---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liberty version 1.2.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gambit Studios Frequently Asked Questions Liberty version 1.2.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is Liberty? 2. What is a GameBoy(tm)? 3. What is a GameBoy(tm) ROM image? 4. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files? 5. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files (32K)? 6. How do I convert GameBoy(tm) ROM image files for use with Liberty? 7. How do I configure Liberty? 8. Why is Liberty slow? 9. How can I make Liberty faster? 10. Why is there no sound in Liberty? 11. Why am I getting errors for saving and loading of games? 12. Why does beaming of ROM images not work? 13. How can I purchase Liberty? 14. Who are the guys behind Liberty? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is Liberty? Liberty is the first GameBoy(tm) emulator for devices that use the Palm Computing Platform. The following devices were capable of using Liberty when this document was prepared (palmos 3.0+): Palm III, IIIe, IIIse, IIIx, IIIxe, IIIc Palm V, Vx, VII, VIIx Palm M100 Handspring Visor, Visor Deluxe, Visor Platinum, Visor Prism IBM Workpad c3 (40X, 40U), Workpad 30X, Workpad 20X Symbol SPT 1500, SPT 1700, SPT 1740 Sony PEG-S500C, PEG-S300 TRG TRGPro Qualcomm pdQ Smartphone The following devices are NOT compatable with Liberty: Pilot 1000, 5000 Palm Personal, Professional ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. What is a GameBoy(tm)? GameBoy(tm) is a device designed by Nintendo who's sole purpose is to provide the user with the ability to play computer games. It used an 8-bit processor (similar to 8080/z80), 8K of RAM, 8K of video RAM and a screen resolution of 160x144 (2.6" in size). It provided 2 bit grayscale graphics. Liberty only supports original GameBoy(tm) games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. What is a GameBoy(tm) ROM image? GameBoy(tm) games were distributed using a plug-in cart system. This cart contains the program code and additional memory for the game it provides. A GameBoy(tm) ROM image is a direct duplicate of what is stored on this cart. Each bank is 16K in size and each cart always has an even number of banks (multiple of 32K). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files? 5. Where can I find GameBoy(tm) ROM image files (32K)? Gambit Studios does not endorse the illegal use of commercial games. DO NOT request illegal images from us - we don't know where you can get them, and will not respond to your requests. GameBoy(tm) ROM images are available on the Internet - start here: http://www.vintagegaming.com/emulators/gameboyroms.html http://www.emuunlim.com/ROMs/gameboy.shtml GambitStudios provides pre-converted GameBoy(tm) ROM images of free and demonstration roms at the following URL: http://www.gambitstudios.com/freesoftware.asp A large number of freeware and public domain GameBoy(tm) ROM images can be found here: http://welcome.to/kojote/ There are at least 80 commercial games available for the GameBoy(tm) that are 32K. These include: Dr. Mario, Tetris, World Bowling, Tennis, Scramble, Asteroids, Centipede, Bomb Jack, Hyper Lode Runner and many more!!! UPDATE: (1.1.1) lifting of 32K demo limit: you can use >32K rom files! . the demo limit is ONLY valid for the first 32 executions of the Liberty application, after this - you MUST register :)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. How do I convert GameBoy(tm) ROM image files for use with Liberty? Liberty is distributed with a GameBoy(tm) ROM image utility. This program just splits the ROM image up into a readable format on the Palm Computing Platform. Various executables are available, depending on your platform. liberty.zip = PC platform 16bit MSDOS program 32bit Windows program (drag + drop compatable) InstallBuddy PlugIn The easiest way to convert ROMS to pdb files is to copy them into a directory called: C:\GBROMS Make sure the rom2pdb.exe and gb2pdb.bat are in this directory as well and then type "gb2pdb" and press [enter]. Install the .pdb files using the software provided with the device. liberty.sit = Macintosh platform Macintosh Executable (drag + drop) liberty.tar.gz = *nix platform gcc -o rom2pdb rom2pdb.c :P The source code is provided in each distribution, so the utility can be re-compiled to suit your own likings :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. How do I configure Liberty? Liberty has a number of configuration options that allows the best gameplay environment: - key assignments You can adjust the configuration of the hardware buttons to suit the GameBoy(tm) games that are emulated in Liberty. The default configuration gives the four center buttons as the joy pad, with button A on the right and button B on the left. - grayscale configuration If you are having problems seeing the grayscale tones, you can make adjustments using this configuration screen. It is only available on devices that use 2bpp grayscale graphics displays. - color tweaking Some Palm devices are color, why should Liberty be a boring old grayscale application? You can tweak the grayscale colors to a set of colors using RGB configurations. Experiment with the different options to find a good system :) - frame blit You can control the rate at which the Palm screen is updated by setting this value. "Every Frame" is the slowest, however, once an overclocking utility is used "Every 2nd Frame" yeilds very good animations and game play feel. If you are having problems using your hardware keys or feel Liberty is running very slow - you should disable any uneccessary hacks and perform a soft-reset and restart liberty. UPDATE: (1.2) game by game configuration!! finally! . you can now use the flexibility of configuring each game on a game by game basis! no more tweaking each time you play. