For those interested in the web browser

[law]

just wanted to say great thanks for all you did till now, i just burned 3v5, after a little trying i got it to work with bba via my LAN, mail works too, so finally a decent browser in english... a few questions though:

my fonts are often messes up, especially in popup boxes of the browser, is that normal ?
also, i run my dsc on a vga box and in the file manager, 70 % of the screen remains all black, so i can do nothing there

Anyway, great work, only thing missing now is a good irc client and a built in mp3 payer and im all hapy =)

oh, also, u think it is possible to higher the resolution of the browser ? just a thought, cause the page pages are all so big nowadays =)

Ty again,
Law

[fatheadpi]

Yes, you could probably do a splash screen. HTML has the ability to user a timer right? Because you could make the first page just an automated 5 second count down while it displayed a nice jpeg, bitmap, pvr, etc. I don't know how good of an overall idea this would be, since XDP's load time already sucks pretty bad. I guess if you wanted an example, look at he planetweb 2.6 browser, specifically pwbrowser\drmcst.htm. This might give you an idea of how to make a start page that showed a logo and could be skipped through.

When you want to try some graphics stuff, go on ahead. Like I said, not too happy with the overall artsy-fartsy aspect, but I can't be bothered to work on it.

Reaper, I'll go ahead and try to do that on your next release, right now I just have a link to it in the XDP Home page.

For wav playback, if you just directly call the wav file (I don't know much html, but file:/file.wav should play uncompressed wav files) it should work. I've noticed that XDP can be a little laggy playing some games, so you might want to make the game page have the option to play or stop the wav file.

There is a JS command to make the jump pack shake, you can control it, 5 different intensity levels and the such, I'll find the tag for you.

Law, when you mean messes up, do you mean kicks back over to Japanese? Try using the right and left triggers until it sets you back to English. I've found in many menus it defaults back to Japanese, don't quite know why.

I get the black screen problem sometimes too, it usually just happens when I'm saving my options from the option menu. Let me know if it keeps up, I'll try and figure out why.

The plain files release should be up in a few hours unless all the admins are asleep.

[law]

well in the yellow dialog boxes, all choices have red borders and the font is plainly messed up, not japanese or english but just messed out.. ill take a shot later and up it here so u can see what i mean.

[fatheadpi]

When dealing with the file screen, i find this helps:

Go into the options menu, and just save your settings to your vmu.

This seems to make the black screen stop appearing when using the vmu manager.
I've looked at the text, I don't see anything wrong yet. But post what you mean.

[sonicblur]

I know it works under PlanetWeb, and I THINK it works under DP. If not, you'll have to make the html files yourself, or edit VMITool's to include the proper X-Avefront command.

You dont need a special command to download VMU files, just a normal link. But unlike Planetweb, you need the MIME types for it to be recognised as a VMU file, and I'm not sure how you could get MIME types onto the disk.

Sorry for not posting in awhile. Something must be messed up with the board and it stopped notifying me of topic replies, and I figured nobody had been posting about it. Looks like I have a new release to download. :-)

Edit: ... Page 15 of 14? WTF? Looks like nobody's going to see this post anyhow.

[fatheadpi]

Actually Sonicblur, I'm having similar problems. There was a hacking of the boards recently, and everything got f*cked up royally. I didn't see your post till just now when I was looking at stuff to reply to.

As for messages in garbled text, I don't know, haven't had similar problems. Remember, about 70 - 80% of all pop up boxes are either A. NOT TRANSLATED B. DAMAGED / NOT EVEN CLOSE TO PROPERLY TRANSLATED or C. NOT IN THE Message.ini FILE. I need a full version of DP3, as well as someone who knows Japanese.

[sonicblur]

Well, I've found you can still see the 15th page of this thread by clicking the little view last post icon on the topic page. I'm still not getting e-mailed anymore when this thread is updated, which is a shame. Hopefully when page 16 is reached, page 15 will show up. :-P

[az_bont]

TOPIC STICKIFIED!

[fatheadpi]

Congrats az, your first topic stickying. How do you feel?

Anyways, more XDP news.

I have a new message.ini file that looks garbled but promising, I plan on making the first beta of v6 fairly soon. I have recently acquired a lot of Ginsu resources and documentation, and here's what I've figured out:

1. Ginsu was intended to be an easy to use (generates it's own menu if needed), light-weight (requires ginsu.lib, a 7kb library), easy-to make (3 commands to get stuff to boot, probably about 10 - 20 to make it close the program and return to the main menu) multi-app (sampler disc) tool.

