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GP2X with Case When I first saw this little open source handheld console,...

Thu, 06 May 2021 02:24:23 GMT

GP2X with Case

When I first saw this little open source handheld console, back in 2006, I just knew that there was something special about it. Here it is fifteen years later and I’m still getting a lot of enjoyment out of this video gaming marvel.

I’m amazed at how well it continues to perform and am saddened that it didn’t get more attention from the home brew gaming scene.

I guess what it boils down too is that, perhaps the GP2X was just a little bit ahead of it’s time. It was (and is) a fantastic system for retro game emulation. You can run so many systems on it, from the Atari 2600 right up to the PS1 and everything in between. But, back in 2006, I guess those systems weren’t quite “retro” enough for most main-stream gamers. However, now that retro gaming seems to be all the rage, I would bet that the GP2X would have been a much more popular handheld console today.

I would have to say that it was the GP2X that sparked my increased interest to get back in to the Commodore 64 scene. I still had my C64 and C128 in 2006, but I didn’t realise back then that there was an active C64 community on the Internet, still creating games and hardware for my beloved home computers. But, because the GP2X emulated the C64 so well, I went out to see how I could get my favourite C64 games onto it, which soon led me to discover .D64 disk images, and I was off like a flash.

Soon after that, I then discovered that the GP2X also had an excellent Sega Genesis/Mega Drive emulator. So, not only could I enjoy playing my favourite Commodore games on it, I could now bring along all of my Genesis games! And then came along the Intellivision emulator; I was in retro gaming heaven.

But the GP2X wasn’t just great at emulating the classic consoles, it also had some really fun original games, both commercial and from the growing home brew developers that embraced this little wonder. I bought two commercial games for it, Payback (Apex Designs) and Vektar (GP2X.co.uk), which highlighted so much of the console’s potential for great graphics and sound; they’re also lots of fun to play.

Being an open source system really resonated with me, not only because I’m a dedicated Linux user, but it also brought back so many of those good memories as a C64 owner. Anyone could just sit down and create a game for the C64, you didn’t need any special development license or hacked system to do it. It was just there waiting for you. I thought this sort of mentality really deserved to be supported and encouraged. Good luck trying to that with a GameBoy, DS, or PSP.

Games wasn’t all that it could play. The GP2X can also play videos, music, and read e-books. You can’t do that with many of today’s “retro” gaming consoles. What set the GP2X apart from the other consoles of the era (besides being open source), at least for me, was the ability to connect the console to a television via the EXT port. This was something else you couldn’t do with the Nintendo DS or the PSP – not until the PSP-2000 in 2007.

Most of the portable/hand held devices we have today all come with their own built-in high capacity battery packs. I have some problems with batteries that I can’t easily change, because unless I keep them properly charged or regularly cycled, they usually prematurely fail on me. Then, the darn thing is relatively useless to me. The nice thing about the GP2X is that it operates on high capacity REPLACEABLE AA batteries. So, even after sixteen years, a fresh set of rechargeable batteries, the GP2X is just as versatile as it ever was.

Although I could probably be happy using my GP2X for just playing my favourite games on the emulators, the home brew community really brought a lot of diversity to the console. Although many games from the community could be considered “simple”, there were still many that where of high quality and fun to play.

Some of the home brew games that I have on my SD card and still regularly play include Tile Match, rRootage, PucKmAn-GP2X, The Minigame Project, Kill Everything That Moves, Battle Jewels GP2X, and Protozoa. All of these are still available for downloading, here. But, with the announcement of Intellivision games coming to the Evercade, I’ve been inspired to brush up on my gaming skills on a few of my favourite INTV games. I’ve even submitted a few high scores for the CBM 8-Bit Retro High Scores Archive. Like my recent hi-score for Lock ‘n’ Chase.

The GP2X may not be to everyone’s liking, or it may be a little dated now when compared to today’s portable consoles, I think it’s still one of the best that ever made it to market. Here it is all of these years later and it’s still going strong; I can’t even guess at how many hours I’ve played games, listened to music (both MP3s and OGGs – which I like better) or watched movies on it. I’ve even used it to read a couple of books over the years. I don’t think I’ll ever find anything else that I’d want to replace it with. I wish there were still developers out there making games for it, like there are for other retro systems (like the C64).

There’s just so much that I think this little open source console could offer for inspired game makers, giving them an excellent platform to make some really fun games… Like Deal or No Deal! And how can you not enjoy a game console that has Howie Mandel on it! 😉

Photo by virtualsky

Sharp EL-6980, Franklin DBS-2, MWD-440, eBookMan EBM-900, and CR-8121.

Tue, 04 May 2021 22:02:34 GMT

Sharp EL-6980, Franklin DBS-2, MWD-440, eBookMan EBM-900, and CR-8121.

Photo by virtualsky

Franklin Rolodex RF-8121 Still serves a purpose for me to this day.

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:12:39 GMT

Franklin Rolodex RF-8121
Still serves a purpose for me to this day.

Photo by virtualsky

Franklin eBookMan EBM-900 with leather cover.

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:11:57 GMT

Franklin eBookMan EBM-900
with leather cover.

