Development Resources

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:12 pm

The following are provided for developers targeting the GO Advance hardware:

U-Boot
https://github.com/hardkernel/u-boot/tr ... A-v2017.09

Linux Kernel (4.4)
https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/tre ... dgoA-4.4.y

Libgo2
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/libgo2

EmulationStation (go2 fork)
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/e ... tation-go2

RetroRun
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/retrorun-go2

RetroArch
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/retroarch-go2

mad_ady · Post by **mad_ady** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:46 pm

Well hello... What's that? Sounds nifty!

pmprog · Post by **pmprog** » Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:48 pm

Is libgo2 going to be the library for accessing display, inputs, gpio etc? Or will libraries like SDL work?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:12 am

libgo2 provides simplified access to the hardware. It is similar in concept to the "odroid-go-common" provided for the original GO:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/g ... nts/odroid

The library handles display (including hardware bitblit and backlight), input (gamepad), audio (including path and volume), and battery status.

SDL will work assuming the target dependencies are met (KMS, X11, Wayland).

pmprog · Post by **pmprog** » Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:29 am

Thanks. Will libgo2 be open source too?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:38 am

pmprog wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:29 am
Will libgo2 be open source too?

Yes! The github link will be posted in the first post of this thread when its released.

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 4:44 am

Updated first post with links to libgo2, emulationstation-go2, and retrorun-go2.

SlappyMcPhee · Post by **SlappyMcPhee** » Sat Jan 04, 2020 7:49 am

thanks for the resources!

maker_gamer · Post by **maker_gamer** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:00 pm

Crash, will any of the "frontends" have bindings for scripting languages? I suspect Lua would be the easiest to bind out the gate given there's ton's of info on it ( https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+ ... to+c%2B%2B )

Given this is on aarch64, a scripted language performance should be a non-impact for this machine.

Plus, having scripting bindings would be inviting for more folks to extend this platform. Personally, I've not done any C++ in 25yrs. Anymore I've to hammer things out in Bash, Python, Perl, Lua (and if necessary JavaScript) for my SysAdmin work.

Thanks for all your hard work. Looking forward to my Go Advance and seeing what I can do with it beyond just playing games.

Cheers, MG

pmprog · Post by **pmprog** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:43 am

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:12 pm
Libgo2
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/libgo2

I was expecting to see some GPIO functions in here, but there don't seem to be any, will there be? or are there other references for that?

Also, am I correct in thinking that the go2_presenter_post is what pushes the screen buffer to the LCD?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:57 am

maker_gamer wrote: ↑
Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:00 pm
will any of the "frontends" have bindings for scripting languages?

I can only speak for the RetroRun frontend (since I wrote it). It is a command line program that can be called from a script language like BASH. It does not host any script engines.

pmprog wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:43 am
I was expecting to see some GPIO functions in here, but there don't seem to be any, will there be?

There are not currently any GPIO functions. While they can certainly be added at a later date, I anticipated that developers would rather use a port of WIRING(PI).

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:29 am

pmprog wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:43 am
Also, am I correct in thinking that the go2_presenter_post is what pushes the screen buffer to the LCD?

Yes.

A "display" and "presenter" are created:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/r ... pp#L70-L71

Then a "surface" is created to draw on:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/r ... eo.cpp#L92

After a "surface" is drawn on, it is given to the "presenter" to display with optional rotation:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/r ... #L193-L197

The presenter makes a copy of the surface so that it can immediately be re-used without "tearing". The copy is then queued for display at the next VSYNC.

mad_ady · Post by **mad_ady** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 3:55 pm

@crashoverride am I correct to assume the code is rockchip specific and can't be used to rotate the framebuffer on C2, right?

pmprog · Post by **pmprog** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:19 pm

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:57 am
I anticipated that developers would rather use a port of WIRING(PI).

Thanks. I'll be happy to use whatever, just want sure what was available.

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:29 am
After a "surface" is drawn on, it is given to the "presenter" to display with optional rotation:

The presenter makes a copy of the surface so that it can immediately be re-used without "tearing". The copy is then queued for display at the next VSYNC.

Forgive me then, but what's the "display" for? Why is it separate from the presenter?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:47 pm

pmprog wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:19 pm
what's the "display" for? Why is it separate from the presenter?

A "display" object wraps a Linux DRI display device (/dev/dri/card0). All surface allocations are made from this device per Linux KMS/DRM API. This API requires that a "surface" (GEM buffer) be attached to a "framebuffer" which can then be shown by a "display":
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/l ... play.h#L69
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/l ... play.h#L84
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/l ... play.h#L61

The "presenter" is effectively a mini-compositor that provides a simple way to drive the display. This eliminates the need for each program to have its own display management code. In addition to maintaining surface/framebuffer mappings, it also provides triple buffering (threaded operation) and rotation transparently. Applications may still directly drive the display using the above mentioned APIs. These are the same APIs used by the "presenter" itself.

