Subject: Re: Accomplishments to shoot for.
To: M. R. Brown <mrbrown@0xd6.org>
From: Rob Healey <rhealey@norstar.com>
List: port-dreamcast
Date: 01/09/2002 15:41:51
> As much as I hate X, I have to clear things up: X does run on the
> Dreamcast, and it's "usable" (doesn't fill all of available RAM, you can
> run apps on it).
>
Weeeeeell, I used 16M NetBSD/Amiga X for a while and it wasn't
particularly fun. X is barely usable without adding now commonly
used GUI toolkits like GTK on top of it; but most "modern" apps now
require GTK/KDE type libs to work.
> > The best course would be to ditch X and use something like gtk(+)
> > as the programming API with some minimal graphics wedge underneath.
> >
>
> GTK+/fb? Is that stable yet? Does it work for *BSD systems?
>
That's the question! I have no idea on how far, or not, the GTK+/fb
work has gotten.
> There is an audio driver in LinuxDC CVS. You can find various scattered
> sources of the AICA audio system around the web, KOS was used as a template
> for developing the LinuxDC driver.
>
What addresses do I use for LinuxDC CVS and that nummy looking
KOS CVS? I assume they are anonymous read-only CVS servers?
> There has always been enough hardware info (reverse-engineered or
> otherwise) available to develop core drivers: input (maple), graphics, and
> sound. Sega was never really needed once the scene really picked up.
>
While technically true, having the docs straight from the
horses mouth would probably save alot of time on tweeks. Not
all the hardware features are necessarily known or used by the
games.
> If there is device support that everyone screams for, it gets
> reversed/cracked in a reasonable time frame, a prime example is the
> HIT-0300 ethernet adapter (the obscure Japanese-only model), it now has
> reference source on the web.
>
Still "dreaming" of an inexpensive HD+Ether+USB module I don't
have to etch/solder myself. If only the DC had more RAM as well...
> Your problem isn't lack of specs, it's lack of motiviation to write
> drivers.
>
Technically true, but having the full register specs and some
pointer info from the engineers certainly couldn't hurt!
Thanks for all the great info!
-Rob