Embedded SDL? (was porting SDL)

SDL Development
1

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible subset
of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly source-independent
so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be more friendly to
embedded OSes.

-Pat

2

What’s your target?
My interest is PalmOS.

“Patrick Roberts” ???
news:41086D59.7030002 at pacbell.net…> Is there any interest here in creating a SDL “sister library”

specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible subset
of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly source-independent
so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be more friendly to
embedded OSes.

3

RocWood wrote:

What’s your target?
My interest is PalmOS.

Personally, I would like Intent, WinCE, SymbianOS, possibly eCos, and
for development, Linux and Win32.

I'd hope that people with OS interests other than mine would want to

join together and make it as robust and cross-platform as possible.
Myself, I don’t know much about PalmOS, but it would certainlly be a
great target to have for the library.

It would also be fun to target consoles and handhelds, both
home-grown and official dev kits.

-Pat> “Patrick Roberts” <@Patrick_Roberts> ???

news:41086D59.7030002 at pacbell.net…

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible subset
of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly source-independent
so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be more friendly to
embedded OSes.

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

4

Yeah… I’d really love a cut-down, working and documented port of SDL
for the Palm, Pocket PC, and the Gamepark 32. That’d be swell! =P (I
had to say that… but really, I am very interested in this Pat)

  • AOn Jul 28, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be
more friendly to embedded OSes.

-Pat

5

I’d be interested in working on an SDL library for embedded Linux,
particularly for any kind of device with a memory-mapped framebuffer.
Also, out of curiosity, who currently maintains the full SDL
documentation? I’d be interested in helping to update what’s already there.

Max

Andrew wrote:> Yeah… I’d really love a cut-down, working and documented port of SDL

for the Palm, Pocket PC, and the Gamepark 32. That’d be swell! =P
(I had to say that… but really, I am very interested in this Pat)

  • A

On Jul 28, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to
be more friendly to embedded OSes.

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

6

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be
more friendly to embedded OSes.

I thought under the GNU LGPL you could offer the object and/or source
code on a website and not be required to include it in the actual
distribution.

Anyhow it seems like a good idea to me, BUT I really don’t think it
would make sense to make it ONE project. From both an
social/organizational perspective, and a programming perspective, by
all means go ahead and create an SDL “clone” for another platform, and
encourage others. But I think it is folly to say that, for instance,
the GBA and GP32 are so similar that they should use the same source
code, but not the same source code as other systems. (And by same
source code, I mean same source files, preprocessing included.)

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

  • Donny VisznekiOn Jul 28, 2004, at 11:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:
7

I don’t see any reason that SDL wouldn’t work on embedded Linux…On Jul 29, 2004, at 10:48 AM, Max Vilimpoc wrote:

I’d be interested in working on an SDL library for embedded Linux,
particularly for any kind of device with a memory-mapped framebuffer.
Also, out of curiosity, who currently maintains the full SDL
documentation? I’d be interested in helping to update what’s already
there.

Max

Andrew wrote:

Yeah… I’d really love a cut-down, working and documented port of
SDL for the Palm, Pocket PC, and the Gamepark 32. That’d be swell!
=P (I had to say that… but really, I am very interested in this
Pat)

  • A

On Jul 28, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to
be more friendly to embedded OSes.

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

  • Donny Viszneki
8

Donny Viszneki wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be
more friendly to embedded OSes.

I thought under the GNU LGPL you could offer the object and/or source
code on a website and not be required to include it in the actual
distribution.

(see the ‘license question’ thread)

Anyhow it seems like a good idea to me, BUT I really don’t think it
would make sense to make it ONE project. From both an
social/organizational perspective, and a programming perspective, by all
means go ahead and create an SDL “clone” for another platform, and
encourage others. But I think it is folly to say that, for instance, the
GBA and GP32 are so similar that they should use the same source code,
but not the same source code as other systems. (And by same source code,
I mean same source files, preprocessing included.)

For the systems I know (Intent, Linux, WinCE, Win32, and a little
OSX, and eCos) there could actually be a good amount of shared code.
But, my list of embedded OSes is admittedly limited.

