Doom questions...

[Sc0rch]

I  don't mean to be traitorous with my first question but...

1.) Which firmware runs Doom better, iPod Linux or RockBox?

2.) I read a while back there was no way to change weapons, or play the default ingame MIDI music. Is this still the case?

3.) Has work on the PrBoom plugin been discontinued altogether? (Most likely in favor of the more capable iPhone / iPod Touch.)

[kkurbjun]

I am a little biased, since I did the Rockdoom port, but my personal opinion is that the Rockbox version is better for a couple of reasons:

1) iDoom is based on some form of the original Doom sources.  It does not incorporate all of the improvements that PrBoom has.

2) I believe Rockdoom runs at a faster framerate on all of the iPods primarily because of the scaling method used.  The PrBoom sources also implement quite a few speed improvements.

3) The last time a checked (a while ago) iDoom did not support sound at all.  Rockdoom will play everything but the music.

4) Rockdoom has a menu to remap keys and implements a method to cycle through weapons.

You cannot play the in-game MIDI music with either port.

Rockdoom has not been significantly worked on in a while, but there is not a whole lot to add to it.  It would be nice to get the demo's working properly, but I think the biggest improvement would be to update to the latest version of PrBoom and remove most of the hacks that were implemented in it to get it to compile with Rockbox.  Doing that is a huge task though because Rockdoom has a significantly modified code base from PrBoom in order to take advantage of Rockbox's existing functions and to fit it into the limited space available in the plugin buffer.

The iPhone and iPod touch port done by iD Software is also based on PrBoom (albeit a newer version and with their own improvements).

[Sc0rch]

...

3) The last time a checked (a while ago) iDoom did not support sound at all.  Rockdoom will play everything but the music.

4) Rockdoom has a menu to remap keys and implements a method to cycle through weapons.

That does it, I'm definitely installing RockBox.

Thanks for the info. 

...

The iPhone and iPod touch port done by iD Software is also based on PrBoom (albeit a newer version and with their own improvements).

Interesting... Does that mean that they released the source changes they made per the GPL?

[kkurbjun]

That does it, I'm definitely installing RockBox.

Thanks for the info. 

I am glad to hear it.  I hope you enjoy it, but keep in mind that Rockbox is quite a bit more than just a means to play Doom  .

Interesting... Does that mean that they released the source changes they made per the GPL?

Yes they did.  There is a link to the sources and build instructions on the iD software iPhone information page.

The direct link is located here as a shortcut to the sources.

Additionally, John Carmack had a blog entry of sorts where he discussed some of his work on the port.

[evanthepanther]

your not a traitor for wondering about linuxpod

in the credits rockbox thanks the Ipod Linux Team, and the fact is, is that ipod linux does do things better than rockboy, its just what your looking for it to do. Ipod linux is supposed to run gameboy games far better than rockboy. Rockboy is supposed to be mainly a music player (i have seen the mods stress this many times to many many questions).

I have only ever used rockbox, not because someone is supposed to be loyal, but because I dont want to deal with the hassle of trying to switch back and forth between 3 different firmwares, and now that I've had Rockbox for about a month now, I've grown accustomed to it, I cant really say there are any problems, that I havent been able to easily work around (mpg playback is dreadful, but its easy to just switch back to the default firmware, and play a mp4 instead... gameboy games run HORRIBLE, but i force myself to not play them, the glitch with the user interface on themes screwing up all other theme's after it until you reset your settings, i just made a custom config with my favorite settings saved, and there are a lot more that I'm not thinking of)

[AlexP]

Note that for both mpeg playback and rockboy you are using the worst target possible.  The ipod video has a slow processor and a big screen, the worst combination.  Other targets are much better.

Quite a lot of theme problems are caused by the themes you download and use not setting options properly.