[Announce] GnGeo-gui for N900
 

While searching for a graphical front-end for gngeo I came across Xgngeo. It had all the functions I needed, but the big disadvantage I experienced, was that it was ported for the older Nokia tablets and was not really "N900 finger touch friendly".
So I decided to try to make a front-end my own. I ended up using Python with Pyside bindings as a programming language. Without any python/Qt programming experience, the code is not something I am proud of, but the resulting program is quite usable in my opinion.

gngeo
gngeo-gui depends on gngeo, the emulator itself. I modified some of the source of version 0.7 to make functions like reset, loadstate etc. configurable on the N900 (else they are not usable). It does not include the bios for copyright reasons.

videos
gleydsonpr has put several video's on his youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gprkof

Using gngeo-gui
The first time it will probable complain it cannot find all paths and will redirect you to the config section. You should be able to set all paths correctly using gngeo-gui, but you can of course edit the (gngeorc) config file by hand.
Ones the directory containing your game-roms is set correctly (and gngeo-gui is restarted), you can choose your game by tapping on the blue square in the middle.


Install
You can find it in the Fremantle Extras-devel repository.

In the Maemo garage, you can also find the installable deb package:
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=2148

Change history gngeo:

Code:

---

* 0.0.7-1 initial release
* 0.0.7-2
* added hotkey support by making it configurable
* added savestate by making it configurable
* added loadstate by making it configurable
* added reset option by making it configurable
* added exit option by making it configurable
* 0.0.7-3 fixed crashing in fullscreen

---

Change history gngeo-gui:

Code:

---

* 0.0.1-1 initial release
* 0.0.2-1 check for alternative name in biosdir / removed joystick button / added soundrate button
* 0.0.3-1 Configuration of keys now also poss
ible by pressing desired key
* 0.0.3-2 fixed fact that ASCII keycodes greater than 300 where not accepted in the key config (now max 307)
* 0.0.3-3 --for all buttons-- fixed fact that ASCII keycodes greater than 300 where not accepted in the key config (now max 307). Also added version info about screen.
* 0.0.4-1 In the key-config subscreen, player 2 can now be configured
* 0.0.5-1 Show output of GnGeo during rom loading/Show GnGeo version info in the about screen
* 0.0.5-2 Added option to exit gngeo-gui after the start of a game
* 0.0.5-3 Replaced checkboxes by pushbuttons / added menubar
* 0.0.5-4 added 68K and Z80 CPU clock percentage/added USB joystick config support/fix in return key config setting
* 0.0.5-5  Extended joystick config support
* 0.0.5-6 Added support for The Universe Bios
* 0.0.5-7 Introduced some QMaemo5ValueButtons in  the config screen/Check for expected gngeo config variables
* 0.0.5-8 as 0.0.5-7, but a testvariable removed
* 0.0.5-9  Layoutwise: centering of gamelist and Maemo5ValueButton texts
0.0.6-0
* roms can now be selected from SD card folder
* added hotkey support (two per player, keyboard and joystick)
* added savestate support
* added loadstate suport
* added reset support
* added exit support
* 0.0.6-1 added 3rd and 4th hotkey buttons for players 1 and 2 to the gui

---

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Looks great, I will test it later :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Great, great, great!

Let me suggest you to participate in the Meego Coding competition.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

thanks i have been waiting for this

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

any chance of a full 'how to run neogeo' on this?

cheers :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Do you mean how to install gngeo first? For that I could refer to http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...9&postcount=65 (of course skip the part of installing Xgngeo and install this program instead :D )

It would be more user friendly if gngeo was an installable deb package and my deb package had a dependency on that.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Thank you for the GUI, I´m happy with XGngeo, but will try this out to check if there´re more functions, already saw ´mute` option wich is already available by X Term, but with a GUI is much easier, thanks. Hopefully somebody will make this app (gngeo) even better with future updates.
I gotta a bug with keys configuration. The ´up` key is also COIN, don`t know why and ´forward` is also START , fulscreen works fine with as long as we don` try to change volumen or any other kind of screen transition ( like battery full, battery low etc ) warnings as the app gets segmentation fault .
I am due to upload a video to youtube soon. Check the GNgeo Tutorial thread in 1 or 2 days.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

