GP2X New 100% Gp2x Development Portal


kraft

Still Fresh
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
14
Website
www.gp2xdev.org
Hi guys!

Just wanted to post a quick announcement regarding our new 100% development related GP2X portal and forum. The url is: http://gp2xdev.org . Please drop by and help support us in any way you can, even if it's just by registering as a user and posting your ideas or suggestions in the "Feedback" forum. Let us know what we can do to improve things and what you'd like to see at GP2Xdev.

At the moment the site is quite bare, although the extensive dev-forum is now ready and waiting for your posts. As you'd expect, site content needs time to develop so please don't just visit, see there's not much for you and forget us! :) Things will improve over time so bookmark us and return once in a while to check on our progress! ;)

Thanks
 
Indeed, very slick looking. Like the layout and the content is already interesting.
I'll make sure and pop any games/applications I make on both sites.

Chimpoid
 
Thanks for the encouraging posts guys! Really appreciated :wub:

I've been spending the past few hours fixing problems that have only arisen since opening the site (typical!) so things are not quite perfect yet, even just as far as basic functionality is concerned, but it's close :) To be honest I expected a heck of a lot more problems, so I'm not complaining. If anyone does come across any technical "issues", please don't just ignore them...mail me kraft@gp2xdev.org and let me know so I can fix stuff! I know it's a "pain" bug reporting...but you really _would_ be helping a lot!

iignotus: I know, I was kinda reluctant to announce the site here but I really could not think of where else to do it. Still, none of the mods seem to be concerned...thankfully

chimpoid: Thank you! You are of course more than welcome to submit your projects. We would be particularly interested in any of the source code from your projects, perhaps even more-so than the .gpe's themselves. I think people can learn a lot more from source than .exe's.. .

Hey Sly, I have changed the favicon, just for you :lub: although you may need to flush your caches to see it.
 
Don't take it wrong, but why another GP2X(-dev) site ? Can't the Wiki , archive.gp2x.de and gp32's forums be used ?

I understand the need for a News/Blog-like thing for homebrew development, but why not just a GP2X-dev news site with news only content and links to more elaborated content on the Wiki, to files on archive.gp2x.de and to gp32x's forums ?

(again, don't take it wrong)
 
I wouldn't be hard on him. He's only trying to help the community out.

I'd imagine that a place like this would be really useful. There are way too many average-joes here (myself included) who post nothing but comments, and then when an actual development comes, it just whizzes by. This is a nice haven for devs to post betas, get advice, things like that. That's why I myself am not interested in registering, just so I don't clog up that board with the meaningless dribble I post here. But it definitely has its place, and if it becomes something, it would be a wonder.

BTW, thx for setting this up. A few devs won't jump on the bandwagon quite yet, but the forum setup is nice.
 
In addition to some of the comments Rayek has just made above (excluding the average Joe stuff:), I'd just like to quickly say (because I'm still at work atm) that in my mind GP2Xdev is not trying to compete with GP32x or the wiki. GP32x is a fantastic general GP2X user-portal and the wiki is a great big sponge soaking-up all the formulated ideas and knowledge generated from discussions within GP32x's forums and other forums like GP2Xdev. ;-) I genuinely believe that what our site offer's is a unique alternative for anyone wanting focused and diverse dev-related discussion. Else I would not have bothered setting it up.

Hopefully people will take any knowledge gained from the discussions at GP2Xdev and add it to the wiki. They'll certainly be encouraged to do so. Ifsuch focused development chat is not what an individual wants then they have GP32X. So you see, all three work in harmony; when viewed in that light. Or we could all start cat-growling...which really doesn't benefit the GP2X community as a whole. :)
 
mongolito404 posted on Feb 14 2006 at 09:23 AM said:
Don't take it wrong, but why another GP2X(-dev) site ? Can't the Wiki , archive.gp2x.de and gp32's forums be used ?

I understand the need for a News/Blog-like thing for homebrew development, but why not just a GP2X-dev news site with news only content and links to more elaborated content on the Wiki, to files on archive.gp2x.de and to gp32x's forums ?

