Pre homebrew has certainly come a long way in its short but happy life -- and now it's just gotten another little notch in its belt. Apparently, with the release of
webOS 1.3.5, Palm has included a software library called SDL (or Simple Directmedia Layer) which allows developers low-level hardware access -- like the kind needed to tap into accelerated 3D graphics. With a little bit of elbow grease, webOS hacker extraordinaire
zsoc was able to put together a port of Doom which can be run within a card in the OS, and completely functions (including keyboard controls). You've got to get your hands a little dirty with the Terminal app to make things happen right now if you want to try it for yourself, though the experimenters promise an easier solution in the coming days. Exciting stuff for webOS users hungry for a little more horsepower... now let's see if Palm puts this into play come
CES.
Update: PreCentral has a video of the app in action -- check it out after the break!
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted December 31st 2009 11:01AM
Doom , ID, 1993
1993 LOL...
impressive Pre.. when can I play some 2000 dated games?
@NAME i wish stupidity was dated. oh well...
@NAME
LULZ OMGZ, Windows comes with Minesweeper, when can it plAy CrYsiS!?!?!? OS X FTW
Its a proof of concept of what can be done with the new SDL
@NAME In 1993 we weren't playing Doom on a mobile phone.
It's not exactly a new gaming experience, but it's a big milestone for WebOS.
@NAME Hey! you can play it on a G1 if you want!
In fact, on the Nexus One it'd be blazingly fast - and undoubtedly native. too.
@NAME iDiot.
@NAME: Wow, it appears that you've been down-voted into the stone age. Makes 1993 look pretty good, eh?
@NAME: As others have pointed out, this is a showcase that direct low level access is possible through a card. Doom is used since its so easy to run on linux since its already been ported. In fact, most phones out there get a port of Doom, even a jailbroken iPhone in its infancy.
This is just the beginning. Alot more will fimally be coming to the pre, which might include NFS as shown in the video from yesterday. From a company that is 1/50 the size of most out there, its pretty impressive how much has been done with the platform. You might say that it is mostly thanks to open source, but even big players like Apple and Google rely on alot of open source as well and Apple took a year to make hardware level access available to developers. Palm appears to have taken just over 6 months which isn't too bad at all.
@Ruben
Actually I'm not even sure if it's "caving in", I'm sure direct access to hardware was planned all along. Web is amazing but it's still limited, and Palm knows that. Palm just wanted to get web development out the door to get new developers as soon as possible, then a complete hardware API to complement shortly afterward for more senior developers who wants more functionality. Palm didn't want the system to be rigged with security holes just by opening up the system, especially the device is always connected. Last thing you want is a system filled with buffer overflow vulnerabilities.
@ToniCipriani +12! This is probably the most true comment I've read in a long time. Thanks Toni!
You welcome.. lol...
And things are shaping up for HOPEFULLY an eventful CES for Palm... I hope to be in person for anything exciting...
Always so much hate on the Palm Pre every time a news story is put up about it.
Keep on hating, haters.
Wow, I can't wait to play Doom for the 86th time. Somebody port "Hover!" to this bitch, instead.
@Parias That's funny. I dug out an old Win95 disk the other day and played hover for a few minutes on Windows 7 x64. Pretty awful. Also looked at all of the next generation multi-media stuff (like a Wheezer video recorded at 5 FPS 120x120 or something). It is amazing how far we've come in 15 years.
@Parias I wanna know why people always pick doom and never Descent. Which is just pure awesome.
@(Unverified)
Two words:
z axis
@Parias lol @ at the windows 95 weezer video
Oo-ee-oo I look just like Buddy Holly
Oh-oh, and you're Mary Tyler Moore
I don't care what they say about us anyway
I don't care bout that
@logicbombde actually that's a letter and a word.
@(Unverified)
dude..i had to register and create an account here just to agree with you on how awesome descent is.
i love that game
@cantthinkofaname +1 on Descent 3D awesomeness. I still break out the CD once in a while to give it a whirl. That is, between games of MOHAA and Scorched Earth.
The WebOS homebrew community is amazing. It's completely stepped up on things that Palm didn't think to include or didn't have time to. They making having a Pre worthwhile.
@Sweet Dude The Pre is a great phone, but it's even better with patches...
Palm provided the API (Application Programming Interface) to make this possible.
It is not the homebrew community that is helping Palm, it is Palm that is helping the homebrew community. Get your facts straight!
Spend some time and read the article before commenting:
"Palm has included a software library called SDL (or Simple Directmedia Layer) which allows developers low-level hardware access -- like the kind needed to tap into accelerated 3D graphics."
@Thinker
I did read it. Palm put the packages there, but did nothing with them. What use is having it there if you aren't going to use them? What about patches? They make customizing a breeze in ways that weren't intended.
Get your head out of your posterior before you start crapping out words just to try to appear smart.
@Sweet Dude
Why would a sweetdude need to reply in such a dickish way? The fact is that homebrew community is amazing and Palm is also to be cheered for staying out of their way unlike every other os peddler. I think the Web OS UI is the sweet spot between the iphone's soccer mom simplicity and android's engineer's-cheer UI but as good a reason as any to support them is that they seem to recognize to some degree that you actually own the hardware you've purchased.
However, like you said in your original post - palm does not have the time for all this stuff. So the point of putting things there that they are not currently using is because they know and WANT the homebrew community to do so. Yes! The homebrew community is amazing but in part that's because they have support rather than having to battle the home office. If you can't see that palm deserves a lot of credit here then your mullet bangs are in your eyes.
