No fan of cache files, if you add apps and the cache is not updated properly you will not see the new files.
Or could the cache be refreshed automatically if you add files ?
If there are root and directory level ālast modifiedā timestamps in FAT16, those can be used to detect if rescan & cache update is necessary.
That is possible, but which file would you check ? Or are you gonna check all files? That would defeat the function of a cache. If i look at my carradio with Mp3 support it generates a cache file if there isnt one on the usb stick. This way you i only have to delete the cache file to refresh the list. This could even be automated during a file copy.
One option is just just have a āRescanā button in the Pokitto loader. The user probably knows if s/he has put some new fancy games on the SD. āRescanā makes those appear on the game list of the loader and updates the cache file.
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That sounds logical and practical 
Can someone explain to me the benefit of caching the file lists over just re-scanning them? IF youāre only scanning the current folder, then there will be very little to no speed difference in generating the file list and writing a cache file adds extra writes to a hardware that already has a finite life span.
[edit]
Also I would suggest sorting the list so that the folders are at the top and files under themā¦
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Please do not get your hopes too up - yet. 1st version will be barebones. Yāall can add caching and sorting later.
Edit; on the topic of sorting:
sorting is actually not all that easy in this case. The problem of sorting comes from the fact that if you have 100 files of 11 characters each, then you may or may not have 1.1kB of free memory.
I did an experimental file sorting system for the Gamebuino but I never released it. What it did was a direct bubblesort of the root nodes of the FAT (file allocation table). Bubblesort requires little RAM because there is no intermediate buffer. Just in case anyone is thinking about how it could be done on a device like this.
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The benefit of the cache file comes in the picture when we have a lot of games in the folder hierarchy, and we want to have a āgamesā tab in the launcher for quick browsing and starting games. Admitted that it has no use in just a file browser kind of launcher.
Ok. So I quess when starting to execute the launcher code there is no way to free RAM resources of the current game to get all 36 kB into use (?). I actually thought we have to do a reset before the launcher is started.
Yea it is a reset, the stack pointer is at origin when loader starts. So basically there is no problem.
The FAT node sort was necessary on the ATMega 328 but on Pokitto we could probably buffer the whole directory no probs
LOADER IS NOW WORKING 100%
I am switching games from Pixonia to Squiddy to Crabator to Jetpack.
No problems.
Video tomorrow when I clean up the code.
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Speaking of whichā¦Iād like to know if Arcade Classics runs on HW.
Also, nice work with the loader! Iām excited for the video tomorrow
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This is looking absolutely amazing! Will the GUI be improved in the future to be more like your mockups? (probably not before launch, of course, but maybe later 
)
Also, Iām wondering if my Arcade Classics game runsā¦so if you feel like trying out another game, feel free to try it out on HW (you donāt have to if you donāt want to, of course)
Will do, as well as for @spinal s other game that Iāve promised to test for a while now
As for the advanced features, they will be added yes but not high on priority list because still finishing the must-have parts of the software
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I made an ebook on Arduboy called āThe guy who never complainsā. Will it be already in the Pokitto when we will receive it?
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I will not be doing porting without the knowledge of the authors. I encourage you to download the simulator and try porting first yourself. The Arduboy lib is not a very complicated lib, you can easily replace Arduboy commands with the equivalent Pokitto commands (for example print).
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Nice Video. The more I see, the more I want. Good work @jonne.
Sorry but my overwhelming ego is pushing me to say the particle effects was made by me not by @trelemar 
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Oh. So now we know your true nature. Canāt even let poor @trelemar take a tiny bit of credit for your work?!!?!!! How selfish!
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Thereās an implementation of Arduboy2 that runs on the Pokitto.
It can be seen in this video.
Iām not sure how up-to-date it is, but it should be recent enough that your game will run with it.
If not, Iām sure it can be updated.
@jonne
If you donāt mind me asking:
- What is the status of the Pokitto version of the Arduboy2?
- How up to date is it?
- And has it been published on a github repo somewhere?
If itās missing functionality and itās on a github repo somewhere Iād be happy to make an attempt to update it as I know the original fairly well and have helped to squash some bugs in the original once or twice.
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