Gameboyadvance emulator for os 5!!

[Pdasrock]

I recently had a email session with a developer of Liberty the gameboy emulator.
In it he said they are working on a gameboy color emulator... so I popped the question(no, not that question!)... I asked if it is possible to emulate gameboy advance games, as long as you have a good arm processor obviously. He said they could... BUT they weren't sure if it was worth it. I asked if I could drum up some support for it, so here I am.

HELP ME OUT HERE, PLEASE!!

If you would like to see a gameboy advance emulator for your os 5 palm, sign this thread(just post saying you would like to see this on your palm). I will email a link to this thread to him if it gets big enough.

Cheers

[Pdasrock]

That was me, i got logged out.

[skorpiankh]

I'm a long time user of Liberty. Got it back when I first bought my N760C. I would love to see an update for Gameboy advance. While I'm whishing how about a new afterburner that supports OS5 Clies. :)

[redtani]

i'll buy it once it is available :)

[Pdasrock]

Skorpiankh- Have you seen lightspeed? I've tried it on my NX, and it seems to work quite well. I did like afterburner a little more though...

[fzzyfnk]

gameboy advance emulator would be nice...

[RonEMP1]

I willing to pay $50 dollars for it once it's released in beta version. I think it's worth developing it.

:p

[jerryc98]

Yes I would like to play my GBA games on my NX80:D:D

[nowis]

A vote here from me..

[ilkera]

if it will support Sony Clie with audio , yes !!!

[keeperkeith]

Originally posted by ilkera
if it will support Sony Clie with audio , yes !!!

ditto ;)

[Glacialeye]

Ardiri was talking about a new GB emulator since months... So don't expect anything soon :)

[joemit]

Count me in too.

Joe

[neogin]

me too

[ashVID]

It is almost impossible given the lack of APIs and IMHO the Clie is not near powerful enough to run a GBA emu. Again,I for one, cannot STAND playing games at reduced speeds or framerates. Maybe possible with 400mhz processors on OS6 but no way on the current stuff...


ash =o)

[jpolz]

I'd hit it!

[noktoto]

me too!!!

[SteveIrwinFan]

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.  Fine, I am in for more emulator hope.

[Arbiter]

I love to see some GBA and GBC games running on my *NEW* Helix/Zodiac (When it gets released that is ;) ). I'd say we should get as many systems emulated on the Palm, and GBA is definitely a top priority in my eyes.
The GBC would also be really cool, so I could be playing Spy vs. Spy and Harvest Moon on the road, without having to bring along my bulky GB ;)

Best regards,
Arbiter

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Yeah, I would definatly buy it. There are tons of games I like on the GBA (Splinter Cell, Tony Hawk, Super Dodge Ball, etc.)

I would just like to be availabe to all Palm OS 5 devices (I have a Palm T|T, but plan on getting a Helix/Zodiac).

[TerraFrost]

imho, the gameboy advance has better games then the gameboy. so, where as i have absolutely no interest in liberty, i have every bit of interest in liberty advance :)

[Mas]

I think its still somehow possible. If theres a will theres a way...as for processing speed.. I managed to crank my NX70v with the pxc overclocking utility to over 300mhz without crashes..I say bring it on!!!..

Heck..id pay to even be a Beta TESTER!

[style]

me2 want a GBA emulator on CLIE~~
but not sure is my NX80 powerful enough to do that..:confused: :confused: :confused:

[taris_kah]

I would pay money for a GBA emulator as well! Not sure how possible it is, maybe with overclocking (never been a fan of that though) I think if it was designed well it could be pull through though.

[techdude]

There's really a demand for this type of software. This thread alone had encouraged a lot of guest to register and let their voices be heard.

[DoctorDED]

Originally posted by ashVID
It is almost impossible given the lack of APIs and IMHO the Clie is not near powerful enough to run a GBA emu. Again,I for one, cannot STAND playing games at reduced speeds or framerates. Maybe possible with 400mhz processors on OS6 but no way on the current stuff...


ash =o)

I also second what ash is saying, and where the hell are you going get the ROMS? Nintendo just shutdown a Japan website for selling GBA ROM readers and FLASH CARD writers to play GBA ROMS on your Gameboy Adv., they sued them for $600,000 in damages!

The good sites have all packed up, so good luck looking for the ROMS. Big brother is watching...

[krill]

The rule of thumb is that to emulate system X with precise timmings, you need something 10 times as powerful as the combination of all processors/special hardware that system X has.

GBA has an ARM7TDMI at 16.78 MHz and has some video effects done by hardware (blending, etc).

At the same MHz, it is not as fast as the ARM CPUs Clie and Palm
PDAs use (0.9 MIPS/Mhz vs 1.1 or more MIPS/MHz).

So to emulate its CPU is certainly possible for a 200MHz ARM PDA, it is the special effects hardware that might be problematic (even getting its specs may be difficult)

And then there are the legal issues... how are you supposed to
get the roms in a legal way?

[bij]

count me in too.... i would love a GBA emulator!!

[ballistic]

I can see from this thread there is a pent-up demand for gaming on the Palm OS and the huge potential market for the Zodiak and PSP.

These emulators can fill a need, but you run into the issues of ROM legalities and poor performance and suitable button layouts.

I think the PSP and Zodiaks will directly appeal to the core gaming audience; 20-35 year olds that have the disposable income for a powerful platform better suited to be a dedicated gaming device.

[iiicRuled]

a vote!

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Originally posted by krill
The rule of thumb is that to emulate system X with precise timmings, you need something 10 times as powerful as the combination of all processors/special hardware that system X has.

GBA has an ARM7TDMI at 16.78 MHz and has some video effects done by hardware (blending, etc).

At the same MHz, it is not as fast as the ARM CPUs Clie and Palm
PDAs use (0.9 MIPS/Mhz vs 1.1 or more MIPS/MHz).

So to emulate its CPU is certainly possible for a 200MHz ARM PDA, it is the special effects hardware that might be problematic (even getting its specs may be difficult)

And then there are the legal issues... how are you supposed to
get the roms in a legal way?

This is true about the gameboy advance. The proccessing power of a Palm OS is plenty good enough to emulate the GBA. I would say the biggest problem with this would be getting ROM's. There really is no legal way to do it, unless Nintendo starts selling them (which probably will never happen). But, they are still reallyeasy to get...

