What About Open2x?

[Orkie]

Well, there's a few people that have been using it exclusively for close to a month now and bugs are slowly being fixed.

We were struggling with GP2XMB for about a week with it not launching many programs, presumably due to the way it is launched in the boot scripts. We've mostly fixed this now (the only thing I'm aware of which won't launch using it is PrBoom) but nobody is quite sure of the cause (which is slightly worrying) :S It is contained to GP2XMB, nearly all programs work fine from telnet (mp2x is the only exception we've found so far, but the cause of this is fairly obvious, we're missing a library in the firmware but you can run it through the backwards compatibility mode) so it isn't a problem with the firmware as such.

The built in telnet and FTP servers have been replaced with better ones.

USB host is still not working. I have no idea whatsoever why and it probably won't be supported in the first public release unless somebody can work out what is wrong so I can make a patch. Anybody who knows anything about USB host, feel free to get in touch

I've got a dynamic binary of SDL_mixer with tremor support compiled in now, however libmad can't be added due to it being GPL. For GPL applications which need libmad support, you'll have to statically link to the SDL_mixer which includes it (you can statically link a single library by manually specifying the .a file).

There is a bug in HW SDL when dynamically linked which means you can't start it using SDL_DOUBLEBUF as a flag. The cause of this is unknown, but is easily worked around by either handling double buffering yourself or as with SDL_mixer, statically linking against only SDL.

I've been writing an installer which will make the process of installing it fairly simple and will give information as to what stage it's at (unlike the GPH installer). This also allows me to start integrating applications into the distro.

Still not totally sure about a release date, but I'm hoping to have another alpha out to a few people sometime next week. Once I've seen what problems exist in that, I'll decide whether or not to make a public release. Just be aware that when the beta does come, you shouldn't install it if you want USB host working (TV-out is supported however).

 

[reiboul]

yeah, that's great news!! I love you Orkie
Glad to see you're making progress! I'm always eager to try new stuffs on the GP2X

 

[risu]

hmm vlc would certainly be cool, especially if a bluetooth stack/ wifi drivers(for current linuxy ones) were included too

Is bluetooth support planned on Open2x? I know it's not something many users would use.

 

[Amon_Re]

Will the xserver be compatible with TVout? The current one only works at 320x240, Is it possible to use kdrive-sdl instead of kdrive-fbdev?

Also, normal TV-OUT should work at NTCS game mode (320x240), not as set by GPH.


What about us in a PAL world?

 

[Trip]

Is bluetooth support planned on Open2x? I know it's not something many users would use.

I don't know about that risu..
If the Wii controls need Bluetooth support to work, I can see it being very popular

 

[Yorper]

Must say im really looking forward to this project too. The firmware 3.0.0 is just shocking to be kind about it, there is so much potential that can be done with the firmware and they choose to do nothing with it at all. Oh wait, they added some half arsed lame tutorial vids and filled the NAND with demo crap then removed the ability to delete it in system :rolleyes:

I'm all in favour of a community born firmware, atleast that way the people making it know, understand and actually listen to the peoples issues and will work on it, unlike GPH seem to do. So, any chance of this firmware automounting ext filesystems?

Cant wait to throw this on my system, got a little question though, is this going to be a complete firmware replacement based of the older GPH firmware source released or just a patch over the existing firmware, using its guts but adding more?

 

[fightingdreamer88]

Can't wait for this to be released. Keep up the good work!!

 

[norm]

this is the first i've really head of open2x - it sounds amazing and im looking forward to a release, i hope its as good as it sounds

 

[nyx]

Any news updates on this????
I for one will be supporting Open2X by installing it as soon as it's released. Sounds like it'll be lean and efficient, which is just what a portable device OS needs to be. Keep at it guys, it'll become the "standard" OS/toolchain for Gp2x!

 

[ZeroPain]

I'm really getting excited about this

Is there anyway we help and speed things up?
Donation perhaps?

