GP32 Chips Challenge

[thejoeandchip]

ima major major noob to linux. i am painfully noobish. i just installed knoppix today(hey, i got internet working off hard drive installed knoppix, thats a plus). i cant even install sdl. i suck that much. i have only programed a tiny tiny bit in javascript a few years ago and forgot it. anyways, seeing the gp2x convinced me to switch to linux, that and i killed windows....oops. i am embarking on a mission to port tile world, which is a port of chips challenge to the gp2x. it is sdl so it cant be too hard. and that game is played with up down left and right so i see no control problems. im going to fail but i'll learn something failing. btw, is sdl its own language or what. i have no idea. oh, is this already ported? thanks for reading.

edit ok, so i think sdl is an expanding library to c. hmm, so i guess first i gotta learn c. sounds easy enough. but before i learn c i should install the sdl (any tips) and then play supertux just to better understand what sdl and c can do. oh yeah.

 

[Robster]

Hey, don't be defeatist before you start!

We get two types of "major major noobs" around here: those that puddle around and stay noobs forever, and those that learn a bit and eventually become non-noobs and contribute some cool stuff to the scene . Remember everyone was a noob once!

You will need to learn C first, it would probably be a good idea to learn to do a bit on your PC before you try to do stuff on the GP2X, because the GP2X adds its own complications and you'll want things to be as simple as possible initially.

As you learn, ask questions here, people are always helpful to real questions as opposed to the "where can I find SNES romz" type of query that comes up a lot around here.

And finally, please use a bit more punctuation in your posts - it makes them a lot easier to read.

Good luck!

 

[DaveC]

ima major major noob to linux. i am painfully noobish. i just installed knoppix today(hey, i got internet working off hard drive installed knoppix, thats a plus). i cant even install sdl. i suck that much. i have only programed a tiny tiny bit in javascript a few years ago and forgot it. anyways, seeing the gp2x convinced me to switch to linux, that and i killed windows....oops. i am embarking on a mission to port tile world, which is a port of chips challenge to the gp2x. it is sdl so it cant be too hard. and that game is played with up down left and right so i see no control problems. im going to fail but i'll learn something failing. btw, is sdl its own language or what. i have no idea. oh, is this already ported? thanks for reading.

edit  ok, so i think sdl is an expanding library to c. hmm, so i guess first i gotta learn c. sounds easy enough. but before i learn c i should install the sdl (any tips) and then play supertux just to better understand what sdl and c can do. oh yeah.

​

Maybe just port the GP32 version of the Lynx emulator. Then you will get Chips Challenge and others.

 

[thejoeandchip]

OK, I know that learning C will take a while. I suspect in a month I'll be able to make forms and moving pictures. What I need to know now is that since the program is writen in C, could I port it with an understanding of C++. I've heard that C++ is more OOP like and that C, well, isn't. OOP is a lot more appealing to me since I once downloaded the director trial and made a rock paper siccors shockwave game pretty easily. (hey rps2x sounds like a possible first project.)

another reason c++ would rock is that i have c++ for dummies lying around and i dont want to dish out 50 bucks for a book i might not need.

 

[mrsnature]

yeah C++ will be fine, but basically C++ is C with extra features (OOP)

so you'll need to know C anyway, but your book should cover that..

C++ and other object oriented programming languages does not mean it is visual (like select a button and put it on a form - i think this is what director is like?). This is just how some packages make it easier to write windows apps, basically it is writing most of the C++ code for you...

 

[Ravnos]

OK, I know that learning C will take a while. I suspect in a month I'll be able to make forms and moving pictures. What I need to know now is that since the program is writen in C, could I port it with an understanding of C++. I've heard that C++ is more OOP like and that C, well, isn't. OOP is a lot more appealing to me since I once downloaded the director trial and made a rock paper siccors shockwave game pretty easily. (hey rps2x sounds like a possible first project.)

​

I don't want to discourage you, but if you got your idea of object-oriented programming from Director then C++ is going to shock the hell out of you. Java and pretty much any other OOP language, too. You might want to pick up that book of yours there and start reading up on this stuff.

 

[thejoeandchip]

no, i know what oop is. i guess shockwave was a bad example, too tell you the truth I've dabled in many languages and never sticked to one. So dont worry, I know the difference between drag and drop or point and click visual developement and OOP, they just usually go hand in hand. Sorry for the off topic linux question but I know to install things you open a terminal and follow the directions given, but it's really hard. Any advice on learning to install in the terminal. Im running Knoppix(bad choice? i know its not made for hard drives).

