Curious,

[judge0]

@jarska333 - do you mean mail slot?

 

[DaveC]

Some sort of standard should be agreed upon before a lot of apps / games start appearing, each of which requiring a different directory structure.

ie  Joe Blow releases PongMania, which requires sprites to be located in /mnt/sd/games/datawhile Jane Dow releases SkipMaster Deluxe, which places her custom support libs in /mnt/sd/games/data.

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Another way is to store each app in it's own folder and keep the data in that same folder (like the msdos way of doing things). The launcher automatically chdir's to the location of the exe, so for example duke3d normally looks for all it's data files in the same location as the exe which means as long as the exe and all the data files are in the same place you can call the folder whatever you want and place it wherever you like in the /mnt/sd directory structure. Would mean you'd have to press twice to launch (once to select the folder, then once again to select the exe within it), but it would also mean no hunting around for data files if you want to delete the app.

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Sounds like a good idea but it still sounds like a PITA compared to the GP32. I don't like navigating through a bunch of screens to play a game etc.

Is it possible to have a Windows type "shortcut" feature? This way you could have all of the apps in their own directory anywhere as you said but get to them quicker. You could have the shortcuts for all games in a "games" folder, all emulators in an "emulator" folder etc right on the main screen which would link to the app directly.

 

[woogal]

@woogal - Sounds like a plan if all follow. Do you have any info on how the system handles permissions? ie is the system always in SU?

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Dev boards take you to a login prompt, and I think the only valid user is root. No idea what user might be used on the final hardware.

 

[Jarska333]

@Jarska333 - do you mean mail slot?

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Could well be. My vocabulary is sadly limited on such things. Basically, a hole in a door, big enough to fit newspapers and thin packages. Usually apartment buildings/flats have these. Sometimes they have mailboxes, too...

 

[Radek]

Is it possible to have a Windows type "shortcut" feature? This way you could have all of the apps in their own directory anywhere as you said but get to them quicker. You could have the shortcuts for all games in a "games" folder, all emulators in an "emulator" folder etc right on the main screen which would link to the app directly.

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Isn't the GP2x's original firmware totally changeable? Imho it will not take much time for an 3rd party alternatives to show.

 

[Prothall]

Jarska, they are called (so far as I know) mail slots by everyone. "Hatch" is a rather rare term, used mostly on ships... that's the only reason for confusion, or should be.

Threadkill!

 

[trooper]

Jarska at they are called (so far as I know) mail slots by everyone. "Hatch" is a rather rare term, used mostly on ships... that's the only reason for confusion, or should be.

Threadkill!

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Nope, It`s still called a letterbox here in the UK, Which isn`t part of america. :rolleyes:

Fender :blink: bumper
hood :blink: bonnet
railroad :blink: railway
suv :blink: four wheel drive
gas :blink: petrol, diesel

etc etc.

Trooper

 

[tekt5]

my grandparents have a letter hatch/ mail slot. You'll find them more often in smaller communities

 

[slygamer]

I had been giving some thought to writing up a TRC (technical requirements checklist), similar to that of the major consoles. The TRCs would define how a game installs itself onto a card, how it uses the 8-way joystick, the three-fingered salute to reset the system, etc. This ensures that all applications behave in a consistent manner. I've had to put several games through approval (where the console manufacturers check compliance with TRCs) on PS2, Xbox and GC, so I have some experience in these matters.

 

[DJWillis]

I had been giving some thought to writing up a TRC (technical requirements checklist), similar to that of the major consoles. The TRCs would define how a game installs itself onto a card, how it uses the 8-way joystick, the three-fingered salute to reset the system, etc. This ensures that all applications behave in a consistent manner. I've had to put several games through approval (where the console manufacturers check compliance with TRCs) on PS2, Xbox and GC, so I have some experience in these matters.

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It's a nice idea but if the GP32 tells us anything it is not going to work out to well.

With an open console people do things there way (i.e. what works for them).
You do start to get a load of defacto standards that brew in places like the IRC chans, WiKi's etc. but very little to force you down one route or the other.

The only thing you can be sure of is people supporting the standard GPH launcher for Linux apps or the raw hardware launcher/exe format for when you want to skip Linux, the rest is really upto the devs to best suit themselves.

I have also worked with TRC's on consoles and in a closed environment there a GREAT idea, there not a bad idea in an open envirnoment but by virtue of open there is no way to force it .

my grandparents have a letter hatch/ mail slot. You'll find them more often in smaller communities

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What, like nearly every door in the UK, you know, that small little island off the cost of France .

 

[judge0]

Is it possible to have a Windows type "shortcut" feature? This way you could have all of the apps in their own directory anywhere as you said but get to them quicker. You could have the shortcuts for all games in a "games" folder, all emulators in an "emulator" folder etc right on the main screen which would link to the app directly.

​

Isn't the GP2x's original firmware totally changeable? Imho it will not take much time for an 3rd party alternatives to show.

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@DaveC - Unix/Linux had them first - symbolic links ln -sf {name of link} {actual path of linked item}

@Radek - - WE are the 3rd party hence the thread

However, reading some of the threads from the more advanced devs, it is starting to look like we are eventually going to move to a community developed Launcher/Minimal OS - which of course will still require some form of standard for app file storage. Just a waiting game I guess. :rolleyes: