Wll Pandora Be Backward Comapatible With F200 And Gp32?

[Razahyder]

 

[greendots]

No, but i think squidge is working on an emulator.

 

[sindbad]

And almost anything can be easily ported.

 

[Razahyder]

They should add GP2X AND GP32 in emulators.

 

[shmuck]

They should add GP2X AND GP32 in emulators.

This has been discussed - I think it was pointed out that the GP32 had very few exclusive games and only a couple of those were actually worth playing. GP32 emulation doesn't seem like it'd really be worth the time and GP2X emulation might be difficult, what with the two chip design.

Personally, if we're going to choose completely random things that we'd like to see emulated, I'd like to see a CDi emulator. But that's just me.

 

[Chip]

There will not likely be "emulators" for either the GP32 or GP2X on the Pandora. Squidge had attempted a GP32 emulator on the GP2X, but he hit some major roadblocks early in development and gave up on it.

As the overwhelming majority of GP32 and GP2X software is open source, anything worth having on the Pandora will likely get ported. There is no real need for emulators.

 

[Razahyder]

Some emulators are for GP2X only.

 

[Null]

Some emulators are for GP2X only.

anything worth having on the Pandora will likely get ported.

That includes emulators.

 

[chad78]

What is easier? Making one GP2X emulator - or porting hundreds of individual games?

 

[Razahyder]

Does it include ports,utilities and the 1.566GB GP2X game collection?

 

[Null]

What is easier? Making one GP2X emulator - or porting hundreds of individual games?

Don't know, why don't you try both and tell us the result.

Does it include ports,utilities and the 1.566GB GP2X game collection?

If they're worth having then somebody will most likely port them to the Pandora, and if they're not, well it's no loss.

 

[Chip]

What is easier? Making one GP2X emulator - or porting hundreds of individual games?

Porting the games. Seriously.

First of all, there probably aren't "hundreds" of games that are even worth porting. Dozens maybe, but not hundreds. Second of all, since all the libraries that are available on the GP2X are likely to be ported to the Pandora, the porting process should be straightforward for most titles. Thirdly, porting allows you to make changes to the interface and display properties of the software - giving the porter the opportunity to use the Pandora's myriad of input options and larger display to the fullest. Fourthly, many individual ports can be worked on by many different programmers - breaking up the work load. Lastly (and most importantly), there is no existing GP2X emulator to work off of. An emulator would have to be written from scratch. It wouldn't be impossible, but it wouldn't be trivial either.

Is there a particular piece of software on the GP2X that you're particularly interested in, or do you want an emulator just to have it?

 

[chad78]

First of all, there probably aren't "hundreds" of games that are even worth porting. Dozens maybe, but not hundreds.
I was told that there were something like 500 games. Are you saying that over 400 of them are crap? - sorry "not worth playing" - don't want to put words in your mouth.QUOTE
Thirdly, porting allows you to make changes to the interface and display properties of the software - giving the porter the opportunity to use the Pandora's myriad of input options and larger display to the fullest.
That makes sense.QUOTE
Fourthly, many individual ports can be worked on by many different programmers - breaking up the work load.
That makes sense - but that can be seen as a potential problem as well - With an emulator, only one person has to work on it - so you only need to find one dedicated talented person - not hundreds - or dozens. And once that emulator is done - all the games are done, even the "non-playable ones".QUOTE
Lastly (and most importantly), there is no existing GP2X emulator to work off of. An emulator would have to be written from scratch. It wouldn't be impossible, but it wouldn't be trivial either.
There has to be a first - or there won't ever be any. If someone does the first GP2X emu - then that emu could be ported to other systems (Nokia I-Tablets, PSP, Windows, Mac, etc.) - so the whole library would be available to a lot more people.QUOTE
Is there a particular piece of software on the GP2X that you're particularly interested in, or do you want an emulator just to have it?
Neither of your two options. I'm sure that there will be many ports of the top GP2X games - and, from what I've seen/been told - a lot of the so-called native games are just ports of Linux games. But an emulator would make sure all the games/apps are covered.

I realize that my desire to have one means nothing, unless I actually make it. But I just think it would be a good idea.