Anyways, I think it would be really cool to have a GBA emulator. But, at thesame time it would be pointless (even though I still want one for my current PDA), because the new devices, such as the Zodiac, all have big companies licensed to make games for it (such as Activision and Midway), who already make GBA games. Anyways, jsutmyopinion. (I would still like one for myPalm T|T, andforall of those people who don't get new devices such as theZodiac). :)

[CRP]

Many people do not realize that the problem on the Palm platform is not processor speed (at least not on recent OS5 models), but heap size. The average GBA game is around 4-8 MBytes, while the TT has a meager 700kB available. I think most OS5 Clies have a bit more (which is why SCUMMVM works on the latter, but not on the former), but I doubt it is enough for full fledged GBA emulation. Apparently there are some new Clies being released with around 16MB heap... so with those you can start reasoning...

That's the main reason why we are not seeing many emulators on the Palm platform. Just look at the original system specs, if the main addressable memory is ~>500kB, you won't see an emu for a while.

[Mas]

well....like NesEm..just make it allowable to play from a memory stick and perhaps (if its possible for people who are careful with their memory) allow enough Space on their Clies to run it. I know that when a game is played off of the MS, it still uses some RAM temporarily.

[mattyj2002]

I for one would LOVE to have a GBA emu. Count me in! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[neogin]

it is possible .. make sure that the market is big enough for the developer .. i'm willing to pay $50 for it ..

it might not perfect .. playable is fine to all of us ..

[ashVID]

Here we go again... you are not just emulating the GBA cpu but also the SOUND and GRAPHICs chips... The current GBA emus for PC require a Pentium II 400mhz to run at even a reduced frame rate. The most you could hope for is a port or two or an emu that only played a dozez of the over 1000 GBA games.

FYI, getting ROMS is very easy. Get yourself a GBA and a flash linker and cart. I have my GBA SP running 200 old Nintendo NES games (100% perfect emulation) and 6 GBA SP games....all from one cart...


ash =o)

[GoldenTiger]

I'd buy it!

ashVID, an ARM CPU is WAY different than a RISC-based Pentium...

[mattyj2002]

Yeh ashVID, there is a GBA emu for PPC that runs fine on a 200Mhz device.

So should be no problem for Palm NX at 200 or o/c'ed to 300mhz:D

[scstraus]

Yah I'd definately be into it! Any way that we can get some more advanced games onto the palm platform. Gameboy I and Gameboy color games are okay but not much of a step up from what you can get for a palm already. I want some interesting games like what they have on PPC and I want them now! GBA games would at least keep me interested for a while! If they can emulate a NES I'm sure they can emulate a GBA!

[Massman82]

I'll be very happy to see one!

[Orincarnia]

one more vote for the record, and by the way.......theres about 10-12 votes behind me so..........you got sales if you do it

[little-man]

Another vote!!! I'd love to see GBA emulation for clies. Might convince me to go OS5.

[ashVID]

My friend has a 400mhz Dell Axiom and it is VERY slow running the PPC emus. It can run GB and GBC pretty well but chokes like crazy on SNES, and GBA.

I know we all want a GBA emu but in all reality a decent one would require hundreds if not thousands of hours to write and test. On PPC developers have a base to start from, with Palm they usually have to start from the ground up. I am not being negative....just realistic.


ash =o)

[philzhub]

hey im in for gba emulator. I know people in high places and it can work and does work ;) just a tad bit slower. So im in for a public version. Hello about rom size how cares we all memory stick or compact flash cards right?

[LaStigmata]

Yes, another vote from me.

[yOyOYoo]

I would love to see one, but I agree with Ash and I'm not going to keep my hopes up.

[Pdasrock]

I'm glad to see there's some interest in it.
To the naysayers: I don't know enough to say for sure wether it is or is not possible, I was told that it should be possible from the a developers of liberty, and if anyone knows it's probably him. I am going to email a link to this thread to Gambit studios and I will let you all know what I hear. I may also post threads on other clie/palm sites. Cheers

[Orincarnia]

sweet!!!!!!! liberty, i bet you'll make a good lump of green papers if you make all this work, that would be sooooo cool, just don't charge $99.99 and i think we'll be in good business

[Dropzone]

same here. count me in the thread :)

[Oripaamoni]

hell ya im for it!

[rob_squared]

Count me in, $30-$40 I'd pay.

And IF, and I stress IF, it is not compatable, then at least give us GBC emulation. I will buy Liberty anyway when it becomes ARMlet enhanced.

[s_n_m]

I was able to run a GBA emulator on my OS8.6 iMac at 300mhz...

You'd be surprised what clie is capable of given good programming.

[cliejunkie]

I'm in. I'd pay $35 for it.

[CRP]

You can have as much memory on MS or SD as you wish, the problem is that you need to load the rom into what could be called the "main memory" of the device, and as of today there is not enough of it to hold the rom, the emulated machine's addressable memory, the emulator's variables etc.

I may not have much experience, since I only made a Colecovision emulator for PalmOS, but I learned enough to know some of the platform's limits...

[ashVID]

CRP, you are somewhat correct, in order to run at FULL speed I believe you would have to have the roms load into the heap memory. There will never be good emulation for the current OS5 devices (at least not of GBA, SNES and higher systems). Everyone is saying they will pay $30 - $50 for one...you can BUY a used GBA for that....



ash =o)

[NX70BOY]

It would be nice to see one, but I doubt it is possible. I agree with ash on this one. But as for buying a used GBA for $30 - $50, it would just be nice to have it in your clie.

[Pdasrock]

I would think that you could load "sections" of ROMs into your RAM if you had the right programming. I think it's very unlikely that you would use the whole ROM at the same time...

