Rockboy for iPod Nano (1st Gen)

[rogueKlyntar]

*This is my first post and I do not know 99% of the technical terms used so plz bear with me.*

- Does making multiple saves cause a drop in framerate? If so, how can I delete unwanted saves?

- Are there plans to add a feature allowing you to switch the A and B buttons? I am playing Zelda DX and have reached a point where I need to hold down the B button (a scroll wheel button) but it doesn't work; only the A (center) button can be held down. If I could temporarily switch the functions of the center and scrollwheel buttons that would be great. (Idk if Rockbox is open-source or not; if not, sorry)

- Can sb explain why Rockbox can allow you to play Doom or Duke Nukem but not a relatively simple GBA game like Zelda: Minish Cap or Link to the Past? I understand Spyro:Attack of the Rhynocs would be too much for the hardware, but TLoZ is rather simple, isn't it? An even simpler game would be Pokemon; Fire Red and Leaf Green are virtually identical to Red and Green or whatever the originals are.

[saratoga]

- Does making multiple saves cause a drop in framerate? If so, how can I delete unwanted saves?

No, they shouldn't matter.

- Are there plans to add a feature allowing you to switch the A and B buttons? I am playing Zelda DX and have reached a point where I need to hold down the B button (a scroll wheel button) but it doesn't work; only the A (center) button can be held down. If I could temporarily switch the functions of the center and scrollwheel buttons that would be great. (Idk if Rockbox is open-source or not; if not, sorry)

I don't think so.  And yes, Rockbox is open source, as noted by the banner on the top of this forum.

- Can sb explain why Rockbox can allow you to play Doom or Duke Nukem but not a relatively simple GBA game like Zelda: Minish Cap or Link to the Past? I understand Spyro:Attack of the Rhynocs would be too much for the hardware, but TLoZ is rather simple, isn't it? An even simpler game would be Pokemon; Fire Red and Leaf Green are virtually identical to Red and Green or whatever the originals are.

You can't play GBA games because there is no GBA emulator.  Most devices would be too slow to emulate the GBA anyway. 

[rogueKlyntar]

- Does making multiple saves cause a drop in framerate? If so, how can I delete unwanted saves?

No, they shouldn't matter.

Still, iss there a way I can delete them?

- Are there plans to add a feature allowing you to switch the A and B buttons? I am playing Zelda DX and have reached a point where I need to hold down the B button (a scroll wheel button) but it doesn't work; only the A (center) button can be held down. If I could temporarily switch the functions of the center and scrollwheel buttons that would be great. (Idk if Rockbox is open-source or not; if not, sorry)

I don't think so.  And yes, Rockbox is open source, as noted by the banner on the top of this forum.

Do you know how I could switch the functions of the A and B buttons in Rockboy?

- Can sb explain why Rockbox can allow you to play Doom or Duke Nukem but not a relatively simple GBA game like Zelda: Minish Cap or Link to the Past? I understand Spyro:Attack of the Rhynocs would be too much for the hardware, but TLoZ is rather simple, isn't it? An even simpler game would be Pokemon; Fire Red and Leaf Green are virtually identical to Red and Green or whatever the originals are.

You can't play GBA games because there is no GBA emulator.  Most devices would be too slow to emulate the GBA anyway. 

Why wouldn't an iPod be able to handle a GBA emulator for a game like Pokemon or Zelda? Pokemon especially barely changed, they just colored everything individually, plus a few small things. I still don't see why Doom and Duke can be played but a GBA game would be too much for the hardware.

[__builtin]

Why wouldn't an iPod be able to handle a GBA emulator for a game like Pokemon or Zelda? Pokemon especially barely changed, they just colored everything individually, plus a few small things. I still don't see why Doom and Duke can be played but a GBA game would be too much for the hardware.

Nobody's written and merged a GBA emulator yet. No device can magically run code that hasn't been written for it.

[saratoga]

- Does making multiple saves cause a drop in framerate? If so, how can I delete unwanted saves?

No, they shouldn't matter.

Still, iss there a way I can delete them?

Looks like they're in /rockboy on your device, so you should be able to find them there and delete them.

Do you know how I could switch the functions of the A and B buttons in Rockboy?

I'm not familiar with the source for rockboy, but you can probably swap which button maps to which key in the source code and then recompile.

- Can sb explain why Rockbox can allow you to play Doom or Duke Nukem but not a relatively simple GBA game like Zelda: Minish Cap or Link to the Past? I understand Spyro:Attack of the Rhynocs would be too much for the hardware, but TLoZ is rather simple, isn't it? An even simpler game would be Pokemon; Fire Red and Leaf Green are virtually identical to Red and Green or whatever the originals are.

You can't play GBA games because there is no GBA emulator.  Most devices would be too slow to emulate the GBA anyway. 

Why wouldn't an iPod be able to handle a GBA emulator for a game like Pokemon or Zelda?

Because the GBA is a lot more complicated to emulate.  It actually has the same CPU core as your iPod. 

I still don't see why Doom and Duke can be played but a GBA game would be too much for the hardware.

You can play Doom, but you would not be able to emulate a port of Doom to the GBA (or probably any device at all). 

[__builtin]

You could probably pull off a JIT to emulate the GBA's ARM7 on a related ARM chip, but that would be an enormous undertaking.

[rogueKlyntar]

Do you know how I could switch the functions of the A and B buttons in Rockboy?

I'm not familiar with the source for rockboy, but you can probably swap which button maps to which key in the source code and then recompile.

I know what that means but I have no idea how to actually do it.

EDIT: Nvm I figured out the top left and right corners of the scroll wheel also serve as A and B buttons. Should work just like directional movement, i.e leaving my finger on it is equivalent to holding the button down.

Why wouldn't an iPod be able to handle a GBA emulator for a game like Pokemon or Zelda?

Because the GBA is a lot more complicated to emulate.  It actually has the same CPU core as your iPod. 

Do you mean their hard drives are the same part by the same manufacturer? If that doesn't make it easier to make a GBA emulator for my iPod, how is that relevant? In any case, I don't know how the coding is done but couldn't sb just rewrite the code into GBC language for a game like Pokemon? It would use the same images, same content, same nearly everything except colors.

[saratoga]

Do you mean their hard drives are the same part by the same manufacturer?

The Gameboy used Nintendo cartridges, it didn't have a hard drive.

  In any case, I don't know how the coding is done but couldn't sb just rewrite the code into GBC language for a game like Pokemon?

No that is not possible.