Qoob Chip

ViperGC/Qoob/etc
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novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Fri Mar 31, 2017 8:53 pm

Just tried, it fits thanks to dollz. I need to figure out a way to package it for flashing on a SX since you can't flash it via USB, and I'll upload it tomorrow.
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emu_kidid
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by emu_kidid » Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:13 pm

Streetwalker wrote:There is none. I'm going to try and make it fit but I can't promise anything.

Take the qoobSX update ELF and replace the GCB in it, easiest way to flash a SX.
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schooluser
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by schooluser » Sat Apr 01, 2017 1:36 pm

Streetwalker wrote:Just tried, it fits thanks to dollz. I need to figure out a way to package it for flashing on a SX since you can't flash it via USB, and I'll upload it tomorrow.
Wow! That's amazing! Thank you very much!

Edit-- Merging posts
emu_kidid wrote:Take the qoobSX update ELF and replace the GCB in it, easiest way to flash a SX.
What's in the GCB? Is the payload something else that's supposed to be on the qoobsx chip that I will need or is it a container that's specifically designed to just add it to the 1mb of space without overwriting the qoob necessary parts of the bios?

And how hard is it to hexedit it into there? I presume there are notes on how to find the gcb within the elf, header data or some such, that would help you know how to put it in there... it's a shame that you can't just include it on the qoobsx flash disc image and select to patch that particular file to the 1mb memory. How is homebrew loaded on a qoob pro via disc? If someone didn't want to use usb and instead wanted to load it up from a cd?
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Sat Apr 01, 2017 4:28 pm

The GCB is just the raw flash image. It's pretty much equivalent to a regular IPL dump, but it contains the Qoob IPL instead. It looks like the updater for the SX might be a little annoying to patch, so I haven't tried anything yet. I also only have a pro so I'll need someone with a backup solution (another modchip, SDML, game exploit...) to try it out before I post it publicly.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by emu_kidid » Sun Apr 02, 2017 10:19 pm

Streetwalker wrote:The GCB is just the raw flash image. It's pretty much equivalent to a regular IPL dump, but it contains the Qoob IPL instead. It looks like the updater for the SX might be a little annoying to patch, so I haven't tried anything yet. I also only have a pro so I'll need someone with a backup solution (another modchip, SDML, game exploit...) to try it out before I post it publicly.
I have a QoobSX GC running GCOS 1.5 or something ancient I'll happily try it on.
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schooluser
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by schooluser » Sun Apr 02, 2017 11:27 pm

I just want to say you guys rock! Thank you for all this help!
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by theclaw » Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:31 am

schooluser wrote:
Streetwalker wrote:Just tried, it fits thanks to dollz. I need to figure out a way to package it for flashing on a SX since you can't flash it via USB, and I'll upload it tomorrow.
Wow! That's amazing! Thank you very much!

Edit-- Merging posts
emu_kidid wrote:Take the qoobSX update ELF and replace the GCB in it, easiest way to flash a SX.
What's in the GCB? Is the payload something else that's supposed to be on the qoobsx chip that I will need or is it a container that's specifically designed to just add it to the 1mb of space without overwriting the qoob necessary parts of the bios?

And how hard is it to hexedit it into there? I presume there are notes on how to find the gcb within the elf, header data or some such, that would help you know how to put it in there... it's a shame that you can't just include it on the qoobsx flash disc image and select to patch that particular file to the 1mb memory. How is homebrew loaded on a qoob pro via disc? If someone didn't want to use usb and instead wanted to load it up from a cd?
Loading homebrew burned to a disc is normal for modchips.

If you want permanently installed homebrew, the usb connection is finicky on certain PCs and may take several tries.
Flashing qoob pro from a disc is believed possible, and was listed in the official product specs, but last time I asked we aren't yet sure how to do it.
http://www.eurasia.nu/mirrors/www.qoobc ... b_pro.html
https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1741
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Mon Apr 03, 2017 6:43 am

theclaw wrote: Loading homebrew burned to a disc is normal for modchips.
It's a ridiculous thing to do nowadays, IPL replacements are much more flexible than that, and I'm surprised there isn't a solution out there yet.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by theclaw » Mon Apr 03, 2017 11:38 pm

