Anyone ever use a Tapwave Zodiac?

[Tupin]

I might have the chance to buy one of these PalmOS based handhelds pretty soon, and I have wanted one for quite some time. I'll mainly use it to run PalmOS applications and maybe watch some videos/play some emulators. I have heard that actual Tapwave games have come out, but they appear to be expensive and I was wondering if these Palm MMC game cards are the same thing:

http://www.amazon.com/Palm-P10923U-PalmOne-Sega-Classics/dp/B000095SMW/ref=pd_sim_vg_2

Anyone own/have owned one of these devices?

[Poofta!]

im sorry, but why? do you have a thing for quirky/unkown/wierd gadgets? theres a reason the zodiac never went anywhere. there are dozens of better gadgets to get that do all of that (better, and more).

[Tupin]

Guess you could say that, plus it is an interesting bit of gaming history that I pondered when it first came out, plus I can get it for a competitive price.

[GM80]

I had a fairly significant investment in the Zodiac at one point. It runs the standard Palm OS with a custom front end and special APIs for Zodiac-specific software. I actually used it as my primary PDA for a year or so (calendars, contacts, wi-fi web browsing with an SDIO card, etc.).

The games card you linked contains standard Palm OS software. The Zodiac will probably run it with no problems, just like it runs almost any other app. Palm OS games can even run very nicely in full screen on the hardware without being "official" Zodiac games, if they are programmed to take advantage of what Palm called "Hi-Res+" screens. PDAmill's Snails (a Worms clone) is one I remember.

The Tapwave-licensed games have access to more controls, vibration feedback, 3D acceleration, etc. and there were a fistful released. I remember having 7 or 8, along with some downloadable homebrew titles.

[Tupin]

I had a fairly significant investment in the Zodiac at one point. It runs the standard Palm OS with a custom front end and special APIs for Zodiac-specific software. I actually used it as my primary PDA for a year or so (calendars, contacts, wi-fi web browsing with an SDIO card, etc.).

The games card you linked contains standard Palm OS software. The Zodiac will probably run it with no problems, just like it runs almost any other app. Palm OS games can even run very nicely in full screen on the hardware without being "official" Zodiac games, if they are programmed to take advantage of what Palm called "Hi-Res+" screens. PDAmill's Snails (a Worms clone) is one I remember.

The Tapwave-licensed games have access to more controls, vibration feedback, 3D acceleration, etc. and there were a fistful released. I remember having 7 or 8, along with some downloadable homebrew titles.
Anything else to mention about the Zodiac? I remember seeing these when they first came out and wondered what they were really about.

[zektor]

I was very big into the Zodiac back in the heyday. I was a regular over at Zodiac Gamer ;)

The device was great at the time. It had a really nice emulator in LJP (Little John Palm) which emulated multiple consoles:

http://www.little-john.net/

I had a developer key (straight from Tapwave) to run and test unsigned dev software, which was cool. I had all of the available retail games...which were ok at best.

The real problem with the device was the PalmOS. I can't tell you how many times it crashed or how many times I had to poke that reset button. Not the Zodiac's fault, but just the nature of the old PalmOS software. Every other device based on v5+ had issues for me...right up to my last phone, the 755p.

If you can get a good deal on one, it would be fun to mess around with. Remember it does run thousands of Palm apps and games as well, so there is alot to choose from. But, be prepared for some crashes ;)

Also, keep in mind that the battery is not very user friendly replaceable. It was actually never able to be replaced by the end user. You'd have to crack it open and remove it internally if you have a dead one...which is not as big of a deal as it is to FIND a new one.

As said earlier, it'll run just about anything PalmOS, so those games and apps stored on MMC should work just fine. The Zodiac does have special hardware (ATI GPU) that will kick in when a *signed for tapwave* game is run, so try to hunt down some of the Zodiac specific games to see the hardware acceleration.

As for movie playback, it works great. Use TCPMP:

http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia-Graphics/Video-Players/TCPMP-Palm-OS-7895.shtml

The app was one of the best things to happen to PalmOS (when I started, video playback sucked) and will play even full size divx/xvids and so on perfectly. It'll also play a slew of different audio formats, and I must say that the Zodiac had the BEST sound of any handheld I have ever owned.

Any other questions, ask!

[Tupin]

Are any of the original Tapwave Zodiac games worth acquiring? I've heard that the Zodiac version of Doom II and Duke Nukem 3D are pretty bad, and that community-developed versions of both play far better.

[Tupin]

Oh, and I found this on how to replace the battery:

http://homepage.mac.com/jaugusto/ZodiacBatteryReview.html

And here's where you can get a battery:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fit-Tapwave-Zodiac-Z1-Tapwave-Zodiac-Z2-battery-/370387924251?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563cd7351b

Do you still own it? That might be some help if you do.

[Tupin]

Finally got it today, it's pretty cool but I think the battery is dead.

Good thing that I found that tutorial.