Phoinix, the free Gameboy emulator for PalmOS
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About the history
On this page, newest first: - Phoinix v.1.2.2 - Phoinix v.1.2.1 - Phoinix v.1.2 - Phoinix v.1.1VFS - Phoinix v.1.1 - Phoinix v.1.0 - PalmBoy
Phoinix v.1.2.2 (April 2004):
On OS5 devices the 5-way-navigator works as direction control. This is just a quick-n-dirty hack, and its mapping can't be changed.
Another small bug in the memory card support is fixed: bad filenames stopped the build of the list of games. Now those cases are reported and the files are deleted.
Phoinix v.1.2.1 (March 2004):
Two problems are addressed with this intermediate version:
- New devices with OS5 and/or certain screen properties are supported better.
- Due to a bug the manager froze under certain circumstances. This bug has been worked around.
Phoinix v.1.2 (April 2003):
This is a maintenance update to v.1.1VFS, I have just smoothed some quirks. Additionally HJ's ideas about the user interface clean-up are included.
Phoinix v.1.1VFS (May 2002):
Because of my faux pas this version made it into the starter kit. It was not planned, but since it works well, it's now an official release version. Yes, it has some minor quirks when you install games via install tools or card managers. (Work-around: install games on-board and move them with Phoinix.)
The only difference to v.1.1 is the VFS support. "VFS" stands for Virtual File System, an extension of the PalmOS introduced with OS4; it may be available as a separate library on earlier versions, too. With VFS there is a common way to access several kinds of external media like memory cards.
Phoinix v.1.1 (March 2002):
This version is just a bug fix. Under rare circumstances (launch Phoinix with saved state and low memory) the device needed a reset and lost the saved state.
The Portuguese and Italian translations were added. Netherlands, Spanish, and French translations are in preparation, too.
Phoinix v.1.0 (January 2002):
Phoinix introduces these new features compared with PalmBoy v.3.3b:
- cool new graphical user interface, no special meaning for the Menu and Find silk buttons any more
- your preferences are preserved
- the last selected game is the default selection
- a running game is continued after re-launching the emulator
- game can be renamed (the clipboard is supported)
- button mapping
- support of the GamePad of Worldwide Widget Works
- support of HandEra's H330
- option to reset the game directly in the emulation
- checkbox "Run" to pause the emulation
- info display: played time, battery power, and emulation speed
- games with MBC3 cartridge controller get the real time
Unfortunately PalmBoy's format of the games' databases is not suitable for some new features. So you have to convert the cartridges again with the new converter for Phoinix. Some next version of Freedom will change the format from PalmBoy's to Phoinix'. Additionally read about the thoughts on what to implement, please...
PalmBoy (March 2000 - July 2001):
The idea for a Gameboy emulator was born somewhen in 1999. I heard that another programmer, Mike Ethetton, was working on an emulator and I mailed him, offering my support. After many weeks he sent around a mail saying that the legal aspects of emulation are quite difficult, if you want to make money. And he seemed to stop the project, so I started my own.
PalmBoy came out in the summer of 2000 and it could only render the background of the GB screen, therefore only few games worked... You'll understand my surprise when Mike released his emulator (known as Liberty) at nearly the same time.
After only one year most games could be played, and PalmBoy had some ten thousands of downloads. At that time Palm Inc. decided to defend its trademark, the word "Palm", against even the smallest unlicensed usage. In the course of this campaign many authors of websites and applications were asked to change the name, and at PalmGear an application was not shown if its name contained Palm.
My emulator was affected, too. Since it is available at no cost, and it is a hobby project, I don't feel like spending time and effort for such issues. Consequently I took PalmBoy away from PalmGear. At the end of 2001 I designed a new user interface, the old one was not versatile enough for the planned enhancements. This was the chance to rename, and a colleague had the idea; and the "Phoinix" was reborn!