Caanoo

Caanoo
The GP2X Caanoo, more commonly known as Caanoo, stylized CAANOO, is an open source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by the South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on August 16, 2010 in South Korea and were also sold throughout Europe. It is the successor to the GP2X Wiz, and was showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010. The device's launch price was about US$150, which didn't reach any retail stores in North America.
The Caanoo is not a direct competitor of handheld consoles like Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable, but rather an alternative open source device. Because of that, any software that is compatible can be run without the need of creating custom firmware or other homebrew applications. This is the last open-source gaming device by GamePark Holdings, as they ceased production and development of gaming hardware to focus solely on software.
Hardware
Specifications
SoC (System on a Chip): MagicEyes Pollux VR3520F
CPU: ARM926EJ 533 MHz embedded on SoC (architecture version ARMv5TEJ)
GPU: 3D hardware engine embedded on SoC (OpenGL ES 1.1 support)
3D performance: 133M Texel/s and 1,33M Polygon/s
main RAM: 128 Mbytes DDR SDRAM 133 MHz (peak memory bandwidth: 533 Mbytes/s)
video buffer: about 16 Mbytes of main RAM are reserved for the video/texture information
Operating System: Linux based
Flash memory: None (128 Mbytes reserved to the OS)
Connection to PC: USB 2.0 High Speed through EXT Port
USB Host: USB 1.1 standard socket
Supports SD / SDHC memory cards (up to 32 Gigabytes)
Accelerometer
Vibration Motor
High precision analog stick
Display: 3.5 inch OLED 320×240 pixel (resistive touchscreen)
Stereo audio DAC: Wolfson Microelectronics WM1800
Embedded Microphone and stereo Loudspeakers
Power: Internal 1850mAh Lithium Polymer Battery (approx. 5/6 hours game/video playback)
Dimensions :
Weight :
WiFi via adapter (USB dongle – Purchased separately)
Colors: Black/Blue, White
NB: the CPU embedded on Pollux has a good tolerance to overclocking (until 750 MHz the system shouldn't have problems, just a shorter battery autonomy.)
Not all CPU/SoC are created equal and these results are theoretical. Some may not be able to push much past stock frequency. Overclocking will vary between each Caanoo.
Games/Applications
The Caanoo had only four commercial retail games:
Asura Cross
Propis
Rhythmos
Wiz Party
The Caanoo can run several applications that emulate consoles or computer systems, such as DrPocketSnes for the Super NES, GnGEO for the Neo-Geo, Hu-Go for the PC Engine, PCSX ReArmed for original PlayStation games, MAME4all for arcade games and Picodrive for the Mega Drive/Genesis and its add-ons, as well as freeware homebrew games/applications. These applications are created by the community itself and not by the manufacturers. Most, if not all of this software can be found at OpenHandhelds, a community-driven website.
Gamepark Holdings also had a website focused on downloadable content named FunGP. It sold commercial Caanoo and Wiz games, as well as some retro Arcade games. It has since ceased operations.
Caanoo is not compatible with software built for previous GPH devices (such as the GP2X Wiz) without an application to allow it to do so. A compatibility layer named Ginge allows for most software to be compatible, and most applications have already been ported.
Multimedia capability
The Caanoo is a video player, an audio player, photo viewer and E-Book reader.
Video
Container files: AVI
Video formats: DivX, XviD, MPEG4
Audio formats: MP3, WAV
Maximum Resolution: 640×480 pixel
Maximum Frame Rate: 30 frame/s
Maximum Video Bitrate: 2500kbit/s
Maximum Audio Bitrate: 384kbit/s
Captions: SMI
Audio
Audio formats: MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV
Channels: Stereo
Frequency Range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Power output: ?
Sample Resolution/Rate: 16bit/8–48 kHz, in 8bit/22 kHz
Photos
Supports JPG, PNG, GIF, Bitmap File Formats
E-Books
Supports txt files, it can also read pdf format through various apps.
External TV output
The SoC Pollux embeds (besides to the primary LCD controller) an NTSC/PAL encoder with internal DAC to manage an external analog video signal (CVBS output: 720×480 or 720×576 pixel interlaced, respectively 60/50 Hz vertical sync and 15 kHz horizontal sync).
See also
Comparison of handheld game consoles
GP2X F100/F200 - Predecessor device
GP2X Wiz - Predecessor device
Dingoo - Main competing Device
Pandora (console), an open source handheld device
DragonBox Pyra, successor of Pandora
GCW Zero
References
External links
Official Gamepark Holdings Homepage
GP32x Community Website
News on Caanoo exclusive game projects (in English)
NewsWeeZ Caanoo News and Files (in English)
PDRoms Caanoo News and Files (in English)
Caanoo File Archive
Spanish homebrew videogames community (GP32Spain)
Caanoo Review
GbaRL.it Caanoo Review (in Italian)
Communauté Francophone Caanoo (In French)
ARM-based video game consoles
Discontinued handheld game consoles
Seventh-generation video game consoles
Linux-based handheld game consoles
Products introduced in 2010