Firmware: Which One's Best, Most Stable?

[yaustar]

Interesting... how does pacrom work with the autoboot function? Does it write to the SMC or the BIOS?

 

[aquafish_]

it write in the gp32's eprom..

 

[Huxley]

I use the official beta, there is no fluff, no kiddie jingle when starting up, etc.. there isnt even a FreeLauncher anymore, all of your games and apps are listed in one single easy to use menu.

Where can you download this version?

 

[Dozer]

I use the official beta, there is no fluff, no kiddie jingle when starting up, etc.. there isnt even a FreeLauncher anymore, all of your games and apps are listed in one single easy to use menu.

Where can you download this version?

I wouldn't recomed this one as it hasn't booted a few things I've tried, although the only one I can think of right now is Giana Returns. If you want to boot it though I'd go for aquafishes firmware and then boot straight into it, you can always boot pacrom then if there's something it doesn't want to load.

 

[mr.spiv]

Well we have flashed hundreds to MFW and never had one just die on us...

If it had problems we would get them back all the time surely?

-Craig

www.gbax.com

I had 3-4 of these "stories/cases".. low percentage out of all sold GP32s in Europe but can happen. The latest case was Declaration's GP32, which he sent to Rob. Later Rob said the HW was ok but the FW had screwed up. Reflash brought it back. I have no explanation to this :blink:

 

[Twinbee]

Oh dear.

I've just flashed to Multifirmware so am I to expect a crash any time soon? :blink:

 

[PinkSpider]

meh. Almost 5 months and mine is still fine. Love MFW, Pacrom is so easy to use and I use WindUps when 'noobs' are using it

 

[Huxley]

I wouldn't recomed this one as it hasn't booted a few things I've tried, although the only one I can think of right now is Giana Returns. If you want to boot it though I'd go for aquafishes firmware and then boot straight into it, you can always boot pacrom then if there's something it doesn't want to load.

Ahh, dagnamit!

I'll just use the regular firmware because it looks to be the most safe and reliable option right now, and maybe upgrade to the official Euro firmware when it's released a few days later <_<

 

[Squidge]

Flashed my GP32 about a week after I had it to MultiFW, never looked back. It's loaded everything I've thrown at it. GBAX have flashed all new GP32's to MultiFW on request for a good while now, and I've not seen many (any?) complaints in here that there console has stopped functioning.

So, yes, firmware can cause some weird and wonderful problems with your Gp32, but if you stick to tried and tested firmwares, you should have no problems.

 

[Azure]

I've had my FW flashed to MultiFW for about 6 months now and it still works perfectly for me.

BTW, I recommend that you use Pacrom - YAFL, instead of Wind-Ups.

 

[Nightripper]

I've been using the Official Beta Euro Firmware (the one that can be downloaded from gp32_console 's site) and every program i've tried has loaded up fine so I don't understand why everyone is so negative about it. :huh:

 

[DaveC]

but I have heard of many going out a couple weeks to a couple months after they were flashed.

Yeah? Point me to one.

Well, if you insist:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=9178&hl=

And to further expand this, here is an excerpt from the IRC chan the other day when I was talking with RobBrown and GP33DEV.

<GP33DEV> I'm like 101% sure that a reflash will recover it
<RobBrown> GP33DEV: I'm reading the bios as we speak, we'll see if you're right. You probably are, it seems to be perfectly functional
<ErrorTrap> Why would the bios die like that though?  A bug in the bios?
<GP33DEV> 1/5 of my fixes were just like that.. btw
<GP33DEV> or 1/6.. can't remember
<ErrorTrap> Is it a common thing to have the bios just die?  Does it only do it with an unofficial bios?
<GP33DEV> ErrorTrap: I would say it more common that would be acceptable
<GP33DEV> ErrorTrap: common story was.. "I flashed.. used it for days/weeks/months and then one day it died"

Not something that inspires confidence in flashing unofficial firmware. I think ill wait until I have my own JTAG cable made before I flash it. Just in case I happen to be one of those statistics. I would really love to have a multifw on my GP32, but the risk isnt worth the gain.

That is weird. How could this happen? Once you flash an eeprom doesn't the code stay the same in there until you re-flash it? It is not like a magnetic disk where it can degrade ofer time. The only thing I can think of is that these FWs are periodically writing to the BIOS which would be a BIG no-no, as all eeproms have a limited amount of flashes before they go bad. If that is not the case what could cause this and why is it different than the official BIOS?

 

[DaveC]

I've been using the Official Beta Euro Firmware (the one that can be downloaded from gp32_console 's site) and every program i've tried has loaded up fine so I don't understand why everyone is so negative about it. :huh:

The reason I started this topic is because I want to change the FW from my current one which IS the Euro beta FW. There are MANY things that just don't work with it. BOR beta 4 and up, Giana sisters, Efecero, and a few others that I don't even remember just reset my GP32 when I try to run them. I have heard of others with the same FW that have exactly the same problem, so compatability is terrible, that is why the negativity.

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Well we have flashed hundreds to MFW and never had one just die on us...

If it had problems we would get them back all the time surely?