To answer your question: Xgngeo has more (configuration) options. For the moment, I left out the sound sample rate for example, because my config screen was full :).
But Xgngeo also shows options which cannot be changed/set (blitter for example).
Personally, I find it most important to be able to start a game quick and easy, rather than have to go through menus with all kinds of obscure options I will likely never change.

I assume your remark about the key configuration has to do with gngeo itself? I never experienced that issue (using the gamegripper key config)...

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Oh yes, I forgot the sound sample rate wich is a nice option to make the sound clearers, so 1 question; can I use them both (keep them both installed? About start a game quickly : On any N900's HomeScreen press Ctrl + Shift + X then type 'gngeo/bin/gngeo doubledr' for example, I find it very fast, the mute option is a good add, tough the emulator is fast enough even with sound and N900 at 600mhz, corse we can OC to 800mhz just to make the emulation smoother, it is what I do. Can I change blitter option on this GUI? If so what is it for? I think is related to video output, but I heard some systems don't accept some configurations, effects. Will try to install and see. Please try adding other functions in future versions, then I can uninstall XGngeo.
Thanks anyway.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Just tried installing... Got 'some application packages missing' Do you know why? Also tried using X Terminal got 'gngeo-gui not found' or so . I have it saved to MyDocs folder. Any ideas to be able to instal this?

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Did you installed it like all debian packages?
In an X terminal:
sudo gainroot
dpkg -i gngeo-gui_0.0.1-1_armel.deb

Or tap on the filename in a filemanager, then HAM will automatically start to install it for you.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Working fine here. Thanks! :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Really great to hear that! Since it was my first program, I was not sure everything was complete in the package...

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

awesome work,

I will see if I can get a deb package going for gngeo.

@ade: will you host it in you garage ?

Regards

Juan.-

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

I was considering the same, but if you could do that part for me...
Of course I will put the packages in the GnGeo-gui garage page.

Are you going to compile de gngeo sources yourself, or use the files from for example gngeo-0.7-n900-binary.tar.gz? I remember that the executables I used had to be placed in /home/user/gngeo, while I preferred /opt/gngeo. I modified the binary gngeo for that...

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

u need faster application and enable all packages
search for python-pyside.qtcore and python-pyside.qtgui then install...

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

The idea is to package it in a proper .deb, and follow the policy to place the binaries (in /opt/ I think, or wherever).

I used the official sources from:
http://gngeo.berlios.de/?page=download

Hacked them to make them compile, disable stuff related to opengl, etc, quite a while ago.

Also used the sources for the OS2008 package as a reference.

Feel free to start and do it yourself, at the moment I do not know when I will find the time for this.

Regards

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Nice work Ade :-)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

use x-terminal to install the missing packages then try yo install gnge-gui

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Seems like you already did some rework on gngeo for the N900... if you succeed in making gngeo work properly in full screen, you would make my day :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

I just found out you are also the compiler of the gngeo binaries I use (from the gzip file). Sorry for not noticing before. I think you can do a way better job regarding making a good gngeo port for the N900 then I can.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

@all. With me, the emulator is working fine fullscreen,( Sorry I haven't uploaded a video yet, (my N95 is broken, need to get or borrow a cam for that) we just can't change volume sound, before start roms, check the volumen meter first and set it as you wish and finally I fixed my problem with keys remapping, I just unchecked 'enable joystick support' on XGngeo App, sometimes also when we minimize, then return to app, it gets seg fault aswell. Another interesting feature that is working flawless is memory card, it saves records of games (pontuation) and levels.
An idea for a possibly new version, 'pause emulation' feature would be good, so we don't have to start all again. Thank you.

