Starting a preliminary GINGE compatibility spreadsheet

[Hooka]

Alright, so here's a quick ginge beta with a few extra needed libraries: ginge beta


No major changes, just the libs for now, the dynamic loader is giving me issues and I'm trying to get it resolved before I release a version with any other changes  you'll have to get rid of your ginge_r3pxml.pnd if you have it and put ginge.pnd in it's place otherwise you might have issues. Uses same appdata folder though, so you should be good there as far as saves, etc. go.

Has anybody noticed that the link icon brings up emoticons? the emoticon brings up these quotes instead and quote brings up code and finally the code button brings up the link? that explains why I have these nested quotes I can't get rid of...

 

[Hooka]

Annnnnnnd: I've got a preliminary start on making a set of scripts to make ginge pack's just ironing out some final issues and I'll try and crank out some packs...


Also: got gmenu2x compiling for Pandora, just need to modify it to suite GINGE (and remove the GINGE embedded in it cause that's more than a little redundant...)


I figured out most of my headaches with the dynamic loader, now to just figure out some way to handle some eccentricities of some of the games a little better  (aka, anything compiled against glibc < 2.4 needs it's loader to be compiled with a toolchain built on 2.3.6, anything compiled against glibc 2.4 or higher only works with a pandora toolchain compiled loader *facepalm* good news, I've only encountered a handful of stuff that needs the newer glibc)

 

[moxie]

I have nothing to say here except Excellent! Keep up the good work and all that!

 

[Hooka]

Just a heads up, currently uploading an updated GINGE and a Ruckage pack (all of ruckages GP2X games in one pack) to the repo.


For reference the main changes from notazs' version are as follows:

• included mikmod, smpeg, tslib and a few other missing/needing update libs
  
• added some script modifications to handle packs
  
• compiled with open2x (slightly better compatibility for some things and didn't notice too many regressions with it, was the "best fit" for the job)
  
• added an alternative openwiz compiled set of loaders and libs that will hopefully allow me to make packs that can easily switch between the two to aid compatibility
  
• Maybe more but I can't remember for right now?
  

Things to note:

• Sometimes when running one program then starting another WILL have side effects, not often and not many, but sometimes this can be something like a game that does work no longer working (rebooting system fixes it) or just the volume creeping it's way louder and louder (side effect of "fixes" done in software for certain GPH handhelds to get volume loud enough)
  
• I could've broke any number of things, please let me know (and compare it to the compatibility list first, also note that not everything I have listed as compatible on my list will automagically work for you, some require openwiz compatibility: aka, you have no way to use gp2xmenu to turn it on for now... which leads to my next point)
  
• You SHOULD be able to copy out the ginge.sh from the .pnd put it in the appdata folder and modify it to run in openwiz compatibility mode with ./ginge_prep $GAME --openwiz but I haven't tested it excessively, will be doing so in the next bit while making more packs.
  

Things to expect to see in the near future:

• gmenu2x! got it compiling for Pandora and I'm tempted to just make it the default menu for GINGE from now on (and hell, I might even modify it to run PND's too while I'm at it
  
• integration and fixing of any outstanding bennugd/fenix issues. By modifying scripts I was able to get stuff compiling with bgdc atm, but bgdi was hanging up on platform-specific code I do believe
  
• more updated/missing libs, in most cases won't make much of a difference but might be nice to make sure I have the most compatible or updated libs available.
  
• hopefully touchscreen and 8-way d-pad support
  
• python/X11 for GP2X support (python is used for a few games, X maybe 2 or 3, so less emphasis put on getting it working... BennuGD would be more useful...)
  

There are lots of other things to be done, but that will come with time  First things first, start making some EPIC packs so people can enjoy some GP2X classics without having the headaches of hunting them down themselves  Next ones to expect: Alex's games, neotron's games (minus the BennuGD ones for now) and a pack with games that require openWiz binaries and libs!