I currently have a GP32, but am considering changing to GP2x or PSP.

I'm running through 'pros & cons'...and wondered if anyone here can help with a little 'input' to help me decide!

I love my GP32 and am very happy, however if the new beasts offer something more or worthwhile...then I'm tempted.

The way I see it:

GP2x Pros - TV out, more power, similar (if not better) support
GP2x cons - can't think of any right now...

PSP Pros - that lush screen! the ability to play *some* PSP games
PSP cons - the pain that is firmware! new games will want to update it and mean bye bye to emus!

I'd love to be able to play Amiga games - much as I like the ST there are some exclusives that I'd like to play...without the hassle of lugging it down from the loft! Also the TV out is nice - again the ability to play classics on TV without the hassle would be nice!

So is there anything else I need to consider? Is GP2x too young? Should I hold onto my GP32 for now?

TIA for any good input!

The GP2X has several bugs at the moment, but most of them are software and fixable.

The joystick is crap. Buy a DaveC cap, it'll make you happier.

I've noticed the GP32 stuff slowing down recently, but the GP2X developments are still flooding in.

That's really all I can say without dropping into fanboyism.

Oh come on, you can't ask a loaded question like that in a forum specifically for the gp2x, then add "no fanboys"!

I find the GP2X joystic to be pretty nice, I can understand other people not liking it, but whether it is crap or not is just a matter of tastes. Try it first, you might like it.

You definately cannot get a useful response to a question like this (or if you do, it'll be "buy both"

I do have both, and they're both good in different ways; the PSP screen is as you say *outstanding*, but the d-pad isn't so hot.. wish it had another analog too, and used SD. But as its, its _great_ hardware. The only real flaw of the PSP is the Sony firmware which you already know about. So killer hardware, fun to dev for, lots of homebrew... and well, not so much homebrew. Its been great for homebrew 'so far', but with the most recent FW updates they've made it unpleasant. ie: Loading up GTA:LCS to boto homebrew is rather annoying. If you're on FW2.0 you can drop back to 1.5, and life is _great_.. but theres so far no rollback for FW2.01 or later, so you're stuck with gTA:LCS, and you know they'll try and fix that in FW someday too. So essentially, if you stop with todays PSP games, you're greaty for homebrew.. but if you want one of the 60 games coming out in the next 3 months, you're likely screwed for homebrew.

So the _safe bet_ is to call the PSP a non-homebrew machine; its fricking' lovely to code for with all that GPU, and the dual CPU and all that, but I stopped homebrewing for it a couple months back since I know I'll be buying Field Commander in a few weeks, and _Assume_ it'll knock me out.

Now, the GP2X isn't as great hardware wise for the most part (really, truth be told -- lower max cpu rate, less cpu, less bus bandwidth, etc), but the 2X does use SD (yay for non-Sony-memstick-crap), and has the TV-out (yay again; not really useful to me, but its cool, and I will love to show off my beloved Atari ST emu action on a TV in the boardroom one of these days..). The 2X wont' get commercial games (safe bet -- it *might*, but if you want safe bets, assume not), but its all homebrew.

So if you want a _hard_ answer, then its easy -- homebrew is 2X, commercial is PSP. Pick.

jeff

GP2x Pros - TV out, Better Homebrew scene, relatively powerful, uses SD cards.
GP2x Cons - Slightly dodgy joystick, slightly dodgy screen, firmware was originally bugged - but is actually getting better now.

Skeezix: The New Eboot Loader loads pretty much anything about from isos on v 2.6 firmware, as long as you have GTA.

Edit: Engrish for the win!

Well the PSP screen is outstanding for *some* things. Its aspect and resolution make it poor for emus because of the stretching and distortion. The severe ghosting and smearing due to the slow LCD response time makes it poor for side scrollers and fast action games. The aspect and resolution is better on the PSP for movies and commercial games though. So it depends on the main use.

As far as Amiga games go it is honestly doubtful that it will ever happen at full speed with sound on the GP2X due to CPU limitations.