2. In order to work under Ginsu, an app MUST use the Ginsu lib and commands.

3. XDP uses Ginsu. F*CK!!!!

Basically, we're never going to see apps which need file system access on XDP. The only free app I have ever seen that has GD-Rom access is andrewK's DCLoad, although I was using it with the original Dreamrip, so it's hard to say which one unlocked the file system.

I still can't get access under most devkit apps, I might be doing something wrong, but I really just don't give a rat's ass anymore. I'll include a few ginsu apps in beta 6, one of them is supposed to be a GDDA player, good for those of you who make your own discs and audio dummy.

Obviously, applications could be recoded to use ginsu, but I don't know a. If we could do this legally and B. if there would be enough coders to pull this off and C. I don't even know if KOS can use Devkit code. Therefore, I want to find a way to make XDP launch from the Grendel loaders the homebrew scene uses (Menu, Hakker, Inducer), something I haven't had much luck with in the past.

I'll also include whatever games reaper2k2 has available at the time.

After v6, and lacking someone who knows japanese and someone who has pvr editing abilities, I think the project will have reached its peak.

[az_bont]

Congrats az, your first topic stickying. How do you feel?

Better than a guy on his birthday, at Disneyland, getting laid on the biggest rollercoaster in the park !

And about the lack of PVR editing skills - perhaps you could get in touch with the DreamSNES guys, or perhaps Obsidian? They both know how to do it, don't they?

[OneThirty8]

As far as launching from Grendal's programs, I'm pretty sure that Inducer needs unscrambled bins. Don't know if that's all that XDP needs... probably all menu-type progs need them unscrambled, except their own 1st_read.bin that is.

[reaper2k2]

demomenu loader can use scrambled or not it uses scrambled by default

you can just press a button then use unscrambled as well

its what i use to test my code with

[fatheadpi]

FINALLY!!!

I've been having a lot of troubles with v6, namely that i've burned thorugh about 20 cd-rs just getting the damned thing to self boot. I'm changing the boot layout, 1st_read.bin is now remapped to winceos.bin, I'm trying to get XDP to exit to DCHakker (I assume it loads 1st_read.bin on exit), and also load some ginsu apps. I think they were all scrambled.

Does anyone know what maigo.bin or sg_dpldr do?

Also, new message.ini, very clean, but has much of it disabled for some reason. If I fix it, it'll be a good starting point for writing a better Message.ini than what we've seen in versions past.

Mpeg playback starting to come through, just have to make sure the file size limit has been expanded.

Oh, and I scored a copy of Photoshop, so if anyone speeks Japanese, let me know. I might ask kaze, for some reason I think she knows japanese.

[fatheadpi]

Well now this is amazing. XDP refuses to boot anything, even apps it has launched in v5. ARGHHHH! F*CK!!!

[fatheadpi]

Version 6 is coming along. i won't be answering posts or e-mail for a while. I'm translating the Message.ini myself, it'll probably take a few weeks. When I hit halfway thorugh, I might put up version 6.

[fatheadpi]

*Don't mind me, just cleaning out the thread*

That said, here's where I am on the Message.ini after a night's work.

I'm working with JGR's Message.ini, and all the ini's from every warez group's rips of DK/DP. I've plowed my way thorugh about 150 lines tonight, which, lokking at, is about 1/3 to 1/4th of the struggle. Everything has been placed into proper categories and the like. Once I get done, I should have some idea of what to do with the pvr files, now that I am photoshop-able.

If anyone wants to do translaions for me, please only do option3 and option4.pvr. That's all I need. If you want to make a uniform theme, go for it, but I don't need any other pvr files translated. And post them here, don't e-mail me.

[law56ker]

I forget to say "Keep up the good work".

[nakamichi]

Hello,everybody.You may remember me from the DreamSNES forum or the homebrew games forum.It's my first post here.Wow,what a great topic and a great idea!I just read all the 300 posts here,and I must say you guys are doing a really good job.You're intended to make the best DC browser ever.I'm using DP3 and PW2.6 now,but it seems soon I'm gonna throw out these two and burn XDP3 instead.Well,I would like to contribute to this project and offer you as much as I know about all of these DC browsers.