Streetwalker wrote:It's a ridiculous thing to do nowadays, IPL replacements are much more flexible than that, and I'm surprised there isn't a solution out there yet.
Like a module-based frontend? I can see giving apps a cohesive look and feel, by plugging them into provided font/interface options.
We'd want the defaults not to stray too far from Nintendo's style or it'd be strange.
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Sierron
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by Sierron » Mon Apr 03, 2017 11:46 pm

Now someone just needs to add additional stuff into the main gamecube dol and we're good.
Own a couple PAL and JPN cubes. And three BBAs. Homeland and PSO I/II.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:27 am

theclaw wrote: Like a module-based frontend? I can see giving apps a cohesive look and feel, by plugging them into provided font/interface options.
We'd want the defaults not to stray too far from Nintendo's style or it'd be strange.
My bootstrap looks for an ipl.dol file on the SD card and loads it, or falls back to the Nintendo IPL. Doesn't get any simpler and I could even make it check for a button press on startup, though I see little point in that. Swiss does almost everything the Nintendo IPL does anyway.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by emu_kidid » Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:32 am

Streetwalker wrote:
theclaw wrote: Like a module-based frontend? I can see giving apps a cohesive look and feel, by plugging them into provided font/interface options.
We'd want the defaults not to stray too far from Nintendo's style or it'd be strange.
My bootstrap looks for an ipl.dol file on the SD card and loads it, or falls back to the Nintendo IPL. Doesn't get any simpler and I could even make it check for a button press on startup, though I see little point in that. Swiss does almost everything the Nintendo IPL does anyway.
But Swiss doesn't look like the original IPL is what they're saying ;)
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novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:37 am

Oh, fair enough. Well it's still there. :P
theclaw
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by theclaw » Tue Apr 04, 2017 7:21 am

Well, if the original IPL were made obsolete then looking different doesn't matter. A replacement that truly has every last conceivable feature Nintendo did. Including the memory card manager, and game language selection.
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Tue Apr 04, 2017 8:49 am

These two are already in Swiss. I think the RTC is the only missing feature. And the screen offset.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by theclaw » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:51 am

Streetwalker wrote:These two are already in Swiss. I think the RTC is the only missing feature. And the screen offset.
I forgot about that. An uprising of Animal Crossing fans without their RTC isn't pretty. :lol:
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Tue Apr 04, 2017 2:07 pm

The only downside to my IPL is actually that it breaks the RTC. I haven't figured out why yet.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:15 am

Well, the good new is, the RTC is fixed, thanks to Extrems for pointing me in the right direction.

The bad news is, only half of the already tiny SX flash can be used, as the other half is used as a recovery IPL. I'll have to try harder if I want to make it fit. Or figure out how to use the entire SX flash. Current compressed size with all screen output disabled is 86KB.
tueidj
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by tueidj » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:06 pm

That should be plenty of room if you ditch libogc (write your own EXI functions...)
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:59 pm

Yeah, it's feasible, but I really don't feel like doing this right now. libfat (probably together with the SD driver) seems to take up over a third of my binary so I'll probably try to replace that whenever.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by tueidj » Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:51 am

There's a very basic fat implementation (enough to find and load a specific file) in the twilight hack source code.
schooluser
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by schooluser » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:23 pm

Streetwalker wrote:Well, the good new is, the RTC is fixed, thanks to Extrems for pointing me in the right direction.

The bad news is, only half of the already tiny SX flash can be used, as the other half is used as a recovery IPL. I'll have to try harder if I want to make it fit. Or figure out how to use the entire SX flash. Current compressed size with all screen output disabled is 86KB.

Ouch, I thought the one MB was memory in addition to the unchangeable recovery part. I liked the concept of that because then I couldn't permanently destroy the chip by loading something incorrectly...

Anyone know if there's a way to detach the existing memory and install an upgrade to it?
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Fri Apr 07, 2017 10:22 pm

That won't be necessary, I'm going to get rid of libogc and make it fit.
Swapping the flash chip is not really possible. We have no access to the FPGA source, so there is no way to make it aware that you have more space.
novenary
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by novenary » Sat Apr 08, 2017 11:27 pm

So I managed to golf it down enough by using kprintf and replacing libfat with fatfs while keeping libogc's SD driver. Source code here, binaries as soon as emu_kidid has tested it on his SX.
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Re: Qoob Chip

Post by vinzanity » Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:44 pm

I'm very excited for the release of this. Hopefully flashing is as easy as flashing the wasp.
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