Re: GP2X in Israel?
2006/6/5, Ilya Konstantinov [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Beni, if you're already looking for storage-less devices[1], why not check out the cheaper PDAs? [1] If you were hoping for cheap storage as well, the iPod Video, along with iPodLinux or Rockbox, sounds like a promising idea. The iPod comes with lots of hardware for the buck (30GB HDD, hardware H.264 decoder capable of 30fps, 2.5 display) but it's not really hacker-friendly, though it's being rapidly reverse-engineered. I want it hacker-friendly or not at all. Some devices have been reverse-engineered with impressive results but it's not the way I want the world to be. The Neuros device I mentioned made the mistake of using an undocumented (needs NDA) DSP to accellerate video, so I probably won't buy it either. (They promised to choose better in their next design, realizing openness is their most importatnt edge now.) -- Beni Cherniavsky [EMAIL PROTECTED], who can only read email on weekends. = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
On Fri, Jun 09, 2006 at 05:03:42PM +0300, Beni Cherniavsky wrote: The Neuros device I mentioned made the mistake of using an undocumented (needs NDA) DSP to accellerate video, so I probably won't buy it either. (They promised to choose better in their next design, realizing openness is their most importatnt edge now.) Before I say anything, I want to comment that our unit has been under development since Summer of 2003. Most of the plans discussed below were formulated in early 2004. That's the point of our unit. Except for some proprietary code which runs in a separate processor, everything is GPL'ed. If you need to use the functions of the other processor, there will be GPL'ed Linux drivers and fully publicly documented API's. With a 1gHz PIII equivalent processor, we felt we really did not need undocumented video acceleration chips. The proof of concept units have a 667 mHz processor which decodes MP1/2/4 video fine, MP3's, and played quite nicely DOS, MAME, native Linux and Windows games. We even planned to allow hardware experimentation. We originally called it hardware hacking, but one suit said that it sounded too much like people using it to break into computers. There was to be a header connector for access to the system bus and if we had enough demand a special back cover with room for home made daughter boards. The developer's kit would include a toolkit and documentation on a CD-ROM (same thing as the download version, but without the need to download several hundred megs or more). We also had a warranty option of replacing a damaged (for any reason) unit with one with the same DRM key for half of the list price. You just had to send back enough of it to identify it. I personally had planned to give away development kits to ideas I liked. The only restrictions were an NDA on new things until they were released, and giving us right of first refusal on any commercial sale. If you bought one and downloaded the development kit, there were no restrictions. I had assumed that if we did sold these units, people would be tempted to modify them and improve the hardware and software, so why make it difficult? The average user would not care, and in comparison to the number of units sold to people who would not modify them, it would insignificant, but that's where next years product comes from. At one time we had planned to make three models one with a low power processor from National Semiconductor (now AMD), one from VIA and one from Transmeta. it won't happen now, VIA turned out to be unfriendly to open source and people who were not the ONE they approved of. Transmeta, has bit the dust. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
Quoth Geoffrey S. Mendelson: They will. They are as I said in the process of building the real device that GP claims they developed. I can't comment more because there may be litigation. G'luck on that Geoff. Sure, I would not make them without it. Several people on this list are familre with the device and the company. If you want to sign an NDA, I can put you in contact with the person runing the company. Indeed, we are. Theft aside, however, what I wonder is whether the device is nice to play (in the literal and figurative senses) with... Have you had the op to lay fingers on it? Also - should brown material strike a rotating object for Gamepark, these little things could be real cheap for a little while - might be worth playing with it... M -- ---MAV Marc A. Volovic [EMAIL PROTECTED] Swiftouch, LTD +972-544-676764 = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 08:08:49AM +0300, Marc A. Volovic wrote: G'luck on that Geoff. Thanks, we need it. Theft aside, however, what I wonder is whether the device is nice to play (in the literal and figurative senses) with... Have you had the op to lay fingers on it? No, it looked cute, but I'm not sure it was a good thing to play games on. Many people get the ergonomics of handheld game playing wrong. There must be close to a million Nokia units in a landfill somewhere. :-( Also - should brown material strike a rotating object for Gamepark, these little things could be real cheap for a little while - might be worth playing with it... I can think of 100's of uses for it if it had more memory. Back when we first started a Canadian company was selling a Linux based PDA with an ARM processor and a small monochrome screen on a closeout for $29. I was thinking of getting them, changing the ergonomics and using them as proof of concept units, but we decided they were too slow, too small, etc for our purposes. