[xsacha]

Hi guys, I am working on porting a powerful emulator front-end, Emumaster, from the Nokia N9 to Playbook.
Currently containing back-end emulators from Elemental, the aim is to move to community Playbook port back-ends.

Obligatory Screenshots




Purpose
It emulates Amiga, NES, SNES, GBA and Playstation all in the one application, using the community ports already made available by A7omic, jtokarchuk, froggy and others. It allows you to map keyboard keys, change virtual key configuration and much more.

Issues
Accelerometer and Sixaxis controller are disabled due to incompatibilities. Accelerometer can be added in but no hope for sixaxis.
Due to the way Playbook works, the Meego theme has to be loaded to data on first launch (will be a blackscreen for about 10 seconds!). RIM may fix this in future.

Unable to launch emulators as secondary applications. They may have to be built in to emumaster unless an alternative arrangement can be organised.

Tech Stuff
The aim is not to port the application itself but the Meego libraries that allow it to run. So far I have ported the Meego UI to Playbook along with the UI components (similar to cascades) which is built on QtQuick.
This allows the app to run as it does on the Nokia N9. This work has been completed. I can run any Meego app on Playbook .

Download Some Pre-alpha that Doesn't do Much
Right here.

Download Source Code
Right here.

[LimeTripBlog]

Keep up the good work Sacha
Thanks in advance.

[frogodilosauras]

That will be great. Waiting for this one.

[jtokarchuk]

Looks good sacha. Let me know when you are ready for another dev as we discussed earlier. I will be happy to lend a hand.

[xsacha]

Uploaded second pre-alpha.

Right now there is a limitation with Playbook that you cannot run a second app with a graphical interface.
Otherwise, everything working as intended currently (in my second pre-alpha).


Any ideas on how I can move forward with this one app limitation? The whole idea of this app is of course the configuration utility (button mapping, joystick, controls) that work for all emulators.

Can provide source if anyone wants a go.

[dosboxwasthestuff]

Uploaded second pre-alpha.

Right now there is a limitation with Playbook that you cannot run a second app with a graphical interface.
Otherwise, everything working as intended currently (in my second pre-alpha).


Any ideas on how I can move forward with this one app limitation? The whole idea of this app is of course the configuration utility (button mapping, joystick, controls) that work for all emulators.

Can provide source if anyone wants a go.

just clicked download haven't sideloaded but will it auto create directorys or will i have to

[xsacha]

nvm boots up i get it its a smart idea any themes i can download realtivley ugly not to be mean

Yeah there's heaps of Meego themes. That's the default Meego theme. Just replace blanco.zip with a Meego theme you find online and then resign.

I'll drop source so you can replace yourself.

[dosboxwasthestuff]

there's a problem XSacha i nvr got the whole signing process down but no worries i will customize send to u or some other member of this forum and they can sign but yes i wasted hours of my life and nights figuring out the sighing process to no avail

[xsacha]

Updated first post with the source code and build tools.

[dosboxwasthestuff]

tnx another question am supposed to load just the rom/bin/gba file or the whole emulator folder under the emumaster folder?

[jtokarchuk]

I would build them in, xsacha. I think even if we are able to launch, there is no way we would be allowed to pass data to this second app.

I feel a LOT better about this project now, fyi, thanks.

Give me some direction and I will get to work.

[xsacha]

I would build them in, xsacha. I think even if we are able to launch, there is no way we would be allowed to pass data to this second app.

It passes data using cfg file and uses libbase.so for things like directory names. It works fine without IPC (interprocess comms).
If the emulators are integrated I guess it would work even better though

The UI can of course be updated to look better on tablet screen. Right now the settings are a bit 'extended'.
Also, orientating to portrait/landscape is supported (I can enable this).

[jtokarchuk]

Was it actually attempting a launchof another app?? I would have thought that was restricted.

[xsacha]

Was it actually attempting a launchof another app?? I would have thought that was restricted.

Well the other app does launch (and run). What is restricted is taking over the screen while the other app is still running.
So basically, both apps try to use the screen and the app GUI freezes. In the logs I can see the playstation game running though, for eg.

There doesn't appear to be any restrictions in place. It may be possible to put the main app in to a 'console' state (not using screen) while the other app takes over. Not sure.

There are new permissions that RIM have given us: multi_window, multi_instance that give me hope that they are working on for support for something like this. Note: they currently don't do anything.

[jtokarchuk]

What if the frontend deinits itself and closes?

[xsacha]

What if the frontend deinits itself and closes?

I think that launcher checks if the entry point app has closed and considers the app to be finished then.

'Entry-Point` sections only appear if the effective package type
is ``application``. Currently the system only actually supports
one entry point per application; the last one specified wins.

[jtokarchuk]

Ok, unsure how it works in qt, but what about dismissing the posted window? Then when emulator is closed come back to life. That would probably need IPC though. Perhaps building them in is the wise choice

[xsacha]

what about dismissing the posted window? Then when emulator is closed come back to life. That would probably need IPC though. Perhaps building them in is the wise choice

It might work, haven't tested it.
Doesn't require IPC either. The application can see when its child process dies and then re-initiate the window.

I think integrating them will just be easier though Have to port the emulators to using the front-end anyway.

[Catalystg]

I would lean towards either using cascades or porting this to it to stick with the look and feel of BB10.

[dosboxwasthestuff]

xsacha so do i put the entire pcsx or fceux folder under emumaster/nes or whatever emulator im using and does creating an icon on homepage work? or was that feature meant for nokia n9 cuz all i put was bin file and it gave me a few options but woudnt run also is it possibale to have these psx games have their own icons as if they were apps on their own and when pressed they boot up in their designated emulator? just thinking

[xsacha]

I would lean towards either using cascades or porting this to it to stick with the look and feel of BB10.

Not sure what the look and feel of BB10 is. Each app looks different.

Anyway, the great thing about this is it is BB10 ready. It uses Qt Quick components which is exactly what cascades will be. You'll only need to swap out the component names and add cascades init code.

[xsacha]

xsacha so do i put the entire pcsx or fceux folder under emumaster/nes or whatever emulator im using and does creating an icon on homepage work? or was that feature meant for nokia n9 cuz all i put was bin file and it gave me a few options but woudnt run also is it possibale to have these psx games have their own icons as if they were apps on their own and when pressed they boot up in their designated emulator? just thinking

Don't know what you mean. nes is NES emulator. You'd replace the psx emulator.
Creating icon on homepage was a feature for N9 (N9 allows this, Playbook doesn't).

[CptArm3D]

So is this basically the emulator refresh project or what i dont get the difference between the two?

[dosboxwasthestuff]

so is there anyway that u can create icons of lets metal gear solid (not specifically using this app) but when u tap on the metal gear solid icon it launchs pscx-rearmed and simultaniously boots up MGS maybe im just asking to much. also so is emumaster all these emus built in cuz i cant get any games to run

[jacobmathias]

bro this is great. a lot like the DROID EMU app for Android. I plan on promoting your product and publishing updates on my site! Good job!