dolphin for android?

killown · Dolphin 4.0-1843

what's the point of porting dolphin on android? I am noticing a lot of commits and spent time on it.
cell phones and tablets has weak hardware and we could count on the fingers how many games would be playable at full fps

***Shonumi*** · 05-20-2013, 07:02 AM #2

It's for future hardware, realistically. Why not build the software now and let the hardware catch up? If you get things done early, you may be more likely to get it working smoothly when more capable hardware arrives.

**Starscream** · 05-20-2013, 07:12 AM #3

(05-20-2013, 06:54 AM)killown Wrote: cell phones and tablets has weak hardware and we could count on the fingers how many games would be playable at full fps

The same thing could have been said when work on Dolphin originally started. I bet you're glad work on Dolphin started in 2002 instead of waiting until the Sandy Bridge CPU came out in 2011? There would be no GC/Wii emulator right now if that was the case.

killown · Dolphin 4.0-1843

(05-20-2013, 07:12 AM)Starscream Wrote:
(05-20-2013, 06:54 AM)killown Wrote: cell phones and tablets has weak hardware and we could count on the fingers how many games would be playable at full fps

The same thing could have been said when work on Dolphin originally started. I bet you're glad work on Dolphin started in 2002 instead of waiting until the Sandy Bridge CPU came out in 2011? There would be no GC/Wii emulator right now if that was the case.

10 years from now we will have an updated emulator emulating very outdated games that's very different from 10 years from 2002

(05-20-2013, 07:02 AM)Shonumi Wrote: It's for future hardware, realistically. Why not build the software now and let the hardware catch up? If you get things done early, you may be more likely to get it working smoothly when more capable hardware arrives.

in that future will be like people in nowadays playing n64 emulator

**Starscream** · 05-20-2013, 07:46 AM #5

killown: Maybe you should reread my comments again? In any event, if all of this Android stuff really bothers you, just ignore Android and all of the commits that related to that. None of this is going to affect anything you're doing.

killown · 05-20-2013, 07:52 AM #6

(05-20-2013, 07:46 AM)Starscream Wrote: killown: Maybe you should reread my comments again? In any event, if all of this Android stuff really bothers you, just ignore Android and all of the commits that related to that. None of this is going to affect anything you're doing.

I was just trying to figure out why the time aren't being saved by using it for emulator optimizations instead waste time with a whole new archtecture

***Shonumi*** · 05-20-2013, 08:42 AM #7

killown Wrote:in that future will be like people in nowadays playing n64 emulator

What do you mean by that? That people will be emulating a system that 2-3 console generations old? It's not like people don't have an active interest in emulating the N64 emulation today, even on their phones.

killown Wrote:I was just trying to figure out why the time aren't being saved by using it for emulator optimizations instead waste time with a whole new archtecture

You act like the development team is a monolithic group that focuses on only certain goals at a time. Dolphin is made up of lots of programmers who work on tasks as they see fit. Some are working on increasing compatibility, crushing long-standing bugs, adding new features. Not all of the current effort is going towards the Android port. Simply because you have no use for an Android port doesn't mean it's time wasted, since it will be useful to others eventually.

**pauldacheez** · 05-20-2013, 10:02 AM #8

More to the point, killown, you're making the incorrect assumption that Sonicadvance has the means and motivation to work on anything other than ARM/Android support. A) He didn't own any x86 devices for 11 months (and he doesn't have much money or desk space to spend on them), and B) he's more of a pioneering type than an optimization/bug-fixing type.

**KHRZ** · 05-21-2013, 09:56 PM #9

(05-20-2013, 07:52 AM)killown Wrote: I was just trying to figure out why the time aren't being saved by using it for emulator optimizations instead waste time with a whole new archtecture

In a few years when hardware performance have increased, those optimizations may be considered a waste of time compared to support for a new architecture with increasing relevance...

Blackstar · 05-31-2013, 11:52 PM **#10**

(05-21-2013, 09:56 PM)KHRZ Wrote: In a few years when hardware performance have increased, those optimizations may be considered a waste of time compared to support for a new architecture with increasing relevance...

It may be sooner than that even. Companies like HP and Samsung are making Android laptops now and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the the ones that build their own chips in house (such as Samsung and their Exynos line) opt to create a larger, more powerful ARM CPU to seat in a bigger device