Open2x Dr4

[Orkie]

All my enthusiasm has been sapped at the moment due to various changes in the scene, so I am going to throw this out there in the hope that I will get interested again. I'm not sure that many people on here now have even seen a GP2X/GP32 though.

F100 only for now, if (and only if) I see enough interest will I compile the kernel for F200 (I have tested it on an F200, but only messing around with quick kernel builds and much faffing).

First install this:
http://x11.gp2x.de/open2x/Open2x-DR4-F100R2.zip
Then install this:
http://x11.gp2x.de/open2x/patches/dr4/DR4R2-Patch1.zip
Then post how you got on with it.

Known issues (there are probably more, but I can't think of any off the top of my head right now):

• Built in music player stutters on MP3s (recommend: install your own on SD).
• Built in video player menu gets a bit messed up after quitting a video (not actually seen this myself but enough people have said so that I believe it).
• Compatibility is pretty damn good, but not everything works. Try compat, failing that, sorry. I have worked around many, many application specific problems and to be frank, it is boring. If you can nail down the problem precisely, tell me and I will see what can be done about it however. Also, have a look here.
• Very occasionally the sound patches mess up and get locked with no sound. Try pressing X on GMenu2x and watch the icon in the bottom right change.

Features:

• Built in GMenu2x
• Faster boot time
• Can have forced sound scaling/muting.
• Safe to install
• Can be installed from all firmwares
• Can revert to GPH firmware with no ill effects
• No need to reflash the bootloader
• Dynamic linking now possible
• Up to date libraries
• kexec syscall in the kernel
• Many, many more! If you discover something I forgot, let me know.

If anybody wishes to help, please come in our IRC channel, #open2x on FreeNode. We don't just need help from kernel people. Libraries, built in apps, user/developer guides, any extra odds and ends you feel might be useful to somebody all need to be worked on!

 

[Mindless]

yay, my image viewer finally sees the light of day

 

[Alex.]

I put it on my F-100, the whole process went incredibly smooth and the main flash completed in two minutes. The boot time is about 15 seconds, if I remember well 2.1.2 booted in about 16-17 seconds, and any improvements on this front are very valuable.

The Gmenu2x it comes with looks great and of course loads faster at startup than the one I have on my SD (by the way, is there any way to turn off SD autorun?), not to mention it has those useful new sound options. Very nice work guys, this ought to be the release of the year

As for backwards compatibility, I tried software that use the GPH dynamic libs and the static ones, and everything ran fine. Payback works too.

Cheers to the Open2x team, you F-200 users are in for a treat

 

[TrevorBradley]

+1 on an interested F200 user.

 

[peelie]

i would love to use this but seeing as the MP3 playback and video playback have issues - and that is the two main programs i use daily for work then will have to wait until those are improved!

cheers anyway - will definitely install it once xmas holidays are here and i can afford to not have a working mp3 and video playback

cheers

 

[kerplunk]

Orkie,

Can you post some sreenshots? I also would like to see it on an F200.

Thanks

 

[TrevorBradley]

[*]Can revert to GPH firmware with no ill effects

I think I may want to look into this before I would switch over. I'm presently running firmware 4.0.0 on an F200. I've not seen it available elsewhere and would really rather not have to "downgrade" to 4.1.0.

 

[PokeParadox]

Guys, I've had the DR4 for at least a month on my 2X... I was helping to implement the GMenu2X GUI of the volume scaling by Senquack.

All I can say is if you have an F100, please try it! In many respects this firmware is much much better than the GPH one.
The point here is that Orkie needs some feedback to incite some enthusiasm, etc.
If you don't like it you can leave Orkie some positive criticism and reflash back to the firmware you were previously using.

 

[Aryn]

Oh gawd, PLEASE make an F200 version of Open2x. The GPH firmware that we have to use actually cripples this system, and Open2X may be a boon to many F200 owners.

I would be interested in seeing what Open2X can do on this system. With creative use of the touch screen I am sure that this firmware would be twice as excellent on the GP2X F200 as it is in its current state. And who knows, perhaps you could create some PDA functionality as well.

EDIT: I'm sorry to hear that you feel dispirited by the changes to the GP2X scene. If you do not continue to work on this project then I wish you the best of luck on your next project, whatever that may be, and will look forward to checking it out in the near future.

