Hydra 2.0
RedNifre
Posts: 84
So, will there be a successor someday? 
I'm dreaming of a "game boy"- like version of the Hydra, being shaped like a game boy, running on battery, color screen, minimum ports to keep the cost low etc.
What would YOU like it to be?
I'm dreaming of a "game boy"- like version of the Hydra, being shaped like a game boy, running on battery, color screen, minimum ports to keep the cost low etc.
What would YOU like it to be?
Comments
I want to see a Hydra 2 using the second generation Propeller chip, when it comes out. Maybe also ethernet-enabled, like the YBox. My guess is that the 2nd generation Propeller will have enough MIPS to handle some 3-d rendering.
Given the great progress that has been made with software to use SD cards with the Propeller, I'd also like to see the Hydra 2 have an SD card slot. You could store games on SD cards instead of EEPROM; the "cartridge" slot could really be just an expansion slot.
On second thought, it would be really neat if the next Hydra had the exact same cartridge slots as the current one, so that it could be backwards compatible with all the current expansion cards. Some backwards compatibility for games would be nice too.
From the hints Andr
But a portable would be great. If you had a portable with an SD slot EVERYTHING would be possible:
- turn it into an mp3 player
- view photos
- write BASIC-programs on the go
- an 8 GiB SD card could hold the entire Wikipedia. It would be a Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy!
- and MUCH more
I don't know what the next propeller will be like, but I guess that it won't be that hard to port the propeller 1 games to the new one.
This is the minimum it should have (just my opinion, might change over time
- color display
- NES/Game Boy like buttons
- ear phone plug (speaker not really necessary in my eyes)
- SD slot
- network plug like Hydra
- Case! (I prefer brick-shape like the original Game Boy, but that should be decided in a poll or something...)
Maybe it should be sold in to different packages: Deluxe like the Hydra package and bare minimum for those who already own a Hydra set...
Damo
*Can* the Propeller play MP3s?
There are many types of hardware interfaces for graphic color LCD's, some use the SPI port which make them more or less incompatible with the Propeller (at least with the "TV hardware" of the Propeller). But there are also LCD's that use an interface that is more or less compatible with a VGA port. LCD's with a composite video input also exist, but are often developed for camera's etc and hard to buy for normal consumers.
The problem with the "portable LCD HYDRA" is that the Hydra is a game development system, it's was never intended to be a "gameboy replacement", and although the games that are possible with it are nice, and will become nicer with the new memory expansion system, it is still quite underpowered compared with most other portable gaming systems.
Decoding MP3's with it will be quite hard i'm afraid, and perhaps impossible.
If you are looking for a handheld for which you can develop games of "gameboy advance" quality, and which can be used as an MP3 player, then I suggest you to buy A GP2X from GamePark (I did, I am waiting for mine to arrive).
It's a portable media player and game system that uses simple multi-media-flash cards as storage and a Linux based operating system. For gaming it has it's own commercial games, but there are many emulators for it ranging from a commode 64, to gameboy advance, but you can also run old DOS games such as DOOM and Duke Nukem 3D. The GP2X also plays movies in many formats.
You can find more information here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gp2x
Mahjongg
And a game boy is $50 or a GBA $79/99 ish. But, the point of these things is not to compete, but to give you things to play with, so apple's and oranges really. -- To get the price break we need for a LCD, color based system, and PLASTICS around it, we need to do 5,000 - 10,000 units to make any kind of ROI really. And that's a lot of unfront manufacturing of a pretty expensive device. Of course, there are many ways to skin a cat, for example, you hunt for someone that needs to dump 1000 color LCDs that have built in controllers and or parallel buses, or very fast, and they will sell for $5-10, then maybe you use another controller, canibalize, and have your manufacture rip it apart, cut into it, put the LCD, sandwich it, make it thicker, but for 1000 units MUCH cheaper than a mold and injection plastics, so if I KNEW I could sell 1000 of them at say $149, I would definitely do a propeller based handheld with LCD, memory, sd card reader. Someone make an order and I will make the unit [noparse]:)[/noparse] I am always keeping my eye out for a way to do a cheap handheld, who knows maybe I am working on one right now... But, the LCD and plastics hurt you $$$ wise to build them.
However, I am working on a another game console, retro again, will be a lot of fun, different market that the hydra, more like the xgamestation stuff, so we will see how that does.
But, I will tell you what if chip finishes the Propeller 2 anytime soon, I will do a game system for that definitely.
Andre'
Maybe you ought to contact Curt Vendel, who designed the Atari Flashback 2 and is now working on a portable Flashback 2 that contains a 2600 on a chip, 2.5 inch active matrix LCD with backlight and a USB connection for $40 www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79421. I wonder if you could fit a Hydra into that case?
Forrest
But, this is definitely a way to do things, use another piece of hardware that has the controller and LCD and then re-fit it with your stuff. The problem is being able to buy enough of them to get the price down, and of course, the labor sometimes might be so much to rip, cut, redo, it might not be worth it --
That said, these kinds of things I am looking for all the time. But, then its like why rip out the chip that's already in it? For example, we could get 500 GB color's, they would work perfect, then we rip the board and the PCB out and use the plastics and LCD. But, then you are wrecking a perfectly good GBC [noparse]:)[/noparse]
But, just having a simplified propeller or other microcontroller based handheld with an LCD is cool, I agree. I just need to have 1000 people ready to buy it, then I would do it.
Andre'
It is okay, that the Hydra has no case, because it is in my secure home. But a portable needs a case, because it should realy be carryaroundable.
Problem with them is that they often are cumbersome to interface, mechanically and electronically.
Mechanically, beacuse they often use very small SMT connectors, such as those from (a.o.) JAE, mounted on a slip of flexible PCB.
Electronically because they often use exotic interfaces with undocumented protocols.
Nevertheless they are popular with electronic hobbyists because they often have unbeatable price/performance ratio's.
One popular unit is the Nokia 3310, which uses the SPI bus for interfacing.
There are many places where you can find info and drivers for it.
like the one here:
www.microsyl.com/nokialcd/nokialcd.html
Mahjongg.