Complete GPH 4.1 Firmware Source Code Released

[ledow]

"Copyright © 2008 GP2X OSS Project. <dev.gp2x.com>"

I think that's normal. I don't do much looking at code but my understanding is that you can't GPL something unless you have the copyright to begin with. It's a license, it grants you certain rights, but those rights have to come from the original copyright holder. It may not be considered normal to insert the copyright notice, though, I dunno.


My point was that it's copyright the "GP2X OSS project" (whatever that is), so even without a formal English announcement, it seems they are committed to getting everything out there in an OSS way. There are other copyrights in there already but it looks like they've tacked on the GPL and this particular copyright header to all files recently.

 

[tuXXX]

Yeah, I saw that LCD on the dev kit. Actually, I'm not even sure you can buy 640x480 LCDs these days, everything's gone anything-but-4:3 these days.

The Neo FreeRunner does come with a 480x640 LCD screen, so it should be available somewhere

Anyway, I think this release is good. I really hope we could build a "community" firmware using only our own sources, fixing bug ourselves, and so on.
I'm now trying to buy a cradle, but I think that it may be difficult to find it now.

 

[fishybawb]

Anyway, I think this release is good. I really hope we could build a "community" firmware using only our own sources, fixing bug ourselves, and so on.

What, you mean like Open2x?

 

[Joobloo]

I would also say my biggest annoyance with the F200 is the loud minimum volume. Having to turn down the volume every time i start up an emulator gets frustrating. I hope the release of this source code will allow one of our great devs to fix this

 

[jbrodack]

the volume thing isn't a big deal to me. You can usually affect it by setting it low on gmenu2x. what i don't like is some attempts to "correct" the loudness of the f200 by making things too sound too low.

 

[geise69]

Would there be any way to fix the slow ass SD read access, or is that a hardware fault?

 

[bboyneko]

the volume thing isn't a big deal to me. You can usually affect it by setting it low on gmenu2x. what i don't like is some attempts to "correct" the loudness of the f200 by making things too sound too low.

I agree 100%, thats what happened with the pocketsnes..grrrr

I LIKE my games being loud!

 

[Joobloo]

CAN you affect the f200's volume with gmenu2x? Whether i put it to 3% or 100%, the volume is loud when launching the emulator. Maybe I'm missing something. I like my games loud too, but sometimes I don't want to wake the neighbors at night. Unfortunately with the f200, it's either loud or mute.

 

[sbock]

Would there be any way to fix the slow ass SD read access, or is that a hardware fault?

I think it's hardware related because of problems with the SD DMA in the MMSP 2 chip.

 

[Squidge]

You probably could get it a little faster, but it would be hard work for little effect.

 

[Micket]

CAN you affect the f200's volume with gmenu2x? Whether i put it to 3% or 100%, the volume is loud when launching the emulator. Maybe I'm missing something. I like my games loud too, but sometimes I don't want to wake the neighbors at night. Unfortunately with the f200, it's either loud or mute.

I keep seeing these complaints, and i feel i have to comment.
Is this a fact that F200 is louder? Has anyone actually compared both units with the same headphones?
My F100 is exactly like that in most programs.
gmenu2x is just another program, it changes the volume just like the games and emulators do, so no, it would not change anything if you change the volume in side your program as well.
In oldplay i got lots of complaints on sound beeing to loud and to low, by people of various units (F100 and F200)
To be useable for everyone i had to set the volume to go from the lowest possible on both PCM and MASTER (through /dev/mixer) to the highest possible. But that wasn't enough. Lowest was still way to loud (and it is in EVERY program, i never use more than the lowest volume in all apps), so i had to reduce it further in software, that is, multiply the samples by some small fraction. I go as low as 1/20th of the usual lowest volume any app can get with /dev/mixer

So to make a long rant short, i think it's just becuase you guys have different headphones. Maybe. Definitely not a F200 issue

 

[senquack]

CAN you affect the f200's volume with gmenu2x? Whether i put it to 3% or 100%, the volume is loud when launching the emulator. Maybe I'm missing something. I like my games loud too, but sometimes I don't want to wake the neighbors at night. Unfortunately with the f200, it's either loud or mute.

I keep seeing these complaints, and i feel i have to comment.
Is this a fact that F200 is louder? Has anyone actually compared both units with the same headphones?
...
So to make a long rant short, i think it's just becuase you guys have different headphones. Maybe. Definitely not a F200 issue


Nah, it's an F200 issue. I own both an F100 MK2 and F200 and the F200 is unbearably loud using in-ear headphones, whereas the F100 is usable, but still a bit too loud in a lot of apps that don't have fine-grained controls (like the default GPH music player).

