Exagear is dead

[___]

@Kippykip I have archived everything as well... see my post above yours ^^.

I don't know how the license key is handled. I think it isn't single use, but the deviceID is somehow tethered to it and thus it can only be activated for that device if IIRC. So there must have been some sort of online check, but it's been too long since I tried last.

EDIT: yes there is an online check, it's indicated in their FAQ https://docs.eltechs.com/install-and-configure-exagear-desktop/activation-of-exagear-desktop

They told me once, that it wouldn't be a problem to reactivate the license on another device, but if their online activation is going offline, I see no way that could be achieved. Will we then not be able to use the software legally anymore?

EDIT2: I have sent them an email asking what will happen with the online activation, after they take down their service. Let's see what they'll advise, they are quick to reply luckily.

 

[Kippykip]

@Kippykip I have archived everything as well... see my post above yours ^^.

I don't know how the license key is handled. I think it isn't single use, but the deviceID is somehow tethered to it and thus it can only be activated for that device if IIRC. So there must have been some sort of online check, but it's been too long since I tried last.

EDIT: yes there is an online check, it's indicated in their FAQ https://docs.eltechs.com/install-and-configure-exagear-desktop/activation-of-exagear-desktop

They told me once, that it wouldn't be a problem to reactivate the license on another device, but if their online activation is going offline, I see no way that could be achieved. Will we then not be able to use the software legally anymore?

EDIT2: I have sent them an email asking what will happen with the online activation, after they take down their service. Let's see what they'll advise, they are quick to reply luckily.

Yeah that'll be great, as I got exagear originally for the Pyra's release aswell and it would suck if it has to be cracked in order to be used now.

 

[WizardStan]

Got a response: they have no intention of removing the activation server in the foreseeable future. It's going to have to happen eventually, entropy and all that, but for now it'll be fine: purchase a license before the 28th and it will continue to work for some time yet to come.
The license I (and I suspect many others) purchased back in 2015 WILL work with the v3.1 ARMv7 package that they just released. The representative DOES NOT want the links and packages to be shared, but if you purchased it and did not get the email simply send a request to support@eltechs.com and they'll forward it.
I've been getting frequent emails from them since I purchased, if you didn't get the discontinuation email and haven't been receiving regular communications from them then I'm going to guess that at some point you hit the "unsubscribe" link. Or it's been filtering into your spam folder. Regardless, send them an email, they'll hook you up.

 

[___]

Got a response: they have no intention of removing the activation server in the foreseeable future. It's going to have to happen eventually, entropy and all that, but for now it'll be fine: purchase a license before the 28th and it will continue to work for some time yet to come.
The license I (and I suspect many others) purchased back in 2015 WILL work with the v3.1 ARMv7 package that they just released. The representative DOES NOT want the links and packages to be shared, but if you purchased it and did not get the email simply send a request to support@eltechs.com and they'll forward it.
I've been getting frequent emails from them since I purchased, if you didn't get the discontinuation email and haven't been receiving regular communications from them then I'm going to guess that at some point you hit the "unsubscribe" link. Or it's been filtering into your spam folder. Regardless, send them an email, they'll hook you up.

yeah google flagged their first emails as spam - presumably because it's a russian company (or in that area?)... but I have since emailed them a couple of times requesting the latest links, because I did not find their emails in my spam folder anymore. They weren't able to find my email address in their system, but I have the original email with attached license key in my in-folder, so the problem is on their side.

 

[Kippykip]

The representative DOES NOT want the links and packages to be shared

Then don't discontinue the entire product all the sudden on a small deadline lmfao

 

[___]

Then don't discontinue the entire product all the sudden on a small deadline lmfao

exactly... but then again, we bought a product with DRM from an obscure company with their own online activation services. So I guess we should've seen it coming.

Also: I am an idiot... I bought the software back in 2015 with my old paypal email address which I have since changed to my actual email account. So they must've saved the email address originally used for payment. User error... then again, they could've changed the email address, since I communicated the problem in 2015 already. Never followed it up though and had since forgotten.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

So it's a bit exa-ggerated.

 

[Klumpen]

DRM is bad enough, not removing it from a product that is made unavailable is even worse.
Now I'm glad that I didn't buy it prior to Pyra's actual release.

 

[sm0kew0n]

The representative DOES NOT want the links and packages to be shared

I'm confused now, does this mean I can't buy from that link you shared, or I can and they won't ever know.....

 

[ckblackm]

When I visited... the links for "desktop" said sold out and not taking new orders.

 

[WizardStan]

I'm confused now, does this mean I can't buy from that link you shared, or I can and they won't ever know.....

The email had links to download the packages. The packages are of no use without the license but regardless they don't want them being spread around: if you have already purchased but didn't get the email they want you to contact them. If you have not purchased a license but would like to, go to https://eltechs.com/product/exagear-desktop/exagear-desktop-features-and-prices-final2/

When I visited... the links for "desktop" said sold out and not taking new orders.

The link on the website does not work. The above link does.

edit: For the Pyra you'll need the ARMv7 from the Other tab.

 

[asimov-solensan]

That's 30€ and 30€ more if Pyra upgrades to armv8 for something that we don't even know if will be useful on Pyra.

Don't know what to do.

 

[Klumpen]

I'd rather pay for an OpenSource alternative (if it's user friendly).

 

[Kippykip]

I've just archived everything together now including the entire email html (with links updated to use local files)
It's about 4.16GB though all up which is too big for the hosting plan I'm with on my website, so maybe I could put a torrent together?

 

[levi]

I'd rather pay for an OpenSource alternative (if it's user friendly).

I'm still fairly confident someone will be able to pull off some magic with QEmu to make it work well enough for me.

 

[elvissteinjr]

That's 30€ and 30€ more if Pyra upgrades to armv8 for something that we don't even know if will be useful on Pyra.

Shouldn't 32-bit ARM applications still run on a 64-bit OS, given you have the right libs and such? It wouldn't be able to take advantage of the ARMv8 instruction set, but should still run.
Might be wrong on that though.

I'm still fairly confident someone will be able to pull off some magic with QEmu to make it work well enough for me.

Exagear is really faster though. iirc QEMU rejected some optimization patches for ARM in the past with the reasoning it would make the code too complex.
If someone gets QEMU user mode emulation up and running on our devices, it'd be a great alternative, though.


I'm not suggesting anyone to do it yet, but I heard there were Exagear versions which were "freed" from the license check floating around the internets. If my valid license stops working at some point and there's no other way to get one I may consider this route.

 

[ptitSeb]

I'm curious, what App/Games do you expect (or plan) to use with Exagear?

 

[TrashyMG]

I'm curious, what App/Games do you expect (or plan) to use with Exagear?

Well with Exagear+Wine on the OMAP5 devboard, I've had some good luck with some early 2000 Windows only games and this was without 3D acceleration. But if I recall @lunixbochs had some good success with getting Qemu fairly fast with 3D acceleration.

 

[ptitSeb]

I'm just wondering the list of stuff. So basically... just Wine?

 

[TrashyMG]

I'm just wondering the list of stuff. So basically... just Wine?

technically it runs 32bit x86 linux, but not sure how much closed source software is out there. Maybe a handful of games like Unreal Tournament that never got a full engine open sourced.