Gmenu2X

[ryosaeba]

Hi everyone!
Thanks to GPH I am now in possession of a Caanoo. I'm yet to compile anything for this device but I'm planning on releasing a new version of GMenu2X targeted for the Caanoo relatively soon (I also have other projects stealing my free time).

I have restarted the development of this frontend already some months ago (Pickle convinced me to do so) merging some improvements from external forks, reorganizing the input system and switching to a freetype only font code (that should allow full unicode support and easier customizations).
This is still not ready for production but I'm getting near.

 

[RupeeClock]

<br />Hi everyone!<br />Thanks to GPH I am now in possession of a Caanoo. I'm yet to compile anything for this device but I'm planning on releasing a new version of GMenu2X targeted for the Caanoo relatively soon (I also have other projects stealing my free time).<br /><br />I have restarted the development of this frontend already some months ago (Pickle convinced me to do so) merging some improvements from external forks, reorganizing the input system and switching to a freetype only font code (that should allow full unicode support and easier customizations).<br />This is still not ready for production but I'm getting near.<br />

Fantastic, glad to hear it!
Does this mean we'll get proper over-clock support, a working battery meter, and hopefully some way to return to Gmenu2X on exit?

 

[ryosaeba]

Does this mean we'll get proper over-clock support, a working battery meter, and hopefully some way to return to Gmenu2X on exit?

I'm still a newbie on the Caanoo, but if overclocking and battery reading are documented I'm sure they won't be a problem.
Regarding autorun I still need to investigate on what could be done.
As far as I understand, autorun is not implemented like it used to be on the GP2X, and I don't think it will be possible without touching the firmware internals, but I may end up providing a procedure to apply some hack automatically (not sure).

 

[SNESFAN]

I'm still a newbie on the Caanoo, but if overclocking and battery reading are documented I'm sure they won't be a problem.

you would be my hero, I've been playing around with the overclock in the hugo emulator for a couple days. It was coded for the caanoo by zx-81, he mentioned something about this in another thread.

./pollux_set "cpuclk=700"

i just can't get it to work for whatever reason in anything other than what it came with... hopefully it may help you

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/caanoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,589

 

[RupeeClock]

Does this mean we'll get proper over-clock support, a working battery meter, and hopefully some way to return to Gmenu2X on exit?

I'm still a newbie on the Caanoo, but if overclocking and battery reading are documented I'm sure they won't be a problem.
Regarding autorun I still need to investigate on what could be done.
As far as I understand, autorun is not implemented like it used to be on the GP2X, and I don't think it will be possible without touching the firmware internals, but I may end up providing a procedure to apply some hack automatically (not sure).

Would it be possible by generating dedicated GPUs when you make a link to a .GPE/GPU, with explicit instructions to quit to Gmenu2x?
I hope GPH officially support autoboot again, the caanoo firmware only has it through remnants of Wiz firmware. You know that the flash player is sill in the firmware? True story.

 

[ryosaeba]

Would it be possible by generating dedicated GPUs when you make a link to a .GPE/GPU, with explicit instructions to quit to Gmenu2x?
I hope GPH officially support autoboot again, the caanoo firmware only has it through remnants of Wiz firmware. You know that the flash player is sill in the firmware? True story.

That's exactly what the wrapper function in gmenu2x does. The problem are all those apps with hardcoded calls to the standard menu.
At the time of gp2x I already criticized this method used by gph that enforces the programmers to call the menu themselves.

Btw, creating links against the app binary instead of the gpe automatically enables the wrapper, so that gmenu2x is always automatically reloaded.

 

[Pickle]

Does this mean we'll get proper over-clock support, a working battery meter, and hopefully some way to return to Gmenu2X on exit?

I'm still a newbie on the Caanoo, but if overclocking and battery reading are documented I'm sure they won't be a problem.
Regarding autorun I still need to investigate on what could be done.
As far as I understand, autorun is not implemented like it used to be on the GP2X, and I don't think it will be possible without touching the firmware internals, but I may end up providing a procedure to apply some hack automatically (not sure).

pretty sure with the latest firmware overclocking is the same as the wiz, so just a define change might be needed to get it working.

heres the deal with autorun:
it works on the first boot
anytime an app reloads gp2xmenu autorun does not work (trying to get gph to fix this)
the best hack so far is to replace gp2xmenu with a script that loads gmenu2x

 

[ryosaeba]

Quick update:
I found a working solution for the autorun problem that seems to work perfectly WITHOUT touching the firmware filesystem.
I think it's pretty clever, if I do say so myself.

I'm still testing it, but I think we have sorted out one problem.

 

[DaveC]

Quick update:
I found a working solution for the autorun problem that seems to work perfectly WITHOUT touching the firmware filesystem.
I think it's pretty clever, if I do say so myself.

I'm still testing it, but I think we have sorted out one problem.

Any chance of getting Gmenu2X working on the Wiz too? It has the same dumb issue, you can load an app but after you exit the app it doesn't go back to Gmenu, it just dumps back to the default.

