LNX ROM format compatibility

[xhul]

Hello there, lynx lovers.

I'm currently in the process of gathering some ROMs for the gamedrive that i haven't received yet.

When it comes to emulators, it seems that the 64 bytes header on the LNX files is actually required.

Is that the case for the retrohq gamedrive aswell?

Also, are there any limitations regarding LNX ROM sizes that i should know about?

Thanks in advance for your time =]

[SainT]

Yes, any of the LNX or LYX images work, no limitations. 😄

[xhul]

1 hour ago, SainT said:

Yes, any of the LNX or LYX images work, no limitations. 😄

Cool thing, thanks a lot for the clarification.

Though, isn't the LNX header required to specify the possibility to do EEPROM saves?

[sage]

you can just keep a list which roms need an eeprom if you do not want to use any headers.

[xhul]

2 hours ago, sage said:

you can just keep a list which roms need an eeprom if you do not want to use any headers.

I don't have any personal preference for the format, just looking for what's most compatible.

I'm pretty sure i saw something somewhere about the header being read by the gamedrive code to identify if a ROM uses EEPROM, so that the saves can actually be simulated.

If that's true (assuming i didn't dream about that), i guess the absence of a header would break the save functionality for some ROMs.

Edited December 13, 2022 by xhul

[sage]

obviously. that is why i added these flags to the header format years ago.

Edited December 23, 2022 by sage

[xhul]

9 hours ago, sage said:

obviously. that is why i added these flags to the header format years ago.

Thanks for having thought about those, they're quite useful.

I'm gonna assume the GD code actually reads them, thought i'm still not sure.

I mean, it could use a dedicated algorithm instead, that checks the whole code and looks for instructions that interact with EEPROMs, before loading the ROMs.

That would obviously require unnecessary CPU time for most ROMs, but it would be more foolproof, in case the person who created the LNX file didn't set the header correctly.

Edited December 24, 2022 by xhul