Finally--fully portable handheld VIC-20

[Ghislain]

I recently bought a GP2x (see www.gp2x.com) and I am running VICE on it.

You guys should check it out too.

[Jeff-20]

I almost bought the first GP32 in Korean when it came out. I was happy I didn't when the back-lit versions came out. They sure have evoloved.

Yet... 2AA? How's the battery life. I've grown used to the Gameboy Advance SP's rechargeale.

[carlsson]

Can you not use rechargeable AA batteries like in most every digital camera etc? A four pack of rechargeable NiMH batteries and a reasonably quick charger should be OK, and probably much cheaper than any custom battery Nintendo might use.

[Ghislain]

I bought 4 AA rechargeable Energizer 2200 mAh batteries with a 15 minute quick charger. 2 batteries will last around 3 1/2 hours or so.

[Macguyver]

Very cool - How good is the emulation on the unit? Would you say that it's 100%? What have you tried playing?

[Thomas Hechelhammer]

Either my browser is damaged or I'm too stupid, I cannot see anything .

When I try http://www.gp2x.com/

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e21'

여러 단계 OLE DB 작업을 하는 동안 오류가 발생했습니다. 각 OLE DB 상태 값이 있으면 확인해 보십시오. 완료된 작업이 없습니다.

//global.asa, line 134

-- Thomas

Edit: http://www.gp2x.de/ ist working.

[Ghislain]

Very cool - How good is the emulation on the unit? Would you say that it's 100%? What have you tried playing?

If regular VICE can run it (say VICE installed on your Windows machine), then it should run on VICE for the GP2x. They are both compiled from the same source code.

However, I would not recommend using it to play VIC-20 games that require a lot of keyboard input, the on-screen virtual keyboard can be quite cumbersome.

Another thing I should point out is that since the VIC-20 resolution is 176 x 184 and that the GP2x screen size is 320 x 240, VICE on that machine doubles the width of the pixels (to simulate the wide character graphics of the VIC-20), effectively cutting off the far left and far right columns on both sides of the VIC-20 screen (see screenshot). The C64 emulator doesn't suffer the same fate as it's pixels aren't doubled--it only has it's left and right border cut off instead which is not much of a big deal, in my opinion. There is a 'scaled' display mode but that looks a bit messy as many pixels aren't shown at all.



What I'm planning on doing is going through every game (downloaded a long time ago from Funet) and deleting the ones that don't play very well on the GP2X. Currently, I'm going through all of the C64 ROMS downloaded from Arnold and keeping the ones that work best in the GP2x environment.

Games that I'm not including in my C64 GP2x collection are:

-Games that require a lot of disk swapping
-Games that primarily use the keyboard (however, I'll keep classics like Ultima IV--I think joystick movement is supported in that game)

I'll keep single-keypress VIC-20 games like Lucy the Lizard and Rocket Command, since the 'x' button can be used for that.

Games that I'm not including in my VIC-20 GP2x collection are:

-Multi-boot games from Funet (I don't feel like renaming the files according to their boot names)
-Games where having the left and right most columns cut off affects the gameplay significantly
-Games that require you to understand German or a non-English language to play (nothing against the German language mind you, I want most of the games to be easy for me to figure out). However, action-based games that fall in this category won't be removed.
-Games that require keyboard input as their primary control

Most cartridge based VIC-20 games work wonderfully since they make use of the joystick. There is a bug in VICE for GP2x however, if you remove a cartridge, VICE will freeze and you are forced to reboot. It's probably best to exit VICE if you intend on removing or changing a cartridge.

In the end, I expect to have around 3000 C64 games and 600 VIC-20 games on my '2x.

[Macguyver]

Wow - having 3000 C64 games and 600 vic20 games in the palm of your hand is too good to be true! What an awesome trip down memory lane when you're on the bus, etc. I'll have to get one for sure. By the way - can you actually store this many games on the machine itself as far as RAM goes?

I was considering purchasing a Sony PSP for this same purpose but I don't think VICE has been ported yet on that platform, plus the homebrew scene seems so complicated when Sony constantly tries to eliminate the ability to do that on the machine.

It's a shame about the left and right columns being cut off. Doesn't that affect a lot of games? I'm imagining playing Omega Race or Gorf and always getting killed by what I don't see on the sides of the screen.

Are you happy with the sound quality?

[Ghislain]

The GP2x supports standard SD cards that go up to 4 GB. You can get them at any electronics store. I myself bought a 1 GB SD card for it for around $50 or so.

