Progression Discussion (Post 2006)

[druidfire217]

Several of us thought that the original Rockbox thread, while a good idea, was getting a bit too unwieldy at over 50 pages. Please move all discussion over here, as several of the earlier pages are now irrelevant, due to Rockbox updates.

[iwantanimac]

Okay, to start us off, i have a proposal to add to the dual-booter, so please
have a look at the link below:

[Link]

[skateboard0924]

I don't know if its just me, but I really, really want rockboy to work on my H10 20 GB. Who's with me? That would be great if it worked! The reason I believe they don't have it for the H10 is because of its screen size, but that would be cool if someone would be able to help with making that. I know the rockbox people are busy with making rockbox more stable and what not and also increase of battery life, as well as the video w/ sound to be working, but being able to play game boy games on my mp3 player?... that would be wonderful!

[druidfire217]

Part of the problem fromwhat I understand, is because of the level of processing power needed to run the gameboy games. That is why they havent gotten it working on any of the players besides the one that has the same size as the gameboy. So once we get some of the optimizations programmed, we might want to try and convince some of the devs to pick this up.

[wafflesomd]

Originally Posted by druidfire217

Part of the problem fromwhat I understand, is because of the level of processing power needed to run the gameboy games. That is why they havent gotten it working on any of the players besides the one that has the same size as the gameboy. So once we get some of the optimizations programmed, we might want to try and convince some of the devs to pick this up.

Last I heard, the main issue is that the screen needs to be resized.

[TrueJournals]

That's what I've been hearing too. It is a little sluggish I've heard, but I was told that the real reason it's not on the H10 is because the screen is too small. Someone needs to figure out how to resize it and there'd be (almost) no problem.

[iwantanimac]

but that's the problem, resizing the screen in realtime (You should all know how long it takes the H10 to resize a .jpg) and the gameboy will need to be running at a reasonable framerate to make any real use of it, so that might be a problem.

[Comrade_AnoreX]

Why resize it at real time then? Why not resizing it in the gameboy software itself? Just like your'e not putting 800X600 mpeg movies but you scale them down to 128*96...

[iwantanimac]

well.. that is theoretically possible, but that means modifying the ROMs, which is a bit complicated, as you have to modify coordinates, sprites, backgrounds, code and all sorts of things. Unfortunately it's nothing like a video, so it's a lot harder.

[erikizam]

oh man... that really sucks... i'm all for rockboy as well!... that would be the coolest thing EVER... like forget about lugging around a gameboy and a million cartridges... all the roms are right there in a folder... that's just awesome

[Angryman_H10]

THe only solution would be to modify the Rockboy lcd driver to display every second pixel. I think the bigger problem is to make rockboy cope with the H10's CPU

[skateboard0924]

Angryman: Yes, I know it will be difficult on the cpu of the H10, but now since there is dual core coming out and the firmware itself becoming more stable, that could possibly mean better cpu usage, right? Hopefully in the near future rockboy will be implemented for the H10, but i'll wait till then (If its not too long)

[druidfire217]

I am just spitballing here, but...Would it be possible to decode the ROMS, like we did in the .mi4 file, and then use something like Imagicon, to batch resize everything to fit? Or is that just a crazy idea?

[Angryman_H10]

THe problem isnt the cpu speed its the architecture.

[Mad Cow]

Originally Posted by druidfire217

I am just spitballing here, but...Would it be possible to decode the ROMS, like we did in the .mi4 file, and then use something like Imagicon, to batch resize everything to fit? Or is that just a crazy idea?

It's a crazy idea, that's like resizing all the images of a WPS, it'll fit the screen but everything will be in the wrong place.

[druidfire217]

Ok, just figured I would throw it out, in case it would work. Can we batch shrink the positioning as well?

[Mad Cow]

Originally Posted by druidfire217

Ok, just figured I would throw it out, in case it would work. Can we batch shrink the positioning as well?

That would probably be possible, but very improbable. I would say to just wait and see if anything happens.

[BiGRED84]

ok i have a question, i now know why some of my songs skip, its becauseof the high bit rate ( 320kbs) so i was wondering, if and when both cores are implemented, will these songs play normal again. i would like to know because i would rather wait a litle bit for dual core, then to waste a week re ripping cds

[PaulPosition]

I can't say for sure, but I would imagine they'll be trying to run, say, the audio and "effects" on one cpu and the user interface and the rest on the co-pocessor. Or something like that. I guess that would help a good deal.

Judging by what I hear from more advanced platforms (more advanced in developement), I think that when the port has matured a bit, the portalplayer based players should decode them without skip.

[fre65]

Yeah I think there are more important things to iron out with the H10 than rockboy... I'd love a gameboy emulator too... but I'd prefer it (if possible) that the battery life problems were to be addressed first...

I don't feel safe using my H10 with rockbox away from a charger, just in case it eats all my battery. I do feel safe however, using the original firmware.

Of course, we still have areas that need to be dealt with before Rockbox can 'replace' the original firmware... like:
FM Radio + Recording
Recording (by itself)
Battery life (as mentioned)

When that day comes, there will be no need for dual boot loaders, and we'll all have a flexible, powerful device!

Is there any chance that the rockbox firmware could be better on the battery than the orginal firmware? I mean, is the original firmware designed so well that we can't squeeze an extra 1/2 hr out of the battery?

Also, as a suggestion or two to the RockBox crew:
- Could you make it so that the song currently playing is indicated in the playlist/database (so we can see which one is currently playing, instead of having to check the WPS
- Could we have an option (like on the H10 firmware) where the menu navigation is 'remembered'... At the moment, you have to scroll thru the menus to get back to where you were last... sometimes handy, sometimes not so handy...

sorry for long post!

[iwantanimac]

Originally Posted by fre65

Also, as a suggestion or two to the RockBox crew:
- Could you make it so that the song currently playing is indicated in the playlist/database (so we can see which one is currently playing, instead of having to check the WPS
- Could we have an option (like on the H10 firmware) where the menu navigation is 'remembered'... At the moment, you have to scroll thru the menus to get back to where you were last... sometimes handy, sometimes not so handy...

Why not add these to the patch tracker? you need to sign up, but it's worth it so that the devs will be more likely to notice.

http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/index.php?type=1

[Comrade_AnoreX]

Originally Posted by fre65

Also, as a suggestion or two to the RockBox crew:
- Could you make it so that the song currently playing is indicated in the playlist/database (so we can see which one is currently playing, instead of having to check the WPS
- Could we have an option (like on the H10 firmware) where the menu navigation is 'remembered'... At the moment, you have to scroll thru the menus to get back to where you were last... sometimes handy, sometimes not so handy...

I completly suppourt this offer, I would LOVE navigation "memory" on my Rockbox... It's a really nice feature on the original firmware and it would be awesome if it were to be on RockBox too.