GnuBoy released!

joyrider finally released GnuBoy for native firmware!

DINGOO GNUBOY ------------- dingoo gnuboy is a port of gnuboy for the dingoo with some extra options. It has been ported by joyrider aka willems davy. how to install ? ---------------- copy GNUBOY.SIM in the A:\\GAME\\ directory, it MUST be placed there and nowhere else ! Once you did this you can copy over roms to any directory you like on the dingoo. The roms must be unzipped and have either a .gb or .gbc extention. how to play ? ------------- Once you copied your games and the sim file just use the "intresting games" menu to browse to the roms and run them. The default keys are the same as on the gameboy being: A : A B : B Select : Select Start : Start L : QuickSave to selected saveslot R : QuickLoad from selected saveslot Y and X does nothing ! The menu? --------- Holding select+start will bring you to the menu where you can change diffrent options. like showing the showing fps counter, the screen mode, sound volume, frameskip or save load a state as well as quiting the emulator. option notes: - the frameskip option will skip one out of 2 frames so instead of rendering 60 frames per second it will only render 30 frames per second, this will speed up certain games at the cost of loosing frames. Experiment with it - there are 3 screen modes : Aspect FS which stretches the screen but keeping aspect ratio, Stretched full screen and native. During native mode you will see a frame around the screen this frame can be customized ! by default the emulator will first look for game sepecific frames being <romename>.tga if it doesn't find it it will look for the file name gnuboy.tga in the folder where you loaded the rom from, if it doesn't find that one it will do a final check in A:\\game\\ for a gnuboy.tga and load that one. If they all fail the default frame will be loaded. - about frames : The frames have to be a 320x240 uncompressed tga image ! do not try to use another format or another resolution. - Save State and load state will display a number besides them this is the saveslot which is a number between 1 and 9 so you can have up to 9 savestates per game (rom). the rest of the options should be obvious. FAQ --- A game doesn't work / load will this game ever work ? - if the problem is emulation related it won't because i don't know much about emulator programming I want to have a seperate frame for the original gameboy and color gameboy, is this possible ? - YES, just put your GBC and GB roms in a seperate directory and place a gnuboy.tga image in each rom dir, one for gbc games and one for gb games. Will you port other emulators for the native os ? - i have no intention to do this at the moment but who knows, time will tell. Are save the settings from the menu saved ? - yes they are saved but not per game. will a save state in Game X work on emulator Y on another machine ? - i have no clue, just test it although i doubt they'll work. I want to request a feature, have something added to the emulator, where can i contact you ? - using my website http://www.willemssoft.be or on the a320.freeforums.org or on irc.freenet.org channel #dingoo-a320 Credits ------- GnuBoy has been ported by joyrider - willems davy - http://www.willemssoft.be Thanks to the original author(s) of gnuboy without them this wouldn't have been possible, flatmush for his excellent minimal lib, Alekmaul for the scaler code and sound threading example, harteex (and zear) for the testing and Alf for creating the frame(s). Thanks to the guys on #dingoo-a320 irc channel for giving a few tips, pointers and testing.

Download

Dingoo A320 forums

FreePrince running on Dingux

zear got FreePrince running on Dingux. Unfortunally FreePrince hasn’t been updated for a long time, and can’t be considered playable in this state. Perhaps this could give someone motivation to continue the project though.

You’ll find the FreePrince project  here.

To try it, you can download it for the Dingoo here. Don’t forget that you will need the original game data aswell.

More videos of Gnuboy, soon finished

Here’s yet another cool video from joyrider showing Gnuboy running on native OS. Since this video was made, loading times are much faster and it has frameskip functionality (good for a few GBC games which doesn’t run in full speed).

here's another video of gnuboy, showing the menu, and some games, the savestates (9 per game), the frames (which can be personalised per game) in non fullscreen mode and the fullscreen mode in action. I did notice a bug with the frame not being loaded after the loading screen (while recording this video) so will fix that. All that's left todo is some twiddling with the sound. And perhaps if i can find it the slowdown that occasionally occurs during a game (which isn't fps related unless my fps counter doesn't work hehe ;) )

 

e-time D22+ “The Genesis Device” review

Remember this (and who wouldn’t)? It plays megadrive/genesis games. It’s cheap. What more do you need?

Strider_mtk and I have now received ours – and thanks largely to Strider’s hard work, you can now click here for a detailed review!

ColeCOO Version 3.0

alekmaul just released version 3 of his great Colecovision emulator for native firmware.

Hi all, here is the new version of ColeCOO, my native dingoo OS Colecovision emulator. Put ColeCOO.SIM in your GAME directory. Put your .COL games where you want. Use "Interesting game" from Dingoo menu and choose your .COL file, the emu will launch with the game What's new in this version : V3.0 : 27/09/2009 # fix tv out pb # fix mode 2 pb (great thanks to Daniel Bienvenue for explaination of pb) Just test his last game here : Daniel dev-fr blog # fix same pb in mode 0 for Pattern Table + move to gcc 4 instead of gcc 3.3.1 + change sound threading to be more accurate # fix defender hanging - new load state/save state not compatible with previous version (sorry, my hd crashed and i rewrote this part from scratch) + load/save config in \game\colecoo.cfg You can see my webpage about it here : ColeCOO For Dingoo. Also, the website is in French Download here : ColeCOO Version 3.0

Source: Dingoo A320 forum

Ro – bullet reactor for Dingux

I’m not sure what sort of game this is, but it looks good.

