In addition to the built-in software supplied with the GP2X, there is a wealth of software available for the console, much of which is free. This is because development tools for the unit are freely available, and both amateur and professional developers are encouraged to produce software for the community. Types of software available include multimedia players, games, emulators and PDA applications.

GP2X executable files have one of two 3 letter file extensions. Utilities have the extension .gpu, and appear in the Utilities section of the menu, whilst games (listed in the Games section of the menu) use the .gpe extension.

Built-in Software

The GP2X has several pieces of software built directly into the firmware, including a version of MPlayer which can be used to play video and music, an e-book reader (which can display the contents of standard text documents on-screen), an image viewer and a utility to adjust the LCD update frequency to eliminate any flickering.

Also available (although not directly through the menu) is:

• an HTTP server, for providing web pages
• a Samba server, which may be used to transfer files to the machine using the default Windows network file sharing protocol
• an FTP server, for transferring files
• telnet access, which allows direct command line access from outside the machine

These servers operate over the included USB networking functionality, allowing owners to connect the GP2X to a wider network through a PC.

Open Source Development

SDKs (software development kits) are freely and easily available for the GP2X, enabling anybody with the necessary skills to write an application or game. Most SDKs are based around a gcc cross-compiler toolchain and SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer, a cross-platform multimedia free software library written in C). SDL is available for many systems, allowing for very good cross-compatibility of code with other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and GNU/Linux.

A port of the Fenix game toolkit is also available for the GP2X, as is a port of the Allegro game programming library. Other libraries under development include sdk2x, a program and set of libraries that allows users to leave Linux completely for total control of all the hardware with no operating system to interfere, and Minimal Library SDK, which allows for direct hardware access inside the GP2X Linux environment.

Multimedia Players

There are several unofficial multimedia players available for the GP2X, which offer to support more formats than the built-in music and video players. One such program is a port of FFPlay that enablers users to play several Windows Media and RealMedia formats. Since the release of the MPlayer source code, several unofficial builds have been released for various purposes, with one adding support for playing music in the AAC format.

Emulators

There are many emulators available for the GP2X that enable owners to run software from other sys...