Gaming Petition for open sourcing Revo k101 firmware and open source GB/GBC/GBA hardware

[kerneldev]

Hello,

I've got in touch with Max, the individual responsible for the Revo k101. I would like to request community support to convince him that it would be a good idea to release the source code for the Revo k101 firmware. I am not familiar yet with its internals, but I'm well versed with embedded development and if there is a standard brick-proof to update and develop the device, this could be a great opportunity for some community-supported development.

Some things in mind:

• Improve GB/C emulation, and include cheat support, as well as more reliable saves.
• Improve NES emulation, include cheat support and better emulation options, as well as reliable saving.
• Improve linking, and perhaps create a GBA-USB link cable that could allow us to do things like Internet-based trades, multi-player, etc. I'm looking for other people here experienced in embedded development and anyone with a solid EE (electrical engineering) background.
• Perhaps improve little things like cancelling sound output when TV out is working.
• Improve TV scaling if possible... I wonder if the CPU could reliably do better upscaling with custom filters, or the lag would be terrible.

Still a great device, but it would be tremendous to have source code. I'm also interested on open source GB/GBC/GBA hardware projects (a clone of those systems). Of course there's always the unfortunate reality of people making a dishonest buck out of someone else's work... but hey, this could get on Kickstarter
PM me if interested and post "Signed" for the source code petition. Thanks!

 

[thaddius]

By improving the quality of GBC and NES emulation do you mean use a newer version of Goomba Color and Pocket NES? I'm not aware of what versions the Revo uses, but I imagine they're as new as they can be.

 

[kerneldev]

By improving the quality of GBC and NES emulation do you mean use a newer version of Goomba Color and Pocket NES? I'm not aware of what versions the Revo uses, but I imagine they're as new as they can be.

Honestly, that's one possibility. But I would include NES and GBC specific options in the system menu. Also could support game covers for them, beyond the cheats. It might be possible to optimize them for the Revo's architecture. The chip is potted in epoxy but it could be removed, or Max can simply tell us what it is. I can understand they might feel kind of protective about the SOC though. China isn't exactly known for manufacturers respecting one another...

 

[Normmatt]

Well technically they make use of at least one GPL library madplay so they "should" already be releasing the sources for each release.

 

[kerneldev]

Is there any information on the encoding or compression used for the firmware BIN file? Just to save myself that hassle and hop on IDA as soon as I can...

 

[Dexterp]

What we really need is the hardware open sourced. This device is amazing, but still fails in many ways. Compatibility is NOT 100% and there are quite a few issues with sound. We as a community have the opportunity to create something truly amazing, in much the same way Byuu did with his Higan snes emulator.

This hardware could be essential to the survival of the system in a form that is not emulated. Do we have any devs here who would really be capable of decapping and reverse-engineering this device? If so, lets get the kickstarter going!

 

[kerneldev]

I have the RE and development skills... I'm not nearly as strong in hardware dev. Decapping? I'm happy enough if someone gets me a unit and I attempt to remove the epoxy potting to reveal the IC that is probably driving the core (the LCD display driver is there without masking). That would be a good start. We can then assess the situation.

 

[Dexterp]

Kerneldev. I couldn't see a way to message you. Please email me on [email protected] if you're serious about this then we can make a plan.

 

[dakidski]

Signed.

 

[matt123337]

• Improve linking, and perhaps create a GBA-USB link cable that could allow us to do things like Internet-based trades, multi-player, etc. I'm looking for other people here experienced in embedded development and anyone with a solid EE (electrical engineering) background.

I'm not 100% certain, but isn't the link cable just a dumbed down serial port? theoretically speaking you could already tunnel it over the internet if you were to connect it to a serial port (if you really want usb, you could get a usb-serial adapter)

 

[go-vegan]

where do i sign