[Zork]

Read enough whining here. Fact is that the GBA uses the same ARM core as the Clie and the other OS 5 POS devices. So you havent to emulate thos instructions at all (its like with AMax back then on the Amiga. It were as fast as the Mac itself, simply cause both systems were usin the identical CPU). But things arent that (!) easy (cause otherwise we already would have seen a GBA emulation tool). There is some good thing bout the GBA and some bad thing when it comes to emulation :
First the good one : The GBA doesnt use a single custom chip. Thats perfect, cause that way you dont have to have multiple chip emulation in mind when you developng such a tool.
Now the bad one : As every ARM CPU this one uses a custom set of instructions. In this case indeed multimedia instructions. So thos custom ARM instructions are the one which have to beemulated. Thats no problem at all, cause the GBA is cycled at appr. 16 MHZ and even the slowest POS 5 device is cycled at 150 MHz. Usually apps are usin mainly core instructions, cause applications are usually just a matter of swappng bytes around and branching them on cetain conditions. At best 10 % of them are then using the custom instructions. That means you have at least 10 times the power of the GBA CPU on any POS 5 device and you only have to emulate appr. 10 percent of the apps (the rest is pure, good, old ARM core instruction code which have to be emulated as much as your native OS 5 Palm applications ;) ).
So doin a GBA emulation software isnt a prob at all from teh hardware side.

Then there were some whining here bout the heap size. And there really were never a way to use some basic architecture like virtual memory ? If you dont get your memory from the system you have to find a way to get it some different way. This will mean indeed some performance slowdown, but it isnt a argument against emulation tools with POS 5 devices, cause this performance slowdown means nothing in this case, cause the POS 5 devices are way too fast for GBA emulation anyway.

Then there were some argument, that this isnt possible with PPC devices, so POS devices cant to it neither. First of all PPC devices are way slower, cause they have to use this ****ing slow Win CE APIs which arent optimized for PDA usage at all (you could even recompile existing Win applicatons if you are just using the Win CE compatible MFC classes). Second of all almost any of the emulation tools out there for the Pocket PCs are ones which were mostly just recomüpiled applications as above. the core itself were done with ARM RISC code, but only as much as absolutely necesarry, cause PPC developers are real lazy developers usually. So the probs with PPC emulation tools doenst matter on our platform at all at any time. Its simply and only their prob.

Finally there were some mentioning bout the fact that you cant find documentation bout the GBA components which would necesarry to such an emulation tool. All of them are lyin around at the net since the GBA were introtuced (a GBA emulation tool for the Palm wouldnt be the first one which is ever done ;) . So there is already alot of exprience and documentation avail bout GBA technical references).

So what we are talking bout here isnt some emulation tool, but rather some tool which differs between the 90 % instructions which have to be executed directly (as with every other ARM CPU) and the other ones which have to be emulated by software. The rest is indeed redirecting IO. And there isnt the smallest real prob at all to do such a tool. The POS 5 market just have to be large enough to get the fastest GBA emulation tool avail out there for a PDA device.

[Pdasrock]

Wow... I'm smarter than 5 minutes ago when I started reading Zorks post:D ! Thanks for the FYI.

  All this however brings us back to the original problem: Is the market big enough? Which is why I posted this in the first place.... cheers

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by ashVID
It is almost impossible given the lack of APIs and IMHO the Clie is not near powerful enough to run a GBA emu. Again,I for one, cannot STAND playing games at reduced speeds or framerates. Maybe possible with 400mhz processors on OS6 but no way on the current stuff...


ash =o)

The GBA also runs an arm, so you probably won't have to emulate the CPU. That should help speed things up by a lot.

Edit: NM, the guy above me just said the same thing. Guess I should read the whole thread before replying to something on the first page.

[redtani]

a lot of my friends using palms ( around 5) was excited to hear about this emulator so i guess you could count them in too.

[GrantMaster]

I'd love to see it happen. :-)

[Mas]

HOY RedTani. No one in the Pinas has made it yet man? Tell the genisus there to hurry up and make it!..hehe I know we can.

Ingatz :-)

[jlbunting]

I want it too

[neogin]

one of my friends, he told me that his friend at work using nokia cell phone to play GBA .. i told him NO WAY .. but he convinced that his friend shew him at work ..

is that possible ?

[redtani]

hoy MAS! la pa e :) but i'll tell them anyway!

ingats din! :)

[KBeez]

Wow, I was highly, highly doubting even a remote possibility of gba emulation, but I totally forgot that the GBA is run off of Arm processors too!!

But really, the GBA is MADE to play games, and nothing else. There's all that extra hardware and everything. Just like the Xbox is only a 733mhz cpu, but if you compared it to a 700mhz pc it totally whoops on it.

But I'd really really much rather have a Snes emulator, or GBC, because I already have a GBA, and emulation should be used for older systems imo, to help prevent piracy :(

Snes!!!! come on guys!!

[rob_squared]

Piracy?

I have no intention of looting ships!

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by KBeez
Just like the Xbox is only a 733mhz cpu, but if you compared it to a 700mhz pc it totally whoops on it.

The Xbox IS a PC. Put a good video card in a 733 PC and you get about the same results as an Xbox.

[mattyj2002]

And the fact that XBOX is only running a very stripped down version of the Win2000 OS kernel, instead of a full version of Windows aswell as a game (like on PC).

Infact, you can even run Linux on XBOX if you get it modded!! :D

 

Anyway, GO GBA EMU ON PALM!!!!!!

[a_clie_er]

When ATI or Nvidia release their GPU for the handheld market we be really seeing some serious Emulation on our CLIEs and such. ATI has a handheld chip in production called Imageon 100. Can't wait to see how it incorporates into Palm or PPC..
Let the emulation begins....


http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/ati-imageon.htm

yes GBA emu would be coo'... :)

[TerraFrost]

I know we all want a GBA emu but in all reality a decent one would require hundreds if not thousands of hours to write and test. On PPC developers have a base to start from, with Palm they usually have to start from the ground up. I am not being negative....just realistic.

of course, anyone who actually *uses* the base you speak of to start from, will most likely not to be able to sell it.

also, i read a post on the forums at palminfocenter that said that Palm OS 5 could only run small pieces of pure arm code at a time... would this pose a problem for GBA emulation? here's the post, if anyone's currious:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8993#10896

[Kbranch]

I could be wrong, but my understanding was that you have to call armlets with regular code, but you can just call one big armlet at runtime that would be your program.

[ashVID]

I think it will be very possible in OS6 but I doubt anyone is going to take the time to develop a tough emu for an OS that is going to be obsolete in a year... of course, that is always true =o)


ash =o)

[Pdasrock]

Are they still using ARM processors for OS 6? If so then any emulator should be at the least easily adaptable to run on OS 6 as well.

[rob_squared]

Okay, I changed my mind, I want a GBC emulator. Using an the extrea keys available on the GBA would be annoying, even with the gamepad.

