KDE Running On A GameCube

Bruno_me writes "Some of the folks at the GameCube Linux project have gotten KDE to run on a GameCube. There's a screenshot of what it actually looks like and what it should look like. This is the first real 'GameKube.' And of course, here is the original frame buffer (dd if=/dev/fb0 of=./kde.fbdump)."

Re:Wow.

[Gentlewhisper]

On the keypad there is only A, B, C, and D, what about the rest? How do you type on this?

"original frame buffer"

[Anonymous Coward]

probably get modded down or troll for admitting i use IE6, but the FB link crashes it. maybe i'll be using that gamecube for my browsing soon..

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, there's the obvious "like a highscore table entry" method, or the "on-screen keyboard" method, and how about higher-speed methods for advanced users like chording? 4 buttons => 2^4 = 16 chords minus the 0 chord, gives 15 chords. defining each letter as a 2 chord sequence, that gives 15*15 = 225 2-chord combos, enough to cover a standard keyboard.

Re:Wow.

[WWWWolf]

No idea. SSHing in? Some weird "use the keyboard of some other host" X11 hack? Wouldn't surprise me the least...

...or since they need Phantasy Star Online to load Linux in, maybe they have hacked together support for the Phantasy Star Online keyboard [ign.com] (with GameCube stick acting as mouse)... no idea if this is true, this is just extremely hopeful, completely outrageous speculation about the will and capability of the GCLinux people =)

Still, I'd really want to know for sure, too.

Re:What is this kde.fbdump garbage?

[Ford Prefect]

Just open it as a 'raw' image file, 640x480x16bpp. You say you'll have to write a program specifically for this? Sounds like you are a true /. geek! :-)

Oh crap. I win the 'Geek' prize, then.

I wrote a really poor PHP program [hylobatidae.org] to do it - and ended up with a fairly uninteresting screenshot [hylobatidae.org].

Okay, so KDE on a Gamecube is pretty useless, but it does show that the cross-compiler is working on complex software (even if it is just for a PowerPC), and that pretty resource-intensive software will work on the machine. Plus, I bet the people doing it have learned a lot in porting this stuff to work on an unfamiliar, undocumented hardware platform.

Now, port Linux to run on any generic Postscript printer! :-)

Re:Gamecube: pretty hard to hack

[tepples]

GameCube discs spin the same way (clockwise viewed from label side) as CDs. It's more likely that GameCube discs are stored in the second DVD layer, whose spiral goes from out to in like that of a vinyl record, unlike the spiral of a CD or the first layer of a DVD, which goes from in to out.