GAMEBOX Multi-Game Platform TV Video Game Console -MAME-

[Riddler]

The 2, 3 & 4 player ports on the game box are not fake. They do work as i have tested them. It's not hard to just plug controller 1 into them to see.

[shin_akuma]

................

[RandyT]

The 2, 3 & 4 player ports on the game box are not fake. They do work as i have tested them. It's not hard to just plug controller 1 into them to see.

Nobody said they were.  There's either a reading comprehension or translator deficiency in this thread.  Whichever it is, it's starting to get annoying.

[Riddler]

Nobody said they were.  There's either a reading comprehension or translator deficiency in this thread.  Whichever it is, it's starting to get annoying.

I think YOU have the reading problem pal. Did i point out anyone said they were fake?? NO. This is just a standalone post. Calm yourself.

[crzywolf]

Nobody said they were.  There's either a reading comprehension or translator deficiency in this thread.  Whichever it is, it's starting to get annoying.

I think YOU have the reading problem pal. Did i point out anyone said they were fake?? NO. This is just a standalone post. Calm yourself.

What was the purpose of your "standalone post"  then ?

[Riddler]

What was the purpose of your "standalone post"  then ?

Whats the point of Any post. It's called sharing information. You could all stop moaning and just say "oh thanks for the info".

and to you Pinballjim, as for being a "shill", if you like throwing away money you might as well buy one cos thats just a foolish comment.

[Hoopz]

What was the purpose of your "standalone post"  then ?

Whats the point of Any post. It's called sharing information. You could all stop moaning and just say "oh thanks for the info".

and to you Pinballjim, as for being a "shill", if you like throwing away money you might as well buy one cos thats just a foolish comment.

You'd be better off coming out with the truth and telling everyone that it's your product and answering direct questions about it.  Hiding behind a user name and acting foolishly towards other members isn't going to help your case.

[Harakiri]

What was the purpose of your "standalone post"  then ?

Whats the point of Any post. It's called sharing information. You could all stop moaning and just say "oh thanks for the info".

and to you Pinballjim, as for being a "shill", if you like throwing away money you might as well buy one cos thats just a foolish comment.

Reverse psychology my friend?

[Riddler]

You'd be better off coming out with the truth and telling everyone that it's your product and answering direct questions about it.  Hiding behind a user name and acting foolishly towards other members isn't going to help your case.

Ha ha ha ha, yeah you got me. I created the gamebox and i joined your forum to sell you all one. You guys figured me out. I throw my hands up. I'm sorry. You are all too clever for me.

How sad that a bunch of you need to gang up just to try make yourselves look big. You have nothing better to do and have not contributed anything informative to this topic yourselves.

Grow up kids

[opt2not]

Hmm, looks to me that this product isn't what I'm looking for. It would have been nice if you could use it as a cheaper, all-in-one solution for the internals to a cabinet, but it really seems like this thing is similar to those Namco Plug & Play devices.

Good for the general audiences, not really catering to the hobbyist crowd.

Thanks for all the investigation and info guys.   

[RayB]

Randy, just post a photo and the "dummy stick" will make sense. I wouldnt mind seeing the guts of this thing anyways.

[RandyT]

Randy, just post a photo and the "dummy stick" will make sense. I wouldnt mind seeing the guts of this thing anyways.

Just look at the link posted up above.  It's fully disassembled in the photos.

Here's the one with the joystick PCB.  As you can see, the one on the left has no pot on it, and there are no pins protruding or soldered to the PCB.  On mine, they even forgot to solder the two mounting lugs.

[Riddler]

If he's still here in a year posting something lucid about anything other than GameBox I'll donate $10 to the Special Olympics.  Cause it sure feels wrong to participate in them for free.

There he goes again splashing the cash and this time insulting the disabled. 

[SithMaster]

If he's still here in a year posting something lucid about anything other than GameBox I'll donate $10 to the Special Olympics.  Cause it sure feels wrong to participate in them for free.

There he goes again splashing the cash and this time insulting the disabled. 

Thanks for this reply.

Very good know about this,he dont have any dummy to trick,this maybe use money for the best price,and turn forum more cheap.   

It seems silly to be arguing about something so silly to be arguing about.    Seriously though Randy says that on his gamepad a part is not connected to anything therefore making it useless, several times in fact.  This is problematic apparently because some people aren't understanding what he meant.  If you don't believe him that's fine.  It just seems that to get angry about this makes it seem like you have personal reasons for defending the product (having designed it, being a vendor, or just liking the product).