[mad212]

Originally posted by ashVID
I think it will be very possible in OS6 but I doubt anyone is going to take the time to develop a tough emu for an OS that is going to be obsolete in a year... of course, that is always true =o)


ash =o)

 

well obsolete im not sure, plenty of ppl still use os4 with np. but if Adiri is doing the development, im sure he'll work on the os6 version also ;)

 

I cant wait till see the next version of the deity engine! w00t do i hear a zodiac version coming?

[SprSaiyan8]

Count me in
Wooters

[brettski]

I'd buy it!

[Pdasrock]

Originally posted by rob_squared
Okay, I changed my mind, I want a GBC emulator. Using an the extrea keys available on the GBA would be annoying, even with the gamepad.

 

True. It wouldn't be the best as far as the buttons go, but if there was a way to use the keyboard(i.e. nx, nz, tg, tc, tw) then it wouldn't be a big problem. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Gambit studios is working on a GBC emulator right now anyway while they port Liberty to ARM (or armlets or whatever...). Anyway you look at it there should be a much better Liberty coming up pretty soon, yay.

[rob_squared]

I can't wait. :D

PS: With Lighspeed set to 265, Liberty runs at full speed. Not bad for an emulator within an emulator.

[Protonus]

count me in for whatever.

I'll buy the next version of liberty. I've gone from a S300 to a TG50... so I'm more open to buying emulation products now. GBA would be great, GBC would be nice, and support for ARM processor is required before I make a purchase. I shouldn't have to overclock it to play.

[kupua]

Yah, count me in. I'm down.

[mattyj2002]

The buttons on the GBA wouldn't be too bad, well, thats if youve got the GameCon! But then, if your gonna get a GBA emu, your gonna want one of those anyway!

Anyhow, heres how it could be mapped ;

D-Pad  - D-Pad on GC

A  - A on GC

B  - B on CG

Left Trigger  - Y (Game 1/2) on GC

Right Trigger  - X (Game 1/2) on GC

And Start and Select can be either on-screen or Jog-Dial!

 

See, it is easy if you think about it!!! :D:D:D

[s_n_m]

Jog dail can actually act as 4 buttons. Up, down, press, back press.

Although L and R definately need to be X and Y. In fact, thats not a very good setup in the first place. In games like MK:CC you need to use them to turn and fire weapons.

[sints]

Yeah a GBA emulator would be great. The next problem would be to convice the tax office that it is work related. :D

[Orincarnia]

actually that back press would kinda be pointless, but i've seen that you have have 5, up, down, press, pressed up, pressed down, you can move the scroller while having it pressed it works on my scriptures at least unpressed it scrolls one line at a time, pressed it scrlls a page its cool

[yr3698]

count me in :D

[yOyOYoo]

Less talk more programming!!

[archangel]

Why anyone would use a buggy, slow, and difficult to use (controller wise) GBA emulator when a GBA SP is affordable and so small that it could be carried in a pocket is beyond me.

An emulator for old systems and games that can't be found anymore is fine, but getting one for a current system makes no sense to me. Its an excuse for people to get new games without buying them. I know some people will buy the game on top of using the emulator, but most people won't.

[DBZ-GOKU-]

It makes perfect sense. Roms are free...all you have to do is buy the emulator. Plus, just because it may run slow on one device, doesn't mean it will run slow on all of them, especially with all of the new devices like the Zodiac and the UX40/50

[br-]

archangel, a gameboy advance emulator would be advantageous for the following reasons:

1) Price: You can save the money which would be spent on the console and games.

2) Form Factor: The gameboy advance is not a large device by any means. But it is still an additional device to carry around with you.

[edulabbe]

I would pay for it!!!!

[archangel]

Originally posted by DBZ-GOKU-
[B]It makes perfect sense. Roms are free...B]

So by this logic the GBA emulator is a good idea because you won't have to buy the games. This is basically just a fancy way to steal games. Very nice. :rolleyes:

I guess I won't need it since there is room in my pocket for a GBA and I can actually afford $30 to buy a game.

BTW, you probably won't buy the emulator either. You can just get it for free from a warez site. Why stop at stealing games?

I know many of you are big emulator fans and I have no problem with it for dead systems like the NES, SNES or old Game Boy. The games aren't available anymore (at least new) and using the emulator doesn't hurt their sales. Doing this for the GBA though is just wrong IMO.

[Orincarnia]

wow you put a new perspective on things for me, i never thought downloading roms was illegal, i just thought it was nintendo releasing it aws a test game, then you delete it the next (day/week/after you get to play it) so i dont have to delete it?! SWEET

[loverboydre16]

i vote for it......please develop it..thanx

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Warez is just lame. All of my Palm OS software is either bought or for free from beta testing. Yes, I can afford GBA games, and I can afford a GBA, but my parents won't let me get one. even if they would, I would rather go spend my money on something better, like a PC game, or more parts to make my PC even better.

Also, I mainly only have nes, snes, and gbc roms. I only have several GBA roms that I like, Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell.

[Orincarnia]

why won't they let you get a gba? they think it'll "hinder your studies"? thats the way my parents are, they'll get me a gba if i ask for one, cause i haven't asked for a game system since nintendo 64, but i just want to have one device, its not that you can't afford it its the titeness of having it on the clie........

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Exactly..."it will hinder my sutdies..." They think I will play it too much. That is also why they won't let me get any kind of game system either.

[Orincarnia]

hey you're in mormonville!!!!!!!! my parents did that to me all through highschool, and now that i'm in college they should lay back and get it cause college is a whole lot easier than my high school days were (i was in this science academy that made things harder than college)

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Originally posted by Orincarnia
hey you're in mormonville!!!!!!!!

Exactly! I do have an excellent PC though, and I get games for it quite often (impatiently awaiting Halo, Half Life 2, SWAT 4, Commandos 3, etc.).

[Orincarnia]

i wanna start playing halo and half life but all my friends tell me is how good it is, they can't get me a demo or anyting, i wanna play but i'm afraid too, cause i hate first person shooters i get too into them.......BUT THEY LOOK SO FUN!!!!!!

(by the way i'm a mormon) i know some of my recent posts don't reflect it but was mad and.........