This is not a BREAK-OUT. Your yellow ball will be fired automatically. You must destroy blocks all with your yellow balls. You must dodge both yellow balls and red bullets. Push R(or X) button for more bullet storm !!! Enjoy. 20090926 ver0.14 Add key-bind. Button X = Button R Button Y = Button L Add wait to keep 60 fps. Change the shot interval shorter between balls and bullets.

 

Grab it here: http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,157

Native Gnuboy teaser video!

Can’t be long now!

UPDATE (27 Sep 09):

ALF said...

I made some quick background images for this emu (in non fullscreen mode). Take a look:
Black: http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9203/gbbgb.png

White: http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6716/gbbgw.png

To author of emu: if you like these, I can send you a source in PSD, so you can design them as you like. (Contact ALF by clicking).

Video of eduke32 with mods

zear posted a nice video of eduke32 and the mods Duke64, Starship Troopers, and NAM. Check it out!

Port of Gnuboy to native firmware in progress

joyrider is currently porting Gnuboy (Gameboy & Gameboy Color emu) to native firmware.

Here’s a video of some work in progress.

initial work on a gnuboy port for the default dingoo os. it seems to work fine, but has no sound yet. took me 2 full nights to get it working.

An interview with sweetlimre

sweetlilmre, who is responsible for Dingux VICE - which IMHO is the best thing since antipasto or laksa - very kindly took the time to respond to some Dingoo-scene Q’s. 

Hi there sweetlimre.Tell us something about yourself. How old are you, what do you do for a crust, are you married/single/in high school/a very intelligent 9 year old - all that stuff? I am 35 and work for a multinational software development company. I am married and have 3 children. Did you have a C64? If yes, what's your warmest memory of it? My first full time PC was a C64. I first learnt to program on an Apple II clone my dad used to bring home from work on the weekends. Finally I nagged my folks enough that they got me a C64. I think learning binary so that I could draw sprites was one of the most amazing moments, I was about 10 at the time and binary was HARD! :) Any favourite games? Bruce Lee, Monty Mole, Mercenary (soooo many hours), Lode Runner. Too many to mention. What's your coding/porting track record like? Have you done anything like this before? I have spent an insane amount of time porting stuff :). I would say initially mostly in the Gizmondo scene, porting SDL, Frodo and many, many other bits and pieces. As that scene has pretty much died out, I was looking for some new hardware before my Pandora arrived and life as we know it ends :) What got you interested in the Dingoo to begin with? It was cheap, seemed reasonably well built, ran Linux (an essential) and had a MIPS architecture which I have never worked with before. Also I have been very active in kernel hacking on the Zipit Z2, so my general interest in embedded Linux has risen over the last year or two. Do you think the Dingoo has a bright future? Certainly. I think that the rootfs while useable needs some work e.g. a writeable "home" directory. It would be nice to get the kernel up to a later version or even into mainline (seems Booboo is well on the case here). And it would really help if Booboo would release his buildroot config and any scripts he has for building libs etc. I would like to build a rootfs under OpenEmbedded as I am very familiar with this (BeagleBoard, ZipitZ2 and other stuff that I have used under the OE buildsystem). How does coding for Dingoo compare with working on other platforms? Which do you prefer? I must say that coding for the Gizmondo was probably the easiest as it was a WinCE (*puke*) platform and therefore had brilliant VisualStudio and debugging integration (everything else including performance sucked :)). Once the networking issues have been resolved we should be able to have a similar setup with gdbserver on the Dingoo, so things are looking promising. To be honest when I can, I code and debug under VS2008 on windows with an x86 setup and then compile the code on Linux. Would a native Dingoo OS C64 emu ever be possible? Care to take up the challenge? I am sure it would be possible :) As for taking up the challenge, I must be honest and say I have no interest in the proprietary Dingoo OS and would like to see Linux replace it as the default. Why VICE over Frodo? Why C64 at all? Vice is a significantly more accurate emulator, in fact it's pretty much the universal gold standard as far as C64 emulators go. Frodo is great, but hasn't been developed on for years. As to why C64, well there is the nostalgia aspect and I wanted to see if it could work with reasonalble performance on the Dingoo. I must say I am very impressed with the performance of this little machine. At the moment, compatibility on VICE is pretty good - it seems to run 95% of whatever I throw at it.  My one complaint is that it does seem to run smoothly one minute, then frameskip at other times, then go back to smooth running again. This plays havoc with shooters like Katakis - I wonder if there's anything you might suggest to improve things? I don't want to promise before I deliver, but lets just say that I have been working with the latest SVN source and the vice-dev team. Test builds I have made recently are much more stable (also sound is running properly with 100% emulation speed, and this is not overclocked at the moment). I just checked Katakis and it runs smoothly though sound is choppy, again this is without overclock. Try frameskip of 1 as well, this should smooth things out. Which is better - fastSID or reSID? I am not sure, performance wise fastSID should be better. And Truedrive on or off? This is a compatibility issue. Truedrive is much slower but games like MarbleMadness will not load without this. There is also a suggestion that 390 mhz is the ideal clockspeed to run at.  Why not just crank it up to 430? (And can you make it go to 11:)?) I would like overclocking to be under the direction of the user. 430 is pretty much peak maximum and I have heard that some Dingoos don't like this value. Hopefully this will be a saved / configurable setting in the next version :) The sound also seems a little low.  Any thoughts on what to do? Apart from cranking to max I am not sure. My lastest dev build seems fine so this may get better soon. Also as far as lag goes there is a "-soundbufsize" parameter that can be specified on the command line, I would suggest that people play with this and see if they can find a better value. Did I mention that things should be better in the next version? What next for Dingux VICE? Better sound, access to basically all the Vice menu features, integration into the main source tree (well that may take a while longer, but is the aim). Will you also work on new emulators? If yes, which one? I do intend to do so. I am not sure specifically what I will work on as yet. Also I might have a go at a menu... Do you think an Amiga, N64, or PSX emulator would ever be possible for the Dingoo? Probably not, though I am no emulator expert. Maybe UAE4ALL, but then I think someone would have to write a mips accelerated 68000 core. Is there anything else you would like to add? Thanks for running a great site! Oh and please find a way for us mortals to get hold of Booboo. He doesn't seem to respond to email :) [Larry: I think this should do it:)] Thank you for your time, your effort, and most of all, your dedication to working so hard for all our benefit! Its a pleasure! :)

