TI $4.30 Microcontroller Development Kit Sold Out Fast

The Texas Instruments wiki for the MSP430 LaunchPad (MSP-EXP430G2) reports unprecedented demand for the LaunchPad development tool.  TI's servers were extra busy and stock was sold out within the first few days of availability.  For $4.30 plus shipping you get a development board with debug capability, a few MSP-430 devices to program and a mini-USB cable.

Want to experiment with Linux? Get a Didj!

Now that the Didj has been discontinued by Leapfrog, it is sure to be on sale for much less than the cost of a similarly featured development board for Linux.  You can find all of the datasheets, reference material, and source to do your Linux experimenting at the eLinux.org Didj wiki page.  Below is a teardown of the toy and some processor specs, you can download the full datasheet from the site.

• 32bit CPU Embedded Architecture : 533MHz ARM926EJ with 16KByte I-Cache and 16KByte D-Cache.
• High performance 3D Graphics Accelerator
• USB 1.1 Host Controller, USB 2.0 Device, 4Ch UART
• LCD Controller, 8Ch DMA, Timer, Interrupt Controller, RTC
• SD/MMC, I2S, I2C, SSP, ADC, GPIOs, PWM, Power Manager

Leapster's Latest Handheld ARM-Linux Gaming Platform

Leapfrog is promoting the Leapster Explorer as an all in one platform for gaming, e-books, videos and educational content.  It can also function as a camera and video recorder if you purchase a camera accessory.  It has an ARM processor, 512MB of flash storage, a 420x420 pixel 3.2 inch touch screen, 3D graphic processing, and a flash engine for applications and video.  The image below is from an explorer review by Nicole Tanner at whattheyplay.com

The release of this new product seems related to the news that Leapster is discontinuing the Didj, another ARM processor based Linux gaming system that has been on the market only 2 years.  The Didj announcement isn't going over well with parents on the Leapfrog community forum.  Leapster2 owners are also upset that the cartridges will not be compatible with earlier products.

Microsoft's New Portable Game Platform

Microsoft announced support for gaming on its portable music player, Zune, yesterday at GDC 08. You won't be able to start developing games for the device until the next version of Microsoft's game SDK is released in Spring 2008. With XNA Game Studio 3.0, you will be able to develop games targeted to a PC, Xbox 360, and now Zune. There has been speculation about gaming on Zune for some time because of its powerful processor and origins in the Microsoft Xbox team. A few caveats are that Zune will have a reduced API (reminds me of flash-lite), it will be some time before we see actual games released for Zune and according to a Zune team member at Microsoft, 'Zune is a wireless music and video player first and foremost.'

New Toy Touts ARM9

Leapfrog Enterprises is coming out with a new handheld gaming/learning platform called Didj. What is interesting to me is the detailed specifications they have published for the handheld. These are usually kept secret, but I think they are betting no one will come close this year for $89.99 list price.

• ARM9 at 393MHz with 32MB 131MHz DDR RAM and 256MB NAND Flash
• USB 2.0 PC connection
• 320x240 16.7 million color TFT display
• OpenGL ES 1.1 graphics API for embedded systems
• Ogg vorbis audio codec (open source royalty-free alternative to mp3)
• Theora video codec (same idea as Ogg Vorbis)
• 16 Channel MIDI software synth
• Multi-layer graphics controller
• Proprietary Leapfrog OS called Brio

Update: The Didj is using embedded Linux according to embedded software consulting firm Cozybit. The San Francisco company was contracted to port embedded Linux to the Didj and perform system integration.

Interface Connects Real Guitars to Video Games

The popularity of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band should create a lot of demand for systems like Ediface that interface games to musical instruments. Although the MIDI interface can do this, and has been around for years, so far it has not been used in popular games. The best possible solution would be to use an an unmodified instrument like an electric guitar and connect that to the gaming system. Learning to play a real instrument while playing video games would be a great benefit. That is what the Ediface claims to deliver in a small wallet-sized unit. No word on processor or technology being utilized to do the signal processing.

Update: A new PC/MAC game called Guitar Rising is scheduled for release in late 2008 that will use only the computer mic input for an interface to any electric guitar. Not much detail on the web site, but some early prototype demos at game conferences look promising. We will have to see how the mic input compares to a dedicated hardware interface.