Hello

New member here. I am looking to purchase a GP2x. I sort of knew about it for a while, but not till recently I was aware of what the GP2x could really pull off?

I have an exstensive collection of Emulators & Roms on my mac runing OSX, I figure I am a good candidate to get a GP2x, load up the various emulators, load my exisitng rom collection, & ill be good to go correct? Is it that easy?

Can I pull off all of this since I am running a Mac with OSX? I have no access to a windows PC right now. I am very anxious to make the purchas & set up the unit. Any feedback from anyone?

Being more of a lurker, my word may not count for that much around here, but I'm Mac user and have had only one problem using the GP2x, and that was creating the cache files for the CPS2 emulator. I got around that by downloading a torrent of the CPS2 roms and caches.

Bascially, get an SD card reader, and I use FinderCleaner everytime I eject the SD card as OS X tends to leave .DS_Store files all over the place otherwise. Doesn't affect anything, I just don't like seeing those files in every folder on the GP2x.

LMK if you have any Mac questions. I'd be glad to help.

yeah its possible, just get a card reader then theres no problems with compatibility

Yes, it is that easy. See my gp2x and mac getting along like pals!

so angus...not just ie, but ie for windows...i'm gonna tell on you. don't know who yet, probably woz.

As a Mac user my one frustration is converting ROMs for Mame. I have to use my PC at work.

How do you Mac guys convert ROMs?


- Tommy

.... do .torrents work on a Mac?

(seriously, I don't know ....)

Of course! Though I don't use my mac for torrents... being a laptop and all..

GP2X works great with my mac btw.

Thanks for all the help.

If I already have roms working on mac emulators, they do not need to be "converted" to work on the GP2x emulators correct?

Also, can the GP2x support 4GB SD cards?

I am going to get one here shortly!

While I've never used a Mac, I do use Linux, and under Linux I use Wine for all my Windows application needs. I've never used MAME, so I can't guarantee it'll work for the ROM converter, but usually small apps have no problem working, which would make things like the CPS2 cache creator easy to use through the Mac OSX Wine port (even though the binary is somewhat outdated, consider building from source - there's guides available).

http://darwine.sourceforge.net/download.php

EDIT:
Gwah, do I look stupid now. Just found out there's a NeoGeo rom dumper for UNIX-like systems. Comments in regard to MAME conversion still stand, though

I am still a little confused. What is the purpose of a Rom Converter? If I am using various emulators on my mac & my roommate is using them on windows emulators. If Mame Geomame, Snesx ect... emulators are working with my existing rom collection, do I need to convert those Roms to work on the GP2X?

I haven't really fooled with MAME, but I know that for Neo Geo and CPS2, you need to run certain utilities on the ROMs from Windows in order to get them to run properly (I think it was an issue with the 2X not having enough RAM to run some of the bigger games as they are? Forgive me if I'm wrong). In Neo's case, I'm pretty sure the newest version of the emulator does it automatically, so that ought not to be a problem. In CPS2's, though, I think the Windows utility is currently the only solution (well, that or downloading already modified ROMs like somebody else suggested).

For most stuff like SNES, Genesis, Gameboy and the like, though, it's enough to just chuck the ROMs on an SD Card as they are.

Hmmm... now I am a little concerned.

The main reason for getting the GP2X is my mame collection. I have a lot of other roms, but my mame collection is massive & was my main regard to grabbing up a GP2X. At this time, I have no access to a windows computer, but I do own two pre-intel macs.

Can a Mac user chime up on this topic? How can I get my mame roms (I have a ton of them)

Thanks again in advance!

Hmmm... now I am a little concerned.

The main reason for getting the GP2X is my mame collection. I have a lot of other roms, but my mame collection is massive & was my main regard to grabbing up a GP2X. At this time, I have no access to a windows computer, but I do own two pre-intel macs.

Can a Mac user chime up on this topic? How can I get my mame roms (I have a ton of them)

Thanks again in advance!

I have a copy of VPC on my mac to run windows xp when I need to use a windows app. You could use it to convert the roms.

O have used Virtual PC in the past, its slow? I have well over a GB of roms for MAME. I am not wanting to drop the cash on Virtual PC + a copy of windows along with the other cost of buying the GPX + some accessories. There has to be another solution?

You could ask a friend with a Windows machine if you could convert all the ROMs you need to, or pick one up really cheaply off a car boot sale.

I use MAME, and I haven't had to convert any roms. I use the same ones I used w/ MacMame. I didn't mean to cause any confusion w/ the whole CPS2 cache thing; that is the ONLY emulator I've had any problems with as a Mac user. And again, a little torrenting and the problem was non-existent.