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:04 pm

mad_ady wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 10, 2020 3:55 pm
am I correct to assume the code is rockchip specific and can't be used to rotate the framebuffer on C2, right?

libgo2 uses Linux DRI/KMS/DRM APIs. These are not available on the C2 (or N2) currently. It also uses Rockchip's librga for rotation.

The libgo2 API could theoretically be adapted to C2/N2 in the future. However, at the moment, it is Rockchip specific.

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 9:27 pm

I posted a port of GO1's prosystem (Atari 7800) to GO2. This example serves to illustrate the use of libgo2:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/prosystem-go2

1) A display and presenter are created:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... #L307-L308

2) A surface is created and memory mapped for the emulator to draw on:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... #L310-L311

3) Audio and input (gamepad) are initialized:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... main.c#L74
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... main.c#L84

4) The render loop is then entered. The gamepad is sampled. The simulator is then stepped a single frame. This produces both audio and video:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... main.c#L89
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... ain.c#L342

5) The audio is submitted and buffered by libgo2:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... main.c#L79

6) The surface is submitted and buffered+rotated by libgo2:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/p ... #L344-L348

7) The render loop then repeats at step #4.

mad_ady · Post by **mad_ady** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:00 am

This would be the shortest but most complex Odroid Magazine article ever

shanti · Post by **shanti** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:30 am

For libgo2, other than to compile, is Lua needed after that? any possibility for alternative compile method?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:50 am

shanti wrote: ↑
Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:30 am
For libgo2, other than to compile, is Lua needed after that?

Premake generates 'make' files or project files for IDEs such as Visual Studio and XCode. Lua is only used in the construction of these files.
https://premake.github.io/

Install premake4:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install premake4

Generate makefile in the libgo2 repo:

Code: Select all

premake4 gmake
make

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:53 am

shanti wrote: ↑
Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:30 am
any possibility for alternative compile method?

The compile uses standard 'make' and GCC (sudo apt install build-essential). I do not currently have any plans to change it.

shanti · Post by **shanti** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 8:39 am

Thanks I was not aware of Premake

shanti · Post by **shanti** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:00 am

Trying to cross-compile, first error:

Code: Select all

../../src/display.c:42:10: fatal error: rga/RgaApi.h: No such file or directory
 #include <rga/RgaApi.h>

compiled librga from here https://github.com/rockchip-linux/librga and it seems at least on my build (with default settings) librga is installed to "include/rk_rga" so I manually edit the display.c from <rga/RgaApi.h> to <rk_rga/RgaApi.h>

Second error:

Code: Select all

../../src/display.c: In function 'go2_surface_blit':
../../src/display.c:632:8: error: 'rga_info_t' {aka 'struct rga_info'} has no member named 'scale_mode'
     src.scale_mode = 2;
        ^
../../src/display.c: In function 'go2_presenter_post':
../../src/display.c:1003:15: warning: implicit declaration of function 'c_RkRgaColorFill'; did you mean 'c_RkRgaBlit'? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
     int ret = c_RkRgaColorFill(&dst);
               ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               c_RkRgaBlit
make[1]: *** [Makefile:133: obj/Debug/display.o] Error 1
make: *** [Makefile:17: go2] Error 2

any ideas?

AreaScout · Post by **AreaScout** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:59 pm

@shanti

Use this repo https://github.com/rockchip-linux/linux-rga.git so ->

Code: Select all

git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/linux-rga.git
cd linux-rga
sudo mkdir /usr/local/include/rga
sudo cp *.h /usr/local/include/rga/.
make -j3 PROJECT_DIR=/home/odroid/linux-rga/
sudo cp lib/librga.so /usr/local/lib/.
sudo ldconfig

edit: disable debug, by setting DEBUG := y to DEBUG := n inside the Makefile

RG

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 8:06 pm

As noted by @AreaScout, the librga.so repo is:
https://github.com/rockchip-linux/linux-rga.git

The compile procedure used is:

Code: Select all

mkdir build
make CFLAGS=-fPIC PROJECT_DIR=build

# Library
cp build/lib/librga.so /usr/local/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/

# Headers
cp drmrga.h /usr/local/include/rga/
cp rga.h /usr/local/include/rga/
cp RgaApi.h /usr/local/include/rga/
cp RockchipRgaMacro.h /usr/local/include/rga/

shanti · Post by **shanti** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:57 am

Thanks, that did it:)

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:26 pm

I have added libgo2 support to RetroArch for full rotation (menus and games). I will be posting a link to this resource after further testing.