 

[ryosaeba]

Any chance of getting Gmenu2X working on the Wiz too? It has the same dumb issue, you can load an app but after you exit the app it doesn't go back to Gmenu, it just dumps back to the default.

Yes, the hack is standard linux stuff, it should work everywhere, but I don't have a wiz to test it.

 

[RupeeClock]

Can you put a date/clock on Gmenu2x? I can't remember if the original GP2X handhelds had a clock or not, but it would be good for the Wiz and Caanoo.

 

[SolarLune]

I, too, would like a clock. Thank you.

 

[ryosaeba]

A clock is definitely possible now (there was no hw clock in the gp2x).
The only problem with its implementation is that the new gmenu2x code is completely idle (no cpu usage) until there is user input (joystick/touchscreen). A functional clock would require waking up the interface to refresh the time at least once every minute, and I need to tweak things a little in order to do that.
I have to do it anyway though, because there are other issues that must be solved in a similar way.

Changing topics: The autorun hack!

autorun.gpu

#!/bin/sh
mount -o bind /mnt/sd/apps/gmenu2x /usr/gp2x
cd /usr/gp2x
./gp2xmenu

I'm sure the linux experts can already guess what this does.
For all the others: It mounts the gmenu2x program folder over the gph interface folder, masking it out.
You then name the gmenu2x binary as gp2xmenu and you have a perfect fake gph menu.
All the apps/games/emus will just cd in the gmenu2x folder and launch it, thinking they are launching the gph menu.

 

[RupeeClock]

Hmm, I tried the autorun hack, overwrite the autorun.gpu with those linux instructions and renamed the gmenu2x binary to gp2xmenu, didn't seem to work though.
It'd just boot to the regular GPH frontend.

Wonder if it's a firmware thing or a mistake on my end, or what? I'm using firmware 1.5.0, the latest right now.

 

[ryosaeba]

Is the gmenu2x folder located @ /mnt/sd/apps/gmenu2x?
It's working right now on my caanoo and I'm pretty sure it should work everywhere (this is simple linux stuff)
Also autorun.gpu must reside @ /mnt/sd/autorun.gpu
Maybe also check the unix line endings (use something like notepad++ if you are on windows)

 

[ryosaeba]

Oh, right... be sure that you renamed "gmenu2x" and not "gmenu2x.gpu"

I'll include everything already preconfigured when I'll release the next version anyway.

 

[RupeeClock]

Is the gmenu2x folder located @ /mnt/sd/apps/gmenu2x?
It's working right now on my caanoo and I'm pretty sure it should work everywhere (this is simple linux stuff)
Also autorun.gpu must reside @ /mnt/sd/autorun.gpu
Maybe also check the unix line endings (use something like notepad++ if you are on windows)

Ah, that was the problem, it was located at /mnt/sd/gmenu2x. That's just how the binary arrives from openhandhelds.
Let me test it again.
Edit: Yeah I did not add .gpu to the end of the gmenu2x executable.

Edit: Okay cool, programs quit to gmenu2x now, that's great. That includes stuff like openhandhelds goodies, fungp DRM software, etc.

This comes with a very large drawback though, you can't access the GPH frontend at all, that means anything that is an extension of the frontend such as the music or video players also become inaccessible.

Reckon I'll have a look into M-player quickly.

 

[ryosaeba]

Ah, that was the problem, it was located at /mnt/sd/gmenu2x. That's just how the binary arrives from openhandhelds.

You can also edit the path used in autorun.gpu if you want to keep using /mnt/sd/gmenu2x

This comes with a very large drawback though, you can't access the GPH frontend at all, that means anything that is an extension of the frontend such as the music or video players also become inaccessible.

I already considered that, of course, and I just "released" the hack as a proof of concept. I already have a couple of solutions for this but I still need to decide which one to implement, but I'm sure this won't be a problem.
Obviously, for those who didn't try yet and may be scared, you can just boot with the sd pulled out to boot to the gph menu.

 

[RupeeClock]

I'm guessing you'll just give the old exit/music/movie buttons in Gmenu2x some new special instructions then?

Anyhow thanks a lot for the hack, it's great that I can finally exit to Gmenu2x now.

 

[u9i]

autorun.gpu

 #!/bin/sh
 mount -o bind /mnt/sd/apps/gmenu2x /usr/gp2x
 cd /usr/gp2x
 ./gp2xmenu

I'm sure the linux experts can already guess what this does.
For all the others: It mounts the gmenu2x program folder over the gph interface folder, masking it out.
You then name the gmenu2x binary as gp2xmenu and you have a perfect fake gph menu.
All the apps/games/emus will just cd in the gmenu2x folder and launch it, thinking they are launching the gph menu.

Hey Ryo, this is brilliant, thanks. I didn't know you could do that. I have been trying to make a symbolic link to the SD card, but that failed because the filesystem is read-only. I had no idea i could mount a folder on top of another like this. And without altering the firmware. Linux is awesome!

/Uni