GP2X Preview

I just recently bought a Gamepark GP2X F-100 MKII Linux gaming handheld. The GP2X is from a South Korea and is designed with the purpose of running emulators, homebrew games, and some commercial games. Another unique feature is that it has S-Video out so it can be plugged into a TV to view what would be on the GP2X on the TV.

I am writing a review on the GP2X and might do a comparison to the Tapwave Zodiac. Please post questions/comments in the comment sections of this blog post. I’ll consider them for the review.

An added note, I do not have a Tapwave Zodiac anymore.  But I will be working with some people at Tapland on the more tecnical things.

“The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and media player created and sold by GamePark Holdings of South Korea.

The GP2X was designed for homebrew developers as well as commercial developers. It runs many popular emulators for game consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Commodore 64, NES, Pc-engine/TurboGrafx 16, and others.”

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2X

Briefcase PC mod

I needed a new PC. None of my PCs would work. It seems as if I was cursed. All I had was my iBook and I was just breaking down wanting to use Linux and play some games for a change.

My friend Ryan C. upgraded his computer and sold me his old parts for $80.

• ASUS A8V motherboard; AMD socket 939 (ATX)
• AMD Athlon 64 3200+ at 2ghz socket 939
• AOpen Aeolus Nvidia 6600 GT AGP card

Parts I already had.

• 420w PSU (ATX)
• 80gb 3.5″ HDD
• Laptop DVD/CDRW optical drive
• 512mb DDR memory at 400mhz
• Arctic Silver 5 CPU paste
• PC case
• 3 Pentium 2 processor fans for cooling
• MS Windows XP Pro SP2

And the rest I had to buy.

• 1gb DDR memory at 400mhz
• CoolerMaster CPU cooler

So I built the PC in an average “beige box.” Well there was a lan-party coming up and I wanted something special for it. Well I noticed my brother wasn’t using his old electronics briefcase. I asked if I can have it and he said I can… well actually he said use it, not destroy it but how would I know that. So I thought about it for about 3 days and made sure it all would fit. So the day before the lan I started with removing all the padding and glue. Then I altered the design to get everything right. I took my trusty Dremel tool and started cutting away trying to get it done ASAP. I worked all day till 9pm. Then started the day of the lan around 9:30am and worked on it as fast as I can to get it done by 8pm for the overnight lan-party. Made some more design changes and continued. My 10 year old Dremel was dying since I started the project but thats all I was able to use except for a handsaw that I used for the optical drive. I finally finished around 8:10pm and ran up to my room to test it. It worked! Turned it off and packed up to leave.

I arrived at the church where the lan-party was held at. My friends and the others there were amazed. Thought it was cool. I just can’t believe I did the whole thing in just 2 days. Well a power button was missing but that wasn’t the priority at the moment. Screw driver shorting the pins on the motherboard was good enough.

Flickr photosets: “Briefcase PC mod“, “New PC“, and “Lan Party 4/2-3/2007.”

And at the lan-party.

The guts.

Back.

Side.

(Installing Halo CE for the PC.)