Compile:

Code: Select all

./configure --enable-alsa --enable-udev --enable-kms --disable-opengl1 --disable-opengl --enable-egl --enable-opengles --enable-opengles3 --disable-wayland --disable-x11
make

The repo can be found here:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/retroarch-go2

This repo servers as an example for anyone wanting to upstream GO Advance platform support. Currently, support is 'hacked' into an existing file:
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/r ... /drm_ctx.c

Integration will involve 1) copying the above to a new file name, 2) linking with libgo2, and 3) adding a '--with-libgo2' configure option to use both 1 and 2.
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/r ... kefile#L32

Note that the retroarch-go2 repo is unsupported. I have no plans to develop it further.

valadaa48 · Post by **valadaa48** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:37 pm

@crashoverride, would you mind pasting the changes to RetroArch? I would like to assist in testing and development. If you're not comfortable posting publicly then feel free to IM me.

Also, what toolchain are you using and are you cross compiling on your linux box or on the odroid go itself? Curious because of the required dependencies (headers, libs).

Thanks!

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:43 pm

valadaa48 wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:37 pm
would you mind pasting the changes to RetroArch?

I plan to post the changes tomorrow (my timezone). I needed to validate the changes which meant adding 3D support to RetroRun for comparison.

valadaa48 wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:37 pm
what toolchain are you using and are you cross compiling on your linux box or on the odroid go itself?

I use an arm64 and armhf rootfs (chroot with qemu) on x86 for compiling the 64bit and 32bit versions respectively. The compiler used is GCC from the Ubuntu apt repo. Standard headers/libs are all install using 'apt install'. The libgo2 library and headers are from the github repo in the first topic of this forum thread.

valadaa48 · Post by **valadaa48** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:30 am

Thanks @crashoverride. My setup is similar.

I'm trying to track down the precise source for the mali drivers so I can slipstream them into my linux build. Does anyone know the location?

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:27 pm

valadaa48 wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:30 am
I'm trying to track down the precise source for the mali drivers so I can slipstream them into my linux build. Does anyone know the location?

https://github.com/rockchip-linux/libmali/tree/master

valadaa48 · Post by **valadaa48** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:59 pm

Thanks got it. I setup an Archlinux rootfs but soon learned that Arch doesn't support mixed arm64/arm32 and the pcsx_rearmed I built for arm64 didn't have anywhere near the performance of your 32bit build so I had to abandon it. Looking forward to your retroarch port for me to test and help develop where I can. Thanks!

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:04 pm

I have added the RetroArch repo link to the first post and edited my previous post on the topic.

valadaa48 · Post by **valadaa48** » Fri Feb 21, 2020 3:00 pm

Thanks, it runs very well!

kernelspace · Post by **kernelspace** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 1:05 am

Does anybody have any notes on how to set up a cross compile toolchain and chroot for the odroid go advance?

Also it occurs to me that we could probably write an SDL2 backend on top of libgo2. I was planning to use SDL2 for a game, but I'd really like to target this hardware also.

maker_gamer · Post by **maker_gamer** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:00 am

I'm interested too so I can bring some non-game utils over.

valadaa48 · Post by **valadaa48** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:50 am

Copy the stock image into a qemu aarch64 image and boot it up. apt install all the utilities. You can even just qemu chroot into the image as well.

hzulla · Post by **hzulla** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:16 pm

Hi. What are the plans for the kernel drivers, do you expect to upstream them to the mainline kernel? I'd love to see a Kernel 5.x on this thing.

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:18 am

hzulla wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:16 pm
What are the plans for the kernel drivers, do you expect to upstream them to the mainline kernel?

I can only speak for myself when I say I do not currently have any plans to upstream drivers. HardKernel maintains the kernel, and I do not speak for them.
https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/tre ... dgoA-4.4.y

hzulla wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:16 pm
I'd love to see a Kernel 5.x on this thing.

I do not know the status of RK3326 in Kernel 5.x. The current LTS kernel continues to receive security updates.
https://github.com/rockchip-linux/kernel

robDevs · Post by **robDevs** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:57 am

Any chance of some install instructions for libgo? I'm all for tinkering just don't have time to search forums...

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:03 am

robDevs wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:57 am
Any chance of some install instructions for libgo?

It is detailed a couple of posts above this one:
viewtopic.php?f=194&p=284648#p278825

riq · Post by **riq** » Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:48 am

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:12 am
SDL will work assuming the target dependencies are met (KMS, X11, Wayland).

what's the correct way to compile libsdl2 ?