(again, don't take it wrong)
 
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No offence but This site 'gp32x.de' is too crowded/cluttered and confusing anyway.

I'm sure having new sites will only do good to the gp2x and gp2x scene.
 
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challenger3 posted on Feb 14 2006 at 11:47 PM said:
No offence but This site 'gp32x.de' is too crowded/cluttered and confusing anyway.

I'm sure having new sites will only do good to the gp2x and gp2x scene.
Yeah but I think they have to provide a different purpose from the sites we have.
 
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hi hanz...

The idea is to create a portal dedicated to development and the actual dev process in all areas...code, sound, graphics, etc. Our "different purpose" is shown clearly in the layout of the site's forums. They give high priority to the dev sections and low priority to the few non-dev sections we have. This is the direct inverse to all other forums that we have on the GP2X scene right now...and I mean no offence when I say that. Just compare for yourself. GP2Xdev has a large number of categories because a dedicated dev forum _needs_ to, we haven't done this just for the sake of it or to say: "look, our dev section's are bigger than yours!". I could go into the details of exactly why I think broad category ranges help...but this post would endup far too long. If you want an idea why, checkout gbadev.org's dev forum. You could not get this quality of dev discussion from a couple of forums.

Not only that but our news section will have an entirely different focus. I, or whoever eventually takes-over management of the news section, will not be posting news relating so much to _completed_ projects but perhaps more on news of updated Library extensions, new library extensions, compiler updates, new tools which gfxers will find useful for producing GP2X graphics, etc etc. For example, GP2Xdev will be more interested in searching for new info. on PC-based GP2X emulators (have faith...we WILL get one!) rather than GP2X .gpe emus. Basically because these will be very useful in the dev/testing process for coders. And yes we have a news item about Squidge's emulator atm...but it's the sourcecode ;)

As for our downloads section too, this will hopefully not be directly comparable to the gp32x.de archives. Again, we wont be aiming to include _every_ compiled project out there. gp32x does this already perfectly well, so if there's a game you want you know exactly where to find it. We will probably only include a few completed projects submitted to us by our members. Our archive, I hope, will consist of tech-docs, compilers, audio tools and the like. Also we want it to encourage the idea that it's _ok_ to publish small little "Tech Demos" and (hopefully well-commented) source. Simple stuff like opening a screen at HH level, fading a palette, playing a sample through the AC'97, or calculating/shifting data using both the cpus. This is the kind of stuff that "users" (who are the majority on most other portals) don't really find interesting but coders find a LOT of value in them and they're great for learning. Again, take a quick look at gbadev's Demos section to see what I mean.

As for the comparison with teh wiki ;) I don't think that's really valid. A wiki, by its very nature, is there to solidify all the stuff we've discovered and learnt through chatting on boards, reading tech-docs, creating little demos, etc. It doesn't encourage these activities, it benefits from them. Besides many people just do not take to them and prefer portals. So it’s good to have a choice.

Anyway, that's my excuse! ;) I know that lot was pretty long (it could have been a lot longer, believe me) and I kept it as short as I could. My brains a bit fried atm as it's 3:00am and I’m knackered so things could have probably been explained to you all a little better. I just really wanted to elaborate a bit more on WHAT exactly GP2Xdev's purpose was or at least hopes to become soon. Thanks.
 
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i have a suggestions for this site:

use a two column design rather than three column. the page feels crowded and everything in the third column reads like filler to me. anything you need to keep around from that 3rd column, make space for it in the first one.

i don't think many people concously look at this sort of thing but it definitly effects the feel of browsing in a window that isn't maximized or at lower resolutions.

other than that: new sites are bad because the scene isn't large enough to support and update 3 different site for the same thing. new sites are good because diversity is strength, always. either way there is a new site, heh.

i would wish for people to put their energy into wiki, great concept and great resource. i need to put some energy into developing ... but i barely have time for my music outside of work / gf :(
 
agreed. 3 columns is ok for the front page but once you start browsing the forums it feels cluttered. i'd say put the "hottest topics" list on the first forum page towards the top and eliminate the rightmost area. just one man's opinion though.
 
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