Keep up the great work; and even if not, heck, the current version of VICE has already led to me rediscovering my lost youth.  Once again, thanks sweetlimre!

eksasol’s Dingux installation guide

eksasol has put together a short guide on installing Dingux:

Quick instruction I wrote on how to install Dingux to Dingoo by eksasol on Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:17 am Please bear in mind, I am not an expert and I haven't watched dingoo-scene's man videos. These are methods that I took from the Dingux's readme to flash the Dingoo so it can dualboot and install Dingux files into an SD card. Basically I've tried it make as easy to understand as possible so those who haven't already have Dingux running on their Dingoo may be able to. Also it won't cover too much depth, I wrote this in a single day. This instruction is for Windows OS only. http://fssi.x10hosting.com/dingoo.htm

There are quite a few of these around, including this … ahem … pretty useful one .. but there can never be too many!

Cheers eksasol.

Super Methane Bros v1.4.7 for Dingux

Ezial and Yoannd26 just released a port of Super Methane Bros for Dingux.

By Yoannd26 and Ezial, Gx-mod.com A port of Super Methane Bros for Dingux Based on Gp2x version, tanks to the original Dev. Official Super Methane Bros website :http://methane.sourceforge.net/ Installation: - Place methane.dge on micro SD (noting more) Controles: DPAD Up = Jump DPAD RIGHT = Right DPAD LEFT = Left START = Change character (you can play with two brothers) A = Fire B = Jump SELECT + L + R = Quit Game Ezial et Yoannd26 Team Gueux

Download here

Source: Dingoo A320 forums

Meneer Jensen’s Quick Reference Guide updated and in PDF

Meneer Jensen has made the above quick reference card, which covers most of the main emulators and native functions you’re likely to use! Thanks Meneer – click here to download. [Update: Link isn’t working.  Go here: http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8571/dingooquickreference.jpg for a jpeg image]

Video review + chance to win a free Dingoo

Bytejacker, which we posted about earlier, has put up a video review of the Dingoo. They also have a competition where you have the chance to win a free Dingoo (only for North America).

Click here to watch the review and take part in the competition.

Wanna WIN a Dingoo?  Awesome, because Dingoo Digital wants you to, and so do we!  Just leave a video comment down below and show us the gem of your classic gaming collection!  Your oldest, most valuable, rarest, or just favorite old game you own.  Coolest game gets the Dingoo!

Bytejacker (via Dingoo A320 forum)

Dingoo review on Techradar.com

I just noticed this review on techradar.com.  As the Dingoo becomes increasingly viable, more and more sites are covering it, which can only be a good thing!

Check out the um … SP2?!

Yet another DealExtreme Chinese emulator (Thanks to the dude a few posts down for this).  This one features:

- Screen: 2.4" color TFT LCD - Support NES/SFC/GBC/NEO/GEO/GBA games, hundred games built in - Expansion slots: MicroSD/TF card - Support movie play: RM/RMVB/AVI - Support music play: MP3/WMA - Support photo play: JPG/BMP/GIF - Support voice recording (Built-in MIC) - USB port allow connecting to PC for fast data transmission - Language: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English - Built-in rechargeable battery - Power adaptor: 2-pin flat plug, input AC 110~240V 50/60Hz 4W, output DC 5.0V

A good range of emulators is supported.  No NeoGeo/CPS1/2/Megadrive, but it’s $18 less than a Dingoo for that.  Your price? $65.50.  If you want a gold one, black one or silver one, buy one with these links, and you know what’s in it for me.

Dingux GLFrontier video

zear has posted this great video showing GLFrontier in action:

New dualboot installer by Booboo – fixes flash write error problem

Straight from Dingux.com:

Testing new dual-boot installer I've just released a new dual-boot installer in the hope that it fixes the "flash write error" problem some users have experienced. The error is caused by one or more bad pages in the first block of NAND. This is normal and there is a mechanism that was supposed so handle it but wasn't working. As I don't have bad pages in this first block in my two A320s, I can't test it myself, so, until someone reports that it is working for him, consider it beta. UPDATE: so far three success reports. Yeah, looks like this bug is squashed!.