I'm trying with:

Code: Select all

./configure --disable-video-opengl --enable-video-kmsdrm --disable-video-x11 --enable-video-directfb

but when I run any of the libsdl tests (like testsprite2) I got:

Code: Select all

odroid@goadvance:~/src/SDL/test$ ./testsprite2 
INFO: Couldn't initialize video driver: No available video device

Any idea? Thanks!

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:21 pm

riq wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:48 am
what's the correct way to compile libsdl2 ?

See this forum post for details:
viewtopic.php?f=194&t=38045#p284753

aidootk · Post by **aidootk** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 11:13 am

riq wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:48 am

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:12 am
SDL will work assuming the target dependencies are met (KMS, X11, Wayland).
what's the correct way to compile libsdl2 ?

I'm trying with:
Code: Select all
./configure --disable-video-opengl --enable-video-kmsdrm --disable-video-x11 --enable-video-directfb
but when I run any of the libsdl tests (like testsprite2) I got:
Code: Select all
odroid@goadvance:~/src/SDL/test$ ./testsprite2 
INFO: Couldn't initialize video driver: No available video device
Any idea? Thanks!

libsdl2 depends on linux-rga libsm-dev libudev-dev libxext-dev libdrm-dev libgbm-dev zlib1g-dev libasound2-dev libfreetype6-dev libgles2-mesa-dev libgles3-mesa-dev.
You should make sure libdrm-dev, libgbm-dev, linux-rga are installed.
When you finished running

Code: Select all

./configure --disable-video-opengl --enable-video-kmsdrm --disable-video-x11 --enable-video-directfb

"kmsdrm" should be in "Video drivers" list,
then, make and make install.

PaulF8080 · Post by **PaulF8080** » Wed Mar 11, 2020 12:15 am

Interesting thread. About rotation. in my opinion it is not an operation. If you load images by row you just switch to loading by column. For motion you just swap X and Y.

I compiled an arm64 SDL2 program without loading any tools. Configure followed by make worked out of the box on the stock image.

robDevs · Post by **robDevs** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 3:20 am

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:03 am

robDevs wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:57 am
Any chance of some install instructions for libgo?
It is detailed a couple of posts above this one:
viewtopic.php?f=194&p=284648#p278825

I've got to be missing something. What do I do with libgo after compiling it?

Edit: I think I've figured it out. After compiling I just needed to create /usr/include/go2/, copy the header files there, copy the .so file to /usr/lib/.

PaulF8080 · Post by **PaulF8080** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:01 pm

More on rotation. I seem to remember SDL having a rotate parameter and wondered how they did it.

It turns out the frame buffer driver has a rotate parameter according to https://www.toradex.com/community/quest ... -mode.html

Code: Select all

odroid@goadvance:~$ ls /sys/class/graphics/fb0
bits_per_pixel  blank  console  cursor  dev  device  mode  modes  name  pan  power  rotate  state  stride  subsystem  uevent  virtual_size

So I guess you can ignore my rambling above.

I bought serial port kit from https://ameridroid.com/
PCB connector and USB serial. I ordered it and showed up in two days. It came from 600 miles south of me in Portland, OR.

I can now see debug messages when I run an SDL programs.

Slaminger · Post by **Slaminger** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:30 am

crashoverride wrote: ↑
Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:12 pm
The following are provided for developers targeting the GO Advance hardware:

U-Boot
https://github.com/hardkernel/u-boot/tr ... A-v2017.09

Linux Kernel (4.4)
https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/tre ... dgoA-4.4.y

Libgo2
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/libgo2

EmulationStation (go2 fork)
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/e ... tation-go2

RetroRun
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/retrorun-go2

RetroArch
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/retroarch-go2

What would the easiest way to backport the kernel and uboot stuff from 20 to 19? ubuntu 20 changed some dependencies and its like chasing a rabbit down a hole trying to get retroarch running right via the .deb install, I was thinking it might be easier to just put the new kernel/uboot into the ubuntu 19 image so I don't have to keep trying to fight with rr

meveric · Post by **meveric** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:45 am

uboot and kernel should not have any dependencies.. you should be able to install the 20.04 uboot and kernel on 19.xx image without issues.

crashoverride · Post by **crashoverride** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:39 am

Slaminger wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:30 am
What would the easiest way to backport the kernel and uboot stuff from 20 to 19?

There are no dependencies that I am aware of. The kernel and uboot should be capable of running any modern Linux distribution (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc).
See also:
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid_go_advance/build_uboot
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid_go_advance/build_kernel

(Note that I do not package uboot/kernel/bootini. They are provided by HardKernel.)