Photo by virtualsky

Franklin eBookMan and Asus EeePC 701 My mobile dynamic duo!

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:11:31 GMT

Franklin eBookMan and Asus EeePC 701
My mobile dynamic duo!

Photo by virtualsky

Franklin eBookMan EBM-901 Today, we have our smart phones and tablets and...

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:11:12 GMT

Franklin eBookMan EBM-901

Today, we have our smart phones and tablets and Kindles and iPads, and all these other modern day marvels that monitor us and govern our lives. But, you know, I still prefer my good ol’ Franklin eBookMan to handle all of my mobile computing needs.

I can just hear you now… “what is a Franklin eBookMan?!” Simply put, it did what the iPods and iPads do, it just did it back in 1999. The Franklin eBookMan was an E-Book reader and personal PDA, produced from 1999 through to 2002, under the Franklin Electronic Publishers brand. Franklin then sold the rights of the eBookMan to American company ECTACO Inc., who continued to produce and support the EBM series handhelds through to 2011.

Some of the features that set the eBookMan apart from the other PDAs out on the market at the time where:

- A high resolutions screen, specifically designed for displaying text.
- Capability of recording and playback of sound files, including audio books, personal voice memos, and MP3s.
- Advanced hand writing recognition algorithm.
- A vibrant online community of independent content publishers, who used development and publishing tools freely distributed by Franklin, to create a plethora of applications, games, and published works free of DRM “lock-in”.

In the relatively short time that the eBookMan was in production, the online community of users and coders developed some really great software for this amazing handheld device. Not only was the eBookMan great for reading e-books and periodicals, but it was a very robust and entertaining PDA, thanks to the software talented developers produced. it was also very easy for independent publishers to produce high quality books and other reading material for the eBookMan.

Franklin provide, free of charge, a detailed guide on how to create e-books using their own version of the SGML (Standard Generalize Markup Language) that they developed for the eBookMan, called FGML. They also freely distributed the Franklin SDK desktop application that took an FGML file and complied it into an e-book compatible with the Franklin Reader app. Books compiled for the eBookMan supported monochrome images, indexing, and very fast keyword search capabilities.

I even ran a small on-line publishing company for a while, converting classic novels to eBookMan format. I also had a small handful of authors who use my services to publish their original works. According to my records, we distributed around 2,000 e-books to eager eBookMan customers.

After all of these nineteen years, this PDA still works flawlessly. Sure, the rubber grip along the bottom edges of the “console” has discoloured over the years, but besides that, everything is functioning as it was when it was new. The touch screen is still responsive and the backlit screen still looks great. Back in the day, I had regular news feeds from The Register and ZDNet, which I converted to MobiPocket Reader format, so I could read them “on the go”.

In the bottom quarter of the screen is where you write in the letters and numbers that you wish to enter into the program that you’re using. This area was know as the “silkscreen”. The first thing I did when I bought my eBookMan was cover the silkscreen with a protective membrane to help keep it from getting too scratched up from day to day. Looks like my idea paid off, as it’s this membrane this is showing some wear and not the screen beneath.

The form factor is easy to hold in my hand and is very light. I find it much more comfortable as an e-book than a tablet or Kindle-style device. The back-lit screen is very easy on the eyes, so I can sit and read in a darkened room and not disturb my wife. We both find screens on tablets and other modern e-book readers to be too bright and harsh on our aging eyes.

The best things I like about the eBookMan and why I still use it today over modern day alternatives are:

1 It’s secure. Unlike a smart phone, tablet, ebook reader, or other fancy schmancy web enabled device, I know that no one else is watching “over my shoulder” and monitoring what I’m doing on my device. Apart from physically stealing my eBookMan, the information on it remains my own and is private.
2 When I’m relaxing and reading an e-book (or doing anything else with it) my eBookMan is not bombarding me with harmful microwaves and low-grade radiation. Can’t say the same thing about these modern day wireless devices.

When I bought my eBookMan, I also bought a 32MB MMC expansion card for it and a protective carrying case. Tucked away in side a pocket within the case, I still have my original receipt for the purchase. It is badly faded, but it still shows that the eBookMan was a pretty expensive piece of tech, back in the day.

The receipts shows that I made my purchase on April 25th of 2002, and spent $199.99 on the eBookman, $59.99 for the 32MB MMC card, and $19.99 for the case. I think I got some very good value for my money!

My wife also has an eBookMan; her’s is a model EBM-900. After all of these years the only thing that is broken on it is the little plastic clasp on the battery door. Apart from that, the eBookMan is working just as good as it did back in 2002. She likes reading books with it, too. In fact, just tonight I finished compiling a copy of “The Railway Children” for her from a text file we downloaded from Project Gutenberg.

I’m so glad that I have my eBookMan today. This was such a fantastic PDA / e-book reader and I feel that it should not just be forgotten like so many other technologies from the earlier days of home computing.

I know that Apple wants you to think that they are the super-innovator of the personal computer market. But, just look at the eBookMan and you tell me, who invented what first. The eBookMan was doing what the iPod did at least two years before, and it was doing what the iPhone did seven years before (apart from making telephone calls).

Photo by virtualsky