The sound quality is fine, actually. However, for some sound intensive games (like the digitized voices in Impossible Mission), I would recommend that the system operate at a speed of 250 MHz. Most C64 and VIC-20 games work fine at 166 MHz.

[Ghislain]

In the end, I expect to have around 3000 C64 games and 600 VIC-20 games on my '2x.

Just a quick update.

I'm still going through my Commodore ROM collection, and I think realistically, I'll probably end up with around 1300 C64 games and about 350 VIC-20 ones. I could get a lot more ROMS from GB64.COM but I don't feel like manually downloading every single game there--just the ones that catch my eye. So I'm forcusing on my already-downloaded Commodore ROM collection that I got from the 'net about 6-7 years ago. The process of elimination is quite time consuming but well worth it--every ROM on my GP2x will work great in that environment. Right now, only about 50% of the VIC-20 ROMS are suited for a joystick-only or single-keypress gaming platform.

I primarily use my GP2x for Commodore, MAME, SNES and Atari 2600 emulation. These work WONDERFULLY. I already have suitable emulators for the Gameboy Advance (see http://www.pocketheaven.com/boards ) and I prefer to play NES, Gameboy, Sega Master System, ColecoVisision and ZX Spectrum emulation on that system (because they work better). However, my GBA + flashcart is on loan to someone I know who is on vacation in Europe--I hope he's having fun with it.

Do I regret buying a GP2x? Not at all--having a portable C64 and VIC-20 is well worth the price. A couple of weeks ago I bought "Compleat Loadstar" on CD and I uploaded the first 199 issues of Loadstar on my '2X, it works GREAT.

[Bacon]

I have one of those too. A wonderful device with Linux as an operating system – you can even setup networking with USBNet and it has a small webserver, a Samba server and telnet so you can poke around inside. Someone has even ported Python to it. If you get a breakout-box you can connect a USB keyboard and mouse, and you get composite output so you can connect it to a TV. Add a 3V power supply and you have a portable gaming system and a console in one .

I went through the original and backlit versions of the GP32 and loved them (still have the backlit one) so I ordered a GP2X the day it was available from gbax.com.

[Ghislain]

Yesterday, I tested all of my non-cartridge VIC-20 games and filtered out those that would not work well in a GP2x environment. I was left with about 220 or so (out of 500). I just have to go through 200+ cartridge ROMS and take out the paddle-only games and those that use the keyboard as its primary control.

So I'll end up with 400 VIC-20 games or so. Not bad.

[Macguyver]

Folks, I just got one of these units - it's a blast to play around with! What a treat to have the entire vic20 software archive on this little device, free to carry with you anywhere! I brought my GP2X to work the other day and had the entire crew marvelling at the thing.

The GP2X has S-video and stereo audio out using a breakout cable, so I was able to hook it up to the giant 42" plasma that we have in the boardroom. You should have seen people's faces when I pulled up Gorf and Omega race on the giant screen! They couldn't keep their hands off the controls. It just makes you realize that fun and gameplay aren't necessarily about photoreal graphics.

I HIGHLY recommend the GP2X - Half of the fun was hacking around with changing the frontend and customizing icons, etc. There's a load of great utilities available and more coming out every day. The GP2X community is very active.

Considering it also has Commodore 64, arcade and (albeit slow) Amiga emulation, (among others), plus video, audio and picture viewing, it's almost an essential purchase for any serious Commodore retrogamer.

Mac

[Ghislain]

Today, I finally finished going through my C64 & VIC-20 game collection on my PC and transferred those games that work well in the GP2x environment.

Final count: approx 380 games for the VIC-20, 1350 for the C64. I could get a lot more games for the '64 from GB64.com but I only downloaded a few from there (that caught my eye).
====

Macguyver: I'm happy to hear that you really like the 2x. I have a question about the TV output: does it display more of the VIC-20 screen on the TV? On the 320x240 screen for the 2x, the left and right columns are cut off (see my screen shot in this thread). I might consider getting a TV output jack in the near future.

[nippur72]

Another thing I should point out is that [...] VICE on that machine doubles the width of the pixels [...] effectively cutting off the far left and far right columns on both sides of the VIC-20 screen

It's possible to re-compile VICE telling it to not double pixels, thus having the whole screen displayed on the gp2x (aspect ratio won't be correct, though).

I've tried it on Win32 and you get something like this:



All that's needed is a small modification to the source file (one line commented in "vic20.h").