  Grab it here: http://code.google.com/p/dingoo-linux/downloads/list

Dingoo v GP32Wiz

Duddyroar has posted 4 videos of the Dingoo v the Wiz, running several games side by side.  So, if you’ve been dying to see which one of them runs Musha Aleste better, for instance:

Answer: Hard to tell from this far away.  Those who would like to see the rest of Diddyroar’s work, featuring Gunstar Heroes, Assault Suits Valken and Super Bomberman 3 -  click here.

Surf with confidence

I was doing my usual trawl of the net, and found this:

… which is good to know.  No credit card thievery round these parts!

Damned by their “A few users” faint praise though.  C’mon, how many thousands of hits a day are required to get two little heads?!!

IRC Flooding: Whoops - my bad

Dear all

Sorry for the autoconnect flooding the #dingoo-a320 channel. I didn't realise it would have this effect. It shouldn't be autoconnecting now. Sincere apologies.

To join the channel, type /join #dingoo-a320 in the IRC chatbox.

Moving forward, please take a minute to indicate what your views on the chatboxes should be in the new poll.

Rgds
Gadgetmiser

VGM player - via native GBA Emulator

I'm an SID man myself, but this surely can do no harm:

VGM player via GBA Emulator.

by remax on Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:51 pm

Thank's to this VGM player for GBA : http://www.smspower.org/maxim/Software/GBAVGMPlayer by Maxim from SMSPower, you can hear your favorite SEGA 8 bit (SMS, GG, Mark III, ...) soundtrack on your Dingoo.

DL the GBA VGM Player 0.17 file and build your rom with the GBA VGM Player ROM Builder available at the same location.

Lot of chiptunes availables here : http://www.smspower.org/music/VGMs/Index

I tested it and it work great!

Sucky Space Invaders for Dingux

The very unassuming diab has released a game:

Sucky (seriously) Space Invaders

by diab on Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:56 pm

Hello,
I did some coding and this time I'm gonna release my unfinished work (executable+sources) instead of letting it rot away on my HD. I used Harteex's toolchain and his astrolander sources as a basis, so it compiles the same way as described in http://a320.freeforums.org/guide-how-to-compile-apps-for-dingoo-native-os-without-sdk-t814.html.
Maybe someone feels like finishing it or optimizing it in some way, it's a bit buggy and missing a lot... I also think it could run faster :/
If you just wanna check it out without compiling it, put the target.app on your dingoo and execute.

Attachments

Sucky_Space_Invaders.rar

Dingux Frontier updated

A quick update has been released for GLFrontier:

"**UPDATED VERSION CONTAINING STARMAP CONTROLS**"

Grab it here: http://a320.freeforums.org/download/file.php?id=129

SameGoo for native OS

SameGoo is an implementation of the simple but popular SameGame.
The goal is get a high score.
Selecting an object will clear that object and all connected objects of the same color.
You cannot clear a single object, it must be connected to at least one other.
If a gap occurs between columns of objects, then the right-most ones will be moved left.
The more objects you clear at once, the higher score you will get.

Download Game, Source, Mirror

A disposable Dingoo

DX has recently put these on:

 

It’s a handheld, powered by 3 AAA batteries, and it comes with 100 built in games.  The games are sprite-changed NES games, apparently.  These are the games, and here is a screenshot of “Shrek Bros” (that’s JUST NOT RIGHT, I say, gawddarnnit!):

OK, we’ve seen things like this before, but not for the scandalous price of $19.99 – shipping included.  Any lower and DX will surely become another victim of the GFC. Needless to say, I’ve ordered one, so expect a write up in about, oh, 6 weeks (this is DX, after all).

As per usual, if this appeals to you, click here to buy a blue one or here for a white one, and I’ll get some of those lovable DX points.

Frontier for Dingux 0.1 Alpha released

The prolific mrlogan strikes again:

Frontier: Elite 2 for Dingux 0.1Alpha by mrLogan on Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:54 pm Installation ============ Just copy across the folder and make a menu entry or short cut to "frontier" Controls ===== R + L + SELECT = QUIT SELECT = swap between "Mouse mode" and "Flight mode" Controls in Mouse Mode ============== Dpad = move mouse A = Left Click B = Right Click Y = Hyperspace to Destination X = Eject from ship (if you have an escape pod) R = use radar mapper L = hyperspace cloud analyser Controls in Flight mode ============== Dpad = yaw / pitch L = Decrease Thrust R = Increase Thrust A = Fire Laser B = Fire Missile when targeted Y = ECM X = Drop Energy Bomb START = with military camera takes photograph, with MB4 mining machine deploys MB4 Quick start to getting of the ground ====================== Press any key to bring up the menu and then move the mouse pointer to the first option and press A to click. Move the mouse pointer down to the icon 4 and press A to request a launch. Then move the mouse pointer to the icon 7 and press A to launch upwards. Press select once to switch from mouse mode to flight mode. Press R to start thrusting forwards. Happy Flying. Attachments frontier.zip

Dingoo-Scene IRC Chat Testing -->

By request, I’m trialling the IRC widget you see on the side.  Chatroll is a bit heavy on resources, and does slow the site down somewhat.  Y’ll let me know if the IRC box on the side meets your need now, y’hear? If it works OK, I’ll phase the Chatroll box out.  Let me know what you think.

Dingoo Silicon Cases

Now you can get those form hugging silicon cases for the A320.

I think you can buy them here: http://www.ibs-play.com/item_detail.php?item_id=1252479624

Diablo II for Dingux?!

