I feel like the Linux Handhelds made by GPH in the 2000s are a nowadays almost forgotten piece of history, even though they were in some ways the predecessor to today’s Steam Deck. So I wanted to create a bit of an appreciation post for this chapter in Linux Gaming history. Did any of you use a GP2X back in the day as well? For me, it wasn’t just my introduction to Linux gaming, but also game development, as I programmed my first games for it using GLBasic. It was a fantastic machine for emulation as well, got introduced to many old games from the 80s and 90s through it.
I was obsessing over these back in the day but it was at the upper end of what I could possibly manage to wangle as a Christmas and Birthday present combined… Then I discovered that a refurbished, like new, PsP 1000 phat could be had for less than half the price that these were retailing for and not only was the modding / emulating scene more active and better supported but it also opened an entire new library of native PsP games.
I don’t regret my choice in the slightest. Although I still think these are really cool.