NOTES:
The projects if developed will become a generic code baseline for each and every developer seeking codes.
This means projects in this thread is just to give everyone a basic working conceptual code which can be used anywhere in similar projects.
Just think people has great ideas to work on, but they dont have baseline code from where to start as most of them might be learning.
So this thread should help them out giving a working base code..
Any1 interested in building couple of OpenSource Projects for PPC? Ill post concepts.
Lets built next generations of applications together as open source which people can use to learn things as well.
The reason open source is so that everyone can contribute code for a project, and work together to built the best.
Anyone Interested???
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Project 1: File Indexer for PPC [FIndexer]
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
01 Feb 2008
Description:
To index each and every file on PPC with custom options on indexing.
Purpose:
In todays world where 1gb,2gb,4gb cards are available, we store tons of file on our PPC like ebooks, songs, music, videos.
Many times it is not possible to search using a search utility as it may consume battery and we need to wait till file is being search.
This is the place where this FIndexer comes in to picture, where we index our file either manualy or scheduled.
And then searching a file will just take 1 second to return the results.
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB.
Type:
Open Source
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Project 2: File System for PPC [PFS (Pocket File System)]
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
01 Feb 2008
Description:
Idea came from Microsoft new file system WinFS.
Correct me if i am wrong, this File system is a file table itself where it keeps track of each and every files in details in Real Time.
Purpose:
In todays world where 1gb,2gb,4gb cards are available, we store tons of file on our PPC like ebooks, songs, music, videos.
Many times it is not possible to search using a search utility as it may consume battery and we need to wait till file is being search.
This is the place where this PFS comes in to picture.
Why use any indexing software also?, let this File system handle it in real time.
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB.
Type:
Open Source
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Project 3: Tic Tac Toe (x & 0) Game (BlueTooth Enabled)
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
01 Feb 2008
Description:
This is a game which we always played for fun in good old days and still we play.
We might have wasted good amount of papers to play this game. Classic X & 0
Purpose:
We hardly see any bluetooth enabled games for PPC. Thats the purpose to built a very basic game with 2 players mode on bluetooth.
This may be a good code for all the developers round here who wants to start with some bluetooth code.
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB or XML
Type:
Open Source
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Project 4: Multipurpose Single Line Marquee Scrolling Today Screen Plugin [Like Stock Tickers]
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
01 Feb 2008
Description:
A today plugin which scrolls like a stock ticker in 1 or 2 lines, and provides useful configurable information like battery info, world time, live money rates, notifications, one liner quotes, jokes, appointments, bluetooth status, and much more, in 1 or 2 scrolling lines.
Purpose:
Many might have noticed too many of today plugin gives a scroll bar to your today screen which dont look good.
This is where this plugin comes in to picture.
This should be completely customizable right from scrolling speed to colors to information to flashing colors speed, bold and much more.
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB.
Type:
Open Source
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Project 5: Application Specific Backup Tool (Can be a great tool)
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
04 Feb 2008
Description:
There are several backup tools which takes backup of PPC as a whole and can be restored easily, but:
How many times you feel that you had installed tones of applications and had taken a backup of those, and now when you get a new PDA, you feel like you dont want to again install all the applications installed previously due to certain reasons. By restoring the backup you end up again with all unrequired applications again.
This tool will help you to eliminate those problems by taking backup of each and every application configurations seperately with version informations. Yes now you can backup configurations of your games, your theme managers, your music player configurations and everything and have choice to restore them back again seperately as required.
Yes people who develope tools with configurations involved may have to coporate to tell us where they save the data of their application so we coders can add a plugin code to backup that particular application.
You can say that this tool has a builtin database information of most of the application to backup the configs.
Purpose:
Description above says it all
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB or XML
Type:
Open Source
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Project 6: Application data which synchronizes with Web Services.
Not Sure if it exists or already available.
