View Full Version : Linux Handheld console (GP32 & GP2X)
{MSX}
18-09-2005, 12:23 PM
Hi, i just came along this site:
http://www.gbax.com/
It's about a new console, GP2X, that seems very interested.
It's the new version of the GP32, that i've never heard about.. Any of you own one of them?
What do you think about?
An open Linux console sounds greedy to me :P
cairnswm
18-09-2005, 01:17 PM
Yes Please.
I've just added this to my Birthday list :)
I just pre-ordered one of these new GP2X's. I think this is a much more feasible target for homebrew development than WILL's idea of developing for the Nintendo Revolution. I'm just keen on the idea of development like it was on the Amiga about a decade ago.
cairnswm
18-09-2005, 02:19 PM
If we put our minds to it PFD could the leading GP2X development studio.
How many of these do you think they will realistically sell? If I buy one I can almost assure you I have the only one in South Africa.
There are about 30,000 GP32's out there according to the website. It has quite a large following which will transfer over to the GP2X.
cairnswm
18-09-2005, 02:28 PM
30,000 isn't big enough to be a viable commercail market. So in the end it remains a hobbiest game dev toy.
Still sounds fun :)
cairnswm
18-09-2005, 03:41 PM
WILL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gp2x
{MSX}
18-09-2005, 04:00 PM
i'd like some more tecnical details.. For example how does it handles 3D. I saw there's no 3d hardware so probably it's all software.. and will there be OpenGL? and what kind of graphical libraries?
The idea of running pascal on it is great :P I would be quite interested..
We could hack up something and maybe release a game (or a porting of one of our games).
cairnswm
18-09-2005, 07:18 PM
This seems to be the specs for the board being used.
http://www.mesdigital.com/support/downfile/mp2520f%20data%20sheet.pdf
No 3D support but accelerated 2D support.
I think that they need better marketing for what could be a direct competitor for the DS and the PSP.
If they are smart, they'll use the profits from the previous model to launch a bigger marketing campain for the new model. But thats just my thinking...
cairnswm
20-09-2005, 02:59 AM
From what I've read so far I dont think they are trying to be a compeditor of the DS/PSP - its something designed for hobbiest gamers and game developers.
It apparently supports SDL out of the box. So take your existing SDL code and recompile. Well, probably a little more than that, but it should be fairly simple.
Even still, it could compete as an alternative. It's powerful enough...
But while maintaining it's hobbiest roots.
cairnswm
21-09-2005, 04:17 AM
Will you be able to use FreePascal to make games for it? I understand the SDL but cant really find anything about using anything other than their own SDK.
It comes supplied with gcc, though it has been mentioned in the forums that other languages will be able to be used. I'll definitely give FPC a try when I receive the device.
Well the compiler or even the language shouldn't matter so much. But the compiler you use should be capable of compiling for the proper processor(s) and OS it uses.
So in short ARM904T and Linux(ELF). The GNU tools will be a huge help here. More so the linker than gcc.
I'd have to look more at the 904T version of the ARM processor, but I think FPC should be able to compiler for it now...
JSoftware
21-09-2005, 07:08 AM
*ARM940T :wink:
The 940T is the video co-processor. The host processor is the 920T.
Specs (http://gp2x.org/gp2x/specs)
{MSX}
21-09-2005, 05:18 PM
It comes supplied with gcc, though it has been mentioned in the forums that other languages will be able to be used. I'll definitely give FPC a try when I receive the device.
Keep us informed as soon as your device arrive!
I think they're due at the end of October.
Has any progress been made on using pascal for gp2x?
If so what and how can we participate?
I got my gp2x last week and I love it.
At this stage I am still using GCC through Visual Studio 2005 Express. I have sometimes thought about trying to get something running using FPC, but I have never actually sat down to try it yet.
Does FPC support ARM9 yet? I know it supports ARM7, and that ARM7 binaries work on ARM9, but having support for ARM9 instructions would make the executable faster.
Does FPC support the 'naked' function attribute? In C, we use "attribute(naked)" after a function declaration for code that runs on the second processor.
savage
20-06-2006, 08:38 AM
OT : How do you target a specific processor like on a PS3 using C?
I haven't delved into that part yet. I'm still busy finishing Spyro on the current-gen consoles. Which is why I'm answering this question at 1:50am and I'm still at work. :)
NecroDOME
21-06-2006, 11:36 AM
sweet... (sorry for the late repley... My internet connection at home died :( hope to be online soon again :P )
I've been trying to compile the arm-linux units from latest FPC source, but there is an internal error 200203271 at about an hour into the build. This was first reported to the FPC list back in April (with no response), and it is still happening. So I'm stuck at the moment because the build process fails.
savage
08-10-2006, 11:19 AM
Any updated news on Sly's error??
paul_nicholls
07-12-2006, 04:56 AM
Hi, i just came along this site:
http://www.gbax.com/
It's about a new console, GP2X, that seems very interested.
It's the new version of the GP32, that i've never heard about.. Any of you own one of them?
What do you think about?
An open Linux console sounds greedy to me :P
I have only just purchased myself a GP2X (arrived Friday last week).
It is sweet! :)
I have been running a MAME emulator on it, and even a Commodore 64 emulator...very nifty! :)
At the moment I am programming on the GP2X using the bloodshed Dev C++ compiler...SOB! no Pascal yet :(
I can't wait till Freepascal can cross-compile to the ARM9...
I'll need to install a Linux distro to try it though.
cheers,
Paul.
