Firmware: Which One's Best, Most Stable?

[DaveC]

It would seem to me that firmware is an important part of the GP32 experience. I am surprised that there is not a pinned topic or FAQ on this subject. The things I was wondering are below. I was interested in the FW that you flash to your system. Launchers can be changed at any time without flashing right?

IMPORTANT one: Which firmware is the most compatible with all games and emus etc? Are there some that are TOTALLY compatible? (I know that Euro FW breaks alot of stuff).

Which ones are fast and most configurable.

Which ones allow you to *autoboot* into any launcher that you put on your SMC?

Which ones force you to use only a certain launcher that may be built in?

Which ones have too much fluff/menus/viewers to go through and which are clean and mean?

Are there screenshots (of the actual FW menus, not the launchers) or feature lists of the different FW versions?

Which are the most stable? Which ones are buggy?

What are all of the ones out there?

Thanks

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

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.

It looks decent too, no flashy korean colors, etc...

It plays everything I have thrown at it. From the tons of homebrew games to the emulators. (havent played commercial on it, but since its an official firmware I assume it works just fine with these)

If you use the "basic" firmmare, I highly suggest upgrading to the official firmware. Its my personal favorite.

Although with some firmware's you can launch any firmware from it but all I hear is incompatibilities and problems months after flashing with those...no personal experiance with them, and probably wont until I have my own JTAG.

 

[rcx21000]

The best FW to put on your gp32_console is Spiv's MultiFW. It has:

OrigFW - everything compatibility
Pacrom - Autolaunch any fxe/gxb (takes time, but any SMC launcher has to take time to load), and it has a good menu
Windups 0.9 - Icons. Isn't really good for anything IMHO
Pclink - Now that theres GpDrive, there isn't really a point.

And you can select one of the four to launch auto at start (Set multifw to Pcarom autoload, and pacrom to your fxe autoload for fxe autoload). But the only way to clear that is to download some prog of mr.spiv's site (www.deadcoderssociety.tk). Oh, and look at the flashing tutorial at faq.gp32emu.com

 

[aquafish_]

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..)

 

[yaustar]

I use to use Aquafishes but I later found that Mr Spivs is a lot faster (no offense Aqua).

 

[aquafish_]

>>I later found that Mr Spivs is a lot faster
faster?? 1/2 seconds faster yes...
the faster multifws you can use are thoses made with Zed, faster than mr.spiv's multifw.!.

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

I am MUCH to paranoid to flash an unofficial bios. I have read and heard of many people, a week, a month, 3 months, down the road, all of a sudden the bios stops working, very similar to a bad flash, but this is months after the fact, and all of them had one thing in common, they all flashed their bios... Not something I want to chance my GP32 on without my own JTAG. Although booting directly to PC Link for software development would be a life saver...

Although this is probably a small percentage that it happens to, I dont want to be one of those percentages.

 

[spray]

I'm using multifw2 flashed using the idiot proof new installer from mr spiv.

I love the look of and general feel of wind-ups so have it set to autoboot into this.

I generally use fgen, os9xgp and neogp32 so have these three items on the desktop along with the mygp and kreader icon, i like to read stuff when not gaming!

I've not had any problems yet, i'd recommend giving it a go!

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

I've not had any problems yet

Yet being the keyword. It could fail a month from now, or tomarrow. I havent heard of anyones bios going tits up without them flashing it, but I have heard of many going out a couple weeks to a couple months after they were flashed.

Might be worth the risk to some people, not to me!

 

[coolgpguy]

wait so multi fw is the official and u can download it on this site? is there anything you have to have on your gp32 b 4 flashing? and that pacrom thingy you just set yafl so you can auto load your homebrew files? im really confused :huh: :blink:

if anyone can set things straight for me that would be great!


gp32_console ------>k0ol new icon

 

[Dozer]

I use aquafishes. Once you have all the boot options setup and even the cool lil background then it gives you loads of options and boots fast. However, for a first time flasher i reccomend mr. spivs. I'm thinking of going back to it just because it's a little more minimalist, which i like .

 

[lizard808uk]

I use a combination of Aqua and Zed. When you hold a button down when you turn it on it loads that specific launcher. I also like the ability to add pictures that multfw2 can't. Zed is good for when I want my GP in "camera" mode and have Comi and JpegView in the same bundle.

Also its an age old argument of speed versus button presses and its here that Aqua wins Multifw2 maybe faster but I'd rather have a direct link to a highly used app at the start and not mess with menus later on.

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

wait so multi fw is the official

No multi fw is not the official. Its a homebrewn firmware (basically a firmware that launches other firmware) that INCLUDES the official firmware as part of its package.

 

[pip]

Pclink - Now that theres GpDrive, there isn't really a point.

GpDrive only works on an OS based on the NT kernel. So unless you are running one of those operating systems, you are required to use PC Link.

 

[pip]

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

Yeah? Point me to one.

 

[BaDToaD]

Craig at GBAX pre flashes GP32s to Mr Spivs Multi Firmware before he sends 'em out so it can't be that unstable.

Personally I have mine configured to use pacrom because it's just a no nonsense tool with no bells or whistles that does everything a launcher should do.

Configuring Wind ups with my odds and sods 128mb SMC would be a nightmare. I'm always putting stuff on and off it for testing etc.

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

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.

 

[craigix]

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

 

[bringoutthegimp]

USE MR SPIV's and WIND-UPS. if youre going to use wind-ups dont use aquafish's firmware (no offence, its good but), it takes a few seconds to load up and when compared to the instant loading of mr spiv's its a long time

 

[Dozer]

Windups sucks for functionality. Pacrom or yafl is much better imo.