[rob_squared]

Originally posted by archangel


So by this logic the GBA emulator is a good idea because you won't have to buy the games. This is basically just a fancy way to steal games. Very nice. :rolleyes:

I guess I won't need it since there is room in my pocket for a GBA and I can actually afford $30 to buy a game.

BTW, you probably won't buy the emulator either. You can just get it for free from a warez site. Why stop at stealing games?

I know many of you are big emulator fans and I have no problem with it for dead systems like the NES, SNES or old Game Boy. The games aren't available anymore (at least new) and using the emulator doesn't hurt their sales. Doing this for the GBA though is just wrong IMO.

CAN I GET AN AMEN HALLELUJAH?!

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Uh...no...

[Orincarnia]

lol, i'll be in unison with goku

[rob_squared]

That was severe scarcasm against archangel. Which I hope you noticed.

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Hey, I am not ganging up on anyone, I am not trying to diss anyone, I am not trying to be mean, I am just stating my opinion on the matter. If that affends anyone, that is their problem.

[rob_squared]

The day I take something serious someone says about me on the internet is the day I become an AOL user.

[archangel]

Originally posted by rob_squared
The day I take something serious someone says about me on the internet is the day I become an AOL user.

That about sums it up for me.

[r0b456]

I actually disagree. I don't really think I want a GBA emulator on my Clie.


Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for having the most software available for my PDA. Especiall games. But not the GBA. It's too new.

The thing is, I have NES, Atari, and Genesis emulators. I enjoy them. But I only have them because the NES, Atari, and Genesis systems are just too old to enjoy in this day and age. Good luck trying to even find one that works. Then try connecting it to a modern TV. I don't live for emulation. I simply accept it. My Logitech gamepad is simply a suitable substitution for a game pad. But if I had it my way, I would much rather be playing Kung Fu on a real NES, on a TV, using a Nintendo gamepad. Or Duck or Wild Gunman with the original lightgun ...

<drifting back to "the good old days">

...Sorry, I'm back.


The thing is, the GBA is new. There are plenty available. And it's Good. At least, my SP is. It's small, compact, backlit, etc. Gaming on it is great. Let me just consider trying to play Super Mario World on my NX80 ... I figure about $35 for the game controller. $10 for shipping. $30 for the emulator. Hours of frantic searching on the web to find a ROM image of games that are already sitting in front of me. And then 6 months of waiting before the games I want to play are compatible with the emulator. Then $15 for an overclocker because even though my Clie is a heck of a lot more powerful than a Gameboy Advance, Emulation is still tricky. So I buy all that -- $90, and invest all this time. And let's not forget buying a 128mb Memory Stick just for the GBA ROMs. Simply so I could avoid paying $100 for a Gameboy?

Yes, I do carry my Clie around with me everywhere I go while my GBA sits at home 99% of the time. But that's why I have good Travel games on my Clie. Games like Bejeweled and other great Astraware games that I can play for 2 minutes, then pause and exit when I need to stop quickly. My GBA sits at home patiently, waiting for a nice trip, or just an afternoon sitting around playing Castlevania. Not worrying about Speed. Or buttons. Or draining my Clie battery and erasing all my info ... No, my small, backlit, rechargeable GBA does just fine.


I think people just get carried away with the idea of emulation. Or other types of system modification. Those people who will go out and spend thousands of dollars upgrading their PC simply so they can try and emulate a $180 PS2. Or people who will go and spend tons of money and voiding warranties by modding an XBOX, just so they can save a few bucks by playing copied games with all the movies and music removed. They think they're getting something for free. By pulling one over on "the system". By spending tons of money.

I love my new Clie. I love playing cool games on it. But I personally just like video games as they are. I like to enjoy them the way the developer intended the game to be played. With that specific controller. With that lightgun. On this system. On a TV screen. Et cetera.



-Rob

[rob_squared]

For me, its the "Because I can" factor. I mean, I have all the iterations of a gameboy. But I still have the emulator for my PC, Mac, and Clie. But at the moment, I'd really rather have a GBC emulator, much easier to emulate and support. GBA would just be icing on the cake.

[Ezikial Anta]

Love this idea

[smokeymountain]

Same here... I'd love to see a GBA emulator for palm. Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind a GBC emulator as well :)

[Prozak]

I'd want this as well.

[Dropzone]

This is a boring thread... Everyone wants it, like me, but there is no real news if it is in the making... crappy..

[ardiri]

ok ok :)

i see everyone is interested in an update for Liberty - and, i will clear any concerns/doubts here. bottom line - YES. it is coming. we are considering two approaches right now; and, its getting very close to cutting a line between both. first, some background as to why it hasn't happened sooner?

1. SHARK
we have been working hard on our new development kit which allows us to write a single app for multiple devices. we have ported a number of games/applications within SHARK (yes, including an emulator which we cannot disclose at this point due to NDA's).

we have the ability to compile NATIVE arm applications for Palm, Pocket PC, Smartphone and Symbian Series 60.

to give you a hint, the emulator in question - is done under license and will include 'official' roms to be bundled for sale (your not going to by an emu, but, you'll buy emu+roms). the hardware we are emulating for this project is slightly more complex than a gameboy - and, we have it running full speed even on 102Mhz Symbian devices.

this clears any 'confusion' about if SHARK is capable of doing a more difficult emulation task. :) most like, GB/GBC will be possible even on 102Mhz devices, but, GBA may require 300-400Mhz to get full speed.

2. we are looking at partnering with another partner who has a GBA emulator (amongst others) instead of competiting in the market. based on current status reports of this - this is most likely the path that will happen.

bottom line, its coming. we are no longer focusing 100% on Palm, and, anything we do from now one we want to work on multiple devices - hence the bit of leg work we have been doing lately on this :)

stay tuned for a press release on our site soon about the 'secret' emulator project, and, what will happen with the GB/GBC/GBA/other emulation engine :) we will post information at our website (www.mobilewizardry.com)

i could give you a screen shot of what we have working - but, then we'd have to kill you :)

[Mas]

Man I wish I had some of those old school games back when it was still okay to have it...I have donkiekungjr on my palm but I cant register it anymore and can only play one game (till donkey kong is freed from the cage)...

can i still register it somewhere?

