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[$h@d0w]

China's Own PSP is Born

Dingoo's A320 3D games, on behalf of China's digital industry, now are launching challenge with the world's game leader SONY and Nintendo. Based on the technology of Chinachip Technology Limited, with Dingoo's own game R & D team.

Dingoo A320 game console which supports 3D games is born. A320 not only breaks the monopoly of foreign brands to game market, but also promotes the development of China's domestic animation. What's more, it adds glory to China's culture and provides game lovers a cost effective psp games.

We believe that the development of Dingoo's digital games will become a popular game style and this cost effective, high value added product will win worldwide preference in the later future.

Key Features

• Game Boy Micro form factor
• 6-7 hour battery life in real world tests
• 4GB internal flash
• NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA, NeoGeo, CPS1 and CPS2 emulators
• Lossless audio support
• Fast 6 second boot time
• Minimal ghosting on display
• Excellent Dpad and controls
• Low price ($80)
• White or black colours (pink coming soon)

Tech Specs

• CPU - Ingenic JZ4732 @ 400MHz (MIPS architecture)
• RAM - 32MB SDRAM
• Storage - 4GB internal
• External Storage - Mini SD slot supporting Micro SDHC adapters
• Battery - 3.7V 1700mAH (6.29WH) Li-Ion
• Display - 2.8 inch QVGA LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon) 240x320, 16M colour LCD Screen
• Video playback formats supported - RM, MP4, 3GP, AVI, ASF, MOV, FLV, MPEG
• Audio playback formats supported - MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, RA
• Radio - FM tuner
• Audio recording - records radio or audio from mic
• Audio output - stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Video output - PAL/NTSC, 16:9/4:3 TV out with included composite cable
• USB - Charges from USB and appears as two removable disks in OS (4GB/miniSD)
• Dimensions (mm) - 125mm x 56mm x 14mm
• Dimensions (in) - 4.92in x 2.17in x 0.59in
• Weight - 110g

Games

• 7 Days Salvation - 3D horror adventure
• Block Breaker - breakout clone
• Candy's House - puzzle
• Decollation Warrior - 3D character action
• Link 'Em Up - puzzle
• Nosebreaker - puzzle
• Snake - snake
• Tetris - tetris
• Ultimate Drift - 3D racing

Emulators (Interesting game)

• Nintendo Entertainment System - excellent
• Super NES - playable/working with frameskip
• Game Boy Advance - excellent/playable with frameskip
• Capcom Play System 1 - playable/working with frameskip
• Capcom Play System 2 - playable/working with frameskip
• NeoGeo - playable/working with frameskip
• Sega Genesis / Mega Drive - poor

Emulators support multiple save states, remapping buttons and autofire buttons.

Development and Homebrew

• MAME in development
• Atari ST emulator in development
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingoo#Community_based

Linux

Linux booting, SDL demo and gmenu2x port
http://www.youtube.com/user/nagarpe

Problems

Y+B button problem (when Y is held down and B is pressed at the same time, Y will be released) - work around by mapping NES buttons as B and A. Confirmed as bug in firmware and not a hardware problem.

More Information

Combine a GBA Micro + PSP and you get? http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357382
http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/
http://www.dingoo-digital.com/
http://forum.openhandhelds.org/viewforum.php?f=30
http://a320.freeforums.org/
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=73
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingoo

Availability

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20217 White
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23032 Black
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_...atform-portable-gaming-entertainment-station/
http://www.gbax.com/a320.html
eBay

 

[$h@d0w]

Opinion

Pretty good for the money, but needs work on the software side. Not great as a plug and play system but if are okay with perfect NES and some GBA games (e.g. FFT) being very playable right now, there will be some good things happening for this device in the future.

YouTube HD Quick Takes

1. Hardware introduction and physical comparision with other handheld devices
2. Hardware overview
3. Interface overview
4. 3D/native games
5. NES Emulation
   

 

[VGChampion]

It'd be interesting to see this thing take off, especially outside of China. Don't think it will provide competition at all just the way it is though. Looks like a gameboy, uses Sony's UI, and includes emulators but who knows.

 

[sprocket]

all that talk in OP quote then they have a emulator pic of contra. :/

 

[$h@d0w]

all that talk in OP quote then they have a emulator pic of contra. :/

That's my pic

 

[Zachack]

Am I correct in assuming that the use of "888" in the web address is supposed to be for luck?

