Porting ALLEGRO to PocketPC

[Jaybot]

digby knows a lot about arm assembly, ask him any question about it, and he can most likely answer it

[danyblue]

Hi,<br>And how can i contact him? Does he have an email, or should i ask the question through the forum?<br><br><br>Danyblue

[danyblue]

I Have asked a question regarding ASM for the pocketpc to Digby directly through messages, which I think violates the spirit of this forums, so i am putting here the answer that replied.<br><br>"<br>ARM assembly language programming Date posted: 12/16/01 at 23:00:49 <br>The easiest way to get started is to get the C compiler to generate an assembly language source file from your C code as it compiles.  Notice the calling convention and how the compiler passes function args in registers, how it returns from functions, etc. <br><br>There are ARM Reference documents available for free downloading at http://www.arm.com. <br><br>I highly recommend the "ARM Architecture Reference Manual, Second Edition" (ISBN 0-201-73719-1). <br><br>The ARM assembler that is provided with eVC is armasm.exe. <br><br>In the future, please post your questions in the Developer Discussion forum here so that others can benefit. "<br> <br>

[Jammer]

Hi,<br>I know allegro from the PC old times and it is really a rocking library. I have come to the recently ( i have bought a Jornada 568, 2 weeks ago) and I am trying to initiate my self to game programming. I have seen some other libraries, easyce comes a little bit short since it lacks the major graphic primitives.<br>Allegro would be super cool. Can you include me in the project? Do you have set up any site? How many people are particpating in this?<br><br><br>CU<br><br>Jammer<br><br><br><br>Jammering Internet In a BOX

[Edward]

Hellop,<br><br>I have work before with Allegro and it seems to be a huge work to do. Is it feasible?? Isn't too much work, and especially wouldn't the resulting library be to big to work correctly with the new environment?<br>Regarding the Physical access to the display memory, how do you plan to implement it? In Allegro, using GAPI? Or do you plan to implement yourself somekind of access? Do you know how to do it?? Or does someones who want to participate in this forum know how to implement this?<br><br>If you have this answers than I would be able to contribute to the porting working on the highest level functions.<br><br>bye,<br><br>Edward Riches<br>

[danyblue]

Edward:<br>You are right in the affirmations, it is really a very big job, but I am doing it the best I can. At this moment I am working alone and going through ASM for the ARM and the MIPS, thanks to some information and tips pointed to me by Digby.<br>I am just a the beginning, and I hope not to loose my motivation in doing that. <br>When I have started this thread I was thinking that it would be a very good oportunity to bring a lot more software to the PocketPc scene, but unfornutly I think that Allegro doesn't have a lot of fans in this environment. Let's hope I can help changing things.<br>I will not setup anysite for the moment because I don't have any visible work to share, and since nobody is interrested in contribute at this moment, it would be a completely lost of time to do that.<br>If you want to help me, I would be welcomed.<br><br>Danyblue

[danyblue]

hi all,<br>the status from the porting that i am trying to do is the following:<br><br>- I Can compile almost 75% of the code the implements the library using pseudo functions in order to avoid the problem of the low level ASM Functions.<br><br>- I am testing the possibility of using standard GAPI functions as a subsitute of the ASM. With this method I am able to perform some basic tests that show me that the code is beeing correctly ported.<br><br>- I am setting up a WebSite to be used as File repository, and it will be finished I will put there all the code, hoping some one decides to join me in my effort.<br><br><br>- I am making a very slow progress with the learning of the ARM Asm,  I am using some of the tricks explained by Digby, so let's hope that I will finally be able to do something useful.<br><br><br><br>Danyblue<br>

[Zog]

Heh, I posted this suggestion on the allegro.cc message board, but no one seemed very interested.  I think it's a damn fine idea.  One thing, I'm pretty sure that allegro has the ability to emulate all of the inline assembly it uses when being used on certain platforms.  Using some of this stuff might be a time saver, and would help get a usable version out sooner.

[danyblue]

ZOG:<br>I have tried to contact people from the Allegro developpment team some time ago trying to find out if it would be interresting to them and if I could get some support from them, but i didn't any answer, so I am working alone. <br>I don't know but some time ago any idea of developping something that could bring a huge amount of fresh code to the platafor, would bring a tremendous petitions of participation. But instead now, it is a more passive attitude, of waiting for others to do the job and then used it. Are we seeing the end of collaborative working in the Net?<br><br><br>Danyblue