An alternative menu (idea)

Today I made a prototype of an alternative menu for the GP2X Wiz. It starts looking in the game folder, and lists directories in the left column and executables (.gpe and .gpu files) in the right. You can switch between the two columns with dpad left and right, or with the shoulder buttons.

There’s still some work left to be done until it becomes fully usable, but hopefully it won’t be too long until it’s ready for a release :-) Unfortunately I’ve hit some problems with the Wiz’s autorun system, where autorun.gpu only gets run when the firmware first boots up. All programs that are launched return to the normal gp2xmenu after they exit. I hope GPH will fix this in a firmware update, and have gp2xmenu execute autorun.gpu each time it starts.

6 comments on "An alternative menu (idea)"

jacksterson says on June 3rd, 2009:

Hm, seems like a good idea, but wouldn’t it be better to just make your own firmware, instead of an app that acts as a menu?
Alex says on June 3rd, 2009:

Why would it be better? I think the Wiz firmware is fine as it is (and it’s up to GPH to keep improving it), it’s the menu I’d like to make different, a faster and simpler way to launch games.

Needless to say that firmware development is in a completely different league from regular applications, the time and knowledge that go into it are staggering. We were very lucky to have the Open2x guys in the GP2X scene.
jacksterson says on June 5th, 2009:

Well, I know slim to nothing about coding, so I guess just take my words with a grain of salt. I do however know how to skin it, as I’ve been doing lately. If you’re serious about this menu system, I’d be more than happy to help with iconing and skinning it. :D
Alex says on June 6th, 2009:

Thanks :-) If GPH will fix the firmware’s autorun issues, I will definitely finish this and add full skinning support.
Eclipse says on July 17th, 2009:

looks awesome Alex, too bad about that problem (that affects also the gmenu2x porting as well), it could also read if there’s a png file with the same name as the gpe and use it as 16×16 or 32×32 icon maybe :D
Oh also, if you add touchscreen support doesn’t forget a draggable scrollbar, i mean, the gph menu one needs up and down button to be pressed, you can’t just drag it up and down to scroll the list
Alex says on July 18th, 2009:

Hey Eclipse,

Good idea with the scrollbar, would be useful. I didn’t really think about touchscreen controls until now, but they’re a must-have for sure.