Flash-MX: News

OK, I'm sure this will result in a massive lawsuit, but then again, what doesn't these days?

I was reading on Boing Boing that somebody seemingly has successfully gotten UNIX to run on a Game Boy Advance. Not sure WHY they did it (apart from a cool "proof of concept" and giving me something to write about today) but I'm sure the features are somewhat limited as the hardware ain't really "top-shelf", as they say.

It will be interesting to see if they can do something similar with Nintendo's upcoming DS handheld which includes all sorts of crazy wireless connectivity, touch screen abilities and voice recognition.

[Link: Unix on the Gameboy from Boing Boing]

But what *IS* interesting, is that the gbaunix site lists all the specs for the handy Nintendo Game Boy Advance:

Important GBA hardware features include:

• 32-bit 16.78 MHz ARM (RISC) processor


• 8-bit Z80 (CISC) processor that runs at 4.2 MHz or 8.4 MHz (this provides compatibility with older Game Boys: the Game Boy Color, or CGB, and the monochrome Game Boy, or DMG)


• Four 16-bit timers


• Four DMA channels


• 240x160 TFT color LCD


• Stereo sound (through stereo headphones)


• Ten keypad inputs


• Serial port


• Game cartridge (GamePak) interface

The GBA includes several memories for different purposes:

• 16 KB BIOS ROM


• 256 KB external (to the ARM processor) work RAM (EWRAM)


• 32 KB internal (to the ARM processor, that is, on the same chip as the ARM core) work RAM (IWRAM)


• 1 KB Background and Sprite Palette RAM


• 96 KB Video RAM


• 1 KB Object Attribute RAM


• Up to 32 MB of GamePak ROM


• Up to 64 KB of GamePak SRAM (optional)

No word on whether the gbaunix will allow people to use such UNIX gems as pico, pine or vi.