Exagear is dead

[WizardStan]

In case you hadn't heard the news, after just shy of 5 years Eltechs is discontinuing Exagear, their high performance ARM emulator which has been used to demonstrate several games on the Pandora and what I'd hoped would run even better on the Pyra. If you want to buy a license you'll have to do so and download it before the 28th.
I purchased a license back in 2015 in preparation for the "imminent" release of the Pyra. I only just found out as part of the discontinuation email that they have multiple versions for multiple platforms all of which require their own unique license and I have no idea which one I'm going to actually need once the Pyra is available.

 

[ible]

gotta buy 'em all!


(jk, not recommended way of proceeding.)

 

[levi]

What do you mean by platforms? Isn't it clear what you need for an ARMv7 device like the pyra?

 

[TheOldOne]

This is sad news.

 

[Grench]

I paid for two Exagear licenses back when in preparation of the imminent Pyra as well.

Which ones do I want to download for this purpose?

Thanks!

 

[sm0kew0n]

Dang it, this was going to be one of my first purchases after my pyra arrived, better get it now I suppose. I too would like to know the exact license to buy as there are quite a few. It's a shame there won't be any updates though.

EDIT: Damn, not available to buy anymore - https://eltechs.com/product/exagear-desktop/exagear-desktop-features-and-prices/

 

[MrJustreborn]

Instead of abandon it, they could opensource it...

 

[Eight Bit]

Oh, I still have my pre-purchased, never used license in my mailbox... Could I still download and use the software?

 

[Alperoot]

Instead of abandon it, they could opensource it...

Maybe it was a legal issue? I mean, why would they suddenly stop selling the software and refuse any possible profit instead of just ceasing support for it?

 

[ptitSeb]

There are just ditching the Desktop version (not a big enough market I guess). The Android version is still alive if I'm not mistaken.

 

[___]

Wow... I am pissed off. Never got an email update from them and the last Version they sent me was 1.5 in 2016... anyone willing to share their download? I would really love to have the latest version of the software I paid money for. Their licensing model was shit and I hated the "you can only download it once we send you an email with a specific URL" idiocy... still sad to see it go, it was pretty expensive but promising.

 

[ElPoco]

I haven't used it for some time, I think I even removed it from my SD Card to free some space. My main use for it would have been games, but I had a hard time getting glshim working on it (I don't remember very well but I think I finally got it to work with some basic test apps but couldn't get anything else working) so that left very few games.

I've used it to run the Steam linux CLI to download some the data for some games that have a Pandora port and to play some King of Dragon Pass (with buggy sound/music). I also tried Fallout Tactics, but it wasn't running smoothly enough.

Maybe I should try the last version, to check if it runs any better, but the changelogs tended to show a focus on getting Skype to work and little in terms of game support or performance improvements. And it was always such a hassle to setup, I'm not sure I want to waste time on that again.

 

[WizardStan]

What do you mean by platforms? Isn't it clear what you need for an ARMv7 device like the pyra?

I bought a license back when there was only one package. When they sent out an email about version 2 I asked and they said the license was good for the new version as well, no need to pay for a new license. Does that mean it works for all of them? Or was that plan revoked and now I really do need to buy a second license despite having never used the first one?

Oh, I still have my pre-purchased, never used license in my mailbox... Could I still download and use the software?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. At the very least you should be able to use it with the original software. I just tried downloading it and the link is now dead so that's not going to work for me. All the links in my inbox are dead except for the v3.1 that they just put out with their discontinue notice. So it had better work. Maybe I should buy a new license just in case. That feels very suspicious.

Damn, not available to buy anymore

Ah. They included a link to purchase additional licenses, didn't realize it wasn't just the regular link:
https://eltechs.com/product/exagear-desktop/exagear-desktop-features-and-prices-final2/

My other concern is that apparently the license is internet verified. I figured it was cryptographically signed and that's how verification happened but apparently no, if you do not have internet it cannot complete the registration, it appears. What's going to happen after the 28th with that? Presumably the company still exists, they haven't said anything about Exagears Mobile, just Exagear Desktop is discontinued, so they still need some servers, but how long are they going to keep maintaining the license server?

 

[MrJustreborn]

Maybe it was a legal issue? I mean, why would they suddenly stop selling the software and refuse any possible profit instead of just ceasing support for it?

Maybe or they just don't make enough money from it. - It's pretty niche market for this kind of software.

 

[___]

okay in case that anyone needs the tar.gz packages for any binary format, I just saved all of them. They were so kind to send me an email with all the links. hit me up if you can't get the latest version anymore and I'll upload it to my owncloud and post a link.

EDIT: or I can forward the list of download links, as long as those work

 

[WizardStan]

I've sent them an email asking if I'm allowed to forward the links. I'm reasonably certain it's fine but I don't want to cause any trouble.

 

[Kippykip]

Wow... I am pissed off. Never got an email update from them and the last Version they sent me was 1.5 in 2016... anyone willing to share their download? I would really love to have the latest version of the software I paid money for. Their licensing model was shit and I hated the "you can only download it once we send you an email with a specific URL" idiocy... still sad to see it go, it was pretty expensive but promising.

I'm archiving everything from the email right now, I'll pm it after if you want.

 

[Eight Bit]

I'm interested too @Kippykip

 

[sm0kew0n]

Maybe Win for ARM on rpi is a reason they have given up on the desktop version, it seems networking is running now. Not sure how it handles x86 binaries on rpi though, or anything else for that matter.

 

[Kippykip]

I'm interested too @Kippykip

Sure thing, one thing I'm wondering is the one use license key thing. I've formatted the raspberry pi I installed it on years ago since then. Can the key still be used despite the site saying it's a single use key? Or is there an online check? I really didn't use exagear much.