In this thread I wouldn't call any of what has been said "ganging up on."  Its more like someone said something and others are pointing out how silly dilly the poster is for saying what they said. My, my, my.

[penjuin]

ok everyone, take it easy. Nothing worth worrying about here.

To continue this thread: does anyone have access to both a gamebox and a storage oscilloscope/logic analyser? I have the latter but not the former (and I don't really feel like spending the money on something that probably won't work); you could hook up to the controller traces and it will tell us once and for all if they are USB gamepads or not.

I also noticed in an earlier post that there was no PID/VID was assigned by the device when plugged in? If so, the controller is not a valid USB device, with or without drivers.

[BobA]

They are obviously not usb gamepads for the reason you stated.  They are not recognized as such when plugged into a PC and the documentation makes mention of a proprietary interface for increased speed and responsiveness. No need for more electronics to figure out that they are not USB.

[Xtreme2k]

I have both a gamebox and a logic analyzer, but analyzing the gamepad will not lead anywhere. Just as BobA said, it's for sure not USB but probably some kind of serial protocol, which I probably could reverse engineer but it would not really help us.

What we need to do is get the machine booting from either USB or SD card. For booting from SD card, we would need to get Pin 93 to GND. At first I assumed that this pin is not connected at all and just put to VCC by the CPUs internal pullup. However, when I managed to solder a cable to it and connect it to GND, I blow one of the fuses next to the power connector - obviously the pin is connected to VCC somewhere under the CPU and so I did a short-circuit, I should have checked that before. This makes it hard to get the pin down to GND.

The other option is to get the CPU into USB booting mode. To do that, Pins UART_TX and ADIN1 have to be altered. UART_TX is accessible on a test pad on the board, I guess that ADIN1 also has to be accessible somewhere because USB booting is probably how the system is programmed at the factory, but I have not yet found it. As soon as it's in USB booting mode, it should be detected as a usb device by the PC and we would be able to access it with the driver and tools provided by Ingenic.

[SithMaster]

Or you could like, I dunno, install FBANext on your PS3 and forget about this stupid thing?

 

I think they're more interested in just finding the solution.  Whether anyone plans on using that information to use one of these inside a project of theirs depends probably on how difficult it would be to recreate the process to get the product to work "correctly."

[iscariot]

http://www.zonadepruebas.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=11418&forum=8&post_id=111284#forumpost111284

Looks like the boys in SA have figured out how to get it into USB boot mode.....

For those that can't read it, basically they've bridged a few points on the MOBO and are running the unit off a powered hub.  They're able to control booting with it but haven't gotten a dump of the ROM yet.  There is speculation on if the OS is MINIOS.

[emphatic]

http://www.zonadepruebas.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=11418&forum=8&post_id=111284#forumpost111284

Looks like the boys in SA have figured out how to get it into USB boot mode.....

For those that can't read it, basically they've bridged a few points on the MOBO and are running the unit off a powered hub.  They're able to control booting with it but haven't gotten a dump of the ROM yet.  There is speculation on if the OS is MINIOS.

Awesome. Say, is it possible to have this output to RGBS instead of that Composite output?

[TPB]

I posted my review of the GameBox on its DX product page  :

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/gamebox-multi-game-platform-tv-video-game-console-with-dual-shock-joypad-gamepad-set-pal-ntsc-54070


What's my impression ?  The review title may give you a hint ...

Run a mile from this lemon.

Seriously, I wish I could sing the praises of the GameBox.  I wish I could "get my money's worth" out of my purchase.  But I had to be honest.

I'm telling you, it's not a pleasant feeling when you realise you've flushed $53.50 down the shitter.    

[TPB]

Guys,

The pain inflicted by my GameBox purchase, was eased by this awesome microscope (SKU 35625) which I also bought :

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bw908-av-output-1-3m-pixel-400x-zooming-digital-microscope-camera-with-4-led-illumination-pal-35625


It has Composite Video Out, and 4 * LED illumination. You get beautiful colour images of what you're viewing on your TV.  Purely amazing magnification and picture quality.  Plug the microscope into a huge flat-screen TV and you'll be impressed !!   

If you need a microscope, I highly recommend buying this one.  Your kids will love it.  It's great fun, and educational at the same time.

The money you would have spent on the GameBox, is much better spent on this fantastic microscope.  And you'll have change to spare.

