I used the version found at the japanese site, which is 2.10. I’m hoping in the next couple of days to try it on 2.14, and maybe gcc 3.3.3.

I only found a couple small things that needed altering from the files on the site, so it doesn’t take much to get it going.

Right now I’m listening to John Frusciante. He released 7 albums in the past year! Its really hard to pick a favorite out of them all, probably The DC EP is my favorite.

Also listening to Joy Division, The Germs, Atari Teenage Riot, and Miles Davis.

I’ve got gccvb up and running!

I just had to slighty alter a macro in the tc-v810.c file, and voila! it works! I haven’t done extensive testing(still haven’t gotten around to compiling allegro & reality boy) but it successfully compiled some source. I added in the linker script and crt0.o from the official gccvb (thanks Parasyte!) and it linked succesfully as well. I was also able to compile padromvb (thanks RunnerPack!), but I haven’t tested it yet. I checked the assembly listing and it was in correct v810 format, so as long as the assembler works, it should be a valid VB image once I add a header and pad off the rom.

So now I’ve got a working gccvb on my Linux/PPC system. Hell, its even got a fortran compiler 🙂 So, I’ll test it out fully, and then I’ll also compile it for Linux/i386, and eventually for OS 9 & OS X.

As for an optimizing compiler, has anyone compared the binaries of code compiled with different optimizing settings in gccvb(-O2 vs. -O3 etc)?

OK, I didn’t have much time to work on this weekend, and I’m going from memory…

When I try to build binutils, it fails at the point where it is compiling tc-v810.c in the gas/config directory. This file appears to be the main file for the gas assembler. The problem is, I get a bunch of harmless(?) warning messages, but no error message. It actually gives the error on the tc-v810.o file. So it could be a linker error, but I don’t think its at that point in the build yet. So….I’ve got my work cut out for me. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

As for reality boy, I tried compiling it, but realised I didn’t have the allegro library installed, so I’ll get back to you with those results.

Its not compiling yet, so it might take a little work. I would like to adapt the patch to the current releases of binutils and gcc, so we can fix things like the custom v810 addresses you mentioned.

I’ll definately share, I’m completely for open source. (and I’m sure people smarter than me will improve on whatever I do 😉

Thanks for the link! The page was actually easy enough to follow. I’m gonna compile it tonight and see how it goes. If all goes well I can get back to developing my pacman game:)

Thanks! I don’t know why I didn’t think of looking at the source to the Java compiler. In fact I don’t know why I didn’t think to use it, since I have java on my machine…..I easily miss the obvious sometimes. The reason I wanted the source code is that I run Linux on a Mac(don’t laugh), so the regular Linux binaries wouldn’t work.

I may still go ahead with my own assembler, though, especially if there are features others would like to see in it. Also, the time it would take to program it would take away from my VB programming 🙂

Also, when you say compile gccVB, does that mean that source is available? I’ve only seen the win32 binary.

I was just thinking about this. I thought that maybe it would be possible to take 2 gameboy advances and fit them into a VB case. The screens could be set to reflect and magnify into the eyes with mirrors. It seems like there would be enough room in the VB casing for this.

The hardest part would be having the two CPUs act as one, but there are already a lot of GBA hackers who could help(and VB ones too!).

That was my idea, maybe someone else can enlighten us on the possibilities.

Has anyone been working on updating the VB programming manual? The only one I can find seems to be fairly outdated, since it says little about sound or drawing directly to the screen.

I think I might start with a pacman game first, mostly for my own benefit. After that, I’m thinking of a Mario game, either porting an existing one or creating my own(I’d like to port some other games as well: Metroid, Contra, Double Dragon….)

I’d also like to make an RPG, although right now I’m not sure how well it would work on VB.

My ultimate goal would be to someday make a Red Alarm style game, but with polygons instead of wireframes.

Thanks for the help!

I don’t know if the program I wrote is worth releasing, I wrote it just to sort of get my bearings with everything. If it may be useful to someone, I may put it up on my soon-to-be-launched VB site. I plan to release all my games as open source, in the hopes that it will make it easier for others to get into VB programming.