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
2006/6/5, Marc A. Volovic [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Quoth Geoffrey S. Mendelson: They will. They are as I said in the process of building the real device that GP claims they developed. I can't comment more because there may be litigation. G'luck on that Geoff. Sure, I would not make them without it. Several people on this list are familre with the device and the company. If you want to sign an NDA, I can put you in contact with the person runing the company. I surely don't. Indeed, we are. OK, I'll take your words and forget about GP. The scope of the scam is a bit disquieting then. The web is more virtual than I thought... -- Beni Cherniavsky [EMAIL PROTECTED], who can only read email on weekends. = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
Beni Cherniavsky wrote: Indeed, we are. OK, I'll take your words and forget about GP. The scope of the scam is a bit disquieting then. The web is more virtual than I thought... I'm a bit confused about what just went on here. Geoffrey claimed GP Holdings are an evil company, but how does that translate into meaning this little piece of hardware called GP2X is something that's a scam? When you say scam, I'm lead to think either: 1. It's not really being sold (i.e. I'll pay the online store and it won't ever send it to me) 2. The specs presented in the online store are false - e.g. they say it has a 200MHz CPU and it has only a 100MHz one, it runs WinCE instead of Linux etc. .. or was it just Don't buy from them - they're evil? Beni, if you're already looking for storage-less devices[1], why not check out the cheaper PDAs? [1] If you were hoping for cheap storage as well, the iPod Video, along with iPodLinux or Rockbox, sounds like a promising idea. The iPod comes with lots of hardware for the buck (30GB HDD, hardware H.264 decoder capable of 30fps, 2.5 display) but it's not really hacker-friendly, though it's being rapidly reverse-engineered. = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:12:17PM +0300, Ilya Konstantinov wrote: I'm a bit confused about what just went on here. Geoffrey claimed GP Holdings are an evil company, but how does that translate into meaning this little piece of hardware called GP2X is something that's a scam? When you say scam, I'm lead to think either: 1. It's not really being sold (i.e. I'll pay the online store and it won't ever send it to me) They will, but it will not be sold in Israel. 2. The specs presented in the online store are false - e.g. they say it has a 200MHz CPU and it has only a 100MHz one, it runs WinCE instead of Linux etc. The software does not do what they say it will, the SDK isn't really there, they just copied marcom docs and a business plan from someone and can't get it together to acutaly provide anything beyond hardware. It's like the movie Galaxy Quest. The aliens copied what they saw on TV from signals that eventually reached them many years after being transmitted. What they did not realize was the show (modeled after Star Trek) was science fiction not reality. The aliens were unable to operate the technology they copied. In this case, GP does not have the intelligence the aliens in the movie had. They could build the device, they could copy the docs, but they cannot make it work inside. ... or was it just Don't buy from them - they're evil? That's a whole another issue. I don't care to go into that here. BTW, the Israeli company is looking for someone to build a GUI for it. Very little money, if any at the moment, but there will be other compensation. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
