding the stylus, they could be knocked loose and potentially lost. Some alternative cases solved this problem with their own stylus holder.
Compatibility
The Zodiac is a PalmOS 5-compatible device, and most software compatible with PalmOS 5 runs without issue. In particular, most PalmOS 5-compatible games play on the Zodiac. Tapwave also provided proprietary APIs to allow developers to take advantage of the Zodiac's graphics and sound hardware. A great deal of freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
and shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
games and emulators are therefore available. For example, there are versions of Doom, Quake, Hexen
Hexen
Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...
, Hexen II
Hexen II
Hexen II is a first-person shooter developed by Raven Software from 1996 to 1997, published by id Software and distributed by Activision. It was the third game in the Hexen/Heretic series, and the last in the Serpent Riders trilogy. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007...
, and Heretic
Heretic (computer game)
Heretic is a fantasy first-person shooter video game created by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive in 1994. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007....
as well as versions of emulators such as UAE
Unix Amiga Emulator
UAE is a computer emulator which emulates the hardware of the Commodore Amiga range of computers. Released under the GNU General Public License, UAE is free software.-History:...
, ScummVM
ScummVM
ScummVM is a collection of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system , it now also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft. It was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus...
, and LJZ/LJP
Little John Palm
Little John PalmOS is an open source multi-system emulator for Palm OS 5.0 devices. The program emulates ten game consoles or handheld devices for Palm OS, and will open standard ROMs stored on the device or memory card...
, a multi-system emulator. There have also been attempts to emulate 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 onto the Zodiac, the most successful emulator being PPSX. It is, however, nowhere near completion and many games are not playable as of yet.
Battery
The device has a total battery life of about 3 hours when using audio, backlight+screen and CPU-intensive tasks, and while running as a dedicated audio player it is closer to 6 hours. The original battery was a 1500mAh Li-Ion; third party replacements with 2000mAh capacity are still available from some manufacturers.
Software
The Zodiac used a modified version of the Palm OS, designated version 5.2T. The main navigation menus consisted of 8 radially-arranged choices selected using either the touchscreen or thumbstick. It also came with the Palm OS Productivity Suite (containing a calendar, to do list etc.), an eBook reader, the Wordsmith word processor and the powerOne graphing application. It came bundled with two games, AcidSolitare (by Red Mercury) and Stunt Car Extreme (by Vasara Games).
Models
The Zodiac console was initially available in two models, Zodiac 1 (32MB), and Zodiac 2 (128MB). The Zodiac 2 was $100 more expensive than the original Zodiac.
Zodiac games
Games which utilized some or all of the Zodiac's hardware/software are incompatible with standard Palm OS devices. This does exclude platforms outside of Palm OS (e.g., Doom II is also out for PC, but the Zodiac version listed here won't run on standard Palm OS handhelds). This list also excludes standard Palm OS games which are also available for Zodiac handhelds, which were either identical or slightly improved on Zodiac, called "Zodiac tuned" (e.g. a game available for standard Palm OS only has the extra features of vibration and shoulder buttons as extra usable buttons when played on Zodiac).Some of the games were never released due to the discontinuation of the Zodiac in July 2005. However, the testing builds of some of these games were leaked and are playable.
Zodiac exclusive titles
- Animated Dudes
- AvalancheAvalancheAn avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
- Firefly: Pacman clone
- Gloop Zero by AeonFlame: (was shareware, but is now freeware) puzzle game where you direct the flow of liquid slime material to its goal by drawing platform lines and using other tools.
- Orbz (was shareware, but is now freeware as of September 2006)
- StarPong
- Stunt Car Extreme: 3D, 1st-person or 3rd-person racing game. Comes with the Zodiac CD.
- Xploids
Zodiac exclusive titles, also available on SD card
- Adventure Pak
- Doom IIDoom IIDoom II: Hell on Earth is an award winning first-person shooter video game and second title of id Software's Doom franchise. Unlike Doom which was initially only available through shareware and mail order, Doom II was a commercial release sold in stores...