Added:
07 Feb 2008
Description:
Again this is an application which most coders are going to like who are learning mobile codings. This application mainly shows how to communicate with mobile device application with web service to keep data in sync. Data can be either contacts, games scores, or any text based details.
Yes a today screen plugin would be nice to show some information on sync or other details.
Purpose:
To provide generic code to each coder seeking this kind of communication.
Language:
C++ is best language for this kind of project because of speed.
And either .Net or Java for Web Services.
Database:
Not sure, but either SQL or Access DB or XML
Type:
Open Source
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All Projects should be easily skinnable by anyone.
People willing to part of this project, than please post your details as follows:
Name:
Skills:
Comments:
Once we have a team than we will go ahead and create documents like
RUD (Requirement Understandings Document)
SRS (Software Requirement Specifications)
What do you guys say??
Wanna work together as one, and built a new world for everyone?
Wait for everyone's view, either good or bad.
I am not sure how good above to projects are, but this thread mainly wants every coder, designer, tester to work together and built something.
List of Contributers (Coders, Designer, Tester, Others)
This place will list all the Contributers (Coders, Designer, Tester, Others)
Screen Design for each Projects goes here
Screen designed by contributers goes in this post.
NOTE:All screens designed will be copyright of the designer and should not be distributed or used without a permission.
Attached a Screen for an idea for Project 4
Notice the first Plugin in Yellow border.
Created by me.
List of Features and Request for Features and Suggestions
List of Features and Request for Features and suggestions goes in this post whomsoever wants. Then the team can make it happen.
Builts / Releases
Builts / Releases Goes in this section.
Technical Disscutions
Important Technical Disscutions will be posted and collected in this post.
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zbop has done something similar to what you are looking for in number 4. You place info in reg. keys and then update that info via Mortscript (or however you want) and then it gets scrolled on a today screen line. Check out http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=141375 post #269 for the latest version.
more than 600 views but just 1 reply!
I wonder how does open source developers meets and work together
I decided to give this initiative a fighting chance so I am going to 'sticky' this thread for one week.
If there are no takers I will 'unsticky' it.
Unfortunately, I do not currently have time to take part in this project my self as I am learning to program for Linux and OpenMoko specifically.
greenhacks said:
more than 600 views but just 1 reply!
I wonder how does open source developers meets and work together
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't, they start by making something, small, runnable, interresting, then share it, with the source.
This is more than i could expect from this forum. Thanks a lot.
This is a try to bring many great people in this forum and to develop something great for the forum.
Projects mentioned in this thread is just for start.
People can give their own new ideas so all work together and make something great for all the forum users.
i have no other intentions to start this thread other then bringing all together.
Starting this thread i thought i will also put my skills to help new guys.
Thanks again, and i hope this works out.
Here's a project idea that came up in the herald forums - use your touchscreen as a psudo-wacom tablet while tethered. Yes it would only be on/off and wouldn't sense pressure differences, but would still make for a cool project.
Heared of Android?
I guess you have heared about android,an all open-source linux based platform.And about the total of 10M bounty by Google as an award for the top 50 applications tha will be developed for the platform.So I'm guessing any developers with the skills to do such projects will have their hands full.
After all it sould be reasonably easyer to programm for an all opensource platform than for WM,a closed source platform.
Just my 2 cents.
nstamoul said:
I guess you have heared about android,an all open-source linux based platform.And about the total of 10M bounty by Google as an award for the top 50 applications tha will be developed for the platform.So I'm guessing any developers with the skills to do such projects will have their hands full.
After all it sould be reasonably easyer to programm for an all opensource platform than for WM,a closed source platform.
Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Count the number of applications developed in this forum by everyone for so called 'closed source platform of wm6'
I do agree with your thoughts and dont say you are wrong, but hey thats a whole different ball game.
Always remember
When a company runs out of concepts, then company organises a competition with great prices. At the end company gets thousands of new concepts. winner gets the price, company gets new product.
same thing happens in open source world as well as close sourced.