@Sweet Dude yeah. they're my heroes.
Since when does Doom need hardware acceleration?
@JCShroyer Details, details!
@JCShroyer The original DOOM would run on an 386 processor with 4MB of RAM; not very well, though.
@lowtolerance I thought I ran it on 640k base and 1024k expanded. Oh well, semantics..
@JCShroyer
Never. It doesn't even support hardware acceleration.
Although there could have been a port at some time like with Quake that added basic 3D acceleration...as in just texture blending. But the doom textures are so low res I can only see this hurting more than helping.
So this has me a little confused as to why this is evidence of it. I am guessing is because they are using some 2D acceleration to get it to even show on screen.
@JCShroyer I guess the question to be asked is "Who originally said this had hard acceleration and what did that person mean by that?"
@JCShroyer I doubt it would run on 640k base/1024k extended. The specs from the DOOM 1.8 Shareware readme.txt lists 4MB as minimum, and I think it was more like 8MB for any kind of networked play. I ran it on 386DX/20mhz with 4MB of RAM(a computer that cost my dad $8,000 in its day!) back when it first came out, and it was pretty much unplayable.
@JCShroyer I was thinking that seeing as doom renders vertical strips 1 pixel wide instead of drawing triangles like Quake.
Judging from the comments above it seems the fuss is about low level hardware access, whereas 3rd party Pre apps are all html5/js thusfar.
pre doesnt seem to have much love as the web OS is so limited to so few phones, so few developers, IMHO
@htd: its big enough to possibly get EA to make big name games like NFS on it. And I'm sure Palm opened up direct access because its the only way companies like EA would develop games for the platform. Since Palm imitally had a web based only strategy, they are clearly caving to developers wishes wjich hopefully means devs will jump on board with this new hardware access and expand the cataloge. And with apps, come customers.
CES is starting to look up for Palm.
@Jonathan K Everything's coming up Millhouse!
I'm done with the retro games,
I've played enough on the Xbox 360. And I barely try any new 'Arcade' games anymore.
Just tooo basic.
@Crockett too basic? or too hard? Sorry that your frat boy xbox360 games like CoD5 and Halo, that you can basically walk through with your eyes closed, are that much more engaging than a game you actually have to try at.
Video or it didn't happen!!!..j/k
Can someone embed?
Thanks ?? :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbGFJF4M77U
@mistaox Yeah, embed it, Topolsky, or we'll have your head!
Kidding.
I'm starting to wonder if Palm might just pull themselves into profitability again.
If Verizon markets the Palm Pre/Pixi Plus as aggressively as they've marketed the Droid, they may very well be able to stop losing customers to the iPhone. Palm will most certainly gain customers from no longer being limited to Sprint's relatively low subscriber pool, and everyone wins.
Between that and Google advancing Android as quickly as it is, Apple's going to have to step it up for iPhone OS 4.0. The next year should be very interesting for smartphones.
@Rollins I hope Apple steps it up; I have an iPod touch 3G, and another update with little things (copy and paste ftw!!!!!?!?!???) isn't cutting it.
Either way, hello Pre Plus!
@Rollins With the apps that have been coming out for webOS, while most of them are shit, a lot of them seem like they're at least trying to pull off something of a higher quality. Especially with games like Word Ace, Paratrooper and Tilt GT. Even some iPhone games have been ported like Zombie Invasion and Oh My Word 2.
I think that once the Pre is capable of pulling off hardware accelerated games and apps, the App Catalog will be a strong competitor to at least the Android Market. The App Store is pretty much untouchable at this point, at least in terms of quantity, and definitely in the case of marketing. Fast Food chains, Major Banks, etc. just aren't rushing to release apps on the Android Market like they are for the iPhone. Hopefully we'll see the Catalog flourish with some higher quality stuff soon.
I've never owned or heavily used an Android phone, but have played with a Hero in Sprint store's on occasion just to get a feel for it. I feel like there aren't many games that are showcased to compete with apps available for the iPhone. This is where I hope Palm comes in and tries to fill that gap.
@Jonathan K Exactly. The ability to sideload apps would be great but not necessary. What Apple really needs to add are a better notification system, some sort of central storage so applications can actually interface with the same files, and multitasking. Anything else is just gravy.
Apple does not need to do anything, people are buying the iPhone because it is an Apple product and because the iPhone has received years of free press/advertising (which it deserved).
The iPhone will continue to do well, but now we are seeing that Palm is also going to do well. Apple has less than 5% of the worldwide phone market, so there are a lot of new customers out there for both Apple and Palm. About 1 billion people worldwide use cell phones.
But this is very good news for Palm considering the Palm Pre phone has been out for less than 7 months. Looking at the picture with Doom running on the Palm Pre reminds me of a gaming device like the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP portable game players. Good job Palm!
make crysis work :D
I wanted Palm to do well... I really did. webOS looks amazing.
They missed the boat by going exclusive with Sprint though. In the one year that the Palm Pre was released, AndroidOS has moved full steam ahead.
@Mister
They didn't missed the boat you have to remember that at that time before the pre vzw and att didn't wanted anything to do with palm since they were dying according to everybody. Sprint was the only one that stood with them and they got the palm pre. And is good that palm will sell the pre and pixie to vzw and I imagine the pre 2 will be announced for Sprint coming to them exclusively for about 6 months