- Duke Nukem MobileDuke Nukem MobileDuke Nukem Mobile is the name given to two different games in the Duke Nukem series developed by MachineWorks Northwest and produced by 3D Realms.-Duke Nukem Mobile on Tapwave Zodiac:...
- Fun Pak
- GTS Racing Challenge
- Hellfire: Tiger Team: Apache vs. Hind
- Spy Hunter
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4-External links:* on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine...
- Madden NFL 2005Madden NFL 2005Madden NFL 2005 is an American football video game that was released on August 9, 2004. It features Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis on the cover...
- Warfare IncorporatedWarfare IncorporatedWarfare Incorporated is a real-time strategy game for PalmOS and Pocket PC PDAs and iPhone and iPod Touch, developed by Spiffcode and distributed by Handmark in 2003. It has been described as being the equivalent to Command & Conquer or StarCraft, but it in reality it combines elements of both...
Unreleased but leaked games
- Street HoopsStreet HoopsStreet Hoops is a streetball video game released in 2002. The game has real life streetballers such as 1/2 Man 1/2 Amazing, Hot Sauce, and Headache, and is a less dramatic, more realistic game than NBA Street, as the characters cannot jump completely over the hoop. Like NBA Street, it is possible...
, tech demo - MTX: Mototrax, complete
- Hockey Rage 2004, complete, but crash on exit
- Neverwinter NightsNeverwinter NightsNeverwinter Nights , produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames , is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment, but the publisher's financial...
, tech demo - Terminator 3: Complete game, few sound elements missing.
- Tomb RaiderTomb RaiderTomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...
, complete original first and second game
Ports
Several homebrewHomebrew (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...
(freeware) games were released on ports.
- ZDoomZ, a ZDoom port to Palm/Zodiac
- ZHexen, a Hexen port to Palm/Zodiac
- ZHeretic, a Heretic port to Palm/Zodiac
- ZHexen2, Hexen2 port to Palm/Zodiac
- LJPLittle John PalmLittle John PalmOS is an open source multi-system emulator for Palm OS 5.0 devices. The program emulates ten game consoles or handheld devices for Palm OS, and will open standard ROMs stored on the device or memory card...
, a multisystem emulator for Palm/Zodiac - LJZ, the old version of LJP, discontinued.
- pPSX, created by ZodTTDZodTTDZodTTD is a programmer who mainly focuses on porting software to handheld devices. He is well known for his work in the iPhone and iPod Touch jailbreaking community...
Emulates psx games at limited speed without soundb. Low compatibility. Incomplete. - ReverZi, an Othello/Reversi clone for Zodiac
- ZodMAME, a MAME port to the Zodiac
- ZodNEO, a NeoGeo port to the Zodiac
- ZodSCUMM, ScummVM port to the Zodiac
- ZSpectrum, a ZX Spectrum port to the Zodiac
- REminiscenceReminiscenceReminiscence is the act of recollecting past experiences or events; when a person shares their personal stories with others or allows other people to live vicariously through stories of family, friends, and acquaintances while gaining an authentic meaningful relationship with a person...
, a Zodiac port of Flashback - Thruster, a fast-paced cave flyer.
- Noiz2sa
- Orbital Sniper, Look down from high above and shoot hostiles in a city grid layout while protecting innocent lives. (Freeware)
- Zodtris, Zodiac only version of Tetris. (Freeware)
- Zap 'Em, a close conversion of Zoop for PC (Freeware)
- ZoT
- Zyrian
- Another WorldAnother World (video game)Another World, also known as Out of This World in North America and Outer World in Japan, is a 1991 cinematic platformer designed and developed by Eric Chahi...
- ZodTTDZodTTDZodTTD is a programmer who mainly focuses on porting software to handheld devices. He is well known for his work in the iPhone and iPod Touch jailbreaking community...