So let's begin...

Firstly,I know you're looking for someone who can translate the Japanese text and PVR files to english.I can do some of the translation(as much as my free time allows me to).Just copy/paste the UNICODE Japanese text that needs to be translated and put all of the text on a FAST-LOADING webpage of yours,so I can fully view it with my Japanese DP3 PSO browser and do the translation.
About the PVR files:Convert them into JPG and put them onto a fast-loading page,so i can view them with my DC browser and translate the text.

Secondly,here's a list I made from experience that shows the PROs and CONs of both browsers.I've surfed the net about 3 years with my DC and NEVER used a PC.I had the chance to use many browsers,but not DPP,DK3 or PW3.
This list is called "DP3 vs. PW2.6".It will show you everything you want to know.

And in the third,final part,you'll hear all my ideas/suggestions/complaints and discoveries about DP3 PSOv2 and XDP3.

So,stay on-line and keep visiting this topic frequently.
My next post is coming very,very soon.

Nakamichi

(back to DreamSNES 0.9.8 BUG testing)

[nakamichi]

Well,here is it,
The PROS and CONS of both FREE browsers:
The DP3 vs PW2.6 based on my 2-year DC surfing experience with them:


Dream Passport 3 VS. PlanetWeb 2.606
----------------- ----------------

Better flash (v3.0) Horrible flash code
Worse Javascript Better Javascript,more pages accesible
Inferior SSL support Better SSL support,access to more pages
WONDERFUL XG(wavetable)MIDI player No MIDI support
No MP3 support Very simple MP3 player(up to 6MB d/l)
Only VMI files can be d/l-ed Can download ALL VMU/3rd party files
Much better history page Lame history page
Frames support No frames!
Auto/Manual memory/cache flush No memory flush.FREEZES when RAM full
CANNOT post in DCEmu forums CAN post in DCEmu forums(with a trick)
VERY GOOD Kanji support No Kanji? Aaaaah!
Web pages look WORSE than with PW Non-flash pages look much better
Serial/BBA support No such feature
Laser-grinding screen saver Screensaver saves your DC laser mech.
Save text files to VMU No such feature
VMU File manager No such feature
USELESS IRC "support" AWESOME IRC client here!
Fullscreen ZOOM Magnifying glass-type zoom (bad!)
Save pictures to VMU No such feature
Save MIDIs to VMU No such feature
Instant Messenger Ch@btalk No such thing
TWO amazing built-in emulators None here
File attachments to POP mail No such feature
Text Copy/Paste function Nope.
LARGE cache for already visited pagesn Smaller cache,and almost useless
No help pages Help pages for offline viewing
A bit slower,but safer Faster,but more CPU-damaging
Often loads incomplete pages FORCES to load pages to the end (wow!)
Assignable F1~F12 keys(awesome!) Fixed F1~F12 keys
No modem messages/sound VERBOSE modem messages
Connection time indicator No such thing
Japanese text and menus English everything
Sissy pink colors and cute design More dark,rough(American) design

I hope this list tells everything you wish to know about the difference in these two browsers.

So,I use PlanetWeb for: Surfing the web(it fully uses your 33.6k JP/EUR modem and it's faster than DP3),IRC chat(the client rules),MP3 download/playback,3rd party memory card save downloads,posting in DCEmu forums,playing SFDs.

But I use DreamPassport for: E-mail,surfing Japanese sites,inputting Kana/Kanji,listening to MIDIs,viewing pictures,for Flash games,and for offline viewing of pages,oh...and making my web page on Tripod


In the next post,you'll see everything I found out about these two browsers that should be changed or added and create the best hybrid global DC browser with multimedia capabilities.

So,for now,see ya in my next post.The third part is gonna be the most interesting one.

[fatheadpi]

Umm okay here's where I am on XDP right now, not heavily working on it, busy with divx and my new VCD player.

- Message.ini

Modem setup dialouge, Chabtalk / IRC, General browser messages all translated and cleaned up. Proceeding to mail menu and options menu.

- PVR

I'll let nakamichi screw with this if he wants too, got to get some tools up.

- MPEG playback

So far, not so good. I think DP3 is designed to NOT play mpeg files off the cd, and the ones I downloaded (self encodes) looked / played like sh*t. Guess it's back to that sofdec guide.

- App launching (devkit gear, MD/TG16 emu)

Nothing yet, stay tuned...