GB300 Multicore - port of multicore from SF2000

This repo is a fork of original work done for Multicore for SF2000 handheld. All credits go to those folks working on the multicore.

This fork especially would not be here if it was not for the amazing work of Osaka @ RetroHandhelds discord.

How to install

Download the latest release of GB3000 Multicore from release tab
Backup your SD card
I highly recommend to install bootloader fix via SF2000 Tadpole (it works just as well on GB300)
Unzip the release directly on GB300 SD card

Multicore otherwise works the same as it does on SF2000, so you can reference the source.

Using cores

drop a rom, of a game you own, into roms/{EMU} folder of the SD card
- eg. I would drop pokemonFireRed.gba into roms/gba
run make-romlist.bat (or sh for linux)
put the card back into GB300, turn the device on
navigate to roms, select your game, enjoy the experience

Cores in this release

amstradb (cap32)
m2k (mame2000)
a26 (stella2014)
a5200 (a5200)
a78 (prosystem)
a800 (atari800lib)
lnx (handy)
wswan (beetle-swan)
chip8
col (gearcol)
fcf (FreeChaF)
retro8
vapor (vaporspec)
gong
outrun
wolf3d
prboom
flashback (REminiscence)
xrick
gw
cdg (pocketcdg)
int (FreeIntv)
msx (blueMSX)
gme
pce (beetle-pce)
ngpc (RACE)
gba (running with dynarec)
gbb (gambatte)
gbgb (gearboy)
gb (tgbdual)
nes (fceumm)
nesq (QuickNES)
pokem (PokeMini)
snes02 (snes9x2002)
snes (snes9x2005)
sega (picodrive; megadrive)
gg (Gearsystem)
zx81 (81)
spec (fuse)
thom (theodore)
vec (vecx)
wsv (potator)
amstrad (crocods)
arduboy (arduous)
lnxb (beetle-lynx)
c64sc (vice)
c64 (vice)
vic20 (xvic)
fake08
lowres-nx
jnb
cavestory (port)
o2em
pcesgx (beetle-supergrafx)
pc8800 (quasi88)
pcfx (beetle-pcfx)
gbav (vba-next)
mgba
nest (nestopia)
vb (beetle-vb)
gpgx (Genesis-Plus-GX)
xmil
quake (port)

About the platform

More information about the GB300 handheld gaming system can be found here.

Status

Some cores build and work well, others build and have issues (no sound, slowness, etc.), some build but do not currently work, and others do not build at all. For current information on the state of each core, please see the spreadsheet.

Releases

Multicore releases can be found here: https://github.com/madcock/sf2000_multicore_cores/releases

Setup (before building)

Via docker

As I'm using Windows as my main machine, I have added a simple docker-compose file that spins up a tiny ubuntu server

Prereqs:

docker
docker-compose

Simply run

docker-compose up -d

To ssh into the container

docker exec -it compiler-server /bin/bash cd app

On the linux machine

(This is the top level project, forked from: https://gitlab.com/kobily/sf2000_multicore)

choose a directory to contain all this
decide if you want EVERYTHING (there are a lot of cores!)
- YES, I want ALL the cores!
  - git clone --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules https://github.com/madcock/sf2000_multicore
  - wait for a long while
- NO, I want to select individual cores
  - git clone https://github.com/madcock/sf2000_multicore
  - cd sf2000_multicore/libs/libretro-common
  - git submodule update --init .
  - cd ../..
  - choose a core to grab, for example, picodrive
  - cd cores/picodrive
  - git submodule update --init .
  - repeat this process for as many cores as you want
- Note: libretro-mrboom takes a very long time to receive, even with --shallow-submodules, so I guess be patient!
from the top level of this repo, install the compiler tools
- ./install-toolchain.sh
copy the 08/03/2023 (official release 1.6) file
- cp <YOUR_1.6_BISRV.ASD> bisrv_08_03.asd

Building

If setup properly, there are a few ways to build.

If all the core sources for working cores are available:

./cleancoresworking.sh to clean only working cores
./buildcoresworking.sh to build only working cores

Or use the scripts to clean and build all the buildable cores:

./cleancores.sh to clean all cores
./buildcores.sh to build all cores

If only some of the core sources are available:

edit the Makefile as necessary to point to the core(s) you want to build
the Makefile must include one entry for CORE and one for CONSOLE with an optional MAKEFILE entry
the easiest thing to do is just uncomment a single core

Optionally, use the Makefile.everything:

uncomment a single core, as described above
make -f Makefile.everything

All of the cores are independent.

Updating

update EVERYTHING from the top level of this repo:
- git pull --recurse-submodules
- wait for a while
you can still pull from individual directories (like a core), as usual, but you may want to grab submodule updates too:
- git pull; git submodule update --remote

Discussion

All the latest information can be found in the dev channel on Discord which is part of Retro Handhelds.

Notes

This repo was forked from the official repo in github that kobil maintains at https://gitlab.com/kobily/sf2000_multicore I will try to keep things here in sync.

Here are some useful notes on dealing with submodules: https://www.vogella.com/tutorials/GitSubmodules/article.html

tzubertowski/gb300_multicore