, an OpenTTD port to the Zodiac
Hardware Specifications
Two versions of the Zodiac are available, differing only in the amount of memory and case colour- CPU: Motorola i.MX1 ARM9ARM architectureARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
processor (200 MHz) - Memory: Zodiac 1 had 32 MB. Zodiac 2 had 128 MB. Both have 10 MB Dedicated to the System Dynamic RAM
- Graphic Accelerator: ATIATI TechnologiesATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
Imageon W4200 2D graphics acceleratorGraphics processing unitA graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
(with 8 MB dedicated 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...
) - Controls: Analog controller (or joystick) with 360 degrees of motion, built-in triggers and action button array similar to other gaming consoles.
- Display: 3.8 inch transflective 480 x 320 (half VGA), 16-bit colour backlit display (65,536 colours)
- Sound: Yamaha sound and stereo speakers, 3.5 mm earphone plug
- External Connectors: 2 expansion slots (both are MMCMultiMediaCardThe MultiMediaCard is a flash memory memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba's NAND-based flash memory, and is therefore much smaller than earlier systems based on Intel NOR-based memory such as CompactFlash. MMC is about the size of a postage...
/ SDSecure Digital cardSecure 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...
capable, one is also SDIO capable), Zodiac Connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack - Wireless: Infrared, BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
(Compatible with some Wifi SDIO cards depending on drivers) - Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Batteries – Dual totaling to 1540 mA·h
- Size & Weight: 5.6" x 3.1" x 0.55" (142x79x14 mm), 6.3 ounces (180 g)
- Compare to the Palm TX which is smaller at 78x15x121 mm due to fewer buttons, but includes WiFi
- Colours: Zodiac 1: Slate Gray, Zodiac 2: Charcoal Gray
- Casing: Synthetic rubber, anodized aluminum, plastic
Peripherals and accessories
- 5V regulated DC switch mode battery charger, using proprietary connector.
- USB PC synchronization cable, incorporating pass-through female charger connector (allowing charging from mains while synchronizing)
- Car battery charger
- Cradle Attachment for sync cable (poorly designed, unreliable electrical contacts)
- Folding Keyboard (some 3rd party Bluetooth & IR models, unknown whether dedicated keyboard capable of using sync cable connector existed)
- Some SDIO Cameras can be used such as the Veo Camera.
Industry Awards
The Zodiac received a number of noteworthy industry awards.Some of these include:
- Popular Science - BOWN Award
- Stuff Magazine (UK) - Top 10 Gadgets of the Year
- Wired Magazine - Fetish Award
- CNET - Editor's Choice Award
- PC World - 2004 Next Gear Innovations Award
- PC World - Editor’s Pick
- Consumer Digest - Best Buy Award
- Laptop Magazine - Hot Pick
- PC Magazine - 1st Place Last Gadget Standing
- Handheld Computing - Most Innovative PDA
- Business Week - Best Products of 2003
- Business Week - 2004 Design Excellence Award
- Time Magazine – Best Gear 2003
In popular culture
The Tapwave Zodiac can also be seen throughout Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
including as recently as the 10th Season as a sensor device used by Col. Samantha Carter
Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...
and Vala Mal Doran
Vala Mal Doran
Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former Farscape actress Claudia Black, Vala was created by...
. It was also used in the first season of Stargate Atlantis as well by Dr. Rodney McKay and other staff as well.
Trivia
The Zodiac was originally going to be named the "Helix" but was renamed.During development of the Zodiac, the code name of the device was "Road Dawg" and the code name of the desktop software was "Elvis".
The AlphaSmart
AlphaSmart
The AlphaSmart is a brand of portable, battery powered, word-processing keyboards manufactured by NEO Direct, Inc. , currently owned by Renaissance Learning, Inc.-Background:...
Dana is the only Palm OS device aside from the Zodiac with two slots for SD card media.
See also
- Handheld game consoleHandheld game consoleA handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...