[ardiri]

Originally posted by Mas
I have donkiekungjr on my palm but I cant register it anymore and can only play one game (till donkey kong is freed from the cage)... can i still register it somewhere?

unfortunately - no :(

we had to remove the game from circulation - as per request of Nintendo for character trademark violation (note: not copyright violation). technically if we just go ahead and create a new set of graphics for it, change a few names.. we can re-release. i love these types of games myself - hence why they were written in the first place.

[Mas]

nuts..well when you do..let me beta test!..id love to..and totally miss the oldschool nintendo handheld-style games..Maybe you can make it into some sort of flash game?

[DBZ-GOKU-]

I wouldn't mind being killed (hmmm...) ...let me see it! ;)

:)

[markgm]

I'd like any emulator where I can play my games without carrying additional hardware around. As I can carry my GBA around it would just be cool to keep it all in one place. What I'd really like is a Genesis emulator.

[Pdasrock]

&nbsp;

Ardiri: Thanks for the post, I'm glad to see you guys are getting under way. Of course count me in for the beta testing, etc.&nbsp; Cheers

[GrantMaster]

Hmm... option no. 1 doesn't sound too good... would it mean that we can only play gameboy games that are chosen and released? That kinda defeats the points of an "emulator."

I think emulators should be made so that ANY applation can be run with it. That'd be the ideal.

[aphoebic]

I'm in, and i want it nooow :D

[Dropzone]

is it in the process of making?

[iiicRuled]

nope. BUT! MobileWizardry are gonna be porting MorphGear to Palm OS, and morphgear emulates GameBoy Advance so- Yes it is on it's way!

[Mas]

you know...I dont really know if ill even GET this once it comes out. I dont have a Gameboy Advance but I thought it has about...like 4-6 buttons or something? Not just two. Let me knwo if im wrong here.

How would the Clie users use buttons in such a system? Unless Sony makes perhaps an Updated GameController? Seems Unlikely

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by Mas
I thought it has about...like 4-6 buttons or something? Not just two. Let me knwo if im wrong here.

The GBA has the Dpad, A, B, start, select, R and L. Start and select are rarely used in a way that would require a hard button be mapped to them. The same is sometimes true for R and L, but that could potentially be really annoying or even make some games unplayable.

[IanTustin]

count me in!

[Mas]

Kbranch, yeah..two of my favorite styles of games are Fighting and RPG's. While most Rpgs can probably get by on just two buttons and scrolling thru "decisions" or "actions" for the characters to take, fighters usually have more than one type of attack for punches and kick-type attacks. So, tho i'm sure the library for playable games will still be quite large...theres potentially a large portion that wont work well.

Granted yes theres an X and Y button on the Clie controller too but its positioning isnt IMO in a good position that would allow quick movement and split second reaction for things as fast paced as a fighting game.

But let me not complain..because im not. I still want to see this too. Perhaps when trying out some games, Ill change my tune.

[computer18]

where i can get the GBA emulator for os5??
i really like GBA games

[GrantMaster]

I'm getting a game controller. If the emulator supports the game controller, than A, B, L and R buttons can be covered by the four buttons in the gamepad. (And they should!)

My bigger concern is the sound. This is where Sony really pisses me off. I'd love to see the GBA emulator, but I'd hate to have to play the games with no sound or crippled sound.

(Please let them find a way to implement the sound! PLEEEEASE!)

If sound gets worked out, I'm SOOOO~ in.

[tstretch]

I'd pay a few buckaroonies for that:p

[aaronchow]

I think Aaron Ardiri is talking about the MorphGear port that he was mentioning a while back, but I'm wondering why the original poster of this thread asks us to response to this $5 thing as MorphGear for PPC is like around $20 each.

[Rick 098]

here.

[Muraubass]

and why not a gb advance converter?

[GoldenTiger]

Aaron: Please make sure it will work with the dpad+buttons of the Tapwave Zodiac! It's a new system that I'm planning on getting (PalmOS5, 200mhz CPU with dedicated ATI video hardware) soon, so I don't want it left behind :). Thanks for your time reading this!

[rob_squared]

GBA would be nice. But I DO NOT want to be restricted by the game system maker on which games I can and cannot play.

That's like having DirectTV and only being able to watch one local channel, one movie channel, and CNN.

[GrantMaster]

Zodiac doesn't have a 400MHz cpu. It has a motorola 200MHz.

[ylhjack]

i want it!!!

[Pdasrock]

hmmmmmm.... where is it?? hmmmmmm..... soon? Waiting for the tapwave??? I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!

BTW: I think that for clies you could map l/r to jog, back, or capture buttons. Cheers

[jstreeter]

me too

[ch1394]

YOU ROCK!!! EXACTLY WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR!!!

[kenji]

I hope that it could run on TG50.

[Mas]

I hope within the next 3-4 pages of posts, someone puts up something that we can beta test...

[Pdasrock]

I don't know how their going to do the beta testing. I think you will probably have to be a registered user... but who knows? Well, they said that it would probably be released in the fall, so I think it's probably coming soon. Cheers

[blck1jack]

I would love it because I got into an arguement with my friend about which is better handhelds or GBA and mine (CLIE) lighter, had internal memory, touch screen memory sticks that can contain more than one thing and the list goes on and on But I would love to see it and the GBA has 32-bit processor what does that mean I 'm used to speeds like 100 Mhz any help would be appreciated.

[Pdasrock]

I'm not sure what you mean by the processor question? Are you asking if the clie is capable of this?

[ch1394]

Beta test....sure...
ch1394@yahoo.com

[humblejeff]

I have been waiting dreary......for a long time.
I hope the emulator will come out a.s.a.p.!

[ardiri]

morphgear status: yes, it will happen.

aaron @ morphgear is working with the code base right now making some changes and once that is done - we will finalize the arrangements to port it to palmos. give it time guys, the morphgear code works, and, has been tested.. it just needs to be ported :)

[humblejeff]

Sure, I wll be patient ;-)

[ilkera]

we are all patient ; aren't we ?
yes we are :)

[Pdasrock]

I have UNLIMITED patience... as long as it comes out soon that is :D

[anitanium]

this is gonna be sweet...

where do we get roms?

[Spiral]

no asking for ROMs on the forum.

one LEGAL place to get roms is www.pdroms.de

[anitanium]

oh
my bad =p
i guess i'll go make my own lol

btw, what format are they in?

