A 2007 Samsung UMPC Takes a Crack at Wii U GamePad Duties

A compact computing device from 2007 has found an unexpected new role in the world of retro gaming consoles. The Samsung Q1 UMPC, originally sold as a Windows XP powered ultra mobile PC, recently starred in an experiment to replicate the functionality of Nintendo’s Wii U GamePad. Its small footprint and built in screen made the old hardware an interesting test subject once open source tools unlocked the console’s proprietary controller protocol.

Samsung outfitted the Q1 with a 900 MHz Celeron M processor, a resistive touchscreen, and a few ports, including VGA output and USB connectivity, all neatly stored away. The Q1’s design has a side keyboard and a kickstand on some models, resulting in a distinct handheld appearance. Unfortunately, the battery life of the original cells was not very impressive during testing, usually leaving you in a constant power plug position for an extended gaming session. When the Wii U GamePad originally came out, it featured a rather novel concept: you could check game data or even play on the controller screen while the main action was taking place on the television. All of this was made possible by some tinkering, or reverse engineering.

This allowed other devices to get in on the action, although through software. The Vanilla project, which can be available on GitHub, is one example. Bringus Studios accepted the challenge of putting the necessary software into the outdated UMPC device. To accomplish this, they replaced the original storage drive with a modern mSATA solid state drive and a ZIF converter to connect it, and upgraded the RAM to DDR2. After the internal card failed, they switched to an external USB wireless adapter for networking.

The next step was to install a modern 32-bit Debian Linux version on the Q1. They then had to compile the Vanilla software from source code using the normal build tools provided by the repository. The video processing libraries and interface components had to function in tandem on this somewhat old platform, and to everyone’s surprise, the build proceeded fairly well despite the 32-bit environment and relatively tiny processor.

To connect to an actual Wii U console, you had to boot the system and establish a wireless link using the USB adapter. There were unique sync codes to help pair the two devices, similar to how you set up your router, but once they were connected, the UMPC screen began to receive the video feed from the GamePad. You might even get a basic touch sensation from that resistive display. And sound would emanate via the headphone jack.

This was instantly obvious, since performance highlighted the hardware’s limitations. The central processor would reach its maximum capacity while decoding the incoming visual stream from the console. Graphics would appear on the screen, but whenever motion was detected in a game, you would experience various types of corruption and artifacts. As there was more movement, Super Mario 3D World became increasingly glitchy and slow. The previous integrated graphics received little assistance because they were unable to do the necessary hardware acceleration.

To resolve the issues, they tested a relay system to divert some of the wireless processing to another computer on the network. This improved the audio slightly, but the underlying video stability issues persisted. For basic testing and navigation, they were able to map keyboard and mouse controls to game functionality. In a very basic sense, they established the concept, but it fell well short of the smooth experience you receive when playing on an original GamePad.
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