Its so humbling to switch to linux because I could do anything in windows and now I cant even install the SDL. Gee, I could edit the registry, hack paint, make it run nice and smooth, now nothing.

 

[thejoeandchip]

i just switched my os to stux linux and its very easy. its a form of slackware so theres loads of stuff that works on it. it came with all the programs i used on windows. anyway, point is that it has a c compiler so that is good.

 

[aapje89]

i just switched my os to stux linux and its very easy. its a form of slackware so theres loads of stuff that works on it. it came with all the programs i used on windows. anyway, point is that it has a c compiler so that is good.

​

I can recommend debian, it very easy to setup.

 

[thejoeandchip]

i just switched my os to stux linux and its very easy. its a form of slackware so theres loads of stuff that works on it. it came with all the programs i used on windows. anyway, point is that it has a c compiler so that is good.

​

I can recommend debian, it very easy to setup.

​

that sounds neat, and it being more mainstream will help. I'll try it. I've formatted and replaced os's so many times in the last 3 days. Is that bad for the hd. Anyway, stux sux, its not 1.0 yet and for good reason. thanks.

 

[Ravnos]

If Debian sounds good to you, you might be interested in Ubuntu instead. It's pretty much a more user-friendly version of Debian Sid. I'm using it right now and I like it a lot. It's also got a pretty large community and quite a bit of documentation online so you can find answers for just about everything you need to know without much trouble.

 

[Alex.]

What if you give Fenix a spin, since you do not have much programming experience? Fenix is great for syntax and quick results, and is easy to port over to C later on!

 

[thejoeandchip]

Thank you all for your help. I'll give that os a look. I've heard good things about ubuntu. Fenix sounds like a good idea, although I do need to learn C syntax sooner or later. Are there any plans to get Fenix code running on the gp2x. The fenix snippets looked very readable. It reminds me of basic code, which i quit because there were too many variations and good languages required commercial compilers. I feel like a bad poser programmer for quitting every language. I think I've quit them due to my short attention span. So far I've quit c, java, xml, perl, basic, and director. All dev environments were too expensive in windows and books cost too much so I was always left with just some swedish dos compiler and a website that had nothing but high level algorithims with theorys to disprove einstienien thought. Not to mention I'm just 14 so I can't take a school class on anything. This will be different. I'll take a vow not to quit. I will not rest, I will work for hours on end until I am knee deep in portable chip's-challenge-a-riffic goodness.

Now first step....downloading multi gig iso's at 24kbps.....oh yeah!!!

 

[thejoeandchip]

I do gotta give myself credit though, I learned enough php to make a random word generator, I made a side scrolling plane shooting 1945-ish shockwave game, a hello word in about 4 things, a counter in perl, and a trippy random circle maker in (dark) basic. Im not saying that theres anything to brag about in this resume of mine, and Im sorry for sounding like a cocky arrogant noob(i brag about hello world, c'mon), but I thrashed myself and I needed some credibility so you guys weren't thinkin "oh great, is he gonna ask us to debug his 'my first script' script that's an xbox emu for the ti-84" or something.

 

[Talyz]

i just switched my os to stux linux and its very easy. its a form of slackware so theres loads of stuff that works on it. it came with all the programs i used on windows. anyway, point is that it has a c compiler so that is good.

​

I can recommend debian, it very easy to setup.

​

I've tested debian a couple of times, but ended up using Mandriva Linux as main OS, because of its great out-of-the-box hardware support (I'm lazy, I know :rolleyes: ).

 

[aapje89]

i just switched my os to stux linux and its very easy. its a form of slackware so theres loads of stuff that works on it. it came with all the programs i used on windows. anyway, point is that it has a c compiler so that is good.

​

I can recommend debian, it very easy to setup.

​

I've tested debian a couple of times, but ended up using Mandriva Linux as main OS, because of its great out-of-the-box hardware support (I'm lazy, I know :rolleyes: ).

​

is mandriva not free?

 

[thejoeandchip]

mandriva has a free version and commercial versions. it was easy but i hated it. mandriva makes you feel like your useing shareware when you get the free version. they put bookmarks to their site and make you sign up for a "membership" just to download certain plug ins. Its basically poor mans windows ripped off open source code. no offense talyz.