Comments on: New MultiPlatform Handheld Dev Kit

SHARK provides a BIOS layer in respect to hand held devices. this means that we've taken all the basic input and output functionalities of PDA's and grouped them into a single, common API.

there is no runtime, there is no interpretor. its 100% native code. we have found our abstraction doesn't limit you that much, mainly because we are abstracting the right things. how much further can you go from abstracting basic input and output - and, access to basic system functions such as 'memory, communications and system events'.

its best to think of SHARK as what you have with MSDOS. you can program exactly what you need, get direct access to the screen, input, files etc.

its not J2ME - however, for most purposes SHARK wont be a turn key solution to be able to build a fully-fledged application on handheld devices. we are building libraries that will exist above of SHARK, to provide you with database management (SQL engine?), user interface (common GUI across platforms) and higher level networking protocols (ftp, www et al).

SHARK with additional libraries is what will create the ultimate development kit for developers. the idea is to only abstract the BIOS - not the complete handheld solution.

a standard set of API's that will exist on top of SHARK will be designed to be cross-platform.
the idea is have developers focus on a standard set of API's that can very easily be migrated across platforms (ie: when new device comes out, we port SHARK to it - all the functionality moves with it).

we'll be releasing a cool game using SHARK soon, and, more information on higher level libraries will be posted shortly.

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/

Judging by the demo, I was impressed by the size and lack of run time extras. Having tried out App/Forge for VB, this is a pleasant switch from the additional 500k+ for runtime add-ons. Looks like a good excuse to refresh my C.

Sounds very promising, so I'm going to give it a try when I get back to home.

"I doubt, therefore I might be."

take a close look at the picture in the article, the real image is here:

http://www.mobilewizardry.com/multi-platform/oceana-preview.jpg

there are a few resolutions there, all of which are 100% native resolutions. oceana uses three graphics sets, 160x 240x and 320x which is used depending on the resolution of the device. it works very well - and, is not restrictive :)

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/

You might have seen earlier versions of SHARK DK products. I ported Master Thief 3D to Palm 68K, Palm ARM, PocketPC, Win32 and eBookMan. I also ported SnackTime (a clone of the popular Maryo Bros.) and PDAce to Palm, PPC, and Win32. All of my ports were based on a very early version of SHARK. When we have time we'll bring them up to date so that people can see .

One of the big benefits of using SHARK is adding additional platforms (even ones that don't currently exist) very quickly. I added a SHARK DAL (device application layer) for the eBookMan in about 20 hrs of work. At the time, I was not too familiar with the eBookman. Anyone that may have an EBM, you can find the demo at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eBookman_Exchange/files/GAMES/MT3D.seb

If we had to develop a game seperately for several different platforms, we'd have to have 2 to 3 people for each system. Plus it would take several months for each conversion. SHARK will save a lot of development costs and time.

Chip Kerchner
chip_kerchner@mobilewizardry.com

no serious reason :)

it actually right now is pretty safe to ensure that the function names wont collide with API's on devices we haven't got our hands on yet :) and, internally, with an '_', i know its a SHARK API, and, not one of my own routines..

minor - very easy to fix for those who need it fixed :)
[bed time now]

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/

Identifiers starting with an "_" are reserved for the C/C++ implementation; any code that uses such identifiers is not standards-conforming and should be considered broken.

> It's a "slippery slope" that ultimately will result in poor, unreliable journalism.

i think Ryan is by all means correct in his decision to remove the posts - this site is not for flame-wars/sprouting your opinion about a developer. its about providing news and events specific to the PalmOS platform - your comments are not in place. maybe it is better for you to start a newsgroup where you can post all your hatred/issues you have. that is what everyone would probably prefer.

> Donkie Kung Jr. (sic.) and Donkie Kung (sic.), withdrawn only after repeated legal intervention by Nintendo.

repeated? damn.. you are mis-lead, Nintendo contacted us and the reason why they were removed was because they infriged on Nintendo's trademarks - not copyright. Donkey Kong/Mario are registered trademarks to Nintendo - game clones are 100% legal, although, there is a lot of FUD around this - maybe time for you to check up on the real legal aspects.

> Nintendo sought legal intervention in an effort to stop the sale of Liberty.

Nintendo hates emulators - bottom line. the fact of the matter is that Liberty emulates GameBoy devices - devices that Nintendo doesn't even sell anymore. their focus is on GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advanced. obtaining the ROMs is the real ethical question - however, thats for the user to decided, not us developers. there are users who *legally* use emulators, not many, but there are a few.

> HaCkMe, an application to illegally register Palm software with the registration codes of other (licensed) users.

wrong. it was for users who replaced their device/changed their hotsync user name. what people use it for, thats another story. get your purpose right please.

> he admitted to making a clone of the game Bejeweled

shall i point you to a (long) list of Bejeweled-type clones available on Palm/other platform? why just mention me?

