July 30, 2006

I've recently stumbled onto what may be the most densely packed piece of retro computing goodness that can be found anywhere: the GP2X personal entertainment player from GamePark Holdings. In brief, it's a handheld game/media machine based on a dual-core 200MHz ARM9-based CPU (soft-clockable up to around 250MHz) that sports a 3.5-inch 320x240 pixel color LCD screen and runs Linux with a simple, graphical menu system on top. Its chipset contains a 2D blitter (a help with games) and a hardware MPEG decoder, allowing the unit to playback MPEG4, XVID, DIVX, and WMV files of up to 720x480 at 30fps. It has a built-in audio player that supports MP3 and OGG files, with WMA on the way. It even has s-video / stereo TV out. All powered by two AA batteries.

The GP2X is an open system that comes with the dev kit CD right in the box, a fact that has brought it much support from the developer community, including a good number of original as well as ported games (DOOM, Quake, Nethack, etc.). But the real value here is the GP2X's prowess at oldschool emulation; a wide variety of emulators have been ported to the platform. The list of supported systems is long and ranges from the the C64 and Atari 800 to the Amiga and Atari ST with the Playstation even finding support on the GP2X. Full MAME support puts over 1,100 games in your pocket, as well. A brief ad video provides a quick glimpse of what's possible.

I purchsed my GP2X bundle from Play-Asia and paid $169 USD for the main unit. Despite recent preoccupations, I've spent a good deal of free time recently setting up various emulators and ROMs collections on the 2GB SD card I've got in the unit. So far emulation of these systems is up and running on my GP2X:

Amiga, Atari 800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Apple IIe, TI-99/4A, Colecovision, Gameboy / Gameboy Color, Odyssey 2, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Atari Lynx, Atari 7800, MAME, NeoGeo, and Super Nintendo

The great majority run smooth and at full speed. I download another emulator every day or so, it seems. It's great fun reliving old memories of early 80's gaming as well as getting familiar with classic systems I'd never really played with before, such as the Sinclair Spectrum. It's the most vintage computing fun I've had in a long while, and I really hope that the word gets out about this great machine - the more users out there, the richer the software base will become.

Why not grab one, yourself? See this lengthy review full of photos to learn more, or visit these GP2X forums to meet the community and ask a few questions.

July 24, 2006

As regular readers may be aware, one of my first machines was an Apple //c. I sold my TI-99/4A and got a //c in April or May of 1984. I was 11. I have particularly fond memories of it and over the years I've owned a variety of other Apple IIs and presently have an accelerated IIgs at home and a //c in the office. The II was really my 8-bit experience.

Given my fondndess for the II, I do worry about my library of 5.25" floppies, most of which are over 20 years old. Only a few have failed, but finding floppies in really good condition is getting harder and harder. That's why I was so happy to come upon the Apple II Game Server. The Apple II Game Server is a Java (v1.5) application that allows you to send games from a Mac or PC directly to an Apple II by way of a serial null-modem cable. No other hardware required. (See pics at the project's old homepage.)

Once you get the Apple II accepting input from its serial port, the Java application takes over and spends about 15 seconds "typing in" the loader program which, when executed, establishes the datalink and presents the program chooser interface on said Apple II. For most of your library, floppies can be completely taken out of the picture. An excellent show of support for the retro scene by author Brendan Robert, self proclaimed Geek and Code Slinger.

Apple II Forever!

July 14, 2006

Been a couple months since my last post - not that I normally post here daily or anything. "Why the hiatus," do you ask? The answer is that my wife and I just had a baby! Our daughter came into the world on May 3rd, just after midnight. Our first child. Her name is Rory. She came by emergency C-section about six weeks early, but has been doing just fine from day one. And of course, there're pics of her. She's great, as you can see. :-)

But down to business - do chime in as to which vintage computer you folks out there think I should start her on. Something super simple like an Atari 2600 at first? Or right to a home computer like an Apple II or C64? It's not as if I can just set her up with a modern PC or Mac and allow her to miss "the journey." And at what age?

So much to organize, so little time!