Vice Commodore C64 Emulator (beta)

This port is based on the excellent gp2x port and the work of A600 (microlib, ported to gp2x minimal lib compatibility).

At the moment the following known issues exist:

1. Sound lags.
2. Overclocking might be a bit... dodgy
3. Buttons are swapped back to gp2x orientation (B is fire/select etc.)

Buttons:

Select: Menu
RTrig: stats
LTrig: VKBD

START + LEFT / RIGHT: Volume down / up control (bit flaky at the moment).

Please launch the various .dge files, direct launch of the executables will not work.
This has been tested in dmenu and dinguxmb and seems to work well.
Apologies for the dodgy alpha, but it was... an alpha :)

Fixed in this release:

• Palette issues
• True Drive emulation now works!!!
• Unzip of files now works (bug in gp2x version)
• Reset C64 works (bug in gp2x version)
• Added plus4 and vic20 emulators (haven't tested too much and vic20 seems incorrectly scaled?)

Get it here: vice beta

-sweetlilmre

Interview: Justin Barwick of Dingoo-Digital-USA

Bytejacker posted an interview with Justin of Dingoo-Digital-USA. For the regular visitor of Dingoo-Scene, there won’t be much new information, but it could still be an interesting read.

It’s also great to see that this may help the Dingoo to reach more people.

Bytejacker (via Dingoo-Digital.com)

Flaky ‘net connection …

My ISP is about as flaky as puff pastry at the moment, so I may not be able to get on as much as I like to post.  Hopefully, a technician will fix this come Monday.

In memory of a dark day

Hey all, notice the date today.  Stay safe wherever you are, whoever your god is, and keep well.

Nanoo Nanoo, Ben NanoNote

 

Readers of Booboo’s most excellent Dingux.com will have noticed a very subtle understated reference to the great dood himself receiving a prototype NanoNote.  The more curious among you would have instantly googled ajnd come to this page, which would reveal that the NanoNote is this beastie:

You can read more about the NanoNote here, but to save you the click, it has the following specs:

336 MHz XBurst Jz4720 MIPS-compatible CPU display: 3.0” color TFT resolution: 320 x 240, 16.7M color dimension (mm): 99 x 75 x 17.5 (lid closed) weight: 126 g (incl. battery) DRAM: 32MB Synchronous DRAM headphone jack (3.5 mm) SDHC microSD 850mAh Li-ion battery 2GB NAND flash memory mini-USB: USB 2.0 High-Speed Device speaker and microphone

This device is planned for release in Fall 2009, which means a lot to me here in Oz in August 2009, but I like the 2009 part of it anyway.  This is an open standards device with a CPU based on the same chip die as the one on the Dingoo, so there’s a lot to be excited about, and if I were the nice people at Qi Hardware, who are making this, I’d be sending one to Booboo too!

Booboo anticipates Gemei X760 Linux in a few weeks

Booboo’s hacking of the Gemei X760 is progressing well – see how he has hooked up to the Tx/Rx points on the motherboard, and read what else he has to say here: http://www.dingux.com/2009/09/good-news-on-gemei-x760.html

Recompiled Dingux GNUBoy with remapped keys

GP2xs got sick of the GNUboy keymap, and so he rolled his own.  Grab it here:

GNUBoy with updated key mappings and save state by gp2xs on Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:25 am Hi, I compiled joyrider’s Dingoo port of GNUBoy with booboo’s latest toolchain. Made some simple changes to the default key mappings in main.c. Switched the B and A buttons and mapped X and L buttons to save and load state which works. The in-game saves work as before. The Dingoo GNUBoy keys are: B=B A=A X=Save State L=Load State R=Quit I have not tested the save states extensively so back up your SD in case something goes wrong. Before trying this you should back up your current game saves located in: /local/home/.gnuboy/saves/Your Rom Names.sav This version should work with previous in-game saves. PS: Special thanks to joyrider for posting the updated source code. Attachments sdlgnuboy.zip (187.41 KiB)

Dingoo A320 on an even bigger ass screen

You can’t get bigger than that.  It’s BIG, HUGE, HUMUNGOUS!

Dingoo on a Projector from Tex Dingoo on Vimeo.

Another shot playing Progear on the Dingoo through a Optoma Projector from Tex Dingoo on Vimeo.

uPCE – Dingux PC Engine/TurboGrafx emulator prerelease!

Another PC Engine emulator has been released, this time for Dingux, and gawddarnnit aren’t those pictures pretty?

uPCE 9Day Preview (09/09/09) by Juarrox on Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:20 pm I´m proudly presenting you a Turbografx / PC Engine emulator for Dingux created by Uguru. Features: - Speed emulation: 40-45 fps @ 333 mhz (default) / 50-60 @ 400 mhz (aprox) - uGUI, a menu with a lot of options: * Load/Save savestates (w/ screenshots) * Input, video & sound options * Load roms .pce & .iso (and compressed ZIP files) * Frameskip selector & overcloacking More info & download in developia.info (in spanish)

Direct link to download HERE.

Something interesting to do with menus

Well, there’s this post, which involves this:

And I’m not quite sure what it’s all about (geez, aren’t standards slipping), but here you go, hop over to here to read more, download it, and work it out.

Flash write failed error – Booboo explains; help if you can!