At a minimum, structure and architecture would be shared between all
the platforms. My thought is that it would be similar to how SDL is
now: “Here’s a template, fill in your platform’s code, and add your
platform to the collective.” This way, there’s one place to manage,
promote, and distribute the functionality.

-Pat> On Jul 28, 2004, at 11:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

  • Donny Viszneki

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

9

At a minimum, structure and architecture would be shared between all
the platforms. My thought is that it would be similar to how SDL is
now: “Here’s a template, fill in your platform’s code, and add your
platform to the collective.” This way, there’s one place to manage,
promote, and distribute the functionality.

I definitely agree with that, I just didn’t agree with the "Sister"
idea.On Jul 29, 2004, at 12:21 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

10

it will probably work but that doesnt mean SDL cant be trimmed up and be
partitioned so as to be more friendly to an embedded environment

i’m sure there’s a lot of stuff that can be cut out when building for an
embedded target …
-mikeOn Thursday 29 July 2004 12:23 pm, Donny Viszneki wrote:

I don’t see any reason that SDL wouldn’t work on embedded Linux…

11

Donny Viszneki wrote:

I definitely agree with that, I just didn’t agree with the “Sister” idea.

“Sister” may have been a bad choice of word. What I meant was
something that propagates the SDL design and compliments libsdl, rather
than a project that competes with libsdl.

-Pat

12

I can set-up some project space and a developer list for an embedded
SDL design discussion (open to anyone who wants to join in.) But
before we start, since SDL is his baby, I’d like to get Sam’s blessing.

Does he frequent this list?

Thanks,
Pat

13

chui is already working on a gp32 sdl port. he’s currently changing it
so it uses the hardware direct instead of using a sdk layer.

Andrew wrote:> Yeah… I’d really love a cut-down, working and documented port of SDL

for the Palm, Pocket PC, and the Gamepark 32. That’d be swell! =P (I
had to say that… but really, I am very interested in this Pat)

  • A

On Jul 28, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be
more friendly to embedded OSes.

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

14

We are doing it, Andrew.

SuperWaba (“Java” for the embedded, the fastest, lightest java-ish code on
the market, and +++ OpenSource’d) chose to use SDL for being THE device
interface.

What that means is that we will be developping the longly awaited PalmOS
driver.
Some guy, in Spain, is attacking the GP32.

Whatever you use SuperWaba or not, the drivers will be there.
I have a name for it: “open synergy.” Isn’t it a wonderful world?
And this is just the start of it.

Pierre.> -----Original Message-----

From: sdl-bounces+pgr=jaxo.com at libsdl.org
[mailto:sdl-bounces+pgr=jaxo.com at libsdl.org]On Behalf Of Andrew
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:17 AM
To: A list for developers using the SDL library. (includes SDL-announce)
Subject: Re: [SDL] embedded SDL? (was porting SDL)

Yeah… I’d really love a cut-down, working and documented port of SDL
for the Palm, Pocket PC, and the Gamepark 32. That’d be swell! =P (I
had to say that… but really, I am very interested in this Pat)

  • A

On Jul 28, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Patrick Roberts wrote:

Is there any interest here in creating a SDL "sister library"
specialized for embedded devices? It would be a 100% compatible
subset of SDL (only what embedded devices need), and wholly
source-independent so that it could be licensed in such a way as to be
more friendly to embedded OSes.

-Pat

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

15

Nice work! How about the process?

I love SuperWaba but still wanna native-ARM fast code for PalmOS game.
So, a complete SDL port to PalmOS seems quite nice for me. However,
there may be quite a lote of jobs to do, eg, lack of standard C runtime
of PalmOS SDK and so on~~~~ That’s why it’s more difficult to write
Palm game than WinCE games.

“Pierre G. Richard” ???
news:NBBBJCKIIJKOMAIBGJEHOEOPEOAA.pgr at jaxo.com…> SuperWaba (“Java” for the embedded, the fastest, lightest java-ish code on

the market, and +++ OpenSource’d) chose to use SDL for being THE device
interface.
What that means is that we will be developping the longly awaited PalmOS
driver. Some guy, in Spain, is attacking the GP32.