 

[krae_man]

I have one of these and a GP2X Wiz in the mail as I type. Damn me and my handheld collecting.:lol

 

[joker]

Good value for the money, but i rather get a wiz, better screen (oled), more emulators.

 

[Tiktaalik]

That button issue seems like a pretty big one.

edit: What's this Wiz thing?

 

[Acosta]

So it brings glory to China's culture offering emulators of a bunch of Japanese consoles and some clones of foreign games. Interesting

 

[krae_man]

That button issue seems like a pretty big one.

edit: What's this Wiz thing?

http://www.gp2xwiz.com/

 

[Lafazar]

I'll repeat my post from the Wiz thread:

There are currently three major options for open source (gaming) handhelds, separated by distinct price classes. I am getting all of them, so I try to be as unbiased as possible with the following list:

Dingoo A320:

85$
CPU: 400 MHz Ingenic JZ4732 (MIPS architecture)
RAM: 32MB
battery runtime: 7-8h
+extremely cheap
+good button-controls
+comes preloaded with emulators
+good media playback capabilities (audio: MP3,WMA APE, FLAC, video: RMVB, RM, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG, DAT, MP4, ASF)
+FM radio
+available now
-no touchscreen
-(currently) buggy software (B+Y-buttons cannot be pressed together)
-currently, only the NES emulator is fullspeed, GBA is very good, SNES has speed problems, Genesis has screen distortion, CPS1, CPS2 + NeoGeo are ok
-newer (black?) models seem to exhibit diagonal screen tearing (mine definitely does), this is a hardware flaw and can probably not be fixed without slowing down software (GP2X Wiz has a similar problem), but not all systems seem to be affected
-homebrew developer support in its infancy (but has great potential)
-unfamiliar & not well documented processor, makes writing assembler cores for emulation more difficult for developers

Neogaf threads:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357382
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362557

More information (blogs & forums):
http://www.dingoo-digital.com/
http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/
http://a320.freeforums.org/
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=73

To buy:
http://www.gbax.com/a320.html
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20217
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23032

GP2X Wiz:

180$
CPU: 533MHz ARM9 3D Accelerator
RAM: 64MB
battery runtime: 5-6h
+ok button controls
+very bright OLED display (reportedly bright enough for playing outside in the shade)
+3D acceleration
+touchscreen
+USB host
+outstanding homebrew developer support (+lots of ports from available GP2X software)
+lots of very polished emulators + interpreters (i.e. scummvm) + homebrew games available (soon)
+great media playback software available (soon)
+available now (first units have been shipped from the factory)
-all systems exhibit diagonal screen tearing, this can hopefully be fixed in software, but then only at the cost of speed

Neogaf thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361742

More information (blogs & forums):
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=67

To buy:
http://www.gp2x.de/shop/product_inf...ucts_id/107?osCsid=03pohhs1j7d75aivpu9bhbfpm4
http://www.gbax.com/gp2x.html
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-d1-49-en-15-gp2x+wiz-70-2z59.html

Open Pandora

330$
CPU: 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8
RAM: 256MB
battery runtime: 8-10h (possibly 100h when just playing mp3s with screen turned off)
+great gaming controls (well, that's what they promise, at least)
+dual analog sticks
+full keyboard
+high resolution (800*480) touchscreen
+WiFi&Bluetooth
+USB host
+very powerful processor with advanced power managment (several times faster than Dingoo/wiz), this will be the most powerful device of this size for quite some time
+Powerful 3D acceleration (PowerVR SGX GPU)
+outstanding homebrew developer support
+fullspeed emulation of Playstation 1, SNES promised
-available in a few weeks/months (has been delayed lots of times, but now it looks like it will be released really soon)

Neogaf thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337037

More information (blogs & forums):
http://openpandora.wordpress.com/
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=61

Pandora can currently not be ordered. The developers want to release the first batch (4000 units) before accepting more orders. A few may be available from time to time (whenever someone cancels their preorder).
http://www.gp2x.de/shop/index.php/cPath/34?osCsid=03pohhs1j7d75aivpu9bhbfpm4
http://gbax.com/pandoraxxx.html
http://openpandora.org/

About processor speeds and emulation:

It is currently unclear how much faster the GP2X Wiz is compared to his predecessors GP2X F100/F200. Estimates range from 40% to 100%. Add to that that the speed increase could be eaten up by the compensation of the diagonal screen tearing and you notice that there is not much progress to the F100.