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Why is Liberty slow? 9. How can I make Liberty faster? Liberty is an emulator. Emulation requires in many cases at least 8x (10 times in reality) of CPU power to emulate a particular type of CPU. The Palm's CPU, bundled with the resources required by the Palm Operating System is not sufficient to run at full speed. Overclocking is not supported by Palm Computing and the use of these types of programs is at your OWN risk. Various applications exist that can do this task. Afterburner 3.0 has been tested internally and works with no problems, however, results may vary. You should see some substantial increase in performance as soon as the device is overclocked. If you do not see any improvement, you should consult the utilities manual to ensure that the program is doing what it should. The following url provides an example of how to overclock: http://www.ardiri.com/index.cfm?redir=palm&cat=liberty&subcat=overclck You can use the "Benchmark" program to ensure your device is running at a faster speed when the utility is activated. It is written by Neil Bridges and can be found on www.palmgear.com. The best games for use with Liberty are RPG, adventure and strategy games like Pokemon, Monopoly, Final Fantasy etc. Liberty does not emulate games well that change the screen contents quickly, like action games, side scrollers etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Why is there no sound in Liberty? The GameBoy(tm) uses 4-channel with stereo sound. It is not possible to reproduce the sound within Liberty without having a significant impact on execution performance. UPDATE: (1.2) partial sound support: only channels 1 and 2. . it can be more annoying than useful, and can be disabled :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Why am I getting errors for saving and loading of games? Liberty performs a number of checks when doing a save and restore of a emulation state and can run into a number of problems when trying to save or restore a game. The error can be caused because: - using an non-compatible saved state (from an earlier version) - low on memory and cannot perform the save - a writing error occured when saving the game state We have considered being backward compatible, however, each release of Liberty introduces either new attributes or a slight redesign of the internal mechanisms of the emulator. It would be a developer nightmare to try and translate between existing states. In the event something goes wrong, you will be informed, and the problematic saved state will be removed. There can be times where errors can occur for different reasons, and you should report any errors you experience to us - it could be a *bug* :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. Why does beaming of ROM images not work? The Palm OS exchange manager (infa-red) is designed to work with the timing of a 16Mhz or 20Mhz processor [depending on device]. The use of an overclocking utility may interfere with the exchange manager and cause problems with beaming. If you are having problems with beaming ROM images, try disabling the overlocking utility and try again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. How can I purchase Liberty? Liberty is available online exclusively from the PalmGearHQ website. You can purchase it by clicking on the "buy" icon at the following website: http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=7928 PalmGearHQ handle credit card purchases both online and over the phone. If you do not have a credit card, you can send a cheque or money order (in US$) to the following address: Gambit Studios, LLC 220 North Thornton St. Richmond, MO 64085 United States of America (USA) Pricing is as follows: $16.95 - Liberty $22.95 - Liberty + AfterBurner 3.0 BUNDLE Cash payment is considered as long as it is received at the above address, or paid in person. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. Who are the guys behind Liberty? Liberty was a joint effort between Aaron Ardiri and Michael Ethetton. Michael Ethetton is the president of Gambit Studios and wrote the z80 and gameboy emulation core of the Liberty application. methetton@gambitstudios.com http://www.gambitstudios.com/ Aaron Ardiri, an Independent Palm Developer, joined the development team on invitation to get the product "out the door". His duties were to build an application framework, handle the memory management and build the user interface of the emulator. aaron@ardiri.com http://www.ardiri.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have one of those questions that you feel we should provide some form of explanation of, please let us know and we can incorporate them into future versions of this FAQ. // Aaron Ardiri // Michael Ethetton - the Liberty development team ----------------------------------------------------------------------------