The F200 includes a new sound amp, that's probably some of the source of the problem (they didn't wire it in right, or the kernel driver is sending it values that are too large)

To joobloo:
Anyways, yeah like Micket said, if a program writes directly to /dev/mixer (like most of my ports do, and for good reason), it will override GMenu2X's setting. Writing mixer adjustments directly to /dev/mixer is the most reliable way of controlling sound on GP2X's, in my experience. And I've never had a problem, using Paeryn's SDL, with limiting the volumes on both F100s and F200s to a reasonable level, even with in-ear headphones, but usually it also involved limiting sample volumes too.

 

[Micket]

I see. Well, since i had to lower the sample amplitude by a factor 20, at the lowest possible settings in /dev/mixer (both PCM and VOLUME), then i can only imagine how absurdly loud it must be on the F200!
For me it was just a headphones issue though, the speaker volume is ok, but headphones are 10 times louder at the same level.

 

[Joobloo]

So can the volume issue be addressed with the new firmware source? Or will a hardware mod (resistors) remain the only fix? Some emulators save your volume level (like picodrive), so you don't have to lower it every time. But still, picodrive offers you a range of 0-99 and i play mine comfortably at like 6 or 7...

It seems a comfortable volume level should be around 50%, with room to both lower or raise.

 

[Micket]

So can the volume issue be addressed with the new firmware source? Or will a hardware mod (resistors) remain the only fix? Some emulators save your volume level (like picodrive), so you don't have to lower it every time. But still, picodrive offers you a range of 0-99 and i play mine comfortably at like 6 or 7...

It seems a comfortable volume level should be around 50%, with room to both lower or raise.

If you CAN get low enough, then i don't see any reason to change this? Remembering sound levels are up to eah program of course.
I can't use anything above 1 in picodrive on my F100 (which is to loud if i wan't to hear anything from my surroundings)
If you want lower volume (without hardware mods) you have to start decreasing the values of each sample, which decreases sound quality. Few programs does this, simple becuase it's a hassle.
So question is, can this be done in the firmware? Well, it's not technically impossible i guess, but i'm not going to do it.

 

[senquack]

So can the volume issue be addressed with the new firmware source? Or will a hardware mod (resistors) remain the only fix? Some emulators save your volume level (like picodrive), so you don't have to lower it every time. But still, picodrive offers you a range of 0-99 and i play mine comfortably at like 6 or 7...

It seems a comfortable volume level should be around 50%, with room to both lower or raise.

Welp, I'm certainly going to try to get this fixed for Open2X on F200's.. I am waiting for a cable that will let me unbrick my F200

 

[Manjuu]

[...]

Nah, it's an F200 issue. I own both an F100 MK2 and F200 and the F200 is unbearably loud using in-ear headphones, whereas the F100 is usable, but still a bit too loud in a lot of apps that don't have fine-grained controls (like the default GPH music player).

The F200 includes a new sound amp, that's probably some of the source of the problem (they didn't wire it in right, or the kernel driver is sending it values that are too large)

[...]

In FW 4.1.x, there seems to be an attempt to lower the volume. This causes a problem on some programs (i.e. PocketSNES) that auto-detect F-200s to "correct" the volume; it now makes the volume too weak, even at maximum setting.

 

[senquack]

[...]

Nah, it's an F200 issue. I own both an F100 MK2 and F200 and the F200 is unbearably loud using in-ear headphones, whereas the F100 is usable, but still a bit too loud in a lot of apps that don't have fine-grained controls (like the default GPH music player).

The F200 includes a new sound amp, that's probably some of the source of the problem (they didn't wire it in right, or the kernel driver is sending it values that are too large)

[...]

In FW 4.1.x, there seems to be an attempt to lower the volume. This causes a problem on some programs (i.e. PocketSNES) that auto-detect F-200s to "correct" the volume; it now makes the volume too weak, even at maximum setting.


Since programs that auto-detect F200s and lower volume accordingly are exceedingly rare (and probably coded by authors that are still issuing updates, like PocketSNES), I think it will be best to keep the changes GPH incorporated into Open2X, and have the output of a default SDL app be the same volume on both F100s and F200s.

It might be possible to have a /proc interface that will allow you to disable the fix temporarily through a settings interface somewhere if a certain important app never gets updated to eliminate its limiting of volume on F200.

 

[senquack]

We now have the Open2X kernel running on F200s, won't be long now

 

[fishybawb]

We now have the Open2X kernel running on F200s, won't be long now

Awesome

Thanks for your work on this guys.