The Dingoo has surprisingly fast SNES emulation. If this speed is achieved without an assembler core (like the GP2X versions have), then the Dingoo might actually have the better processor than the Wiz. Unfortunately the source of the Dingoo emulator is not open at the moment, so this cannot be verified.

Also, the Dingoo processor is not well known to homebrew developers and not well documented, so writing optimized emulators for it might prove too difficult.

 

[Harteex]

I want to buy one but I really can't decide between the Wiz and the Dingoo A320.
I like the looks of the Dingoo more than the Wiz and I don't really care for touchscreen.
However I really want good SNES emulation.
But I don't even think the Wiz has perfect SNES emulation..

hmmm decisions decisions..

 

[The Faceless Master]

the button issue has got to be a dealbreaker, right?

 

[°°ToMmY°°]

"GP2X Wiz:
180$
CPU: 533MHz ARM9 3D Accelerator
RAM: 64MB
battery runtime: 5-6h
+ok button controls
+very bright OLED display (reportedly bright enough for playing outside in the shade)
+3D acceleration
+touchscreen
+USB host
+outstanding homebrew developer support (+lots of ports from available GP2X software)
+lots of very polished emulators + interpreters (i.e. scummvm) + homebrew games available (soon)
+great media playback software available (soon)
+available now (first units have been shipped from the factory)
-all systems exhibit diagonal screen tearing, this can hopefully be fixed in software, but then only at the cost of speed"

bolded features seem really good for that price, what about the GPU?

 

[rollingstart]

the button issue has got to be a dealbreaker, right?

Not really. The only games you would need Y+B for are SNES games, or maybe Genesis depending on how you map them. Problem (solution?) is that SNES isn't that playable on the A320. NES, GBA, NeoGeo, CPS1 and CPS2 don't have that problem unless you really don't want to use B and A as B and A. This is a case where a fault cancels out a fault, as stupid as that sounds.

As said in the OP, it's a firmware issue, not hardware. It can be fixed in future firmware, but to be honest, there is no real guess for when that is. There are already custom firmwares on it; iirc none of those fix the problem yet. Most of those just have custom theme support, changing clock speed (to make games run smoother) and some text changes (from Interesting Games to Emulators, etc).

Part of the promise for the device is that there will be more support in the future. Right now I think it's great for the price. $85, long battery life (for these devices) and actual game buttons. The d-pad, face buttons and form factor actually make it a lot more comfortable to play on than the DS Lite. The shoulder buttons are a bit odd, but not bad.

And one weird thing about the Genesis emulator is that when using TV out, it doesn't have the weird interlacing-like problem. It only happens when playing on the a320 itself.

 

[MrBeggar]

i love my dingoooo
it saved me on my last flight playing CPS1/2 games across the ocean.

 

[Lafazar]

bolded features seem really good for that price, what about the GPU?

No one knows yet. There is currently no software making use of the 3D acceleration, so no one knows how good it really is. I'd estimate roughly PSP level of 3D graphics, but only time will tell whether devs will use it to its full potential.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Not really. The only games you would need Y+B for are SNES games, or maybe Genesis depending on how you map them. Problem (solution?) is that SNES isn't that playable on the A320. NES, GBA, NeoGeo, CPS1 and CPS2 don't have that problem unless you really don't want to use B and A as B and A. This is a case where a fault cancels out a fault, as stupid as that sounds.

As said in the OP, it's a firmware issue, not hardware. It can be fixed in future firmware, but to be honest, there is no real guess for when that is. There are already custom firmwares on it; iirc none of those fix the problem yet. Most of those just have custom theme support, changing clock speed (to make games run smoother) and some text changes (from Interesting Games to Emulators, etc).

Part of the promise for the device is that there will be more support in the future. Right now I think it's great for the price. $85, long battery life (for these devices) and actual game buttons. The d-pad, face buttons and form factor actually make it a lot more comfortable to play on than the DS Lite. The shoulder buttons are a bit odd, but not bad.

And one weird thing about the Genesis emulator is that when using TV out, it doesn't have the weird interlacing-like problem. It only happens when playing on the a320 itself.

actually, i was thinking about NeoGeo/CPS1/CPS2 fighting games, not SNES/Genesis. Dealbreaker.

 

[kaskade]

I first saw the system in the pick up thread and it made me interested. I'm thinking about picking one up, mostly for the GBA games, the price seems pretty good and most of the impressions have been good as well.

 

[$h@d0w]

I have native game and NES game videos uploading right now.

I will be taking requests if you want to see how well a particular game works on this machine.