BTW, I have nothing to gain from plugging this microscope ... I just feel that great products are entitled to receive their due praise.  And as aforementioned, this microscope was instrumental in easing the pain of my GameBox purchase.   

[LS650]

TPB: I also bought a Gamebox, and regret it.  The construction quality seems flimsy, the video output is mediocre, and the inability to load any ROMs other than GBA is extremely frustrating.

Beware of some of the more positive reviews on DX.  There are a couple of folks in particular who seem to want to post gushingly positive reviews - and attack anyone who is less than complimentary towards the Gamebox.  I suspect they may be shills for the manufacturer not wanting to let on what an utter turd this machine is.

Unless the manufacturer helps get this box opened up for Linux and homebrews, it is a waste of $53+...

[ids]

Agreed.  Just got mine.  Sorry I bought it, for all reasons stated in this thread.

[clok]

I'm a bit suprised at the hate here for this system (long time poster so I'm not a shill). I must admit Im not to up and up on other versions of this type of hardware, but my view of it sure inst as bad as most.

I must admit the video out isnt the best, but seems OK to me, not great. And some games do have issues, most notably the Capcom games have a strange scrolling issue, but the games seem to play pretty well. And forgotten Worlds with no rotating fire!!!!! why even put it on?

Construction, cheap, sure but not fragile. The gamepad is most likey a very CHEAP knockoff, but i have seen worse. My biggest complaint is the Hair dryer fan.. I'm not getting any heat at all from it playing games, not sure why the super loud fan is in it. It would be great to be able to load other roms, sure (besides GBA).

Honeslty it seems to do what it was suposed to do, for $60 it is kinda a deal. Well, if it lasts, no idea on that.

I know many of us have machines that will emulate all these roms much better, but the price of most of those machines is quite a bit more. I wont even get into what it would cost to have all those boards sitting around for hte 60 games. I mean I know you all have them for the games you emulate, right? (yes that is a joke...)
 Im not 100% sure but i would guess these roms are legal on this? maybe not as it is Hong Kong.

I guess we just have it too good, 60 games for $60 bucks, the price of one new 360/ps3 game, seemed like a deal to me. Sure its not the best implimentation, but as i say  $60), you dont get high quality top of the line stuff for that price 

with All that said its good to mention the quaility of the output and cheapness for others, i agree, its no do all machine at all. I dont feel ripped off for money spent, i do agree better output would be nice. And a less noisy fan!

[Donkbaca]

How is that deal when you can get an old p4 and have it run what you want for about the same price?

[clok]

its smaller, it has a TV out (admitedly its not a good one) with the standard Red/white sound it has a controler. as I said the big one, It has all the games LEGALLY on it (i assume, as its a retail product). its a big deal if you care about that stuff, (that part is to each to decide, n ot me).

I am not saying its not flawed, it is. And as I did say, many of us can do everything it does MUCH better with our systems. This is a simple plug and play system with 60 games of yesteryear.

You bring up a good point, while me and you (and many others) have no issues hooking a PC to a tv, its not as easy for some, NEW TV's have VGA in (or better) but most old ones take a bit more work to use a PC. Let alone sound from a PC. I throw out PC every day that would do what this machine does, some even in a fairly small form factor.. but they use more power, and do take more to hook up then this did, they are more a hassle to move around.. etc.. but are free as long as I have the ROMS/boards..

I really am not saying its a great system, its not, The washed out output doesnt bother me to much, but the wierd scrolling issues in capcom games does some, and the fan. Its got issues, but I just am not as down as many here are on it. It plays the games ok, its simple plug and play and while $60 is alot, its as I said the price of a single modern game.

[Donkbaca]

Its not THAT much smaller, I have tv out on my p4 and and I can get an adapter for a buck that splits my audio out jack into your red/white stereo jacks.

Probably has all the games legally, if by legal you mean in accordance with what is locally acceptable where it is manufactured, which is China, which doesn't believe in IP rights.

If you want to get rid of some pc's i'll gladly take them off your hands.  I want to build a cocktail for my bro in law..



I feel ya though, i guess for those that buy those type of plug and play type games its worth it.  But for what we would use it for here, its a ripoff. The hopes were that it would be suitable for maybe a simple bartop build.  Sadly, its not.

[ark_ader]

My $15 Thin Client does HD and has all the power to play practically everything and it is silent.

You guys banging on about some crap Chinese box with bogus game pad is just too funny. 

