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Gp2x Wiz Review Intro

No, this is not an article about your special place, this is actually my first hardware/firmware review!

I present to you:


Part 1: Intro
A quick explanation of various aspects of the Wiz before the review, if you'd like to skip this, click on "Part 2" on the table of contents (Not finshed yet).



(Please note:    Many texts in this review are linked to official websites and deeper explanations of various topics.)




What is the "Wiz"?

    The Wiz is a portable, linux-run, media center.  Much like the psp, it can play movies and music, and look at pictures.  Unlike the psp, however, you can read texts, manga, and run emulators (natively) and has a touch-sensitive AMOLED screen.  There is also no need for any type of hacking on your system to run an emulator developed by the open source community.


What is "Open Source"?


    A good way to explain open source is to compare the Wiz with such gaming devices as the NDS (Nintendo DS) and PSP (Playstation Portable).  The PSP and NDS are sold (like the Wiz) as hardware.  Software is designed and developed by companies and the source (main coding that makes up the software) is kept to themselves.  This is called closed-source.  Whereas for the Wiz, most of the programs and games are developed and released for free (along with the source codes) over the internet.  You may think this is counter-productive, but because of the nature of the open-source community, everything is custom-tailered for the users' experience.


What is an "AMOLED" screen?

    You know how when you look at a laptop screen at an angle, or an LCD TV, it gets dark and hard to see?  An AMOLED screen is basically a very bright display that eliminates that entirely. 


What is an "Emulator"?

    An emulator emulates hardware designed to run specific types of software.  There are many types of emulators that are both legal and illegal, the latter of which are very popular, and is a prominent feature of the Wiz's capabilities.  Such emulators include Dr. Pocketsnes, AlexKidd2x, FCE Ultra, and MAME4All







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