If you do some serious image manipulation there seems to be no way around Photoshop. Although I am already used to gimp and achieve the same results as with Photoshop some things could be more convenient in gimp. I know that gimps goal is not to be a Photoshop replacement but for my field of usage it is. Today I found another nice tool (taken from a list of most wanted Windows software for Linux list… where they presented some good replacments). And as Photoshop substitution the Pixel Image Editor is amazing. This tool truly can claim to be a Photoshop clone. Sad but fair thing to mention: the pixel image editor is no freeware. It costs $32 which seems affordable even to hobby photoshoppers. And you can try a 30 day evaluation version. Another big plus: it is available for nearly every platform (Win, Mac, Linux, etc.) and on the “purchase benefits page” you can read this: “License is multiplatform, you can use it on more platforms at once”.

On Feb. 1st the gp2x coding competition was announced. Entry submission is valid until Feb. 20th. Prices for the top 3 projects are some nice goodies which make your gp2x even more sweet. I am really looking forward to see the results as the existing tools and games from the gp2x community are really incredible.

Now I have confirmation. My gp2x unit will be shipped in early december. That means it will not be here on my upcoming birthday. But I am not worried at all. After joining two nice boards I am looking forward to all the action the device will bring.

If you are waiting for your unit too that is the current status: today I think nearly the full batch is cleared. About 800 units got sent today. I think they got to preorders from around end September (at gbax.com). There will be a new batch of about 5000 units from gamepark holdings korea which should be shipping from gbax around beginning/mid December.

gp32x.com board (english)

gp2x.de board (german)

If you go to gbax.com you will find a gadget I just pre-ordered a few days ago. It's kind of a birthday present which I had to choose for myself. It can be really hard to find the right present for someone who does not need anything and is interested in really geeky things (which tend to be really expensive).

GP2X the media player with linux operating system

Come back for an in-depth review when it arrived (hopefully before december). The features sound awesome (for less than EUR 200,–):

* Linux Operating System

* 3,5 inch display (320×240, 4:3)

* dual cpu (200 Mhz each)

* 64 MB flash memory

* SD card support

* USB 2.0 support

* tv out

* runs on 2 AA batteries (8 hours video, 14 hours audio)

* video: mp4, divx, wmv (later on)

* plays video files with resolutions up to 720×480 (scaled down)

* audio: mp3, ogg, wma (later on)

* games: many games available and supports emulators (mame, emus, quake)

* text and image viewer (jpg, bmp, ebook)

* dictionary

* open sdk for developers

* upgradable firmware