If all think in this direction then i can bet, xda will run out of members.
not trying to defend, but this is something which simply cannot be debated or this is not a right place.
tene said:
They don't, they start by making something, small, runnable, interresting, then share it, with the source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then lets make something small, runnable, interresting, and share with the whole world!
It was very dificult to find this kind of groups, thats the reason internet became so famouse, where we can find different people with great skills from different country and make things possible.
Hello.
Do you know a site or thread which has basic instructions about making a "hello world" app for PPC? Just to get me started.
What tools do you guys use? (doesn't matter if they are free or not)
How do you export/publish it as a .CAB?
Thanks.
PS. I searched and didn't find a thread like this and I don't want to use somebody else's thread.
Are you familiar with programming?
I use Visual Studio 2005 to create my apps. It has the ability to create a *.cab file as well
Visual Studio 2005 is not free.
You can find tons of info at the MSDN.
You can also use some library simplifying access to pocketPC by taking care of all necessary OS calls. Xflib looks good, especially if you want to code games, there are also some examples provided with lib download, and sources for most games hosted on their site are available. Might be a good place to start if you'd like to avoid learning winAPI and get right down to coding the actual app Another good thing is that it uses open source ceGCC compiler, so MS Visual C isn't needed. Also, you won't really need to make CABS to distribute programs coded this way, since they consist of one single exe file.
Go to www.xflib.net for downloads and install instructions.
And if you're a total beginner when it comes to programming, I'd try scripting out first. Have a look at mortscript (good because of it's multi-platform usage) or AutoIt (for windows desktop)
Thanks for the answears so far .
I'm not a programming noob, but not profesional. I've done some apps and games. I plan to start with easy things first as a coin toss app... it comes quite handy... or perhaps a handy stuff thing, inclusing the coin toss, unit converting (there are many), dices, chronometer, etc. All with stadistics and many options, like a random mode and a rigged mode ;D for dice and coin toss...
Then move on to something greater, who knows.
For something like that I suppose visual studio is best. I'll try both anyway. Any advise?
By the way is there an emulator like toolkit for J2me? Something a friend can download to run it without a programming software (or a phone).
Thanks again.
Edit: I believe I found an emulator, at least for XFlib (found there).
Device emulators
visual studio has its own device emulators you just have to download the proper SDK's like WM6 sdk or WM5 sdk to be more device specific, it's supports emulator debuging and device debuging but apps made with VS tend to slower and more memory hungry than apps implemented in C. But for me it's the easiest way to app development.
can you post the emulators link or better yet the whole thing itself here if its small enuff? im also working in xflib and would be much easier to use a standalone emulator rather than the one with vs2008. thanks
Hi, I never did that, but I was playing to Anthelion 2 on my PPC and I thank that it could be great to port Homeworld 1 or Cataclysm to the PPC, and I would like to know how to do that, I think that I could "recompiler" it, but I don't know how, and I would like to know if a tutorial has been created somewhere on the net?...
I'm not sure if it would be even technically possible. Well, the newest pdas _might_ be powerful enough to run something like HW1 but i'm not sure if it's such a good idea. Did you try to run homeworld in 640x480 resolution? Most of the time you'll see ships as groups of two to eight pixels. Now imagine it all squished on a phone three-inch screen: try ordering your corvettes to smash that annoying bomber on a screen that small I think that a bit better idea would be porting really old games, that were designed to run in VGA or even lower resolutions (SubCulture, Command&Conquer, I-War, Dark Forces are some of the titles i'd pay for ).
Anyway, back to porting subject.
First of all you would need the source code of the program you want to port - in case of homewrld1 it's not a problem.
Secondly, you would have to make sure that all libraries (graphic, sound, input, etc) used by a game have windows mobile/windowsCE versions. Again, homeworld1 seems lucky since it has been ported to SDL - a multiplatform opensource graphic/sound/input library.
