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I have to agree with kusma and lord graga: While coding in devkitarm for GP32, I decided to make also some tests in GBA (just run my progs from emulator though). Well yes,. that's slow for C code, but still you can make some nice and not that slow things with it. While it's a more appropriate machine for writting assembly too. Still, in C you can cheat by using the gfx hardware.

Except those hw sprites and blend, the mosaic effect to have lower res and write many pixels at once, shifted tiles for mirroring your soft effects, and other stuff I see are possible. I watched several GBA demos yesterday and read about few of these tricks in some scrolltext. Just imagine there are 6 modes in GBA and several additional hardware gfx stuff, while the GP32 has two software modes and hardware scrolling.

I guess I am hooked about coding a GBA demo with another greek sceners who owns the eeprom cartidge in the future. I was thinking it yesterday. Although, I am planning to release more demos for GP32, because I think it's just sad there was not much of a scene in it. I just like the console and the developer scene and I'd be hot to support it with few stuff.

Damn, I think you are absolutely right about GBA being such a better demoplatform in terms of challenge and trickery, and that's the main reason I am mentioning in the article you are going to read in the near future.

The GPX2? Seems promising. If it has fixed some of the current problems from GP32 I mentioned above, that will be great! I may purchase one but when I have the money (they are not that much though for it's power), not in the near future. But first, I will finish some stuff for the GP32..

I am sure you meant a flash memory cartridge - eeprom is out-dated and complicated to use and i don't know of any GBA eeprom cart (homebrewn cart?).

Lupin: I do have a GBA eeprom cart. Unfortunately it's a pirated version of Kirby's Adventure which looks absolutly real. :( But features a melon cracktro for example (which also rather sucks btw!).

Optimus: X-ROM 512 Mb cartridge for the GBA was $69

Thanks for the link, I was looking for a cartidge but I couldn't find in LikSang no matter how much I searched. I may consider buying one..

Well,. still, I mean that you have to pay additional stuff in GBA, while in GP32 you have it immediately when you buy the console..

Honestly I always thought the biggest drawback on the GP32 was the lack of a good module replaying engine. Sure we've got replayers for .mods aplenty, but other formats such as .s3m, .xm and .it are grossly undersupported.

Someone was to release an .s3m/.xm replayer a while ago, but it seems that project has faded into the background.

And don't use the ported libmikmod. As I was personally maintaining it I can only tell you: no. Just... no. Ugh.

no. do not touch mikmod. burn mikmod. EVERYWHERE.

at least it isn't goldplay.

Optimus: There is also Xport 2.0, an FPGA coprocessor for the GBA. I'm not aware of anything like that for GP*2* platforms. With Xport 2.0, you could code a hardware coprocessor for your GBA enabling some really cool stuff. The entire toolset needed to program the FPGA in a high-level language (verilog or VHDL) is freely available from the FPGA manufacturer. The FPGA code and GBA executable can be distributed freely, so anyone with this hardware combo would be able to watch your demo with your custom hardware.

I'm starting some GBA coding and ultimately I'd like to get to incorporating Xport 2.0 HW into the demos.

..for like the two people in the world that own one?

I always wondered why you are this negative about the GP32 currently. Or. For a few years now. I mean, you once coded on the GP32 and even invested a lot of time in the ScummVM port.

What happend that you feel so pissed about GP32 and every single post about this handheld is negative and absolutly not constructive?

i'm also thinking of getting one :)

ph0x: its a lot more than 2 people that own this combination of GBA + Xport 2.0. The botball community[/b] is using this hardware as the basis for their competitions and [url=http://www.charmedlabs.com]Charmed Labs has had this product available for quite some time.

Yeah, you could make your own FPGA dongle to add-on to the GP32, but then it truly would be one-of-a-kind with no realistic way of sharing with the rest of the demoscene community. But like I said, custom coprocessors written for the Xport 2.0 are a ways off on my GBA development timeline.

Dangit. I wish I could edit bb posts or at least preview them on pouet.

Anyways

botball community
Charmed Labs

There's a bbcode extension (source 2) for Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox - it rocks.

I started work on a demo right after I got my GP32. Mostly some oldschool stuff, and I ran into the the sound crackling bug. Don't recall if I managed to fix that. Maybe I'll release this someday, but it won't show much of the GP32s true potential.
I did release a little lame demo under the "Plastic" label, but that was just a couple of hours work.
Me and Mithris also had planned cooperating on a "serious" demo (I think we planned releasing it on BP04 or so...) that didn't get past the planning stages.

I actually don't know why the GP32 wasn't more popular, it's could have been a great system for demos.

I wonder how many sceners actually own one? I know three... (Me, Mithris and A_Lee_n)...

Gizmo of farbrausch does. And me. ;)

All the guys who have coded demos for it.

freeze, i'm not saying gp32 is bad or boycott gp2x, just that gp2x doesn't have any special features you haven't seen before. but again not every company can be nintendo even if they want to.
the reply to xport was for Legalize

this reminds me, must play some dott again :)

Oh, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood that. :)

I have one, got it after I saw Gizmo's.

I think another member of shitfaced clowns has one.

We go thru this every so often when freeze posts new links for it here (:

limp ninja does too, though I wouldn't know for the life of me where it is right now :)

shifter: i think it ended up in the 'toys for the polish' bag.. I could be wrong though..

sdw: And me, oh no.. this is actually Freeze's one but I'll also buy one for me (or win one in a coding compo?) in the future for sure :)

I think also that seeing the general absence of scene in GP32 demotivates the sceners already planning/working on a demo for it, which demotivates more sceners and stuff, goes like a vicious circle, etc. etc.

And yes, I also agree (actually that's interesting, I haven't considered that much, before) with freeze in the 1st page about groups making one big or not so big hit in console platforms, then going back to their big loves (PC, Amiga, C64, etc.) and forgetting everything else. Although, special consoles like GBA or the little GBC managed to be so popular with few dedicated demogroups who have produced several demos for them.