Open2x newsletter #3

F200 support
Senquack recently discovered that GamePark Holdings had made a sneaky source release of 4.1. This included for the first time, the menu code along with the normal kernel source which has some interesting bits of code such as serial number reading and enabling TV-out correctly (I'm hoping to roll these functions into a dynamic library to be included in the firmware itself). Senquack then managed to merge the F200 code from this new 4.1 kernel into our own kernel tree and it seems to work perfectly now on all GP2Xs! After further testing this will be added to SVN. So it looks like the initial public release of the firmware will include both F100 and F200 support.

New library and kernel interface
As many people will be aware, we have a /etc/open2x file which tells you which version of the filesystem you are currently running. I am hoping to be able to take this a little further soon and work has started on a /proc or /dev driver which will let you read out various static pieces of information about the system itself. Although I cannot guarantee anything yet, senquack may be able to hook up a programming interface to let one globally mute the speakers and set the maximum volume (as the GPH firmware can through the menu).
UPDATE: This is now working

DR4
I don't normally do this because it is a pain working to deadlines, but I have decided to set one for DR4 because it is virtually finished anyway and has been dragging on for ages now. The date we are going to try and work towards is August 10th. After this date, the core components of the firmware (i.e. the libraries and the kernel) will be frozen until a public release can be made (then of course I'll start looking at new features again). So if anybody has any patches lying around or wants any applications bundled please send them in well in advance of this date!

Tasks that need to be completed for DR4:

• New GP2X hardware library
• Kernel info driver
• Userland side of touchscreen support (tslib, calibration and SDL 1.2.11 support)
• Completion of safer installer