[BMEngineer]

Originally posted by blck1jack
I would love it because I got into an arguement with my friend about which is better handhelds or GBA and mine (CLIE) lighter, had internal memory, touch screen memory sticks that can contain more than one thing and the list goes on and on But I would love to see it and the GBA has 32-bit processor what does that mean I 'm used to speeds like 100 Mhz any help would be appreciated.

You really shouldn't argue with your friend who I can presume knows nothing about tech stuff. How can a GBA be compared to a Palm handheld! GBA is just a gaming machine and can't do any thing much more. Palm handhelds are for professional people who have long pass the age of playing GBA. I have a GB and GBC the last time but I never thought of getting a GBA, since I play much lesser games now. However I can say that the emulator will add one more function to Palm, which is only one of the many functions that Palm can do.

[anitanium]

a GBA is NOT A handheld
no matter what people say

[blck1jack]

Your right my friend knows pretty much nothing about technical stuff but when you say a processer has a 100 Mhz speed and on the GBA it says it has 32-bit processing power what does that all mean.

[s_n_m]

Originally posted by kenji
I hope that it could run on TG50.

The TG would be one of the best to play GBA on! It has so many buttons.

If only the UX's board could be hacked into being hard keys then it would be even better.

The zodiac is THE best system for emulation tho.

[loverboydre16]

make it please please please

[Mixel]

People don't really think the current generation of clies are capable of decent GBA emulation do they? Seems highly delusional.

Macs and PCs benefit from fast G4+ and P3+ processors when doing GBA stuff, and still won't always get great results.. Until palm machines are a lot faster I'm guessing anything would be choppy and lame..

The UX50's currently having a hard time keeping up with an ATARI ST.. Hehe.. I know it will be possible in the end to do GBA on later hardware, but there's no point playing a GBA game at cripplingly low speed on a device with goddawful controls for gaming, when a real GBA is so cheap and does it perfectly..

The zodiac would be okay for it i'm guessing, will have to wait see.. I think the real fun will start when people start making emulators etc for the PSP.. MWahaha.

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by Mixel
People don't really think the current generation of clies are capable of decent GBA emulation do they? Seems highly delusional.

Macs and PCs benefit from fast G4+ and P3+ processors when doing GBA stuff, and still won't always get great results.. Until palm machines are a lot faster I'm guessing anything would be choppy and lame..

The UX50's currently having a hard time keeping up with an ATARI ST.. Hehe.. I know it will be possible in the end to do GBA on later hardware, but there's no point playing a GBA game at cripplingly low speed on a device with goddawful controls for gaming, when a real GBA is so cheap and does it perfectly..

The zodiac would be okay for it i'm guessing, will have to wait see.. I think the real fun will start when people start making emulators etc for the PSP.. MWahaha.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The GBA uses an ARM based CPU, just like OS5 devices. There are still some custom chips to emulate, but it's not nearly as hard as it would be if it weren't an ARM. I really doubt that the Zodiac would be any faster, it uses a 200MHz ARM just like the Clies.

[ashVID]

If it ever gets done it will be strictly for purposes as posted earlier in this thread "because I can..." It will never have decent sound or frame rate or full rom support. It is for all practical purposes impossible. They CAN create a GBA emu that can port some of the simpler games with a rom loader, etc. but creating a true emulation program is a "practical" impossibility.

Quit comparing processors, etc. it doesnt work that way. Who cares if they are both ARM? The Xbox runs on a 733mhz Celeron, you think you could emulate it with a PC that runs on a Celeron? Even a dual 3.2ghz Pentium systems cant emulate an Xbox....



ash =o)

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by ashVID
[B]The Xbox runs on a 733mhz Celeron, you think you could emulate it with a PC that runs on a Celeron? Even a dual 3.2ghz Pentium systems cant emulate an Xbox..../B]

That's because the Xbox has a very powerful GPU that has to be emulated. The vast majority of the power in an Xbox is NOT in the CPU. That's not true with the GBA.

[Mixel]

Custom chips are hard and slow to emulate anyway, and however simple the GBAs custom chips are the current clies wouldn't be able to cope..

eg UAE - Amigas have custom chips that are over 10 years old and don't pull off anything as complicated as the GBA does, and they still hit the hardware hard enough to need a decent pc/mac setup to get good quality emulation.

GBA emulation on a non-GB handheld device anyway is only really good for pirates.. I mean, WHY run a game for a small cheap device on another small device which offers no performance increase and likely a lower framerate? :) Other than to say to your friends you CAN do, at which point they don't run their batteries down in 2 minutes and get an ergonomically designed games machine..

It will be cool when it can be done but i'd consider it a waste of good programmers. :) (and I bet we'll still need faster clies. :P)

[BMEngineer]

How about Nintendo making a Palm OS PDA with ability to play GBA games? That will be a killer set mann!

[Pdasrock]

Does anyone know if os 6 will still use arm? It should right, even with multitasking and stuff right? I think that some people are missing the point as far as why we would want this. The idea is not necissarily to rip of nintendo or developers, but to NOT have to carry around 2 devices. If you have keys/wallet/cellphone/pda then you certainly don't want to carry around a gba as well.

[nekrataal]

I'd buy it in a heartbeat

[anitanium]

so where's this emulator?

[Pdasrock]

Supposedly coming soon... supposedly.

[Mixel]

I can see the point, but apart from possibly with the zodiac - the button layout would make 90% of games really bad.. Id love to see it but i dont think past the 'look what i can do' factor anyone would actually use it legally, because if they have a gba (which they should have to legally use 'backup' roms, though hazy), theyd just use that.. battery life being the main factor.

[ashVID]

If it comes, it WONT be an emulator, it will be ports of selected games. Also, remember that GBA is a CURRENT device and Nintendo is known for their aggressiveness in pursuing their copyrights. They may have let the GB emu stuff slide but they are not going to let someone sell a true GBA emu. They will have to LICENSE the rom ports.


ash =o)

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by ashVID
Also, remember that GBA is a CURRENT device and Nintendo is known for their aggressiveness in pursuing their copyrights. They may have let the GB emu stuff slide but they are not going to let someone sell a true GBA emu. They will have to LICENSE the rom ports.

Unless I'm remembering something wrong, it's perfectly legal to sell an emulator. The ROMs are the only illegal part.