> If any of the above is false, please free to delete this post.

Ryan, i would prefer you leave this post and my reply. it should resolve all the issues that were discussed - and, lets let the readers come to their own conclusions.

> Michael Jones

how many Jones exist in the phone book? please dont use this as some way to 'put your name on your post'. the name is most likely bogus, and, if it wasn't, you have only provided it since it is a very common name.

hopefully this is the end of the discussion.

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/

1) Aaron is arrogant and can be a pest; he generally knowas this and has apologized on occasion

2) Most of the antics were 3+ years ago. Get over it :/ Bringing it up in order to damage his company is what we call "slander".

3) Aaron may run with wolves, but then he also helps newbies every day in palm-dev-forum (the official Palm OS support forum for development)

4) Remember that Nintendo got in how much hot water for Donkey Kong, which is itself a direct rip off from a certain movie company (King Kong). Remember Nintendo got sued over this, but was eventually thrown out of court since no one knows which movie company owns the license ;)

5) We don't need to hear about this again, and again AND AGAIN. Gods.

6) Mike -- I'm alarmed at how you've repeaterdly trashed emulation in general.. you've been assumign its onyl for gaming and only for little warez script kiddies. You realize gangsters use telephone lines right, and that peopel have been killed withpencils and spoons before right?

7) Bejewelled is itself a clone of dozens of older applications. Theres also a new jewel-picking-game every week. Its like Tetris. Its amazing Popcap didnt' get into trouble over Bejewelled.. except that its in the *public domain* this sort of thing. Like Chess.

8) Emulation *is* legal. Emulation is a term given to virtual machiens that simulate published specifications generally. Palm OS 5 is an emulator (hello!). Emulators have been made since the 70s as development environments (ever seen a scanner at a grocery store? You dont' develop those in hardware.. you develop in an emulator first, for example!). Java is an emulator of a virtual machine that never existed. The Infocom games are emulators since day one (of a machine called the ZMAchine that never existed). You use emulation every day of your life. Its legit and always has been. You get a published spec, you write a piece of code to do that. Woopie. Its done every day by companies to assist people for the most part. Arcade and consoel emulation is onyl a recent thing.. and it too is very legal and is used by the very companies to develop their software! Heck, Palm OS development is mostly dune under POSE (Palm OS Emulator). You have no idea of what you speak :)

9) Copying "ROMs" (ROM chips, cartridges, CDs for Playstations and GameCubes, music from tapes or CDs or whatever.. all media is protected pretty mcuh the same way, with some extar caveats for software) is usually illegal for most people -- you generally don't have ther right to copy it form someone else, and they dont' have the right to offer it to you (thats distribution licensing). Emulation has nothing to do with this. You *do* have the legal right to translate a ROM from one format to another for your own use or backup, for example. The laws are explit and long and justified, in the same way you can read your CD and put it onto tape if your car has a tape player.

10) Emulation is a good thing; you realixe that the Vectrex (a vector not-raster based gamign console has had its software released in the public domain, right? Same with much classic Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST software.. fully released to public (with rights reserved usually). Emulation is healthy and fun and a good way to keep the old times alive. And legal!). Even if some companies dont' want it though.. if you own a PAcman machine, why not have a PAcman emulator? ITs fully in your or anyone elses rights to build the emu, and its within your rights to run it, if you have the license to run Pacman.

11) You must also remember there is more than the US here. Laws vary by country, very much. Many emulators are built in Finland, Korea, China, you name it. The US is not the largest source of developers in the world anymore.

This stuff is all rpetty obvious, but I find myself seeing these posts and wondering why peopel eem, to have no idea about their rights :)

I'm an honest guy; feel free to ask questions all day long. I also sell an emulator, and I've been writing them for free for almost a decade. I've *spoken* with companies about this and they're mostly happy wityh this. I've got letters askign for permissions abotu this. Some companies get unhappy about it, but thats because many companies dont' want you do things you have the right to do. But the VCR is legal, for instance. You dont' think the companies what you having a VCR, but its somethign which has helped the world a lot, and I bet you have one. You just didnt' think about the legal implications, did you?

I've been writing emulators since 1994 and I am selling one right now. I encourage people to do it legally like I do though.. we who write emulators do it for love of an induistry and oldhardware, and want that industry to stay alive. I rebuild jukeboxes in my spare time, and I've lovingly restored dozens of machines to their former glory. I own about 9 Pacman cabinets right now, and I can bloody well play Pacman on my PC if I want to, fully legally. I've got an EPROM reader to pull the ROMS off my boards (which I did) (and EMP10 and EMP20 I might note, from Needhams).

Emualtion is legal, is encouraged by many companies, is needed by most industries. Its not just about script kiddies :)

jeff

The Shadow knows!