Quickchange Between Emu And Txt Walkthrough

[Suntan]

The pandora looks like the perfect solution to all those old PS1 RPG games I never had time to play (college, followed by marriage, followed by a son...) Anyway, time is still tight and sometimes I have to go weeks between getting back to a game.

Using a Walkthrough really helps jog the memory between play and cuts down on the endless "searching for the red orb... then the blue orb..." stuff. Any possibility to have support for fast switching between EMU and a txt display program. One nice possibility, with the extra wide display, the 4:3 aspect EMU could sit on the right side and the walkthrough text could sit behind it on the left side. Then just tap on the text underneath to bring it up for reading (while freezing EMU operation) then tapping back on the EMU to bring it back on top and continue the game.

Any thoughts?

-Suntan

 

[Trip]

There will be support for switching between programs but when it comes to the Playstation emulator, it will really depend on how fast the emulator will run by itself (only ZodTTD has a clue about that ATM).
Having another program in the background will obviously slow down the emulator your playing, so the PS emulator needs to be able to run fine without maxing out the systems resources first.
At the minute I don't think anyone can say for sure?

 

[sindbad]

I would expect that when ram is not full, switching between apps to be quite fast. Don't know how it would be best to go about having both an emulator and the text open on the same screen. Maybe just two tiled windows?

 

[Prophet]

Some emus could incorporate a quick little FAQ display as a feature. Similar to how PSP's Pops emu can read document files - it works quite nicely.

 

[Kyo]

will the pandora be able to multitask?

 

[craigix]

Seeing as the GP2X can, I'd hope so

 

[mindlord]

will the pandora be able to multitask?

From what I can tell yes and no.

Some programs will hijack the entire machine and demand 100% of it's attention. I'd imagine the PSX emulator, indeed most emulators will be this type. Rebooting the machine into a custom stripped down kernel with only the hardware needed turned on to conserve power.

Less agressive apps might be able to run in the background and share the screen with other less agressive apps should be able to share the hardware. For example a mp3 player and ebook reader. That is as long as developers can agree on a good way to do this without corrupting the framebuffer.

I suspect that the developers are also working on some sort of X11 implementation (probably using a kdrive or tiny X.org) for more general purpose computing, like browsing, emailing, chatting, etc.

 

[sindbad]

Rebooting the machine into a custom stripped down kernel with only the hardware needed turned on to conserve power.
I'd imagine a custom runlevel would be much better instead. The emulator can unload any unnecessary kernel modules as well if it's absolutely necessary.

 

[Kyo]

Seeing as the GP2X can, I'd hope so

Y'see, I don't own a GP2X, and I was assuming it can, because it runs linux and such, but this thread got me thinking it might not be able to, so I thought I might as well ask.
Sorry if it was a stupid question, I should have figured.

 

[Suntan]

Right, well we'll just wait and see.

It would be really cool for some rudimentary txt support in the EMU so you wouldn't even have to swap to a different program, just "pause" the EMU and it pops up the text screen... ...That is if Santa is listening.

-Suntan

 

[jbr]

The idea of displaying an unobtrusive text window beside the game within the emulator sounds very, very good. Map scrolling on the text window to a couple keys, and implement a "Find" feature, and it will be a dream come true.

 

[doc5avage]

will the pandora be able to multitask?

From what I can tell yes and no.

Some programs will hijack the entire machine and demand 100% of it's attention. I'd imagine the PSX emulator, indeed most emulators will be this type. Rebooting the machine into a custom stripped down kernel with only the hardware needed turned on to conserve power.

Less agressive apps might be able to run in the background and share the screen with other less agressive apps should be able to share the hardware. For example a mp3 player and ebook reader. That is as long as developers can agree on a good way to do this without corrupting the framebuffer.

I suspect that the developers are also working on some sort of X11 implementation (probably using a kdrive or tiny X.org) for more general purpose computing, like browsing, emailing, chatting, etc.

From what I have seen on the GP2X, there is no software that hijacks the entire machine and demands 100% of its attention. The same will most likely be for the Pandora.

The reason this is, is because each program wanting to do this, would require to re-write drivers and code for accessing the sd card, manipulating the 3d/video capabilities, using wifi, bluetooth... the list goes on.
It would be like re-inventing the wheel X 1000000000 lines of code. Not to mention, if the drivers are not open source (Which another thread is leading me to believe), then programmers will not have access to documentation that will allow them to do this.

Also, the Linux kernel will give access to countless API's and libraries that will enable programs to utilize the Pandora's features with minimum effort.
If the Linux Kernel is running and an app is running, then Multi tasking is happening. Whether this will equate to programmers allowing apps to switch to the foreground is another question.

 

[mindlord]

From what I have seen on the GP2X, there is no software that hijacks the entire machine and demands 100% of its attention. The same will most likely be for the Pandora.

Qtopia works like this. It loads a whole different kernel.

 

[jimid2]

The pandora looks like the perfect solution to all those old PS1 RPG games I never had time to play (college, followed by marriage, followed by a son...) Anyway, time is still tight and sometimes I have to go weeks between getting back to a game.

Using a Walkthrough really helps jog the memory between play and cuts down on the endless "searching for the red orb... then the blue orb..." stuff. Any possibility to have support for fast switching between EMU and a txt display program. One nice possibility, with the extra wide display, the 4:3 aspect EMU could sit on the right side and the walkthrough text could sit behind it on the left side. Then just tap on the text underneath to bring it up for reading (while freezing EMU operation) then tapping back on the EMU to bring it back on top and continue the game.

Any thoughts?

-Suntan

In case you didn't know, you can do this with the PSP now... You can run any Playstation RPG on a CFW PSP, and when you create your eboot.php files from your PSX ISOs, you can embed walkthroughs, FAQs and manuals into the game, so you can access them with a press of the HOME button. I've done this for my kids, who would never get through a Final Fantasy without a walkthrough to tell them what to do next Works a treat!

 

[sindbad]

From what I have seen on the GP2X, there is no software that hijacks the entire machine and demands 100% of its attention. The same will most likely be for the Pandora.
Qtopia works like this. It loads a whole different kernel.And because that's such a bad idea, the Openmoko folks have modified it to work as a simple user interface on top of an Xserver.

 

[Suntan]

In case you didn't know, you can do this with the PSP now... You can run any Playstation RPG on a CFW PSP, and when you create your eboot.php files from your PSX ISOs, you can embed walkthroughs, FAQs and manuals into the game, so you can access them with a press of the HOME button. I've done this for my kids, who would never get through a Final Fantasy without a walkthrough to tell them what to do next Works a treat!

Did not know this, however it is academic as I do not have a PSP.

I have no desire for a PSP as it has no provisions for a kickstand (ala Archos PMPs) or a folding LCD lid. 4 hours into a flight across the pond I'll be damned if I'm going to hold the thing in my hand for a whole movie.

-Suntan