 

[$h@d0w]

Native game and NES emulator HD videos added. GBA emulator demo planned next.\

edit - crap, NES video not working, will reupload later.

 

[$h@d0w]

NES video back up and working.

 

[$h@d0w]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRsnReq2s0M&e

ScummVM has been ported to Dingoo Linux!

 

[Riskbreaker23]

what is this ds and psp's bastard child?

maybe this is a good alternative for those who want to run cfw on their PSPs

 

[sinseers]

"Low price ($80)"

^^^^^ This if nothing else is what will probably get alot of casual attention. Price is what kept me out of the handheld scene since the GBSP days. IMO handhelds should not exceed $100. That should be the absolute ceiling.

 

[sixteen-bit]

what is this ds and psp's bastard child?

It looks more like a Gameboy Micro and DSL hybrid

 

[$h@d0w]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JOJ-6cQ-Lc

Doom (prboom) ported to Dingoo Linux!

 

[krae_man]

Mine won't accept the imputs of two buttons being pressed at the same time. Is that normal?

I.E I can run in Super Mario Bros, and I can Jump in Super Mario Bros, but I cannot run and jump at the same time.

Second question, I tried loading a ROM from a Zip file and the thing has been stuck in a"please wait" state for a good 2 minutes. How do I get out of that?

Okay, this thing has been stuck in "please wait" for a good 60 minutes now. Am I going to have to wait for my battery to die to get out of this?

Edit: Never mind, I found the Pinhole reset button:lol

Still WTF is up with the thing not accepting the input of two buttons at the same time?

 

[Deleted member 21120]

I just ordered one of these. Let's hope it's good.

All I want is to be able to play Mario 1-3 and the Mega Mans on a handheld, and I don't want to go through the trouble of flashing my DS or whatever. And I saw a vid on YouTube that shows how to fix the X+Y problem really easily (since it's not a hardware issue).

If I can play those games I mentioned with perfect emulation, then I'll be 100% happy.

 

[tedtropy]

So there's a firmware patch for the X+Y button issue?

 

[Heezzi]

I just ordered one of these. Let's hope it's good.

All I want is to be able to play Mario 1-3 and the Mega Mans on a handheld, and I don't want to go through the trouble of flashing my DS or whatever. And I saw a vid on YouTube that shows how to fix the X+Y problem really easily (since it's not a hardware issue).

If I can play those games I mentioned with perfect emulation, then I'll be 100% happy.

Which video was that?

 

[Piano]

Has the B+Y issue been addressed yet? And have the SNES/Genesis emulators been improved at all? The Dingoo is so tempting, but not being able to press a couple of buttons together is a deal breaker. :lol

 

[Sew]

AFAIK, installing Dingux (Dingoo Linux) corrects the button issue. It's just a problem with the factory firmware.

[edit] Software development is ongoing, there are some cool things on the way including FinalBurn Alpha. These are the best two places to watch:

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=73

http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/

 

[BlueMagic]

So has this improved yet?

 

[Sew]

So has this improved yet?

Yes. As per post title.

My Dingoo arrived yesterday, and I'm really impressed with the quality of it. A little time needs to be spent getting it all set up (as with any system like this - you need to load up your roms etc), after that it's a blast. It's much smaller than I thought it would be, too. Seriously, $80, what a fkn bargain.

One thing I love about the emulators is that each one has the same interface. This makes the whole experience pretty fluid, no matter which system you're playing. But, I'll probably be ditching this luxury soon and installing Dingux. The dev scene seems to have shifted in this direction; there is a flood of software for Dingux and not much new stuff for native Dingoo firmware. Dingux is seeing a good flow of emu updates (the first PSX emu is out), plus tons of Linux ports and homebrew.

Also, there is now a new one-stop site for everything Dingoo, very nicely put together: http://www.dingoonity.org/


[edit] Dingoo firmware v1.2 upgrade procedure

Thought I should post this here to save DingGAF the fishing expedition.

- Download the firmware from here [megaupload link]
- Extract archive, copy "a320.hxf" to root of Dingoo
- Disconnect Dingoo, power it off
- Hold d-pad down while powering Dingoo back on. Update should commence.

When it's done, your menu will be in Chinese. Navigate to the System icon (far right), press A, then select the fourth item from bottom to get into the language list.

Taken from this Dingoonity thread.

 

[Sew]

I've already edited my previous post today, I'm using a new post this time to avoid clutter.

