Gpdrive 0.5 Soon?

[Robster]

Thanks Squidge. I already have the previous version, but your new version sounds much more exciting. Especially the bit about getting rid of the Samsung code

I'm not in any hurry, just didn't want you to think no-one was interested in taking your work further...

 

[bakubaku]

i love gpdrive, i use it exclusively.. as it is i think its a must have app... with an update, itll be awesome!

thanks!

 

[khephren]

Yep, I was about to buy a thumbdrive to back up my data at work, but I bought an extra 128MB card for the GP instead, and the beauty is, in between backing up data, I can stick lots of OGG's of episodes of futurama on it! here's to you Squidge!

 

[Zero3K]

Anyone know of a way to make the type of drive be gpDrive instead of Removable Disk and make the icon actually be a GP32?

 

[mr.spiv]

Just on idea.. what about making a "virtual" folder that you could copy stuff (GXBs & FXEs). But instead of even trying to copy the file to the SMC the gpdrive would load the file into RAM and execute it?

 

[Tobriand]

Oooo... I think I'm seeing a potential firmware restoring function here...

If you could get that small enough, at least. Or is erasing the entire firmware essential for re-flashing? Hmm... maybe I'm being stupid. Nice feature in potentia anyways if it could be done

 

[Squidge]

Anyone know of a way to make the type of drive be gpDrive instead of Removable Disk and make the icon actually be a GP32?

Under WinXP at least, all you need do is go into "My computer", right click on "Removable disk" and select "Rename"

No idea about the icon thing - prob need a special file in the root of the drive (ie, on each smc).

Spiv: Nice idea, but gpDrive works at the sector level so doesn't know what files are being transfered. The only way to do it would be to write a full blown file system emulator with passthrough functionality. Could be done with something like IOCTL calls however (eg. writes of specific sectors), but that would require a program like the dos pclink.exe to actually upload the gxb/fxe program.

Tobriand: Unless the ARM9 in the gp32 has bootblock flash (and I don't think it does - spiv?) then firmware restoring after a failed flash is a no-go.

 

[yosp]

Squidge -- great to hear that you are still working on GPdrive. It is certainly what Gamepark should have released instead of their pclink. OSwise, do you have any plans to make it win 2k pro compatible (i'd obviously love it )

 

[mr.spiv]

Tobriand: Unless the ARM9 in the gp32 has bootblock flash (and I don't think it does - spiv?) then firmware restoring after a failed flash is a no-go.

You can actually writeprotect the low 16K of the flash with one flash programming command sequence .. once it's done there is no way to undo it via software :blink:

 

[Squidge]

Hmm, so it could contain some basic routines for reflashing, but I think it would be a squeeze to get all the code necessary in there (unless you decided to rewrite the smfs code). So the only other option would be to accept a flash from the uart, which is pretty pointless, as if you got a cable for uart, then you may as well use the jtag interface.

As regards gpDrive, I've now added some more code that although it slows down reading (only 515Kb/sec now), it speeds up writing (236Kb/sec).

Just one more thing I want to try that might get more speed, and then I need to implement a lot of error recovery schemes (eg. mapping bad blocks and the like), test them, and finally release. Due to this, I don't think it's going to be released this weekend

 

[Dolfhin]

I'm really looking forward to the next release
Keep up the good work Squide i'm sure it's worth the wait. A writing speed of 236 kb/s is even faster than Squidge link and with new improvements on the way I think one of the bigest GP32 problems is finally fixed

Btw : do you rember the old PC-Link speed (16Kb). Just try PC-Link once more before you delete it from your PC and you know why we all have to thank Squidge

Keep up the good work

 

[Daz_Genetic]

Due to this, I don't think it's going to be released this weekend

Don't worry about it man, the version you released already has fully replaced PC-Link for me and I am eternally grateful for that.

Anything you can add speed-wise or feature-wise will only be icing on the cake.

Drop us an email if you need someone to make a fancy background for the final release.

Mr. Spiv really needs to implement this into the next Multifirmware.

Edit: Oh yeah, do you think it's possible to do something similar to this project to make the GP32 act as a HID device, allowing you to use it as a controller in the PC. It would be cool to use it when i play the GBA emulator.

 

[cn|tux]

i hope it will support linux, cause the gplink gui on linux is really bad... and i need a gui for filemanagement..... using it as mass storage in my favorite filemanager would be great...

 

[rpgchocobo]

Do any of the GPDrive ver. supports Mac OS X or Mac OS 9.2 or mac at all!?

 

[Squidge]

Not yet.

 

[Squidge]

New ver 0.5 has been released in the beta-testing forum. Please read the entire post before downloading and installing.