PocketMatrix

Hi

I was wondering if anybody could help me answer some questions? I'm interested in buying a Casio EM500BU Pocket PC secondhand, sight unseen, from the States, is there any problems with this unit I should know about like:

Won't run many gaes or Quake II

Can't replace the battery

Can't read multiple game presses at once issue

Or any other fault etc

Casio had a very bad reputation here in Australia with it's poducts in times past, is this a clean good wonder product, or should I go for the much more expensive Ipaq 3600?

Can this run any of the GBA, or mame emulators properly?

One other thing does anybody make a proper gaming controller jacket for these machines or can I use a standard USB game pad, and make my own?

Thanks

Wayne.

I would highly suggest buying against it. This is a device that's a few generations old, and since it uses a MIPS processor (as opposed to the ARM in the iPaq) it is very slow, and most new software will not run on it.

With that said, the iPaq 3600 has a button problem, where you can only press one button at a time. Are these your only two choices?

No device yet can run GBA or MAME perfectly, though on the very newest devices, GBA is reaching playibility.

Thanks for your advice. The devices are $49US and $79US respectively, so they are much cheaper then any recent new or secondhand PPC. I want to save the money to buy something descent when it comes down, or out, at a good price. At the moment the 2125, a620, and dare I say the Zodiac, are the only descent machines but expensive, and I would prefer something with the 3D MBX core at least. The new Clie sj25 (320*320 screen) and Dell AX3 look good. Though I think that any machine with a FPU unit has to take precedent for 3D though, and that most likely will be an Arm 9/10/11 based chip.

So I can afford to throw away the $49 bucks on the Casio, does this thing have any of the other problems I'm concerned about?

Wayne.

I have a Casio E-125 ( same family but more memory ).I would advise you get an E-125 before you get the EM 500.

It's only boasting 16 MB ram. Gameplay will be next to impossable.

If all your going to do is use it as an MP3 player with PIM function $49 is a good deal.

However if you are going to attempt gameplay, you will end waisting your money.

Now the long and short of all of this...it's a Mips chip and few game makers build mips versions.

Better yet, if your heart is set on a Casio with 16MB of ram go for a BE 300, it at least has a faster chip, 200 Mhz when running eXpod, but then again it's a limited list of available software cause of the Mips chip.

Hold off till you have the coin available for an xscale or used newer PPC 2003. You will be happy in the long run.

Thanks

Where would I find those?

Wayne.

www.ebay.com or Dell's Refurbished website.