Some users have been encountering the “Flash write failed” error (FWF – also known as the A320-FU and not quite the RROD, but let’s see if it’ll stick) when attempting to flash their firmware to the dualboot installer for Dingux.  Booboo explains the likely cause, and recommends some options here:

Hi all, Sorry for being so unreachable lately. After vacation I have a pile of stuff here at work like never before. Would please those with the flash write failure problem answer a question: is this the first time you install dual-boot?. The dual boot installer contains a stripped-down kernel (no MMC, no network, etc) and a minimal root filesystem in an initramfs embedded in the kernel image. The rootfs contains the necessary programs to erase and write the first NAND flash block, together with the actual data to write. So far, all releases of the dual-boot installer do have the same kernel and rootfs, except for the actual data written to flash. The change in these data is minimal and there is no way it can make a difference when writing. With these premises, my bet is that the problem you are experiencing is bad page(s) in the first NAND flash block. Don't panic. This is NORMAL. All NAND contain some bad pages. They are just marked as such and ignored by software. The boot process accounts for this, but I guess that the flash write programs don't, and instead of marking a page bad when the write fails and placing data in the next page, they just spit out the message error and exit. If this is the problem: 1- You will experience it no matter what dual-boot release you try to install. 2- You will most likely be able to restore the original SPL using the approriate dual-boot installer option. (2) is because while installing dual-boot writes almost all the 256 pages in the first block, restoring the SPL writes only the 4 first pages of the block. If you have one or two bad pages and they are not 1-4, dual-boot install will fail but it will be successful in restoring the original SPL. Now for the solution: the Dingux SPL already accounts for bad pages, but the code is untested (none of my two A320 have bad pages in the first block). The flash_write program in the dual-boot installer probably doesn't account for bad pages. I must modify it to mark a page bad when the write fails and just put the data in the next page. The problem is that I can't test this myself, and you know these things are trial-and-error. Options: 1- Someone lends his A320. 2- Someone sells his A320. 3- Someone exchanges his A320. 4- Someone volunteers to test modified dual-boot installers until I get it working. All expenses will be covered by the donation fund. (1) Would be best if someone lived near Valencia (Spain). (2) Not sure if it is worth purchasing a second hand A320 just to fix this. (3) Not possible. My ILI9325 has the console installed. My ILI9331 doesn't and is almost pristine, but unfortunately has a broken shoulder button (my daughter's contribution). It is Ok for me because I just use it to test the ILI9331 releases, but don't think it is Ok to exchange it. (4) Will be slooooow.

 

So: if anyone lives near Valencia Spain and is suffering the FWFE, drop Booboo a line – or better yet, send him an FWF’d Dingoo over at www.dingux.com !

DaveGnukem Dingux v1.0 released

yoannd26 presents his latest …

DaveGnukem Dingux v1.0 DaveGnukem for Dingux Yoannd26 from GX-MOD http://gueux-forum.net/index.php?s=45d4ecc0439519ded2bf681d860747a1&showforum=276 The game is in 320x200. DPAD Haut = Action DPAD RIGHT = Right DPAD LEFT = Left START = Enter B = Jump SELECT = Pause Shoot = You must regulate it in settings (I recommend you Right Trigger) You can change the rest of controls also in option " Redefine Keys ". The selection of missions and saves do not work at the moment. If you see other problems please contact me.

Grab it here: http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,3,149

sweetlilmre posts VICE alpha C64 emulator for Dingux!

Hot on the heels of the Frodo prerelease, comes another, generally more compatible C64 emulator, VICE!

This alpha is not fully working, but still runs many games. Visit http://sweetlilmre.blogspot.com/ to thank sweetlilmre!

Grab the alpha VICE release here: http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,72,152

And look here for some info on how to get it going: http://a320.freeforums.org/vice-c64-emulator-t1252.html

MeneerJansen’s Dingoo quick reference card

MeneerJansen has posted a nice wrap up of some useful commands and other info on the Dingoo.  A quick run through your favourite word processor to shrink the font, and it’ll make a nice sticker for the back of your Dingoo!  Thanks MeneerJansen!

Quick reference card for the various Dingoo controls. ========= Mame4All: ========= Insert coin : Select + start Start game : A Exit : Select + L+R Pause : Select + X Mame menu : Select + A Volume etc. : Select + B Show fps/profiler : Select + L/R ======= Stella: ======= A : Fire!/select B : Cancel L : Options menu Start : Commands menu Select : Quit In menus, L jumps from control to control, A selects, and B cancels. ================= Gmu Audio player: ================= A : Restart track (don't touch!) B - Play mode (cont., repeat, etc.) X - Play/pause Y - Remove (don't touch!) Start - Toggle cover art, track info, file browse, etc. Select - <none> shoulder L/R - Track next/prev. Select + L/R - 10 sec. fwd./back <-/-> - Volume up/down v/^ - Up/down in list Select+Start - Exit (watch bottom command line for context sensitive additional help info) ======= Snes9x: ======= Select + B : Menu ============================== PicoDrive (Megadrive/Genesis): ============================== A : C button B : B button X : Change video renderer Y : A button Select : Picodrive menu Start : Start/pause Power+up/down : Volume up/down ============================= DOOEngine (PCEng./Turb.GrfX): (built in mem.) ============================= Select + start : menu. ====================== Dingoo's audio player: ====================== <-/-> : Prev./next track ^/v : Volume up/down hold <-/-> : Search shoulder R : Pause/resume Y : Mute B : Select another track while playing ?? + v/^ : Volume when in "Hold" mode ============= Video player: ============= shoulder R : Pause/resume X : OSD A : Zoom modes! <-/-> : Prev./next video ^/v : Volume start + L : TV out List of emulators on the Dingoo: ============================== A. External SD card (=Dingux): ============================== 1. Nofrendo : Nintendo NES (Famicom) 2. SNES9x : Nintendo SNES (Famicom) 3. SDLGNUBoy : Gameboy & GB Color (use original Dingo OS for the GBA) 4. SMSPlus : Sega Master System (1987) 5. PicoDrive : Sega Megadrive (= Genesis, 1990) 6. Finalburn Alpha : a Neo Geo & CPS1/2 (& more) emu? 7 Mame4all : Mame for Dingux. 8. ScummVM : Scumm Lucasarts emu. For point 'n click games like Monkey Island. 9. OpenMSX : MSX 10. GP2Xpectrum : ZX Spectrum emu? 11. Hatari : Atati ST 12. Stella : Atari 2600! ============================== B. Internal memory (orig. OS): ============================== 1. DOOEngine : NEC PCEngine (= TurboGrafX) (native OS only!) 2. GBA : Nintenda GBA (native OS only) 3. "3D" games : Symbian games? 4. CPS1 : Arcade 5. SNES : Nintendo SNES/Famicom 6. NeoGeo : Arcade?