 

[God Ginrai]

First of all, there probably aren't "hundreds" of games that are even worth porting. Dozens maybe, but not hundreds.
I was told that there were something like 500 games. Are you saying that over 400 of them are crap? - sorry "not worth playing" - don't want to put words in your mouth.QUOTE
Thirdly, porting allows you to make changes to the interface and display properties of the software - giving the porter the opportunity to use the Pandora's myriad of input options and larger display to the fullest.
That makes sense.QUOTE
Fourthly, many individual ports can be worked on by many different programmers - breaking up the work load.
That makes sense - but that can be seen as a potential problem as well - With an emulator, only one person has to work on it - so you only need to find one dedicated talented person - not hundreds - or dozens. And once that emulator is done - all the games are done, even the "non-playable ones".QUOTE
Lastly (and most importantly), there is no existing GP2X emulator to work off of. An emulator would have to be written from scratch. It wouldn't be impossible, but it wouldn't be trivial either.
There has to be a first - or there won't ever be any. If someone does the first GP2X emu - then that emu could be ported to other systems (Nokia I-Tablets, PSP, Windows, Mac, etc.) - so the whole library would be available to a lot more people.QUOTE
Is there a particular piece of software on the GP2X that you're particularly interested in, or do you want an emulator just to have it?
Neither of your two options. I'm sure that there will be many ports of the top GP2X games - and, from what I've seen/been told - a lot of the so-called native games are just ports of Linux games. But an emulator would make sure all the games/apps are covered.

I realize that my desire to have one means nothing, unless I actually make it. But I just think it would be a good idea.

Long story short, the Pandora is only the generation after the GP2X, I highly doubt it is possible to code a GP2X emulator that would run at any decent speeds on the Pandora. Now, something akin to Wine (coded specifically for GP2X binaries, tho') might work, seeing as how the Pandora and the GP2X have similar architectures, but I don't know for sure.

As for a GP32 emu, I would love to see one of these if possible. I don't see why one of these wouldn't be possible on the Pandora, and it would open the whole library of homebrew games on the GP32 that never got ported to the GP2X. (And trust me, there were a lot of those)

-God Ginrai

 

[trooper]

That makes sense - but that can be seen as a potential problem as well - With an emulator, only one person has to work on it - so you only need to find one dedicated talented person - not hundreds - or dozens. And once that emulator is done - all the games are done, even the "non-playable ones".

How do you think most of the open source software got to where it is today, Not from a single programmer, Obviously. Plus, Many hands make light work, Many pairs of eyes are better than one, With catching bugs, Optimizing, Tweaking etc.

In my opinion, Ports would definitely be better than an emulator, Especially with regards to the GP2x, Anyway, Mainly for the reasons Chip mentioned above.

Trooper

 

[davidgutierrez]

A GP32 / GP2x emulator would be useful for the few games that aren't ported to Pandora. However, if it is possible, it would be better making a port than playing that game in an emulator: you could underclock the Pandora an save battery.

 

[God Ginrai]

That makes sense - but that can be seen as a potential problem as well - With an emulator, only one person has to work on it - so you only need to find one dedicated talented person - not hundreds - or dozens. And once that emulator is done - all the games are done, even the "non-playable ones".

How do you think most of the open source software got to where it is today, Not from a single programmer, Obviously. Plus, Many hands make light work, Many pairs of eyes are better than one, With catching bugs, Optimizing, Tweaking etc.

In my opinion, Ports would definitely be better than an emulator, Especially with regards to the GP2x, Anyway, Mainly for the reasons Chip mentioned above.

Trooper


Of course, ports are always better than emulating it. But, as we saw with the porting of apps from the GP32 to GP2X, not all of the apps get ported. I don't think anyone here was suggesting abandoning the process of porting GP2X games for an emulator, (although I admit that chad's post sounded like that) but we would like to cover all bases by having an emulator so that we don't lose the things that don't get ported.

-God Ginrai

 

[trooper]

Of course, ports are always better than emulating it. But, as we saw with the porting of apps from the GP32 to GP2X, not all of the apps get ported. I don't think anyone here was suggesting abandoning the process of porting GP2X games for an emulator, (although I admit that chad's post sounded like that) but we would like to cover all bases by having an emulator so that we don't lose the things that don't get ported.

-God Ginrai

That`s true, But i still own a GP32, So i suppose it doesn`t affect me as much as most, Apart from where the GP2x`s software is concerned that is, Stuff that wasn`t ported from the GP32, ie, Original software for the GP2x.

Trooper

 

[Squidge]

Now, something akin to Wine (coded specifically for GP2X binaries, tho') might work, seeing as how the Pandora and the GP2X have similar architectures, but I don't know for sure.

Problem is, most emus and game either hack the hardware directly, or use an SDK which does so. So you have the hardware frame buffer, lcd controller, blitter, gpio and sometimes even the second processor to worry about. It could be done, but patching the mmu to catch those addresses goes against Linux, and throwing linux out on the Pandora is a big disadvantage.

 

[Sphinxter]

Should be ample help. Can't even swing a dead cat around here without hitting at least two highly skilled programmers.