ROFL, I was thinking the same thing. Thats like going to Nintendo's official forums and saying, Does the DS suck? No fanboys please.

i'd personally stick with your gp32 and find yourself a 2.00 or less psp.

newer games will run using mph's firmware launcher which emulates the FW rather than flashing it and it feels so solid and well constructed compared to the gp2x. Button response and the d-pad are both truely terrible on the gp2x IMO and are a large backward step compared to the gp32's.

"Yes and no" -- ie : the aspect ratio is fine for most platofrms -- Amiga, ST, etc.. 320x200 scales just nicely. However, its a problem for tall platforms, for sure.

More to point, as I said -- assume the PSP is commercial only "with exceptions", so I was only talking commercial.

Thats the only true answer, that no on can dispute on any forum.. buy a PSP for commercial, buy a GP2X for homebrew. Theres not really much overlap unless you buy a PSP purely for homebrew.. and then its a fair question to compare 2X to PSP, but thats a whole other question than asked

jeff

Isn't Amiga emulation already better on GP2X than PSP?

PSP -
DIVX / XVID avi movies need to be converted into Sony's own format for playback

GP2X -
drag DIVX / XVID avi movies straight onto your SD card, done!

Amiga emulation runs pretty decent already, it's the sound that needs improvement but I am sure it can be done for most games
Dunno how far Amiga emulation is on the PSP as I don't have one

No fanboys? ... you got to be kidding man!

"SunSpire"

i think you can buy a third party cable for the PSP which allows TVout.

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-med...vout-133200.php

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/11/3/1721

Um.... as cheap and as good quality as the GP2X...?

No.

Good luck finding a PSP with 2.0 or 1.5 on it.

GP2X - pros
Great community. I'm amazed at how far it has come in just three months. We have A2600, A7800, Lynx, A800, TI-99, Apple?, MAME! emulation. Something you dont see done as well or at all on the PSP just yet. The Amiga emulator is VERY playable.. Basically I'm seeing alot of stuff on the GP2X that is either non existant or seems dropped on the PSP.

PS1 emulator looking pretty good!
SD cards (yeah)... I hate Pro Stick Duo's...
Movies are pretty much a dump and watch experience.
Not 100% sure but picture viewer seems to be able to handle more formats.
TV-Out.
Seems to handle sidescrolling games more smoothly

GP2X - cons
Joystick - has a couple things going against it, the cap (according to some), and the bias towards diagonals. I'm still undecided on it myself.
Can brick when updating firmware if not careful (PSP seems a little more failsafe, not that'd you'd want to and risk killing access to homebrew).
Sucks the life out of your batteries (so be sure to get rechargeables).
Interlaced LCD (purely opinion as far as I'm concerned). I think it makes alot of emu's look more "realistic". Most consoles were designed to run on interlaced TV anyways.
Boot time not the greatest, though for some reason this does not seem to be an issue for everyone.
Buttons used for volume control (please ). At least they can be used as extra buttons if the programmer wishes.
NES, SNES, (SMS & GG) emulation still a little bit behind. (currently)
Good luck seeing any commercial games.
Power supply sold seperately.

PSP - pros

Rechargeable batteries (yeah, yeah I know it's proprietary)
Keeps track of date and time (internal clock)
Quick boottime (unless your playing UMD's )
Can play movie UMD's (if your into that kind of thing)
Can play music UMD's (are there even any out on the market?)
Commercial games available (mostly crap, but who knows what the future holds).
Nice screen!
Analog stick/nub (a matter of preference I suppose)
Wi-Fi
Web browser (2.0 and up only)
Sleep mode.
Comes with a power supply.
Great SNES, NES, and (SMS/GG) emulation

PSP - cons

Expensive
Expensive memory stick duo cards (blech)
Expensive games ($40).. yeah right!
Poor emulation support for older systems (mostly 8-bit systems)
Homebrew seems to be dying (Can anyone say firmware updates?)
Fast moving objects (like side scrollers) tend to blur.

There was software released lately that allows playing of 2.0 only games on 1.5 systems recentally. But in the long run Sony will probably win and snuff out all homebrew.

Personally I prefer the GP2X, despite it's flaws, and my PSP has not been touched for a few months now. I eventually may decide to give in and just update the PSP so I can play more recent releases.

I think that eventually the homebrew for the GP2X will far surpass what is available for the PSP.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Pretty much sums it up .

