11.13.06
Oh You’re so Geeky, Joe
Or: The World Turns to My Liking
Kat often jokes that the first thing I ask myself upon seeing some new electronics is ‘Yes, but can it run Linux?’ While that’s not entirely true, there is a large kernel of truth in it. I’m a sucker for open-source software, I just love having the ability to tinker with anything, recompile, analyze, break it if I mess up. It’s just all around an enticing proposition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you what may be, just maybe, the best device ever made for me:
It’s called the GP2X. It’s from Korea by way of Britain, and it runs on a modified Linux. It plays games, movies, and music. It displays photos. It’s programmable, networkable, heck, you can even telnet into it. It can hook up to your TV to play video files on a bigger, better screen if you want. Also, and this is extremely important, it runs MAME. That means that it will run almost any great arcade game that you can find a ROM for. Oh, sweet smell of success. It’s only US $189, too. I’m tempted to just sink some money into it and buy one, start hacking with the SDK that they include to make myself some fun little display programs. I will exercise restraint, though. I’ve already spent far too much money this year.
But it’s just … so … cool!