Legolas
07-12-2006, 12:49 PM
Hi, i just came along this site:
http://www.gbax.com/
It's about a new console, GP2X, that seems very interested.
It's the new version of the GP32, that i've never heard about.. Any of you own one of them?
What do you think about?
An open Linux console sounds greedy to me :P
I have only just purchased myself a GP2X (arrived Friday last week).
It is sweet! :)
I have been running a MAME emulator on it, and even a Commodore 64 emulator...very nifty! :)
At the moment I am programming on the GP2X using the bloodshed Dev C++ compiler...SOB! no Pascal yet :(
I can't wait till Freepascal can cross-compile to the ARM9...
I'll need to install a Linux distro to try it though.
cheers,
Paul.
Freepascal *can* crosscompile to ARM9 :P
The arm-linux crosscompiler should work fine for GP2X.
Silly question; Can games played on the GP2X support multiple files? I'd imagine so since I've seen several PC games like Doom and Quake in promotional screenshots. I'd love to release a GP2X edition of my game.
Becasue I'm lazy, whats the max. screen res. again? :)
Legolas
07-12-2006, 03:34 PM
The screen is 320?ó240 3.5 inch, 260,000 colors TFT LCD. ( :arrow: wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2X))
Ok did a little quick reading on that page. Thanks Legolas. ;)
Well I don't think I'll have too many problems releasing a GP2X version of Garland's Quest once FPC makes it one of it's targeted platforms.
It's not all that physics intensive, just simple stuff using OpenGL. SDL will be supported, bonus. I'm still thinking about sound solution at the moment. I'm strongly considering Ogg under OpenGL, however I much prefer the power I get from MODs and MOD playback so I'd like to push that in the future.
Oh and just an fyi for those reading this thread, I AM continuing my multi-sound API capable, OpenMOD playback library. Thats right, it is NOT going to be tied directly to ANY sound API so it's completely portable to either OpenAL, DirectSound, etc... Which is great for porting to platforms like this.
Anyone know anything about how we'd hook the controls on this thing though? I guess SDL would figure this out for me? That actually would be great!
Oops, just found something interesting. :P
It uses OpenGL ES due to it's compactness. Not too sure what implications this would bring. Either way I'm not going to look much more into this until I have a completed game to port. ;)
Just thought I'd see how things looked. So far... not too bad. Some minor challenges, but nothing that scares me too much. It'll be on my list of ideas in the future.
Till then I guess it'll have to wait until Mr. Legolas finishes his first FPC4NDS support. :)
paul_nicholls
07-12-2006, 09:29 PM
Hi, i just came along this site:
http://www.gbax.com/
It's about a new console, GP2X, that seems very interested.
It's the new version of the GP32, that i've never heard about.. Any of you own one of them?
What do you think about?
An open Linux console sounds greedy to me :P
I have only just purchased myself a GP2X (arrived Friday last week).
It is sweet! :)
I have been running a MAME emulator on it, and even a Commodore 64 emulator...very nifty! :)
At the moment I am programming on the GP2X using the bloodshed Dev C++ compiler...SOB! no Pascal yet :(
I can't wait till Freepascal can cross-compile to the ARM9...
I'll need to install a Linux distro to try it though.
cheers,
Paul.
Freepascal *can* crosscompile to ARM9 :P
The arm-linux crosscompiler should work fine for GP2X.
Neat! I will have to try it :-)
cheers,
Paul
Oh that sounds interesting
I will have to dust my gp2x off as soon as there is an example.
:)
I would love to develop for the gp2x - once I have time again.
Fun little console
I thought FPC only supported ARM7 at the moment? Besides, the last few times I have tried to build a FPC cross-compiler for arm-linux it threw an internal compiler error building the runtime library (error 200203271 building gtkspinbutton.inc).
I'm still doing stuff (slowly) on the GP2X, though I am using gcc through Visual Studio 2005 Express.
A couple of people have started to write support for OpenGL-ES, but it is not standard or complete yet.
Hey Sly. As you can see Legolas has done a ton of work on the NDS (which now compiles fairly well!), but I think it's the ARM9 specific functionality that is currently missing. Though, Florian is curently adding further support for ARM (including the THUMB if I'm not mistaken?) which will help in these platforms.
Why not pitch in with the FPC troop and see if you can get something going in your prefered language? :) You could be their GP2X guy. And I'm sure that Legolas will be there to help back you up on the ARM9.
Just an idea. There is growing FPC interest in the GP2X here so it could be a way to learn more about while pushing the features you'd want to work right at the development level of FPC.
Stoney
02-01-2007, 10:38 PM
KidPaddle from the german GP2X forum managed to compile a little space sidescroller shooting game written with Pascal for GP2X. The game has some bugs by now, the gameplay is simple and graphics are minimalistic, but imho it's awesome that the first game has been ported to GP2X and it's running quite well! :D
Link to the thread: Click (well, it's completely in german) (http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?t=3440)
Link to his game: http://www.seban.de/download/sfighter.zip (Size: ~ 2 MB)
He set a cross compiler environment in Windows XP with coLinux and FreePascal 2.0.4. Furthermore, he also support Paeryn's SDL, which is a slightly modified SDL library written in "C" providing hardware acceleration for GP2X.
KidPaddle will provide a coLinux ISO Image in the soon future with all configurations included so we could be able to write our own games with his help.
That sounds really excellent - as soon as I get my gp2x back I will give it a go
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