Open source?

Discuss anything about DraStic here.
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beansta
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Re: Open source?

Post by beansta » Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:25 pm

There are good sides to both arguments.

Closed source projects can be controlled in-house, and keeps the application as pure as it was intended. This is one reason i decided to support Drastic (twice might i add :p) on day 1 of its release all the way back in 2013. The other reason being i have used gPsP (if anyone doesnt know this, exophase made a full speed GBA emulator for the PSP, which until that point was thought impossible) and really enjoyed the user experience. The major PRO here is that by and large his work cant be ripped of as such (although there are pirate versions of this emulator out there).

Open sourcing also has benefits too, it will attract a larger community to work on the project as a whole. Im looking mainly at newer projects such as PPSSPP and CEMU, where a lot of people contribute to the emulator.

Building on that is the age old question of 'WHERE B WIFI FOR POKEMANZ?' I personally would love to see some sort of working multiplayer implimentation, fully understanding it isnt an easy undertaking, but open sourcing would help attract people with the right skillsets for things like that.

The downside to open source software, is the 6184628472948473 ripoff versions that would undoubtedly spring up (see N64 emulators as an example) without adding anything major except maybe ad revenue.

Im a bit middle of the road, as u can see :p
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Jay Haru
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Re: Open source?

Post by Jay Haru » Fri Mar 31, 2017 8:15 pm

meh, drastic is closed source and yet its pirated version on gplay has ads on it.

in any case, i think the middleground would be limiting how or what part of the app can be sourced to others. it would prolly be a matter of trust. basically, the only thing exo would have to open up is the wifi thing as pretty much the app works.
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kaikun97
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Re: Open source?

Post by kaikun97 » Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:52 am

beansta wrote:The downside to open source software, is the 6184628472948473 ripoff versions that would undoubtedly spring up (see N64 emulators as an example) without adding anything major except maybe ad revenue.
And this is so rampant on the Play store, it would be nice if sometime was done about this, but since a lot of these apps are under GPL, not much can be done unless Google decides otherwise.

kaikun97
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Re: Open source?

Post by kaikun97 » Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:55 am

Jay Haru wrote:meh, drastic is closed source and yet its pirated version on gplay has ads on it.
Its possible to inject Ads into close source ads, the same say the UI can be changed by modifiying the xml files in the APK as far as I know
Jay Haru wrote:in any case, i think the middleground would be limiting how or what part of the app can be sourced to others. it would prolly be a matter of trust. basically, the only thing exo would have to open up is the wifi thing as pretty much the app works.
This sounds like a better idea, but its something that you need to be careful about.

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beansta
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Re: Open source?

Post by beansta » Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:34 pm

It would be nice if there was support for a plugin based system for certain things (again, im thinking N64 emulators as an example, or really most older system emulators) that way things can be as they currently are, however if someone wanted to create a working extension eg wifi emulation (i mean, the working implimentation for desmume's source is floating about on the net im sure) then that would be cool.

I mean dont ask me how easy/difficult something like that would be to create, as i have little to no understanding of low level programming.
Devices running Android:

- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (CM12.1, overclocked, undervolted)
- Asus Nexus 7 2013 (Stock Marshmallow...to play Pokemon GO on...)
- Tenfifteen QW09 SmartWatch (Kitkat)
- Fujitsu Lifebook T4410 Touchscreen Laptop (Remix OS 3.0)

paperplane
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Re: Open source?

Post by paperplane » Sat Apr 01, 2017 4:56 pm

The bad:

I totally agree, the Google Play Store is fludded with clones (including illegal ones) filled with adware, and it getting harder to firure which developer has produced the original application...
The Play Store is far from "clean", ads, spyware, " prank" apps that has a lot of unnecessary permissions, etc...
This is why Google generally got such a bad name in the beginning of being named a "cheap" OS.
The OS is fine though, it is all the clutter we install, it is quite a big issue.
Another huge issue:
Developers get alot of scoldering by reviewers for producing "bad" apps when they have a problem with it... (I've seen some of the most dumb reviews on some apps, it's just mind-boggling...)
Yet mostly it is just an hardware device incompatibility or firmware version issue, but users never tend to mail the devs in order to resolve their problems and thus taking away the possibility for developers to fix the bugs in time, they are not given a chance... I find this truly sad.
Sometimes I feel that Google should provide a popup every time you want to write a review to tell the user to contact the developer first if there are any problems.

And the good:

But things can also go well, for example the F-Droid repository contains nothing but open source applications, the website warns for ads and unnecessary permissions and more...
And there are very few "clone" apps to be found there. (Based off of other developers ideas, even though, that is allowed of course.)
Most of these clones are only an improvement of the original application, or the original developer has stopped working on their project.)
Yet on F-Droid, I can always find whatever I need on my phone, mostly beautiful, clean and minimalistic applications without the unnessecary clutter/ads and permissions, it just does what it's supposed to do, nothing more.
I use Lineage OS (a fork of CyanogenOS/mod) for a reason: it has no Google services embedded into their OS by default, instead it gives you the option, the same thing counts for rooting, they provide an optional addon, so less memory and battery is used up, and the privacy increases. (Imagine what people can do to your system by remote if they seized/sniffed your Google password, that is one of those problems I think...)
My system feels alot "cleaner" and unchained/freed from all these Google mandatories, which in turm makes my phone/device more independend.

Conclusion:

With other words; Google makes my phone feel dirty and cheap, lol!
But now I feel I found the perfect harmony on my hardware devices.
That is why I thought it was important for people that do not have Google pre-installed on their phones still have all the possibilities.
But I must say that Google isn't all that bad though, they tend to have great developer (which I am not) support and have an open mind towards alternative firmwares.
As for Drastic; they just got cought between two fires, on one end, pirates are trying to pick-pocket the product from wherever they can, and on the other end if Drastic would ever go open-source, the money income would most likely seize, and it would be repleced by many "ad-infected" clones, like one of the previous posts already said...
So yes; IMO keep Drastic DS paid, that is probably the best option for now, it is a very difficult issue to resolve though, Google should really work on this problem and come up with a clever solution for all the piracy and bad reviews, the devs deserve it, these issues should never have been their problem in the first place, many developers already missed out on so much profit because of this, they've endured enough of this already, I wonder what the total damage would be if you would count the loss of money of all devs together, it must be truly astronomical.

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huckleberrypie
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Re: Open source?

Post by huckleberrypie » Fri Apr 07, 2017 11:15 am

The low barrier to entry for developers to publish apps on Google Play is indeed a double-edged sword. On one hand all it takes is $20 give or take and you're now able to spew whatever crap you made to the Store; the lack of a clear curation system is what accounts for a bazillion of those asset flips, ripoffs of AAA titles (Gameloft is guilty of that as well, but at least they do take a lot of effort into making their mockbusters distinct) and adware. Valve announced a content moderation system to be implemented in the near future, and if that goes well in a bid to drive shovelware off the market, I do hope Google follows suit without necessarily abridging on the rights of smaller developers (and emulator authors for that matter).

EgorFlame
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Re: Open source?

Post by EgorFlame » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:05 am

I would really like to see this emulator in open source, because projects like Retroarch and Emulation Station suffer without a normal Nintendo DS emulator. This would be a great gift for many people. I do not understand many subtleties, but I have a passion for wanting to go through some Nintendo DS games on my Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately, I can not enjoy it now. An emulator that is built in there now stupidly fails ... Sorry for my bad English, i'm russian.

takeaway4diez
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Re: Open source?

Post by takeaway4diez » Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:15 pm

I also agree that the emulator deserves to be foss.

Btw @Exophase, whatever happened to the progress state of the emulator?

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