 

[nyx]

*bump*

 

[Alex.]

So, does Payback work on Open2x? Couldn't go without my daily Corona City fix

 

[YakumoFuji]

I know its only a pipe dream and it would break everything but Id be interested in seeing how a tickless 2.6 kernel ran on gp2x. if tickless increased battery life or not.

 

[___]

I would also like to hear some news... I would like to become a betatester aswell if possible.

 

[J201605]

The main thing I would want from an open firmware like this would be more seamless usb control/tv out. I'd like to be able to hold down a button on launch to start in tv out, and id like complete usb menu control.

 

[Orkie]

OK, I guess I can't put off replying any longer

Basically, the base system is complete - nothing more needs to be done on the libraries or important command line utilities. I also have half an installer and most of the built in applications assembled. We think we may have fixed USB host support (thanks to art103) but I can't actually test it yet The reason being, none of the kernels I have built recently will boot (no idea why).

Basically, the installer and kernel are what is holding the thing back now. The installer is essential because there isn't normally a way of copying things to the second partition (what used to be the user section) of the NAND. Given an afternoon of work, I could probably get the kernel booting and then the rest of the installer is fairly trivial work. Problem is, I have exams starting tomorrow I'll try to find time to try and get it working soon, but it's at the bottom of my to do list at the moment (for obvious reasons). My exams go on for a month, so I may or may not find time.

After that is done, I'll send out the installer to a few more people than I did with the alpha version and assuming no major bugs are found in that, it'll become the first public beta release. The first version will have lots more built in applications than the GPH firmware and most of the same functionality should be there, but there will be no magical improvements to start with (besides the dynamic linking ability with the Open2x toolchain, and at some point DevKitGP2X, which is in itself a fairly major improvement). I'll post a complete list of the built in applications and libraries when I give the next release to people privately.

Sorry it's taking so long, but I will have more time after the exams are over to work on it (and my other projects).

Now questions:

Is bluetooth support planned on Open2x? I know it's not something many users would use.

Not really, but when I have the release done, I don't mind compiling a Bluetooth module.

So, any chance of this firmware automounting ext filesystems?

Cant wait to throw this on my system, got a little question though, is this going to be a complete firmware replacement based of the older GPH firmware source released or just a patch over the existing firmware, using its guts but adding more?

Sure, it has been able to do that since day 1. You may also find a few other useful (for Windows users in particular) filesystems in there
It is a total firmware replacement. It uses the GPH installation image (gp2xyaffs.img) but that's simply because I haven't had time to work out how to make my own properly yet. After that, it's GPH-free.

Donation perhaps?

Feel free to donate to the Open2x team after it has been released .

So, does Payback work on Open2x? Couldn't go without my daily Corona City fix

Not tried it, sorry (PrBoom, GP2XMB and Picodrive are my main test applications) but you could try asking Zider to give it a go, he's been trying lots of things and recording the results in the Open2x wiki (the list is based on the alpha though, it doesn't take into account any issues I've fixed since) http://wiki.open2x.org/open2x/wiki/index.p...atabilityIssues. Of course, I hope all applications will eventually be updated for/developed on Open2x anyway .

I know its only a pipe dream and it would break everything but Id be interested in seeing how a tickless 2.6 kernel ran on gp2x. if tickless increased battery life or not.

I don't think it'd break everything. The problem is more that it would be a lot of work to port given the sparse documentation of some things.

The main thing I would want from an open firmware like this would be more seamless usb control/tv out. I'd like to be able to hold down a button on launch to start in tv out, and id like complete usb menu control.

Auto load based on button presses at startup is planned for a future release, and in theory, if applications switch over to using the GP2X joystick module (which creates a standard joystick device), USB joysticks should just work.

 

[Shadowsithe]

Thanks for the update, looking forward to this.

 

[Megatog615]

So no tickless 2.6 kernel?

 

[Orkie]

No 2.6 kernel full stop.

 

[argor]

i have a question what is the curent boot time for open2x