TapWave Zodiac

[abionic]

so while we're on the topic of vapourware handheld systems,
a couple weeks ago i was at a bar and some guy just happened to have a tapwave zodiac that he got from his company (promotions company or somethin) and basically didn't even know what it was.. long story short, it sucks. he offered to let me have it for $100 but he didnt have any of the cables or whatnot with him, so i let it go.

anyway i just wanted to confirm that it does exist, i played it, and it sucketh

[SilverBolt]

I have the SDK for it on my hard drive.
It looks like it's based on the 68K palm os devkit.

[negora]

I've a Tapwave Zodiac 2 and, at least for me, it doesn't suck :P .

[AntiPasta]

A 100 bucks? Thats damn cheap mate. And Silverbolt, I don't think it's all based around a 68k, that CPU was designed in 1979 or something. It must have an ARM as well, like everything thats being made nowadays it seems :smt042

[Calpis]

Hey, look at WSX, I recently found out it's X86! What kind of sick joke is that?

[negora]

Yes, Zodiac has a Motorola i.MX1 ARM9 processor which runs at 200 Mhz, althought some people has been able to get a stable rate at 230-240 Mhz.

[Baseley09]

Hey, look at WSX, I recently found out it's X86! What kind of sick joke is that?

WSX?

[AntiPasta]

Hey, look at WSX, I recently found out it's X86! What kind of sick joke is that?

WSX?

The Wonderswan series. He is right, the system uses a NEC V30MZ - which is an 8086 clone with some extensions, and it has pipelininig, how sick is that :prayer:

[Takashi]

Hey, look at WSX, I recently found out it's X86! What kind of sick joke is that?

WSX?

The Wonderswan series. He is right, the system uses a NEC V30MZ - which is an 8086 clone with some extensions, and it has pipelininig, how sick is that :prayer:

Gunpei's team was really out there, it seems. Doesn't it run at 3 Mhz or something?

[retro]

Yeah it exists, of course. Zodiac 2 was at one of the London shows in summer, I put pics up.

[Greatsaintlouis]

Yeah, Zodiac and new Palm OS devices use ARM processors of some sort, but the older ones (I believe it stopped with the M505) used a Motorola Dragonball 68K variation.

[negora]

Just for curiousity... Has anyone a Zodiac?

[WanganRunner]

I dunno, this looks pretty cool to me....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...51421&rd=1

I wouldn't pay $345 for it on the website, but I'd pick one up on the cheap on ebay to play NES/FC games on.

I don't even care what titles were actually made specifically for it, they can't be anything special...

[negora]

Wangan Runner I got mine for $270 aprox., including postage to Spain. I didn't buy it for its games, sure! I wanted a multimedia center and also a console which allowed me to play emulated games. And I think it does pretty well, specially thanks to Little John Z, a multi-emulator compossed by modules. If I wanted a portable console I had got a Nintendo DS or a PSP, sure ;) .

[SuperGrafx]

so while we're on the topic of vapourware handheld systems,
a couple weeks ago i was at a bar and some guy just happened to have a tapwave zodiac that he got from his company (promotions company or somethin) and basically didn't even know what it was.. long story short, it sucks. he offered to let me have it for $100 but he didnt have any of the cables or whatnot with him, so i let it go.

anyway i just wanted to confirm that it does exist, i played it, and it sucketh

They actually sell the unit and some games at most CompUSA stores. There's a demo unit out on display, but it doesn't allow you to play any games.
A good idea that never took off (though the Palm OS functionality is an added bonus). I'd call the N-Gage a more successful product that Tapwave.

[negora]

Super Grafx, N-Gage could be more succesful if you consider the Zodiac as a portable console. As a PDA it has been and is a good system, compared to many Palm One devices. Not only because the awards which Zodiac has recived but also because of the sales. Take a look at www.zodiacgamer.com for more info ;) .