making a new bios.....

[nerd of nerds]

i found this program which splits/combines the bios into a gxb file and you can replace it with another gxb file. my question is how do you use it? i am using windows xp and i have cygwin installed, do i need to remove cygwin to use this???? it sounds like this would be fun to play around with B)

P.S. i think it would be cool if Mr. spiv would make a tutoial to making a new bios

 

[unlucky]

a completely customised bios is a neat idea. I know people say just use pacrom and auto lunch into a program but that takes up time losing the quickness of pacrom. gpfm in my opinion would be useful to have as a bios (an mp3 player, image viewer. text viewer, and you can cut copy + paste and delete files from it) lovely stuf ! and have a custom picture at start up + in the back ground

 

[Tobriand]

Actually... taking this a step further, I wonder if it would be possible to make a firmware combiner thingamajig. So you get a gui and and basically have it so you select several .fxe files to be included, with options on crash monitor/GDB stub/etc. and it auto re-compressed them, created a menu, and effectively generated a workable bios.

That said, there's no way I'd switch from Multi-fw unless something better came out... I cbf to try and add some emus straight in there etc.

Oh, and yes, I know I'm talking about menus, not bioses. Although I suspect its very similar...

 

[nerd of nerds]

well, the first several bytes are the actual bios and everything after that is a 500ish kb gxb file. so if you could convert an fxe into a gxb you could do this but i want to know how to use this program in windows xp!!!!!

 

[Delsabre]

i suggest you send your BIOS to mr.spiv or someone before testing it on your own GP32, because if there are any bugs...

 

[Dolfhin]

A sort of PDA BIOS for the GP32 would be cool. A bios with a built in calculator, music player, to do list, memo writer, enz, enz, enz Nicely sorted with differents tabs and a way to launch FXE's would be very cool!

Ofcourse the Todo list and other stuff should be able to synschrize (i don't know how to spell it) with the pc.

 

[Sonic-NKT]

hmm is the bios also loaded in the ram, or does it work straight of its space?
then you could insert a emu in the bios and load roms up to 8mb...

just an idea

dont hate me cause i said this.. i think most people know what i m talking about

 

[generalnmx]

I'd just like to see a BIOS capable of accessing up to 32MB of the SRAM. Then Anarchy's modifications could be put to use.

 

[nerd of nerds]

woah, waoh, waoh, i'm not REALLY thinking of testing it on a real gp32 IF i make a new bios :lol: . and if i did it wouldn't be that advanced/exist :lol: . i think something that rotates through fxe's and such like the ddrmax song selection menu would be cool

EDIT: i think that the bios runs from the e(e)prom but i could be wrong

 

[Xyo]

Is there anywhere that teches how to create a Bios/Homebrew software.

 

[IntenseWage]

I just tried GPFM today and I love it. It's better than PacRom in my opinion. The only thing it's missing is the quick scroll with the L and R buttons, but that's alright. I love being able to have a background image.

 

[mr.spiv]

Just to clarify few things.. the firmware (bios + menu) is stored into the 512KB flash mem. The 4KB EEPROM has no really role in normal BIOS business. The firmware is divided into two halves:
1) The low 32KB contains the BIOS code, which allows your device to boot, has (buggy) USB +
UART + LCD drivers etc, interrupt handler, memory mapping stuff, ...
2) the rest is just a GXB preceded by a long word telling the GXB size..

So custom firmwares are pretty easy to do, if you don't try to fix & mess around BIOS part. Well that isn't too hard either just slightly harder to test. The "menu" gets loaded into the main RAM just as any program. BIOS uses "upper RAM" i.e. the last 512KB of the RAM area for its data etc. During the boot process the BIOS always tries to run a GXB from a fixed position (i.e. the menu).

Just a note.. when you release your firmware whatever prepare a flood of emails & private messages about destroying someone's GP32 or for every possible weird phenomenon or USB related problem.. although the reason is usually just flat batteries or badly installed software (readmes aren't for reading...) :rolleyes:

 

[nerd of nerds]

I DIDN"T SAY I WOULD MAKE A NEW F***ING BIOS :wacko: but if i did coldn't i just make a jtag cable for the gp32 and program the bios with that through the serial port??? ALSO i would like some schematics for the cable you made mr. spiv if it isn't to much trouble (it was a jtag cable wasn't it?)

and is there a way to turn an fxe into a gxb? i know an fxe has a picture stored in it for the icon but what else is different?

 

[mr.spiv]

JTAG schemas are in my site.. also UnFXE, which turns a FXE into GXB.. :blink:

 

[unlucky]

wow gpfm minus the slow starting bit where you have 2 look at a picture ( that could be a custom 1 of your own) would be an amazing bios replacement for me aslong as you could also have the orignal firmware ( or something capable of launching gpcinema )

 

[nerd of nerds]

yeah but unfxe is a command prompt program isn't it? i have had a lot of trouble running command prompt stuff whenever i try to tun things from the command prompt it just says some stuff on the screen for about a half a second and exits it <_<

 

[IntenseWage]

After using it a little more, I'm starting to lean back towards PacRom. GPFM looks nicer and all, but it played a 128 kbit MP3 I had like garbage (distortion and slowed down) and the latest version seems to have a lot of menu lag (pressing select on a file and moving up and down lags horribly). It's nice that you can have a background and all but it seems somewhat out of place with all the text and menus covering the screen.

 

[EvilDragon]

yeah but unfxe is a command prompt program isn't it? i have had a lot of trouble running command prompt stuff whenever i try to tun things from the command prompt it just says some stuff on the screen for about a half a second and exits it <_<

Just use "Run" from the start menu, type in "cmd" or, if that doesn't work, "command" and finally you get a nice command prompt, from where you can use all the DOS commands you want without a closing DOS window.

But... you don't wanna tell me you have no idea how to use DOS command prompts but want to make your own BIOS?
Sounds pretty dangerous to me...

 

[empee]

the process of making new firmware is pretty "easy" ..
take some ready made firmware split it
get some gp32 prog with fxe launching
that means not emulator
add cup of hope & luck
mix all ingredients with gpfw prog by groepaz/hitmen

and there you go .. nice little firmware to test on geepee32 to make sure it really works
you can skip this if you really trust your cooking skills .. usually even the best chefs taste the soup before serving

then get a prog to flash it to your gp32 and try not to overcook it or the gp32 might not smell so good or work right anymore

and there you go.. gp32 with your own firmware

to make multifw like mr. spiv's you need l33t hax0ring skillz so dont try that ..
using notepad to add multiple menus together wont work.. trust me

and this is what happens when you dont sleep much.. you write alot of shit


//empee .. after 5hours of "sleep"

 

[EvilDragon]

Still you should be careful - imagine what happens if you create a firmware which doesn't have the ability to run fxe-files... you have NO chance of flashing back a working firmware (except via the cable from Mr. Spiv)