[Donkbaca]

I was thinking about using a think client in a bartop, but I have no idea how to set one up.  Do you have a good guide?  What hardware are you using?  What OS?

[emphatic]

I was thinking about using a think client in a bartop, but I have no idea how to set one up.  Do you have a good guide?  What hardware are you using?  What OS?

+1

[TPB]

TPB: I also bought a Gamebox, and regret it.  The construction quality seems flimsy, the video output is mediocre, and the inability to load any ROMs other than GBA is extremely frustrating.

Beware of some of the more positive reviews on DX.  There are a couple of folks in particular who seem to want to post gushingly positive reviews - and attack anyone who is less than complimentary towards the Gamebox.  I suspect they may be shills for the manufacturer not wanting to let on what an utter turd this machine is.

Unless the manufacturer helps get this box opened up for Linux and homebrews, it is a waste of $53+...

Hi LS650,

Yes, I noticed a few trolls attacking you on the DX forum, for having the "audacity" (in their eyes) of posting a non-favourable review of the GameBox.

Don't let it bother you.  There's no point responding to them, they'll just keep baiting you.

Some of them are, without a doubt, shills for the manufacturer (or others in the supply chain, profiting from the sale of this lemon).  The rest are fanboi geeks, quite sad really.   

[clok]

I very much agree you guys should post the flaws... I just went back and re-read the DX site. it looks like it supports rom reading from the SD card in the discription, but it sure doesnt. "1 Duel shock game controler"  "- With dual shock vibrating Joypad gamepad".. errr wouldnt that mean some vibration?  that controler cant have anything like that in it can it? Or is duel shock just a game control STYLE? I gotta admit the text is pretty misleading.

I'm still not as down on it as most here.. but it is pretty poor represtation of what it does on DX.

One thing for those of you not happy, they do state right at top of picture of it MONEY BACK GUARENTEED  maybe you should send it back?

I'm not real sure what use I will get out of mine.. Impulse buy.. i have spent about 4 hours playing the games.. but I think its going to go back in teh box.. Eh... some timein the future I will dig it out and wonder wth it is 

[TPB]

These are the real doozies ...

Game FORMATS support: MAME, CPS3, CPS2, CPS1, PGM, SFC, MD, PCECD

Over 5000 games supported in multi-game platform

[TPB]

I very much agree you guys should post the flaws... I just went back and re-read the DX site. ... "Duel shock game controler"  "- With dual shock vibrating Joypad gamepad".. errr wouldnt that mean some vibration?

Randy ... we need your expert findings.


When you disassembled the GameBox controller, and discovered the right thumb-stick is a fake,

Did you see the circuitry for the supposed "dual shock vibration" ?

[ark_ader]

I was thinking about using a think client in a bartop, but I have no idea how to set one up.  Do you have a good guide?  What hardware are you using?  What OS?

I have 512MB in my T/C but you can get away with 256MB.

I use Puppy Arcade.  I boot using Plop, which is required if your T/C doesn't support USB booting.  I suggest you check out the plop site.  There are a few nifty utilities in there for those arcade builders using old kit.

I also have a 20gb laptop drive I rigged up inside (no mounting for HDD) that stores all the games, but you can use SMB.

Puppy Arcade loads entirely in Ram, and is very quick.  Version 10 is the latest and can be installed to SD/CF/etc.  It is designed to do minimal writes so you can old flash memory.  Has Xmame, and all the console emulators.  I have an Eden 1ghz inside mine - it isn't the fastest, but it plays nearly everything 100%.  I suggest anyone using Puppy Arcade to donate something to the developer, as the package is quite good. Below are some links to get you started.

http://scottjarvis.com/page105.htm
www.mini-itx.com
http://www.plop.at

[Donkbaca]

Word Ark!

You can get thin clients so cheap.  I really want to do this for my next build and make a bartop classics cab

[RandyT]

Randy ... we need your expert findings.


When you disassembled the GameBox controller, and discovered the right thumb-stick is a fake,

Did you see the circuitry for the supposed "dual shock vibration" ?

No motors, no "dual shock".

[TPB]

No motors, no "dual shock".

Now why doesn't that surprise me ?   

Thanks for the info. Randy.


Another GameBox review :

http://retrofungeon.com/?review=the-gamebox

[ark_ader]

Word Ark!

You can get thin clients so cheap.  I really want to do this for my next build and make a bartop classics cab

This looks to have an Epia 5000 inside perfect for .32 or as a home server.  Wow $20.