A GameBoy emulator (GPLv2: gnuboy, ported, tested on K3)

[PieMan597]

No really. How do I compile this?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by PieMan597

How exactly do I compile this for my Kindle? Being a newcomer to the coding world, I don't know much. It would be nice if you guys could help me out.

Start at your local college or university, ask for the Computer Science Program.

You should be able to do this embedded work after only 6 to 8 years of coursework.

[PieMan597]

Six to eight years? In my two years of computer classes, I have learned nothing, except the addresses of game sites that aren't blocked.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by PieMan597

Six to eight years? In my two years of computer classes, I have learned nothing, except the addresses of game sites that aren't blocked.

It was easier to pay attention to the lessons and to study in the olden days, with no Internet or multimedia to distract us. There were not even portable audio cassette players. Just AM transistor radios, for background music while studying. But we carried lots of (really heavy) books...

Also, sitting front and center and looking the teacher in the eyes with rapt attention helped a lot.

Though Google is tempting as a "study partner", its tangential nature will always lead us astray when the temptation to explore blind alleyways and chase the wild goose are much too strong for mere mortal minds...

Keep your nose in the books, and "meld minds" with your teachers, but above all, keep a healthy curiosity and WRITE CODE, pure code, letting classroom assignments be a mere doorway for exploration.

And get some relevant microprocessor databooks and study those too. Get some devkits (or kindles) and write some NATIVE CODE (see the index wikis), and THEN write some embedded firmware (perhaps by tweaking existing reference examples first).

[PieMan597]

Yeah, thanks for the advice. All those classes told me to do was to use Microsoft Office anyways. You have got to love public education.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by PieMan597

Yeah, thanks for the advice. All those classes told me to do was to use Microsoft Office anyways. You have got to love public education.

You sound non-committal, detached from your desire to learn this stuff.

I am sincere in my advice, and I recommend You give it a whole-hearted honest try. If nothing else, it will strengthen your mind and enhance your soul...

Public education cannot force knowledge into our heads. Nor can private education. They are merely a guide, to provide a resource to those who would teach ourselves. Many of us would not have such opportunity without them. If we do not learn, we can only blame ourselves.

For those of us who show interest and a true desire to learn, many teachers will share knowledge and resources well beyond the standard (minimum) curriculum, as they so often did for me. Ask (politely and with respect) and you shall (almost always) receive...

But most of all, you are your own best teacher. Experiment and learn!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I would love to add dithering support, but I need to get my head above water first. I have a ton of unread posts and unread PMs here that I need to read when I get some time. I would love to have some hobby time again...

And now I have multi-millionaires throwing thousands of dollars in my paypal account wanting me to design and build "stuff of the future" for them.

Time will get even more precious and scarce in the future.

I used to be a bit disappointed that people did not just pick up my "simple and obvious" code samples and run with them, but now that I know I have "Engineer's Disease" (Asperger's Syndrome -- neurodiverse / thinking "differently"), perhaps only a fellow "aspie" can do that, outside the reality of neurotypical ("normal") people.

I have always been treated differently, receiving special priveleges and honors since early childhood. Now I know why. And now at GDC a switch flipped inside me, making me assertive and bold, and a world of possibilities is opening before me, with many rich and famous people talking about me and with me, wanting to share my mind.

I always thought I could teach others to think like me, but now I have my doubts:
http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/1...ave-in-common/
http://live.wsj.com/video/companies-...3E599EE0C.html

Some tell me to stop seeking apprentices and seek disciples, but my boldness is not (yet) that great. Words matter, and such words can be dangerous, IMHO.

And I am still a bit in shock and awe since I shared my real name and face with the world...

If there are any fellow aspies with coding skills here, please help integrate my dithering logic into the programs that can use it, such as in this thread. Thanks!

[brianinmaine]

My advice on the whole idea of compiling gnuboy for a touch:
install a cross compiler on linux - search on here for instructions.
try to compile something - search on here for instructions.
ask for help if you run into problems (exact steps).

I thought hacking was just 'trying it until it works' or 'help I'm going to throw this stupid thing out the window'

try it first, then ask for help.

[geekmaster]

Cross-compiling makes faster-running code than using tcc on the device, and the compile can be much faster too. An optware gcc compile of x-windows on my K3 took about 12 hours!

[PieMan597]

I ran "make" from the fbgnuboy folder, and it was going good until this:

sys/fbdev/fbdev.c:20:26: fatal error: linux/einkfb.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make: *** [sys/fbdev/fbdev.o] Error 1

What am I doing wrong? Help me please!
(I was using a cross compiler on my linux machine.)

[hawhill]

Oh, probably I didn't include that particular header file. Just wanted to give a short signal that this thread and your question is not forgotten. I'm just back from a two week and a bit holiday in the carribean (wooohoo!), need to get a few things sorted, and then I'll have a closer look. This is one of the code bases I haven't touched in a while.

(PS: and getting GM's dither code included is also still on my TODO list...)

[discocreeper101]

Quote Hawhill:Hi,

this is something I did for the fun of it: port an ancient version of gnuboy, a GameBoy emulator, to the Kindle. In fact, I only had my eyes on the K3 here, maybe it runs (it should) on the KDX. With some adoption of the key codes, it might work on the K4NT, too. But not as-is.

Caveats:
- e-ink is not an LCD. Although I took geekmaster's idea and implemented a simple 2x2 ordered dither in only black and white to have some amount of predictability regarding update speed. Tetris works almost fine ;-)
- direction keys are direction keys, "Z" (on Kindle) is "A", "X" is "B", "A" is "Select", "S" is "Start", "Home" quits
- no sound (yet)
- no input grabbing: you might want to shut down the framework in order to use it properly.

Sources are attached. Questions welcome. Don't expect me to continue to work on this, this is more of a stupid pet project of mine than anything else. But feel free to hack on it!

The binary "fbgnuboy" (standalone) is in the attached archive as is the source code.

Have fun!

Update 2012 Oct 05: Gave it a try and adopted for 8bpp framebuffers. So give it a try if you own one of the relevant devices.
__________________________________________________ __________________________
Could You Please Put An Attachment For A Compiled Version For The Touch/PW

[PieMan597]

The problem with that is the binaies for touch at very very buggy and experimental at the moment. Problems: input and dithering.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by PieMan597

Yeah, thanks for the advice.
All those classes told me to do was to use Microsoft Office anyways.
You have got to love public education.

Ah, thank you.

That bit of background makes your questions much more understandable.
^^Not joking this morning.^^

Learning how to power-on the computer is useful, but not quite the complete background required to achieve your goals.

Learning how to use one graphic interfaced application is also useful. In general, it demonstrates one type of interaction with the end-user.

Being self-taught is still common among the members of a hobbyist site such as this one (and in the world in general).
Not to run down formal education in a specialty, that has its uses also.
My guess is that most of the developers here have a combination of both types of learning in their backgrounds.

So keep on, keeping on -
Just because the path is long does not mean it isn't worth traveling.

[PieMan597]

I've done some more work on programming, check out my updated fractal viewer for the Kindle Touch.

Anyways, thanks for the advice.