In short, get a GP2x!

So looks like without windows I am at a loss at this point. I am still confused why the roms need to be modified? What programs need to be used to convert the roms (I have a lot of them) Ill have to bring them to a friends house.. plus as long as I get new roms I am going to have to keep going over a friends house. The problem is my good friend who lets me use his PC is a pain about programs & wont even install flash on his machine to keep his drive clean.

I am going to have to keep looking into it, I am not adding another machine to my office, I just got rid of my extra PC as I could not keep it from crashing, gave it to a friend to part out.

I want this GP2x badly, I am going to have to figure out what to do with these mame roms, very confused why everything else will work on it. :-( grrrr

I'm not a mac user or heavy MAME user (I only have a few roms, and I didn't need to convert them) so I suppose the only conversion is for the people with massive MAME romsets and want to turn their latest MAME set into a GP2X MAME set, so they can have all the supported games available to them on the go without having to manually go through and do it?

The wiki page mentions romset conversion from the current MAME romset down to the version on the GP2X, and gives a link to a Linux and OS X tool, AdvanceScan, which says it works on OS X.

Would that not be acceptable?

As I said, not a MAME or Mac user, so I'm only guessing here and going on what I have read, just trying to help

Holy crap!

google + gp2x + torrents

:runs away cackling like a madman:

I appreciate everyones help.

I am trying the torrent thing now, been trying to download at 0% for about an hour now.

Ill look into what recources I can get, I am very interested in the GP2x, found a couple deals online. Linux scare the hell out of me, I tried it once before. I computer savy, but love my drag & drop simple computer lifestyle. The GP2X seems simple enough, just do not want to get it & be totallly limited in use because I am using a mac. Just want to load all the games on there & enjoy the unit.

Ill figure out what to do with my Mame collection before I make the purchase.

A couple more questions

MK2 F100?

Model numbers, are their big differences between the different generation GP2x's ? I am assuming the Mk2 to to be the newest one.

4GB SD cards? Whats the word on using these?

Thanks again :-)

The MKII version is the latest; it has a correctly oriented joystick assembly, and an LCD installed upside down, so you wind up with a tighter viewing angle (the screen only looks nice when viewed directly in front), or so I've read (I have a first edition and 2 MK I '2X's) ... typical GPH, fix one thing, break another

And yes, get a 4GB card ... you'll soon run out of space with all those ginormous NeoGeo games (and Sega CD as well)

If it hasn't been made clear yet, the vast majority of ROMs do NOT require any sort of conversion. It's only CPS2 ROMs, and Neo-Geo roms. the Neo-Geo emulator includes a built-in conversion thing, so you just run the ROM, it does its thing for a few minutes, and you can play it. CPS2, just find a good, well-seeded torrent.

If you don't know what I mean, do some research on torrents.

EDIT: Also, I use a mac, I have not once had ANY trouble with my GP2X that wasn't fixed with a torrent, or one of the myriad of apps available to remove all those little .DS_Store files and the like.

Well, when I got my GP2X I acquired about 50 Mame ROMs. Maybe 5 worked, so I converted the rest on a PC. After that maybe 15 worked. All were listed as supported by Mame for GP2X.

I've been so frustrated with Mame that I just stopped trying. Apparently there are different versions of the ROMs, and if you get the wrong version it will never work.

I guess I should investigate Torrents.

Been Trying the Torrent thing, no luck, its been at 0% downloaded since last night. I might be missing something?

I am glad to hear the 4GB works, that's a big plus. I am using a Nintendo DS with a Play Yan for media, it only supports 1GB cards (pain)

If anyone can add some insight to torrents on getting an up to par Mame set, I would be very greatful

Be sure to get a standard 4GB SD, not the SDHC kind, those don't work yet.

How many seeds does the torrent have?

I got the link for the torrent here

[REMOVED]

- no illegal/improper content such as warez, links to warez, FTP sites with illegal content, etc. also asking for warez is asking for troubles.
You've been warned -hando-


It says 17 seeders, but nothing has been loading after days of trying?

I did just pick up a copy of Virtual PC 7 for Mac $67 off of Ebay. I cannot imagine how fast Virtual PC will run or convert the roms, but downloading a nice set via torrrents would be much better indeed.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the help so far!!!!

I have no problems to download that. Make sure to use uTorrent! It's teh best.
www.utorrent.com

You make me sick (edit: you pirates you)

Do you convert all your ROMs manually from your personal cartridges, and then only play them when the original no longer exists?

Who said he has any ROM dumps anyway?