[skeezix]

Originally posted by Kbranch


Unless I'm remembering something wrong, it's perfectly legal to sell an emulator. The ROMs are the only illegal part.

This is exactly right. Emulators always have been legal. Period. End of story, nothing to look at except "FUD" :)

ROM distribution is usually illegal (aside from say Vectrex who made them mostly public distributable recently); And recent unreadable DMCA rulings make it interesting, but for everythign Nintendo, ROM disting is illegal.

jeff

[ashVID]

Uhh... that was EXACTLY my point =o) There is no way they can release a general emulator, they will have to be PORTS, meaning they will have to get clearance. I suppose they could release an emulator that works with 3 or 4 games but what would be the point? Emulators are in general a GREY area, remember Bleem? They were sued by Sony, several other EMU companies have been sued as well. Nintendo has let all the desktop GBA emus go but I am not sure how they will feel about another portable device. It wont matter anyway because good emulation is not even possible.



ash =o)

[Kbranch]

Originally posted by ashVID
Uhh... that was EXACTLY my point =o) There is no way they can release a general emulator, they will have to be PORTS, meaning they will have to get clearance.

... I still fail to see what would be stopping them from releasing an emulator. There's already a GBA emu out for PPC and Zaurus.

It wont matter anyway because good emulation is not even possible.

That may or may not be true for current Clies, but I can OC my T3 to 800MHz. I haven't seen any recent reports on speed, but a year old Zaurus version was pretty slow on a 200MHz StrongARM. That version was emulating the GBA ARM on the StrongARM, so it could probably be sped up quite a bit if it didn't have to do that. I'm still of the opinion that if there were a very well written emulator, the current Clies could handle GBA emulation at playable speeds.

[Pdasrock]

There would probably be some sort of overclocking required for decent speeds(maybe 300mHz)

[mangusd]

count me in

[mangusd]

count me in

[BMEngineer]

Originally posted by Kbranch


... I still fail to see what would be stopping them from releasing an emulator. There's already a GBA emu out for PPC and Zaurus.



That may or may not be true for current Clies, but I can OC my T3 to 800MHz. I haven't seen any recent reports on speed, but a year old Zaurus version was pretty slow on a 200MHz StrongARM. That version was emulating the GBA ARM on the StrongARM, so it could probably be sped up quite a bit if it didn't have to do that. I'm still of the opinion that if there were a very well written emulator, the current Clies could handle GBA emulation at playable speeds.

How do you overclock your T3 to 8ooMhz?

[Mixel]

Also, I dont agree with the concept of 'playable speeds' people have mentioned when it comes to a handheld device.. If it isn't full speed (or faster!) it is pretty worthless to a gamer. The current clies, regardless of whether they could do it (which i still doubt) would run out of batteries SO quickly pushing stuff around like that.. The GBA-sp happily does 10 hours without headphones and with the backlight on.. And the games are almost all gfx intensive, arcadey or visually advanced stuff which would just be BAD to play at lower framerates..

If it gets done I'll tinker with it, but It's only useful to pirates, and anyone saying they'd use it when they had a GBA anyway and that "it's just a way of cutting down on devices".. Pleaaase.. Try using the buttons on a clie to control anything like that. :P You want to be able to play GBA-sp games you haven't bought, and for free.. I'm not knocking that, but be honest at least. Hehe.

[ROGOWO]

Count me in, I also want a GMA emulator.

[humblejeff]

Count me in, thanks :)

[Protonus]

Any News on this?

[zamanakhan]

that would be soo sweet i would buy one on the release date

[c0mm0n]

+1 :)

[DBZ-GOKU-]

There's a nice GBA emulator coming out for the Zodiac next week. Full speed (with sound, but not implemented at the moment), and it also plays GBC and GB.

http://www.crimsonfire.com/firestorm/

[humblejeff]

Too bad not for any devices other than Zodiac....:(

[DBZ-GOKU-]

lol

[MAITD]

Count me in, a gma would be very nice!

[ilkera]

"count me in" what ?
this project is very old. so whou will "count someone in" ? maybe there is no project at all ?

[DBZ-GOKU-]

lol

[Rayden]

YEAH get me the GBA Emu!

;-P

[Unregistered]

I would pay $100

[humblejeff]

LOL

[sporkman]

yes, a GBA emu would tear WinCE's *** out. one vote from me.

[smoothjordan]

Get firestorm GBAz. www.crimsonfire.com GBA coming soon, but does work with gb and gbc. Sony Controller support!

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by smoothjordan
Get firestorm GBAz. www.crimsonfire.com GBA coming soon, but does work with gb and gbc. Sony Controller support!

Agreed. I heard they are having legal issues though. Hmm.

[Mauritus]

I would try the beta, feedback for any results of failure. i would help in any way posible (i don´t know Palm Programing) and... yes i would like to have that emuolator working for a aplm OS 5 , even a game boy color emulator would wourk for me.

[Rayden]

Same for me... i'm doing tha beta-testing :p

Just send a Reply.. and we make Win CE going to wipe out... hehehe

Ray
-----------------------------------------------------------------

When the lights go out in cental switzerland... de mom's gonna get they're girls in... hehe :D

[C.L]

I'll vote for one ^^. Though must be playable on UX, have sound, good controls and stable performance. Not too much to as for as these are standard in a game.

[Rayden]

Yap, UX must be... otherwise it's difficult to evaluate the emu for me... hehehe :D

C ya

-------------------------------------------------------------------

[unreal8350]

id love to have a gameboy emulator for my palm.

[Pdaman]

If gba emulator with good games - :D i would buy it
If gba emulator with poor games - :( i will past that
If no gba emulator - :mad:

[BUMP THAT]

I have the Firestorm for my clie itr is kool. But GBA is not supported yet. :(

[iczdblindman]

Count me as well. Please!

[MrNako]

So what does Firestorm do so far?

[FETT]

Nice new avatar MrN...

I'm anxious too. I want to sell my GBASP :D.

[JAmerican]

I'd get a GBA emulator for my UX40.

[FETT]

I have the Firestorm for my clie itr is kool. But GBA is not supported yet. :(

How good is the GameBoy/GameBoy Color emulation, is it fast?, has good sound?

Do you need to convert ROMs??

[SimonS]

please send me the emulator.
thx Simon

[FETT]

Mmm. When is sound being enabled in PalmOS5 devices ???