Leapfrog Didj: Followup

posted Feb 3rd 2010 1:00pm by
filed under: handhelds hacks, linux hacks

Yesterday we mentioned the Woot! sale of the Didj, and we had some comments and emails from readers who had purchased one. We couldn’t resist either, and ordered a couple to take apart and modify. We will probably be following the work laid out by [Claude Schwarz], who seems to be one of the leading hackers on the scene. [Claude] has done some work in porting the GP2x libraries to the Didj, which gives a tremendous head start to anyone looking to have a working game system any time soon. There will also be a build log for everyone to follow along at home, and contribute what you want and have, as well as a follow up How-To when a working system is attained. Happy Hacking, everyone.



25 Responses to Leapfrog Didj: Followup

  • taylor says:
    February 3, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    Yeah, get me an NES emulator running and I’ll be thrilled! I bought it just because it was cheap and hackable, but I don’t much need it so I’m hoping to turn it into a simple NES box and then give it to my girlfriend. I just wanted something to hack, haha.
    Wish it had more buttons!
    Thanks all!
    -Taylor

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  • Mikey says:
    February 3, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    WOOT! I agree on the NES emulator front (Also hoping someone ports an Atari 800/5200, and Gameboy).

    Reply Report comment
  • wolfy02 says:
    February 3, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    im really hoping to get this thing working as a multi-emulator I’d love to play me some comix zone from the genesis. me and my friend ordered ours from woot

    Reply Report comment
  • Paul Potter says:
    February 3, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    Would also be awesome for Atari 2600 emulation.

    Reply Report comment
  • taylor says:
    February 3, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    Yeah, I realized that the little question mark button would make a great third button for Genesis Emulators!

    And it would even be cool to relocate it and some of the others to have 4 buttons for NES emulation!

    Can’t wait to get mine!
    -Taylor

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  • john personna says:
    February 3, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    I think creative reuse is as at least as cool as Arduino shields ;-)

    I picked up a Palm M500 yesterday at Newegg for $10

    Reply Report comment
  • NatureTM says:
    February 3, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    Can it run Crysis?

    ~sry~

    Reply Report comment
  • anti says:
    February 4, 2010 at 3:29 am

    Stop pestering Claude for the card-adapters.
    I bought the last one yesterday. :)

    I’m looking into producing a batch soon…

    Reply Report comment
  • fartface says:
    February 4, 2010 at 6:32 am

    @NatureTM. Yes it can at 1900X1600@400fps. It also runs Mass Effect 2 without any hacking, you simply take a Xbox360 disc set, carefully cut them into pieces to fit in the cartridge slot and push them in one at a time.

    It’s got better graphics than the top of the line ATI card! and a quad core 5ghz processor in there!

    Oh and the screen is OLED, and it has GSM plus WIMAX in it.

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  • ant2ne says:
    February 4, 2010 at 10:45 am

    anti – I want one ;-)

    Reply Report comment
  • T&P says:
    February 4, 2010 at 11:15 am

    $30 off this would have been worth it. I wish this was the normal price for it. I wish I had the $20 to get it then. ;_;

    Reply Report comment
  • GCL says:
    February 4, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    Well my order of four days ago has been shipped Woot! says.

    Now as to a card for it, it depends.

    Reply Report comment
  • PocketBrain says:
    February 4, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    Kewl, this gonna be ongoing here. Glad I got some.

    Reply Report comment
  • The Steven says:
    February 5, 2010 at 6:20 am

    But, will it blend?

    Reply Report comment
  • PinkFreud says:
    February 5, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    Saw the Didj at $70 USD retail at a Target store today. I think we got a steal of a deal!!

    Reply Report comment
  • charlie says:
    February 6, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    mine just arrived from woot

    Reply Report comment
  • GCL says:
    February 9, 2010 at 8:30 am

    And mine arrived today. I think the post wanted to beat the snow expect tomorrow.

    Reply Report comment
  • GCL says:
    February 9, 2010 at 10:13 am

    A follow up. What’s everyone using for their development? I use Slackware and I suspect that the kernel versions and the matching MTD drivers are out of sequence with the Wiki that came up later.

    Reply Report comment
  • David Anders says:
    February 9, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    i’ve updated my original wiki pages at:

    http://www.elinux.org/Didj

    this includes update information on the processor as well as the datasheet.

    Reply Report comment
  • HED says:
    February 19, 2010 at 5:42 am

    Well, let’s see… you want a cheap emulation console?

    Try the Dingoo A320. True, the Dingoo A320 has gotten far more “buzz” than this leapfrog toy. But it has 4 buttons, L+R buttons, a better d-pad, tv-out, miniSD card slot… built-in NES/SNES/GBA/GB/CPS1/CPS2/Megadrive/Neogeo emulators… and yes, you can install linux on it. For $80.

    So give back the Didj to your kids, get yourself a real hackable console.
    http://dingoonity.org/
    http://dingoowiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

    Reply Report comment
  • GCL says:
    February 19, 2010 at 10:53 am

    @HED
    And where pray tell, can the lucky individual who would want this thing, can buy one?

    Reply Report comment
  • HED says:
    February 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    I bought mine on http://Dealextreme.com (as many Dingoo users did, because it’s a chinese product).
    Currently Dingoos are sold out on Dealextreme.com but the site moderators say there may be a restock after the Chinese New Year.

    You can also try ebay or superufo (http://superufo.com/product_html/Cool_Stuff_Micro_Game_Station_Dingoo_A320.html)

    Reply Report comment
  • Awesomenesser says:
    February 20, 2010 at 8:32 am

    Just to let people know we have a active wiki going at: http://www.elinux.org/Didj
    I have posted an eagle library for the cartridge pins and have posted a eagle board file of a cartridge breakout board.

    Reply Report comment
  • InHisName says:
    April 30, 2010 at 5:42 am

    There is a fella who designed and is building up a cart that supports SD cards and uart adapters. $15 pre-order price at http://www.wtfmoogle.com

    He is building them now.

    Reply Report comment

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