-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 7
/
FAQ.txt
executable file
·317 lines (218 loc) · 13.2 KB
/
FAQ.txt
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberty version 1.3.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gambit Studios
Frequently Asked Questions
Liberty version 1.3.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What is Liberty?
2. What is a GameBoy(tm)?
3. What is a GameBoy(tm) ROM image?
4. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files?
5. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files (32K)?
6. How do I convert GameBoy(tm) ROM image files for use with Liberty?
7. How do I configure Liberty?
8. Why is Liberty slow?
9. How can I make Liberty faster?
10. Why is there no sound in Liberty?
11. Why am I getting errors for saving and loading of games?
12. Why does beaming of ROM images not work?
13. How can I purchase Liberty?
14. Who are the guys behind Liberty?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What is Liberty?
Liberty is the first GameBoy(tm) emulator for devices that use the
Palm Computing Platform, using PalmOS 3.0 or later. Please consult
your device to identify if it is compatible with Liberty, using the
App->Info dialog (selecting Version) in the application launcher.
The following devices are known not to work with Liberty:
Pilot 1000, 5000
Palm Personal, Professional
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. What is a GameBoy(tm)?
GameBoy(tm) is a device designed by Nintendo who's sole purpose is
to provide the user with the ability to play computer games. It used
an 8-bit processor (similar to 8080/z80), 8K of RAM, 8K of video RAM
and a screen resolution of 160x144 (2.6" in size). It provided 2 bit
grayscale graphics.
Liberty only supports original GameBoy(tm) games.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. What is a GameBoy(tm) ROM image?
GameBoy(tm) games were distributed using a plug-in cart system. This
cart contains the program code and additional memory for the game it
provides. A GameBoy(tm) ROM image is a direct duplicate of what is
stored on this cart. Each bank is 16K in size and each cart always
has an even number of banks (multiple of 32K).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files?
5. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files (32K)?
Gambit Studios does not endorse the illegal use of commercial games.
DO NOT request illegal images from us - we don't know where you can
get them, and will not respond to your requests.
GameBoy(tm) ROM images are available on the Internet - start here:
http://www.vintagegaming.com/emulators/gameboyroms.html
http://www.emuunlim.com/ROMs/gameboy.shtml
GambitStudios provides pre-converted GameBoy(tm) ROM images of free
and demonstration roms at the following URL:
http://www.gambitstudios.com/freesoftware.asp
A large number of freeware and public domain GameBoy(tm) ROM images
can be found here:
http://welcome.to/kojote/
There are at least 80 commercial games available for the GameBoy(tm)
that are 32K in size. These include, but, are not limited to:
Dr. Mario, Tetris, World Bowling,
Tennis, Scramble, Asteroids,
Centipede, Bomb Jack, Hyper Lode Runner and many more!!!
UPDATE: (1.1.1) lifting of 32K demo limit: you can use >32K rom files!
. the demo limit is ONLY valid for the first 32 executions of
the Liberty application, after this - you MUST register :))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. How do I convert GameBoy(tm) ROM image files for use with Liberty?
Liberty is distributed with a GameBoy(tm) ROM image utility. This
program just splits the ROM image up into a readable format on the
Palm Computing Platform.
Various executables are available, depending on your platform.
liberty.zip = PC platform
16bit MSDOS program
32bit Windows program (drag + drop compatable)
32bit Windows GUI program <<-- NEW!
InstallBuddy PlugIn
The easiest way to convert ROMS to pdb files is
to copy them into a single directory such as:
C:\GBROMS
Make sure the rom2pdb.exe and gb2pdb.bat are in
this directory as well and then type "gb2pdb"
and press [enter]. Install the .pdb files using
the software provided with the device.
UPDATE: (2002) new win32 conversion utility!!!!
- converts and hotsyncs directly! get it
http://www.gambitstudios.com/download.asp
liberty.sit = Macintosh platform
Macintosh Executable (drag + drop)
liberty.tar.gz = *nix platform
gcc -o rom2pdb rom2pdb.c
The source code is provided in each distribution, so the utility can
be re-compiled to suit your own likings :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. How do I configure Liberty?
Liberty has a number of configuration options that allows the best
gameplay environment:
- key assignments
You can adjust the configuration of the hardware buttons to suit
the GameBoy(tm) games that are emulated in Liberty. The default
configuration gives the four center buttons as the joy pad, with
button A on the right and button B on the left.
- grayscale configuration
If you are having problems seeing the grayscale tones, you can
make adjustments using this configuration screen. It is only
available on devices that use 2bpp grayscale graphics displays.
