Dingoo A320 forum

I heard about Dingoo from a colleague and was planning on buying one. However, I'd like to ask you guys a couple questions before committing to it.

1a. I read about Pandora. I know the Pandora goes for $300 and is likely far more advanced than the Dingoo, but is there any chance the Dingoo can also run PSX? How about DS, Gamecube, or N64? I don't know much about how this system works in relation to others, so excuse me if this is a stupid question.

1b. What consoles can run PSX or PS2 or N64? What's a Wiz and GP2X?

2. The Dingoo came out in black, but is it any different from the white Dingoo? I mean, were there any changes since the original Dingoo was released?

3. Are there any plans for a newer version of the Dingoo? Perhaps with better specs or a different look?

4. I read that SNES games tend to run slowly. Are there any in particular or does this happen by chance? What about with GBA or Capcom Arcade games?

5. Is there an option to speed up ROM gameplay? I normally run my games at 200% their normal speed. Is this what overclocking is?

6. Is there any way to take saved ROM files from my PC and put them into Dingo? I'm rather far along in some of my games and would hate to restart, especially if I can't run them at a faster speed.

7. Can you run music while playing a muted ROM? How about simultaneously?

8. I heard videos tend to buffer, particularly with [2 hour] movies. Any way to get around this or is it pointless to try watching movies on the Dingoo? I heard that watching animes (20-minute videos) works fine. Can anyone confirm this? How are the subtitles?

9. I read that the sound on the SNES can be a bit off. Are any of you experiencing sound issues (particularly with the sound being grainy or being off)?

10. Where can I buy one?

Sorry for all the questions, but I like to know what committing to ^^;;;
Thanks for all your help in advance!

1a. Yes on PSX, Its possible, No on Gamecube DS and N64.

1b. I believe the pandora can run N64, But nothing but a PC can Run ps2. A wiz and a GP2X are other Consoles that are made for Emulation and Homebrew.

2 I don't know of anyone who ha yet recieved the Dingoo in Black yet, But when I get mine Ill let you know.

3 Not that anyone knows of.

4. It depends on the game. GBA And CPS are fine.

5. Yes, Thats Overclocking.

6.Yes, You can put the .SAV files into the Dingoo

7 Im not sure.

8.Not sure Aswell

9. A few people are experiencing issues, yes.

10 You can Buy one here, http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23032

Awesome. Thank you so much for your help, Factory.

No problem,

-J

I'd like to add a bit of info RE: the Pandora, Wiz, and GP2X.

The A320 is certainly faster than the GP2X in raw processing power, though they are different architectures (ARM vs MIPS). The GP2X still performs better emulating some systems though, as it has been around longer and the devs have had time to optimize the software considerably. If the A320 draws some skilled devs, it has the potential to perform much better than it does now, and eventually much better than the GP2X.

The Wiz and A320 are somewhat comparable in raw CPU power, but the Wiz has a few benefits. Firstly, it has dedicated 3D hardware that is OpenGL ES 1.0 compliant. This means the Wiz is able to run games like Quake quite well, while the A320 probably won't (at least not without serious optimization). The Wiz also has the benefit of being an ARM-based platform, so highly optimized software from the GP2X can more easily be ported to the Wiz than the A320. Lastly, the Wiz has a touchscreen, which is a definite advantage for some games. Bear in mind that the Wiz also costs twice as much as an A320, so it's understandable that it will have a few advantages.

The Pandora isn't really comparable to the A320 at all. It is at least 2-3x faster, has 4x the RAM, has advanced OpenGL ES 2.0 3D capabilities, a powerful DSP, a significantly larger (touch) screen with 5x the resolution, analog controls, a qwerty thumbpad, wifi & bluetooth, and a partridge in a pear tree. It also costs 4x as much as an A320, so like the Wiz, you pay more to get more.

Don't get me wrong, the A320 is still a very decent handheld, especially for the price. You're actually getting quite a bit of functionality for ~$85, and that level of functionality will only improve as existing software gets refined and additional software gets ported. The guys behind the Pandora are very interested in the A320 and are hoping to contribute to its dev community.

To answer your emulation questions, yes, the A320 has the potential to emulate the PSX to some degree. I don't know of anybody working on an emulator right now, but it certainly has the capability to playably emulate at least some games. Nothing more advanced (N64, DS, etc) is likely to ever run on the A320 fast enough to be useful. Even the Pandora is only theoretically capable of some of those systems (N64, PSP, DS). No significantly optimized emulators have been written yet, though a few are under development.

Well said Chip, thanks for filling me in. I am particularly interested in seeing if the A320 can handle PSX games like FF7, though at the moment I'm likely only to use the system for watching movies and playing a handful of GBA and NES games.

One of the Chinese coders Subzero has alluded to working on a PSX emulator on his blog. Subzero was responsible for the WIP on PC Engine and Neogeo Pocket Colour.

That's a great bit of news about programmers (or at least 1) getting on board to see what this little baby can do! If he wants to concentrate on MAME instead of PSX that's fine with me Loving my Dingoo! Told my buddy from Florida and he bought one and had it shipped here to me so I can load it up for him (I owe him a favor).
-JeKel

To get an idea, how strong a machine has to be, to emulate the PSX, the requirements for the first PS-Emu for PC, Bleem! :
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

*
* IBM-compatible PC, Pentium 233 MMX or higher processor
* Windows 95/98
* 16MB RAM
* 3MB free hard disk space (including DirectX 6.1)
* Sound card
* CD-ROM drive
* Internet connection and web access for compatibility updates
Recent full-featured 3D accelerator card required for D3D Enhanced! graphics.

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM

*
* Pentium II 300mhz or better
* 32MB RAM
* 3MB free hard disk space (including DirectX 6.1)
* PCI Sound card
* 20X or faster CD-ROM drive
Recent full-featured 3D accelerator card required for D3D Enhanced! graphics.

Not even a 3D-Card, only for graphic enhancement. I really don´t know, if the CPU of the Dingoo (i forgot the name^^) is really comparable with a Pentium MMX, but i heard MIPS-CPUs would be faster than x86.