zman3007’s script for automatic caching of NEO-GEO, CPS2 and FBA ROMS

zman has posted a very useful script to take the pain away when preparing ROMS for Finalburn alpha!

From the readme:

This batch script (fbacache.bat) has been written by z_man3007 on Sep. 05, 2009.  The purpose of this     script is to create cache files (.fba) for NEO-GEO and CPS2 roms to play on DINGOO OR GP2X Handheld Gaming   Device.  Please make sure you have the correct sets or rom files for NEO-GEO and CPS1.  ENJOY...:) Usage: 1. Just download the fba.zip file. 2. Create a folder and call it fba under you C: drive    For Example: C:\fba 3. Extract the fba.zip file to your c:\fba folder 4. copy all your NEO-GEO, CPS2 and FBA roms inside the roms folder    Example:  C:\fba\roms 5. Once you have finished copying all your roms to the roms folder please    double click on the fbacache.bat file to do the caching. 6. Once all the caching is done you should see all your cache files    inside the roms folder with .fba extension.(C:\fba\roms) 7. Copy all the .fba files to your dingux and you should be able to    Play them with FBA emulators. Thank for trying..... Z_MAN3007

Grab it here (download only the fba.zip file), and pop over to the right to thank zman!

Dingux C64 Frodo Preview released!

mrlogan delivers to the impatient!  My Dingoo is almost complete.

FrodoDingo (Commodore 64) for Dingux Preview by mrLogan on Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:12 am ***UPDATE : ERROR in readme , loading game is Hold L press Select **** For those who cannot wait and because I may not be able get much time on the computer for the next few days. Frodo (Commodore 64) for Dingoo Preview ======================================= This is just a preview and there is still plenty more that needs doing. Emulator Installation --------------------- Copy the folder over as usual. My dmenu configuration is below. Change as appropriate. MenuItem Frodo { Icon = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo/commodore.png" Name = " Frodo" Executable = "./dingoo64.sh" WorkDir = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo" Selector = yes } MenuItem FrodoPC { Icon = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo/commodore.png" Name = " FrodoPC" Executable = "./dingoo64PC.sh" WorkDir = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo" Selector = yes } MenuItem FrodoSC { Icon = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo/commodore.png" Name = " FrodoSC" Executable = "./dingoo64SC.sh" WorkDir = "/usr/local/emulators/FrodoDingoo" Selector = yes } C64 Games and Apps Installation ------------------------------- put zipped .d64 files in the 64diskimages folder ( leave the Foo1.d64 file in this folder alone and don't try to select it as it's a placeholder for the application you are about to run) Starting a game and Controls ---------------------------- Select either Frodo or FrodoPC or FrodoSC from the dmenu. Frodo - Fastest , Least Compatible FrodoPC - Fast, Less Compatible (works great for impossible mission) FrodoSC - SLOOOW, most Compatible In dmenu you navigate to the 64diskimages folder and select your .zip file containing the .d64 file (a very common format on the internet) In a short while you should see the blinking cursor of the commodore c64 (yeh!) Hold Down L and press SELECT and you should hopefully have started your game/app Dpad and button A = joystick START = Virtual Keyboard (just the basics for now) R = Quit Notes: ------ Each compatiblity mode is different so if FrodoPC and FrodoSC don't work it doesn't necessarily follow that Frodo won't. Here is a quick explanation of what the scripts do (if somethings not working). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The frodorc file is mapped to a file called Foo1.d64 in the diskimages folder. The dingoo scripts unzip your selected zip and overite the Foo1.d64 file with the contents of it. Attachments FrodoDingoo.zip (912.75 KiB)

C64 on its way to Dingux

The cries and begging for a C64 emulator may soon be over, now that mrLogan has answered the call.

A little bit of good news: As of this morning my Dingux powered dingoo is happily running imposible mission for the Commodore 64 ,Full speed & Full Sound, oh yes! It's still going to need a few tweaks such as: Switching between keyboard, joystick 1 and joystick 2 Virtual Keyboard File selector Also its running with support for .d64 files i.e. no zip support, however I was thinking it wouldn't take much to add a batch script to the front end which would unzip a zip file containing a .d64 before running it. If I use the same name for the .d64 everytime then it shouldn't create additional space requirements and provide zip support "on the cheap" so to say.

