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Author Topic: GCW-Zero 2  (Read 14510 times)

superfenix2020 (OP)

  • Posts: 248
GCW-Zero 2
« on: September 05, 2016, 04:12:19 pm »

v1


v2


Screen IPS hight quiality, format 4:3, 4.2 inch, low resolution (320x240, m?x. 640x480)
Bluetooth
USB OTG
Mini HDMI
AV TV (for conect to CRT TV)
two sticks analogs similars xbox One controller
d-pad similar SNES controller
buttons similars SNES controller
...

 ;D

screen similar to DSI XL

« Last Edit: December 06, 2016, 11:56:42 am by superfenix2020 »
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howie_k

  • Posts: 157
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2016, 05:41:30 pm »
Here's what I would like to see on any successor, along with my reasoning.

I  would really like any successor to be able to emulate Amiga AGA (inc CD32), PC Dos games (faster than current, ideally to 486 level), PS1, Dreamcast and N64 really well (Saturn would prob be too much to hope for) - would also really love 3DO and Atari Jaguar too, so some of my thoughts below are with this in mind, but I appreciate it is down to people to port/create emulators - at least if the tech is advanced enough then it is a step in the right direction.

Screen - very happy with the 4:3 aspect ratio as after all this is aimed at homebrew and (unofficially) retro emulation.  A resolution bump to 640x480 would allow for more conversions of homebrew designed for higher resolutions than 320x240 (eg: Hurrican) and also better support those emulated systems that can display this res (eg: Dreamcast that I hope for).  Any 320x240 software would scale nicely to 640x480.  A small size bump up to 4" would help with the higher res and hopefully still mean it is portable.  Possibly shrinking the bezel a bit will help off-set the size increase a little. A higher quality screen cover, possibly made of Gorilla glass may help reduce scratching (not sure if this would add too much weight to the device though).

RAM - I don't know if we need any more memory as 512MB may well be enough already.  A jump to 1GB may not hurt though.

External storage - Having 2 external micro sd slots (like the Pandora/Pyra) would be a real boon to fit entire MAME sets along with many ISO's for Mega CD / Amiga CD32 / PS1 / Dreamcast / Neo Geo CD / PC Engine CD.  Would also be good if they were compatible with the latest 128GB cards.

Battery - would be really good if these were user replaceable, like Pandora / Pyra.

Buttons / controls - Dedicated 'menu' button which emulators can use to bring up menus without the need for key combos or using the slider.  Possibly two extra face buttons for help with N64 and newer MAME fighter games, but this may make the device too bulky.

Dual analogue sticks (not just nubs, and that don't spin/rotate) would help with flexibility of controls for things like PS1 (Dual-shock). Proper analogue sticks may make the unit too bulky though, or require a clam-shell design, which may be too bulky.

Shoulder buttons - not sure if these really need changing or not as I don't think the Dual Shock, N64 or Dreamcast had any analogue triggers?  Adding another pair to bring in-line with the Dualshock may be good and also aid flexibility with emulating the N64 controls.

CPU - slight spec bump to help with emulation speed where needed?  Stick with MIPS for easier backward compatibility with existing Zero software?
Although a move to ARM may mean it is easier to port emulator cores / dynarecs, it would, I assume, make all existing Zero software incompatible.

GPU - slight spec bump to handle the higher res if needed?
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Senor Quack

  • Posts: 225
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2016, 01:59:39 am »
Quote from: howie_k on September 05, 2016, 05:41:30 pm
A resolution bump to 640x480 would allow for more conversions of homebrew designed for higher resolutions than 320x240 (eg: Hurrican)

One of my current projects is porting Hurrican to GCW, including 320x240 resolution support. It just got put on hold while I work on PS1 emulation. It runs quite well.
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superfenix2020 (OP)

  • Posts: 248
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2016, 12:44:35 pm »
new concept Art


screen 4.2", similar to DSI XL
« Last Edit: December 05, 2016, 12:48:37 pm by superfenix2020 »
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gameblabla

  • Posts: 1446
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2016, 07:06:37 pm »
If i had to design the GCW Zero 2, i would completely drop the focus on retro-gaming and be more among the likes
of the DragonBox Pyra.
The reason why is because no one seems to use it for its intended purpose.
I think i would have liked a bigger screen with dual analogs stick but more among the lines of the Xbox 360 controller,
not the Wii U. (i hate the placement)

We should keep the console as open source as possible, down to the bootloader if possible.
Keeping this mind, the I.MX6 QuadPlus is probably the best processor with uboot available (on some SoCs) as well as a powerful vivante gpu. (more robust than the one found in the GCW0 anyway)
The well-supported ARM cpu, combined with 4 more cores and a much more decent GPU than the 3D decelerator we have in the GCW0, should result in much improved performance.
The downside is that mono-threaded apps will see only like a 50% improvement.

If uboot isn't a requirement, then perhaps going with a Qualcomm Soc isn't too bad.
We still get to have freedreno so that's kind of nice i guess.
Downside is that they require lots of binary blobs so it might not work with OpenDingux.

Another hilarous way, but still an option, is to just use an RPI 3 compute module.
We get to have a 64-bits cpu (albeit with a 32-bits GPU), better performance than the GCW0,
great open-source support (we can just use upstream linux) and this should just result in a much better device overall...

And lastly, Intel and AMD...
It's available in small quantities, you have great support (the best you can have), all the linux distros support it, etc...
It doesn't have to have Windows tho. We could use something like Gmenu2X on top of Debian.
But battery life might not be as good as ARM or even MIPS processors.
But so far, it seems to be the easiest option.

Price should less than 150?, if possible.
Higher than that, and you are probably better off buying an Android tablet or a pyra.

Another great thing to have would be for the GCW0 website to allow developers to upload their emulators/games
to the main website... without having to go through someone.
Right now, the internet thinks there's no software for it, even though that's not true : it's just not on the main website.

Oh, and better build quality. Especially the buttons and the Dpad.
Seriously, they feel like they were designed in China.
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superfenix2020 (OP)

  • Posts: 248
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2016, 11:53:29 am »
new concept art  ;D

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superfenix2020 (OP)

  • Posts: 248
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2017, 05:42:17 pm »
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superfenix2020 (OP)

  • Posts: 248
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2018, 10:33:03 am »


 :)
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ace9094

  • Posts: 766
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2018, 09:04:30 pm »
I reckon next year will see a new wave of Hand Held retro gaming devices... I would like to see better compatibility, like with the Nvidia Shield for example...

I would also like to something that plays everything with a nice GUI... Like CoinOPS 8 etc
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Dingoo A320, GCW0, RS-97 x2, Revo-K101, RS-90, PSP, GameGadget, New 3DS 128GB, PS Vita 200GB, RS-45, Gamebox Advance and a few other obscure devices

davidgilmour

  • Posts: 335
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2019, 05:46:52 am »
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eltehero

  • Posts: 339
Re: GCW-Zero 2
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2019, 09:27:53 am »
Quote from: superfenix2020 on November 30, 2018, 10:33:03 am


 :)

Looks too much like an android device.

Any successor (hopefully) should have the same look and design to the original GCW Zero but better built and improved controls.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2019, 12:20:32 pm by eltehero »
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