New custom firmware by pof adds NeoGeo Pocket, GameBoy Color, themes, overclocking, and more.

My modified version of official 1.20 firmware, includes the following:

* Based on official 1.20 firmware (Y/B bug fixed!)
* Supports custom themes (system folder visible)
* Default language set to english
* Megadrive emulator fixed to use the quick double buffer technique
* Added NeoGeo Pocket emulator
* Added Game Boy Color (GBC) emulator
* Overclock apps included (select from 200Mhz to 430Mhz)
* Nice boot & logoff screens
* Fixed typos in english translation
* Default brightness set to 3
* Auto Poweroff set to 1 hour

== INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS ==
1. Copy all the contents into the root dir of your dingoo internal UDisk.
2. Switch off your dingoo
3. Press and hold DOWN in the D-PAD
4. Switch on your dingoo, firmware will update. Wait 5 minutes.
5. Reboot your dingoo

== DISCLAIMER ==
I take no responsibility for any conflict, fault, or damage caused to your Dingoo by flashing this unofficial firmware.
Full caution is advise, do not flash if you don't know what you're doing. Tested on 3 Dingoos and worked fine on all them.

== DOWNLOAD ==
link [rapidshare link, 26MB, nothin' suss]
MD5: 97EFD31822ED155B37D3122EEA98ADA0

Source: http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/

[edit] I've updated to pof's new firmware without any problems. I'm at work so I haven't tried any of the emu updates yet, but I did note the nice new boot screen and the de-Engrished menu. Now I can play Emulators instead of Interesting Game.

If you're updating your old firmware to fix the Y/B issue, you might as well go with this one.

 

[The Faceless Master]

wow, this looks tempting now that the button issue is fixed.

is there any way to play multiplayer with 2 units?

 

[danielijohnson]

So it only took six months to patch? Support sounds great, haha.

 

[Polari]

Check out this PSone emulator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBCS0niQiEg

Not full speed, but Final Fantasy VIII still looks playable. I think I have to snag one of these, seems to be a pretty incredible little machine for $80.

 

[Freyjadour]

I've been on the fence about one of these for a while now. Seems like Dingux fixed a lot of the issues I had with buying one in the first place.

 

[Freyjadour]

Well, I bit the bullet and bought a Dingoo for around $80. I put Dingux (Linux) Dual Boot on it for snes9x amongst other things, and I have to say it runs the games I want it to run pretty much as flawlessly as my netbook does. Obviously the special chip games are exceptions, but everything else runs great.

Sadly, it seems my hardware was pushed through Quality Control a bit too quickly. The start button requires entirely too much pressure to register a button press, and my left D-Pad button is similar, although this can be briefly fixed by "moving" the D-Pad slightly to the right. Am I surprised? Of course not. But I certainly wouldn't recommend buying one right as it seems that there quite a few running into bigger problems. In other words, Q.C. has dropped significantly as the demand for these has grown.

 

[Sew]

That's a bugger about the d-pad. I find the Up movement on the pad has a slightly different feel to the other directions - slightly more travel, or a little squidgier maybe - I can't quite put my finger on it (pun unavoidable). It doesn't affect gameplay though.

I also have the same complaint about the Start button, and pretty much the same for the Select and shoulder buttons. They're just really rigid little microswitches. If you're bringing the emulator menus up a lot (for savestates etc) it can fatigue the thumbs.

Having said that, it still hasn't left my pocket. Apart from ciggie break Road Rash sessions, I'm now using it for more and more media playback. It's great being able to dump Youtube FLVs straight on there.

Anyone wanting one should keep an eye on the GP32X and Dingoonity forums. I've seen a couple come and go, nice and cheap with Dingux preinstalled.

 

[Raydeen]

Thinking of getting a Dingoo. You guys who have got one...still enjoying it? The hardware solid? Can't argue with this to relieve my bus journeys in the morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ZTYmhwINg

 

[Sew]

Still going strong. I finally got around to installing Dingux the other week. The latest Dingux package includes Gmenu2x (ported from GP2X) which gives you a tabbed icon grid interface. It's golden. Most of the time though, I just boot into the native firmware for 5 minute bursts of NES or CPS2.

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

Been thinking about getting a Dingoo 320/380 but there are so many alternatives out there now that also do PSX and some that run N64.

For those that own one, are they still the best? It seems to be suggested by a lot of other forums.

 

[Dwayne]

Great for pre-3D gaming at the very least, 4:3 screen, nice D-Pad, good support.