Let the celebration begin!

Source

Booboo receives Gemei 760 … at last!

Those of you who have been following this story know that Booboo has been intending to port Linux to the Gemei 760, the Dingoo’s distant cousin, but had some obstacles in the way of this project, with the main one being not having a Gemei 760.  Well, thanks to DX, that problem is now solved.

Booboo has now ripped it apart – as you do - read more here: http://www.dingux.com/2009/09/gemei-x760.html !

scummVM recompiled with Tinsel engine

Thanks to Adam Thornton for this:

I took the existing ScummVM port and recompiled it with the Tinsel engine turned on.  It appears to play Discworld II all right (at least the first couple screens).  Should play Discworld I and anything else that uses Tinsel as well. It's at: http://www.filefactory.com/file/ah56bc6/n/scummvm_dge Enjoy! Adam

New Megadrive/Genesis gamepad emulator … thing on DX

Recently appearing on Dealextreme is an idea so obvious that you wonder why it hasn’t surfaced sooner:

 

Sure, it looks like any other cheap handheld clone thing which plugs into your TV – but this one has an SD slot!

Newly released gamepad controller for Sega MD games. - No need to purchase individual games, one gamepad can play thousands of games. - AV cable included, connects directly to TV. - Compatible with SD cards. Download MD games onto SD cards (*.bin), then insert the card into the gamepad to copy the games to the internal memory. - Capacity of the internal memory is 64 MB. Games vary in size between 8 and 64MB - Supports in-game save feature if available - Supports 2nd controller (via standard MD connector) Instruction: - When connects to the TV, please tune to AV status. - Press button SELECT+ button UP/Down to tune the volume. - Press button B to read SD card games. Press button UP/DOWN to select games, Press button Right to load games, Press Right button again to copy the game from SD card to the gamepad. After coping, press button STA to play. - Press Button SELECT and STA together, back to Menu. - When download games from computer to SD card, you need to create a new file folder "game" under the root, then copy paste the MD game into the right folder.

There’s nothing here that a Dingoo hooked up to a TV can’t do, and we don’t quite know how well it all might work for the moment, and yet, for the mere $21.97 Macarenas they are asking, it is strangely desirable … so I ordered one of these, and will report when it arrives!

Any other “early adopters” - grab one here and I get DX points.

ingenic mplayer early build released

Grab another media player for Dingux here: http://a320.freeforums.org/ingenic-mplayer-early-alphabuild-t1188.html

mrlogan posts CloneKeen v0.1 for Dingux

Here is another CloneKeen for Dingux, courtesy of mrlogan:

CloneKeen for Dingux v0.1 by mrLogan on Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:59 am CloneKeen port for Dingux v0.1 ============================== I don't know much about this game as I never really played it myself but it seems it was popular at the time. This version includes the shareware episode 1, it should work with the full version episodes but I don't have them so I didn't try it. Everything seems to be working ok gfx, sound, controls , save games etc Controls ======== CTRL (Jump): B ALT (Pogo): Y Fire: B & Y at the same time (once you have the raygun) Space (Pause): Start Enter: Select or A Escape (Quit): L F3 (save): R Installation in dmenu. ====================== You need to create a menu item like the one below. Note the executable "./clonekeen2x -ep1" indicates episode 1. You need to change it to -ep2 and -ep3 for the other episodes. MenuItem CloneKeen { Icon = "res/games.png" Name = " CloneKeen" Executable = "./clonekeen2x -ep1" WorkDir = "/usr/local/games/CloneKeen2X" } Notes: ====== When the games starts the screen at one point goes black, just press a button and the screen will come back into life again. I put a nasty hack in to get it to quit to the desktop without freezing the dingoo but it means that it might no have released all the memory it should of. Attachments CloneKeen2X.zip (602.15 KiB)

A touchscreen Dingoo?

News on the MI2 has emerged on the A320 freeforum.

 

New MI2 console comming. Competition for our beloved Dingoo? by robert2098 on Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:47 pm In The Netherlands, a Dutch toy store advertised the MI2 portable console. Press release here. It's features are somewhat similar to the Dingoo but has some extra features like camera, touchscreen and accelerometer. But it lacks the emulators (maybe because emulators might not be completely legal to sell here). It is available from 1 October and the price is less than 70 euros (around $100). The (far from complete) specs for those who can't read Dutch: 32-bit processor 16GB (not clear if it is bytes or bits) flash memory for game, audio & video storage (512MB free) 3.5" TFT touch screen with stylus Build-in microphone Accelerometer (for games controllable by tilting the console like balancing games or marble games) Camera (0,3 mega pixels?) (for camera games) (photo's can be transferred to a PC) 1200 Mah rechargeable battery MiniSD expansion slot Video out (cable included) 100 pre-loaded games (including games that use the touchscreen/stylus, the accelerometer and camera) (some games in Dutch) New games downloadable from the internet (charges apply) MP3 audio player AVI/MP4 video player PhotoFrame photo viewer Unfortunately, no information about the processor used, speed and internal RAM. It would be a very interesting machine if you could create your own software for it or even run Linux on it. Is this the new Dingoo killer then? Robert

Right, got all that? This post will self destruct, just like the badly-in-need-of-reboot-Cruise-vehicle-franchise, in 10 seconds …