-Craig

www.gbax.com

I had 3-4 of these "stories/cases".. low percentage out of all sold GP32s in Europe but can happen. The latest case was Declaration's GP32, which he sent to Rob. Later Rob said the HW was ok but the FW had screwed up. Reflash brought it back. I have no explanation to this :blink:

My point exactally, it DOES happen, it may be to a small percentage, but it does happen, and I dont want to be one of those that it happens to. No thank you. I have bad luck when it comes down to things like that.

 

[DaveC]

the best multifw is the one you make yourself : use Zed, you just have to select the apps you want to use in it and it create it automatically...
or you can also use my multifw, it include the european firmware, pacrom and yafl 0.3; what's more, you can use a background in the menu and you can add the programs you want from the smc in the menu... here is a screenshot of an old version http://membres.lycos.fr/illusionstudio/aquafish/gp32_001.jpg . the version 4.5 has all bugs corrected and i'ven't see anyone who has problems with it... (and it allow to boot to a firmware stored in the smc without having to reflash your gp32..)

This type is one that is a bit too much menu selecting. After you turn on the GP32 it loads a menu from which you load another menu (launcher). That is too many steps. I really don't need all of these FWs I just need one that works with everything.

What I want: A FW that after you turn on the GP32 it will just instantly autoboot into a launcher of my choosing that is on my SMC, no selecting, no menus. The same way that DOS would always boot "autoexec.bat".

The way this would work: The BIOS would always look in a directory on my SMC for a file called "launcher.fxe" Then I could rename any launcher of my choosing whether it is YAFL or a future yet unreleased launcher to "launcher.FXE" . This way I would never write to the BIOS ever again after the one time BIOS flash.

Is there anything like this yet?

 

[Dozer]

the best multifw is the one you make yourself : use Zed, you just have to select the apps you want to use in it and it create it automatically...
or you can also use my multifw, it include the european firmware, pacrom and yafl 0.3; what's more, you can use a background in the menu and you can add the programs you want from the smc in the menu... here is a screenshot of an old version http://membres.lycos.fr/illusionstudio/aquafish/gp32_001.jpg . the version 4.5 has all bugs corrected and i'ven't see anyone who has problems with it... (and it allow to boot to a firmware stored in the smc without having to reflash your gp32..)

This type is one that is a bit too much menu selecting. After you turn on the GP32 it loads a menu from which you load another menu (launcher). That is too many steps. I really don't need all of these FWs I just need one that works with everything.

What I want: A FW that after you turn on the GP32 it will just instantly autoboot into a launcher of my choosing that is on my SMC, no selecting, no menus. The same way that DOS would always boot "autoexec.bat".

The way this would work: The BIOS would always look in a directory on my SMC for a file called "launcher.fxe" Then I could rename any launcher of my choosing whether it is YAFL or a future yet unreleased launcher to "launcher.FXE" . This way I would never write to the BIOS ever again after the one time BIOS flash.

Is there anything like this yet?

You can do this with auquafishes firmware, it's what it's designed to do. Or you could use mr. spivs firmware and use pacrom to autoboot "autoboot.fxe".

I use aquafishes and it works fine .

 

[PinkSpider]

With MFW u can make it load the FW u want. IE pacrom (if u want another u hold select) this means that u get the speed of pacrom and if you need to use to official FW its there.

 

[DaveC]

the best multifw is the one you make yourself : use Zed, you just have to select the apps you want to use in it and it create it automatically...
or you can also use my multifw, it include the european firmware, pacrom and yafl 0.3; what's more, you can use a background in the menu and you can add the programs you want from the smc in the menu... here is a screenshot of an old version http://membres.lycos.fr/illusionstudio/aquafish/gp32_001.jpg . the version 4.5 has all bugs corrected and i'ven't see anyone who has problems with it... (and it allow to boot to a firmware stored in the smc without having to reflash your gp32..)

This type is one that is a bit too much menu selecting. After you turn on the GP32 it loads a menu from which you load another menu (launcher). That is too many steps. I really don't need all of these FWs I just need one that works with everything.

What I want: A FW that after you turn on the GP32 it will just instantly autoboot into a launcher of my choosing that is on my SMC, no selecting, no menus. The same way that DOS would always boot "autoexec.bat".

The way this would work: The BIOS would always look in a directory on my SMC for a file called "launcher.fxe" Then I could rename any launcher of my choosing whether it is YAFL or a future yet unreleased launcher to "launcher.FXE" . This way I would never write to the BIOS ever again after the one time BIOS flash.

Is there anything like this yet?

You can do this with auquafishes firmware, it's what it's designed to do. Or you could use mr. spivs firmware and use pacrom to autoboot "autoboot.fxe".

I use aquafishes and it works fine .

From that pic in his link though it looks like it comes up with a menu first "boot selector" from which you select the launcher. Like I said I don't want to load a menu to load a launcher, I just want to go straight into the launcher after I turn on the unit no "boot selector menu".

 

[Squidge]

if you want to "just go straight into the launcher after I turn on the unit on" then you need Mr Spiv's MultiFW, it'll boot directly into YAFL if you want (or any other launcher, regardless of filename). The only restriction is that it must be a FXE, GXB or GXE file. So, not much of a restriction at all

 

[trooper]

Mr Spiv`s multiFW here and have been using it for 9 months to a year with absolutely No problems what so ever. It`s just a lean green launching machine, With no bloat, Fluff or any other unwanted crap.

Try it, You`ll like it.

Trooper