PS. Still couldn't install the app gngeo gui but am living with xgngeo and xterm comands, will try searching for the qtcore etc stuff after.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

I now have created a debian package of gngeo itself (compiled by pcekper). For those who are interested: it can be downloaded from the same page as gngeo-gui.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

can`t install the gui. seems to be missing dependencies. tried through xterm too with the commands in the first page and it still won´t install.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Acidspunk, the same here with me, but you can install XGngeo on App Man.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Acidspunk,

This does not look like any issue regarding the package, but simply an issue of not executing the command in the right directory. Dpkg is just saying it cannot find gngeo-gui_0.0.1-1_armel.deb.
So make sure you are in the same directory where gngeo-gui_0.0.1-1_armel.deb is placed (via "cd") and then executed the command again. Please let me know if it helped, and if not, upload the exact commands you gave and the errors you encounter.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

This is pretty great!

I am having a problem in re-mapping my keys. Love that the GUI allows me to re-map without having to vi a conf file, but could we get a key mapping method that doesn't require that I know the numerical values of the keys?

Other emulators that offer GUI key remaps usually detect the key that you press when prompted, could we get that?

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

im getting an error:

cannot write /home/user/.gngeo/gngeorc.old

when trying to save settings, any help appreciated cheers :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

In the xterm type:

cd /home/user/.gngeo

Then type:

ls -al | grep gngeorc

Look for the gngeorc.old file. See if it's owned by user or root. If it's owned by root, become root with the sudo gainroot command, cd back to the .gngeo directory, and type:

chown user gngeorc.old

and for good measure, type:

chmod 755 gngeorc.old

In the off chance that your entire .gngeo directory is owned by root (can happen if you run gngeo for the first time as root), just delete the directory and re-start gngeo-gui by tapping on the icon. You'll have to punch all of your settings back in, but your permissions will be fixed.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

This could be it. But its more likely that the map content of /home/user/.gngeo is only for root to modify, so no ".old" backup file can be created. Just to be sure:
sudo gainroot
chown -R user:users /home/user/.gngeo/

It's not an issue of gngeo-gui, but the way gngeo itself is copied. Way too many people use root by default.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

cddiede,

I agree with you that a key pressing mechanism would be more user friendly. It would require a keystroke translation back to the key codes and a new key config interface. Not being an experienced Python/QT programmer, I think it will be quite hard to implement for me. I might have a look at it, but will most likely not change the interface on short notice.

Thanks for your constructive suggestion anyway.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

thanks :) its now letting me save the settings but its not finding any roms?

any ideas, cheers :)

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Sometimes a restart of gngeo-gui has to be done to make settings active. Did you try that?
I assume gngeo without gngeo-gui itself is working okay? So you can start games from the command line?
Do you encounter error messages, are all the paths set correctly (especially romrc and roms)?

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

i think i may be missing something

what needs putting in the romrc.d folder?

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

It should contain all the game info files (<game-name>.rc). Without content, gngeo-gui will not display the game names.

Maybe it's an idea to install the gngeo debian package I uploaded yesterday? It contains this files.

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

cheers for the help ade :)

ive already installed he .deb package but doesnt seem to bring up any roms still

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Just to be sure: I am talking about the gngeo package, not the gngeo-gui deb package. gngeo_0.7.0-1_armel.deb should install this rc files in /opt/gngeo/share/gngeo/romrc.d

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

yeah ive installed that pal, checkedthe romrc.d folder and all the .rc files are there but still not finding roms :(

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

Then that part looks fine for now... and the Neo Geo roms: are they (zipped) in the proper folder? I suppose so, because you can use gngeo to start games from the command prompt?

Do you get proper output from
/opt/gngeo/bin/gngeo --scandir <YourMapWithRoms>

Re: [Announce] GnGeo-gui
 

im not too sure how to run from command so not too sure why it wont run from gui

how do i run from xterm?

sorry for being a noob
thanks for the help :)