But that's where good news end. Porting a game is not just a matter of grabbing the PC version source and recompiling it. If it was as easy, we would have hundreds of PC games already ported You need considerable programming skills to actually create a port because usualy not all libraries used by a game a compatible with WindowsCE. An example - the opensource version of homeworld uses OpenGL for graphic rendering. The pocket version would have to use OpenGL's "little brother" - OpenGLES. As far as i know, they're not 100% identical, so to put it simply, you would have to make the game talk in OGLES language, instead of standard OGL. And doing changes in graphic rendering routines usually breaks something else, so you'd have to go and fix it.
I'm not trying to discourage you here but i'd suggest learning to program for WindowsCE (or at least for PC) _before_ attempting to port anything - doing it the other way around will be just a waste of time and a source of frustration.
There are some development resources that can help start the adventure with programming here on xda. You could also search for some general C/C++ tutorials targeting PC's. If you consider getting into programming, i suggest checking out SDL - Many games use it, and thanks to this library you can skip the OS-specific part of coding and get right to the fun stuff - a program that actually does/displays anything For an even easier start, you might want to check out QuickCG - a SDL wrapper simplifying the coding even further.
Oki, thanks for your answer, I've a friend who is learning to program in C++, so, I'll ask him if he can help me to do that, it would be great to have this game on a PPC (perhaps the Diamond, because it has D3D and OpenGL Drivers, or of the iPhone, but I guess that the programming language is not the same as the PPC...
[EDIT] STARCRAFT would be great to, and easier to port on PPC, because of his age and that he uses 2d Graphisms...
You should look into the stratagus engine.
antrak said:
You should look into the stratagus engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice Engine, but it's not Starcraft, but I can't find the Source Code on the net, they could give the source code with the game when you buy it
Psycho said:
Hey, it's Calvin, I found him
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stargus a starcraft's clone, I'm trying to download it, but I don't know if it works for PPC...
You might want to check this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=497086&highlight=starcraft
Hi and welcome, finally after 2 years of reading xda-developers, I wrote my first post
I'd like to share with you a simple game, that I've written recently.
About game
ActionDude is a clone of Action Potato, rules are very simple - jump and pick beers, but be aware of violet bottles.
Background
Game is written in C# and uses OpenGLES wrapper from "My Brain Hurts" blog, which was mentioned many times.
Goal of this project was to find out how well OpenGLES in our diamonds handles sprite-based graphic - It turned out that quite well and nice playable games can be developed, but it's getting quite slow with high-resolution textures.
Requirements:
OpenGLES drivers, .NET Compact Framework 2
Comment
It's alpha version, probably I'll not extend it and I'll play with something else. But please - feel free to comment, write what do you like about it and what you don't
Nice feature is that you can put your own graphic of jumping "thing", you just have to replace files d1.png and d2.png with your own.
Installation
Well, I didn't prepare .cab, so you have to unpack zip file attatched to this message and copy files to your device.
Have fun!
I'm not a programmer, I just want to compile MAME for the Android. But, of course compiling code within the Android platform is not possible (as one would do it in Ubuntu or Debian), so I need the Android SDK and enough knowledge of java to call the native code, which needs to be packaged by the NDK, launched from within Cygwin.
Seems there will also be some video issues, beyond my comprehension. MAME developer R. Belmont posted this on porting MAME to Android:
The OpenGL support won't help you with GLES, that'll need to be an entirely separate code path
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever that means, it sounds like a lot of work. Looking around for similar projects for examples on how to call native code like the source for MAME , I found the java activity source code for aDosBox. It's also an emulator, but also has video requirements and uses native source as it's base. I'm still decrypting what it does, but for a developer (perhaps you!) looking to port MAME, it might be a good place to start.
What would be cool, is a couple templates I could just plug the needed particulars into. One for the Android.mk file that adds any required libraries needed for video stuff when I use ndk-build, and one for the java activity that simply calls the native code.
The MAME source code also has an SDL backend in the included build system. The build system 'detects' what platform it's on and builds accordingly. Can SDL be used in the Android SDK?