Now, By our great community boot time of gp2x is quite close to 'the greatest' among handhelds now.
(13 secs with cramFS, 9secs with cramFS and modified U-boot)

Most other PMPs (and PSP) have longer boot time than this, I believe.

EDIT: typo

Yes that is amazing for a linux handheld.

I didn't mention the cramFS just yet because it seems to hinder some homebrews from running correctly at the moment. I think it had some other oddities as well. I'm sure all will be rectified eventually.

Amiga emulation is already better on the gp2x@275mHz than the PSP@333mHz. PSP UAE is abandoned since last October.
gp2x UAE gets regular updates.

WOW!

Thanks guys, I just knew I could rely on this forum for some really well balanced input...it's a credit to a great board.

Shame on those who doubted the 'no fanboys' comment!!

Looks like long I'll stick with GP32 for now with upgrading to GP2x 'in the near future' - whilst maybe one day picking up a cheap PSP for the lushness of PES, movies and surfing etc.

It's amazing, nobody said MAME would be possible on GP32...but it was cracked, I feel that due to the excellent support and community around the GP consoles you can't go far wrong (esp. long term), I fully expect the EMUs to just get better and better...and while we're at it - a BIG thank you to those who do all the hard work! With the PSP I also tend to agree regarding Sony eventually killing the PSP homebrew, and of course the ironey is that by their actions they are actually forcing people to play ISOs on their 'v2 and below' PSPs!

Anyway, thanks again

"As far as Amiga games go it is honestly doubtful that it will ever happen at full speed with sound on the GP2X due to CPU limitations"


WAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHHA, funniest thing ever in my view

Anyway, the PSP is pretty cool, battery SUCKS, prices for psp are moving down VERY slowly aswell.
GP2X is great, but you gotta know your beans to get it to work just right.
If your expecting NINTENDONESS i.e easy simple interface et, plug and play type of thing... then simply get a ds and a supercard sd

PSP games are costly, get a 1.5 if you can. But then again, pro duos are costly aswell, so you might aswell get a game instead of isos
not only that, but the more it emulates, the more memory you need. If you want to spend well over £200 on a few 1gb duo cards then be my guest!
For that price you could get a gp2x and a couple of tidy priced sd cards and have tones of fun drag and drop those xvid or divx movies on there and watch

all consoles are desperately different. GET BOTH!!! If you got the geekiness to do so. I have a 1.5 psp, and its pretty cool. But thats all it is for me. I spend my time on the gp2x because, well, it simply much more fun! tweaking with things, skinning and all that. SD cards are cheap as and store LOADS so that format is more ideal for emulation.

Emulation for psp in my view is basically something a hacker wanted to make the psp SEEM better and do everything. But its not HAHAHAH, i use psp for luminies and wipeout pure and stuff like that. Somethign unique you know ?
Gp2x emulation is going to float your boat in due time.

Id say wait until psp prices drop, sales are not very good for it compared to the DS and so SONY will want to compete, again, so expect some cooler things.
And if not, wait for a revision. Sony are updating the psp just like a walkman, so expect better battery life and all that in future releases. The psp will look the same, but its say the difference between an ipod 30 and 60gb. Look the same but different on the inside.


If i were you, id wait until someone says "the gp2x firmware is perfect and the second core is operating in emulation!!" and just wait for almost perfect emulation to begin kreeping in. Gnuboy is almost there! it tok forever and is STILL being perfected for the gp32.
Its already here for gp2x!!! and it plays MVS/AES games already, and punisher runs in mame!! not even my crappy via epia m10000 pc could run this perfectly! (although, sound WAS activated...)

Id wait, if you know your stuff, can work your way around files and all that, you know, updating and all that kind of stuff. Then you could get a gp2x now. The physical unit aint gonna be updated for years! the joystick will be replaced, and firmware is software. the screen is funny coz of confiuration. it can be sorted via software.
Its not like the psp where the battery life is like unchangable.


the gp2x is going to stay the same price the psp may come down in price but memory cards will always be as pricey as they are. dont expect psp games to get much cheaper either.



get a nintendo ds for now with a supercards sd cant go wrong