Donno, but the PS2 has a full Linux distribution that you can buy with a hard drive + 6 manuals for the PS2 (there are 7, the last one is about all the copy protection etc), and there's quite an active mailing lists for this. Hetz On 6/4/06, Beni Cherniavsky [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anybody knows a way to buy http://www.gp2x.com/ in Israel? I looked at http://gp2x.co.uk/ but they don't ship to israel. Perhaps some other european distributor does, I'm too lazy to translate every page now... Anybody got advice? Why GP2X? It seems to be the coolest (only?) hackable video player around. There is also http://www.neurosaudio.com/ that are working on a completely open line of products (http://www.theneuros.com/index.php/Product_Lineup), even desiging the *hardware* on a public mailing list, and selling development boards - but they are more expensive and still don't sell an open version of any video product (the devel. boards already seem to work and boot linux, and Enlightenment's author is now helping them with the firmware which is cool).. -- Beni Cherniavsky [EMAIL PROTECTED], who can only read email on weekends. = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Visit my blog (hebrew) for things that (sometimes) matter: http://wp.dad-answers.com = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:48:46AM +0300, Beni Cherniavsky wrote: Anybody knows a way to buy http://www.gp2x.com/ in Israel? I looked at http://gp2x.co.uk/ but they don't ship to israel. Perhaps some other european distributor does, I'm too lazy to translate every page now... Anybody got advice? Why GP2X? It seems to be the coolest (only?) hackable video player around. There is also http://www.neurosaudio.com/ that are working on a completely open line of products (http://www.theneuros.com/index.php/Product_Lineup), even desiging the *hardware* on a public mailing list, and selling development boards - but they are more expensive and still don't sell an open version of any video product (the devel. boards already seem to work and boot linux, and Enlightenment's author is now helping them with the firmware which is cool).. Game Park is scam. It's technology was stolen from an Israeli company. They also stole the business plan and marketing stuff. Did you ever wonder how their dual processor ARM device would run Windows programs under Linux using Cygwin? They did not even steal that correctly, the orginal wording was WINE, and the device has 1GHz x86 processor. The device is under development and the company is looking for funding to build and sell them. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
2006/6/5, Geoffrey S. Mendelson [EMAIL PROTECTED]: On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:48:46AM +0300, Beni Cherniavsky wrote: Anybody knows a way to buy http://www.gp2x.com/ in Israel? Game Park is scam. Damn! Just when I got happy :-( It's technology was stolen from an Israeli company. Which company? Do they sell anything cool :-? They also stole the business plan and marketing stuff. Did you ever wonder how their dual processor ARM device would run Windows programs under Linux using Cygwin? They did not even steal that correctly, the orginal wording was WINE, and the device has 1GHz x86 processor. PC Programming == Basic Programmingt: Linux Windows: Programmable by installing Cygwin I read this as you can cross-develop for our device on Windows using Cygwin. The device is under development and the company is looking for funding to build and sell them. Then it's a really well-done scam, with so many distributors appearing to sell it already, and Wikipedia articles about the device history... Do you have any data to substantiate these accusations? What about the previous console, GP32? It existed, didn't it? I'm talking about GamePark Holdings which do(?) the GP32; there is also GamePark the original company which do the slightly higher-end XGP. Perhaps you mean them (but they also appear to be alive)? -- Beni Cherniavsky [EMAIL PROTECTED], who can only read email on weekends. = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: GP2X in Israel?
On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 01:40:36AM +0300, Beni Cherniavsky wrote: It's technology was stolen from an Israeli company. Which company? Do they sell anything cool :-? They will. They are as I said in the process of building the real device that GP claims they developed. I can't comment more because there may be litigation. Then it's a really well-done scam, with so many distributors appearing to sell it already, and Wikipedia articles about the device history... Sure is. They have a well funded strategic partner. Do you have any data to substantiate these accusations? Sure, I would not make them without it. Several people on this list are familre with the device and the company. If you want to sign an NDA, I can put you in contact with the person runing the company. What about the previous console, GP32? It existed, didn't it? Yes. I'm talking about GamePark Holdings which do(?) the GP32; there is also GamePark the original company which do the slightly higher-end XGP. Perhaps you mean them (but they also appear to be alive)? The theft occurred before they split. The previous device was not a console, it was an underpowered handheld device designed to run emulated Nintendo games. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