- color tweaking
Some Palm devices are color, why should Liberty be a boring old
grayscale application? You can tweak the grayscale colors to a
set of colors using RGB configurations.
Experiment with the different options to find a good system :)
- frame blit
You can control the rate at which the Palm screen is updated by
setting this value. "Every Frame" is the slowest, however, once
an overclocking utility is used "Every 2nd Frame" yeilds very
good animations and game play feel.
If you are having problems using your hardware keys or feel Liberty
is running very slow - you should disable any uneccessary hacks and
perform a soft-reset and restart liberty.
UPDATE: (1.2) game by game configuration!! finally!
. you can now use the flexibility of configuring each game on
a game by game basis! no more tweaking each time you play.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Why is Liberty slow?
9. How can I make Liberty faster?
Liberty is an emulator. Emulation requires in many cases at least 8x
(10 times in reality) of CPU power to emulate a particular type of
CPU. The Palm's CPU, bundled with the resources required by the Palm
Operating System is not sufficient to run at full speed.
Overclocking is not supported by Palm Computing and the use of these
types of programs is at your OWN risk. Various applications exist
that can do this task. Afterburner 3.0 has been tested internally
and works with no problems, however, results may vary.
You should see some substantial increase in performance as soon as
the device is overclocked. If you do not see any improvement, you
should consult the utilities manual to ensure that the program is
doing what it should.
The following url provides an example of how to overclock:
http://www.ardiri.com/index.cfm?redir=palm&cat=liberty&subcat=overclck
You can use the "Benchmark" program to ensure your device is running
at a faster speed when the utility is activated. It is written by
Neil Bridges and can be found on www.palmgear.com.
The best games for use with Liberty are RPG, adventure and strategy
games like Pokemon, Monopoly, Final Fantasy etc. Liberty does not
emulate games well that change the screen contents quickly, like
action games, side scrollers etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Why is there no sound in Liberty?
The GameBoy(tm) uses 4-channel with stereo sound. It is not possible
to reproduce the sound within Liberty without having a significant
impact on execution performance.
UPDATE: (1.2+) partial sound support: only channels 1 and 2.
. it can be more annoying than useful, and can be disabled :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Why am I getting errors for saving and loading of games?
Liberty performs a number of checks when doing a save and restore of
a emulation state and can run into a number of problems when trying
to save or restore a game. The error can be caused because:
- using an non-compatible saved state (from an earlier version)
- low on memory and cannot perform the save
- a writing error occured when saving the game state
We have considered being backward compatible, however, each release
of Liberty introduces either new attributes or a slight redesign of
the internal mechanisms of the emulator. It would be a developer
nightmare to try and translate between existing states. In the event
something goes wrong, you will be informed, and the problematic
saved state will be removed. There can be times where errors can
occur for different reasons, and you should report any errors you
experience to us - it could be a *bug* :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Why does beaming of ROM images not work?
The Palm OS exchange manager (infa-red) is designed to work with the
timing of a 16Mhz or 20Mhz processor [depending on device]. The use
of an overclocking utility may interfere with the exchange manager
and cause problems with beaming.
If you are having problems with beaming ROM images, try disabling the
overlocking utility and try again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. How can I purchase Liberty?
Liberty is available online exclusively from the PalmGearHQ website.
You can purchase it by clicking on the "buy" icon at the following
website:
http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=7928
PalmGearHQ handle credit card purchases both online and over the
phone. If you do not have a credit card, you can send a cheque or
money order (in US$) to the following address:
Gambit Studios, LLC
220 North Thornton St.
Richmond, MO 64085
United States of America (USA)
Pricing is as follows:
$16.95 - Liberty
$22.95 - Liberty + AfterBurner 3.0 BUNDLE
Cash payment is considered as long as it is received at the above
address, or paid in person [please allow a few days to process order]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. Who are the guys behind Liberty?
Liberty was a joint effort between Aaron Ardiri and Michael Ethetton.
Michael Ethetton is the president of Gambit Studios and wrote the z80
and gameboy emulation core of the Liberty application.
methetton@gambitstudios.com
http://www.gambitstudios.com/
Aaron Ardiri, an Independent Palm Developer, joined the development
team on invitation to get the product "out the door". His duties were
to build an application framework, handle the memory management and
build the user interface of the emulator.
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have one of those questions that you feel we should provide some
form of explanation of, please let us know and we can incorporate them
into future versions of this FAQ.
// Aaron Ardiri
// Michael Ethetton
- the Liberty development team
----------------------------------------------------------------------------