 

[Manjuu]

Waiting for the F-200 version. :rolleyes:

 

[likwidoxigen]

The speed increase is totally welcome, and i'm a big fan of the "open" part. Hopefully I'll get my dev environment all setup and things will get to do some hacking on gpsp.

 

[palmertech]

Dude, this is awesome!

Don't give up, my gp2x with 5" screen is practically done, just waiting for open2x to be "finished".

Then, I can bug you to make me a custom build for it.

Two other things: As I said earlier this year, I am hopefully getting those blackfin libraries soon. I will let you know when I have something. . The other thing is asking you "How sweet would it be to have a gp2x mk2 in the case of just the bottom half of a DS Lite?" And I, for one, believe in donating hardware to exceptional devs, if ya catch my drift.

Don't give up! "you're the best, arouuuund, and nothins ever gonna keep you down!"
---Karate Kid soundtrack

 

[ledow]

I haven't used Open2X firmware because I'm one of those people who hates touching firmware unless there's a good reason (i.e. it fixes a major problem). I've never flashed my GP2X. But I have to say that I keep a copy of Open2X firmware handy - should my GP2X ever need flashing, I'll use up the first of my limited "shots" at writing firmware to the NAND by installing Open2X. I don't care about much in way of MP3/Video (in fact, I haven't used those facilities on the GP2X at all past a simple test), but if it can run my emulators and games, that's just fine.

Additionally, I have to say that Open2X has been worth more to me throughout my ownership of my GP2X than anything else - there's no way I'd consider using another set of apps, libraries or toolchain. I tried a couple of toolchains when I first started on the GP2X and I can say with confidence that if Open2X hadn't existed in the state it did, I wouldn't have bothered to program for it.

I have to say that since the Pandora's introduction, the forums have certainly gone downhill with every other question being "What about a Pandora port?", "How will this affect the Pandora?" etc. It's been better since the forums were re-organised a little but the main focus of the site (the one hinted at in it's name - GP32's and GP2X's) seems to have gone astray.

I can't wait for Pandora release - I can't afford it, I don't want it, it holds no interest to me programmatically or personally (where's the fun, if 99% of the work is just a recompile from a Debian repository, most things run without any optimisation required, and there's enough RAM/storage for anything you want to do without having to take account of usage?), BUT when it's released, hopefully all the Pandora talk will move onto other sites and let us old fogies with the GP2X's and GP32's to carry on as we were.

Keep up the good work, Orkie and anyone else who works on ANY part of the Open2X projects. It's an invaluable resource, and a lot of GP2X software would never have been possible without it.

 

[gruso]

Don't let the man get you down Orkie, there's a lot of white noise at the moment but GP2Xers are still GP2Xers.

I'm keen beyond words to see Open2x on my F200, and I trawl the forums almost daily looking for news. As stated some time ago, as soon as I see that yellow splash on my '2X I'll be looking for a place to deposit a donation. Aus currency is worth nothing right now but it'll get you a few well deserved pints at the least.

 

[Hooka]

Heh, well having to admit I myself am looking forward to a F200 Open2X firmware, but have been running this DR on my F100 for a bit, and had great results so far. Really looking forward to better volume control on F200's too!

 

[Dave18]

I'm also very keen to try out Open2X on my F200.

 

[Dave18]

EDIT: Oops, double post. I blame it on the awful internet access I have at work that is slower than dial-up and gives continual gateway timeout errors.

 

[Pickle]

I flashed in the DR release on my F100 last night, and most everything seems fine. I dont use the MP3/Movie features.
All of the emu's I tried worked (may have been me but it seemed like drpocketsnes was slower)
Tried a couple games, egoboo was missing the graphics at the beginning and I didnt get into the game itself.

For the most part open2x is great. I love the progress bar. Thanks for releasing this before pandora/wiz released, I think it will make a difference.

 

[senquack]

I've been slacking a bit in trying to solve some sound problems with SDL 1.2.13 and Orkie and I decided to go back to SDL 1.2.11 and hopefully that will let us move forward a bit.. I also have a LCD timings tweaker in the works.

I also am anxious to see Open2X on my F200. One of the main reasons I created the volume-scaling stuff is to fix the god-awful sound on my F200 unit.

Glad to see people like Alex's boot-progress screen

I also love mindless's new image viewer, I got to see it evolve and think it's the best available on the 2X.

Sucks about the forums being so diluted with crap posters these days.

 

[Pickle]

anyone get prboom to run?