ILaunch

**iLaunch**
	Application Launcher for the iPod
Category	Launchers
Developer	iLauncher
Last updated	4th July, 2007
Version	2.1
Runs on	All (except 3rd) Generation Of iPods (Winpod & Macpod)
Requires	iPodLinux
Download	iLaunch 2.1

From iPodLinux

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The title of this article should be iLaunch. The initial letter is capitalized due to technical limitations.

The content of this article is UNSUPPORTED. Please do NOT contact the core iPodLinux team if you have problems with anything mentioned here!

Introduction

iLaunch is an application created for the iPod that will allow a user to launch many applications at the same level from iPodLinux. These applications are:

1. iDoom 2. iBoy 3. iDarcNES 4. Podzillae 5. iPodMAME 6. ScummVM 7. MvPd 8. iGameGear 9. igpSP

iLaunch has been created using the graphics engine Hotdog.

Since iLaunch will only launch the applications mentioned above. Hence please make sure these applications are installed and working properly. I am not responsible if any ROM does not function with iLaunch (Please see Naming Conventions and Application Installation).

Whats new?

Due to high demand, I have released the next version of iLaunch with only two bug fixes. So here's iLaunch 2.1. Also, please don't forget to checkout the Version History

Fixed the ROM List refresh bug: Fixed a bug wherein a ROM List menu of any application would get distorted if the user presses the Rewind, Fast Forward or the Play button of his iPod. Now the rom list is displayed with the help of a 26th image Fonts.png.
Fixed the .DS_Store bug: The file .DS_Store gets created by default in any folder on a Mac OS and so this file would appear in each and every rom list of an application. Now it doesn't appear anymore.

Existing iLaunch Users Only: To upgrade to version 2.1 from version 2 of iLaunch, just download iLaunch 2.1 and replace the old iLaunch binary with the one in the zip file. Also copy the image Fonts.png from the /iLaunch/Skins/iLaunch2 folder of the zip file into your skin's folder.

Installation

Macpod Users Only: Before proceeding further please confirm whether there is a mnt folder in the root of your iPod or not. This is because the latest Mac Installer2 creates a mnt folder even for Macpods. If that's the case, then please follow the instructions for the Winpod throughout the iLaunch wiki and thus extract every application inside this mnt folder and not in the root.

1. Extract the contents of iLaunch2.1 Folder Structure.zip to your Windows or fat32 partition (which appears as a Removable Disk in your My Computer) if you have a Winpod. If you have a Macpod, then extract the contents of the file into your root (/) partition. iLaunch will recognize the right type of ipod. The contents of this zip file are:

The folder structure for all the applications that iLaunch is capable of launching.
The iLaunch folder containing the iLaunch binary, the ROM List Font, skin.cfg, modified version of iDoom 1.3 binary and the default iLaunch2 Skin.
The binaries and config files for all the applications alongwith the demo roms.

The iLaunch2.1 Folder Structure.zip doesn't contain any roms or bios other than the ones provided on the wikis of these applications. Hence please follow the instructions for each of these applications from Application Installation for where to place the roms.

After extracting the contents of the zip file, perform the following:

Move the iboy.cfg file from the /iBoy folder to the /etc folder of your ext2 partition (for Winpods) or root (for Macpods).
If you have a 5.5th Generation iPod then move 5.5g kernel.bin from the /iBoy folder to your Windows partition (for Winpods) or the root (for Macpods). If you have any other generation iPod other than 5.5th generation, then move kernel.bin to your Windows partition (for Winpods) or the root (for Macpods). Rename this kernel with the name of the old kernel after deleting it. The ipodlinux kernel is either called kernel.bin or linux.bin. Delete the other kernel file from the /iBoy folder.
Download gba_bios.bin and place it in the /igpSP folder of your iPod. This is the bios of igpSP required to run Gameboy Advance ROMs. Therefore Google for it!!!
Modify the mvpd.cfg (located in /MvPd) and iboy.cfg (located in /iBoy) files only if you have a Macpod and have extracted all the contents of the zip file in your root, and not in the mnt folder.
Add your roms by following the Application Installation for that application.

OR

1. Extract the contents of the iLaunch2.1.zip file to your Windows or fat32 partition (which appears as a Removable Disk in your My Computer) if you have a Winpod. If you have a Macpod, then extract the contents of the file into your root (/) partition. iLaunch will recognize the right type of ipod.Once extracted, the iLaunch folder will contain the following:

The iLaunch binary.
The supporting images.
The Chicago font used in the ROM Lists.
Modified version of iDoom 1.3 (Thanks to Hyarion for his generous contribution).

2. Replace your older 1.3 version of iDoom with this one in every iDoom Game folder. This is the latest version of iDoom which loads the ROM much faster and doesn't display any text while loading it.

3. If you are using Loader 2 (version 2.2 or later), then add the following arguement in your loader.cfg file: For Winpods:

iLaunch @ (hd0,1)/kernel.bin  /mnt/iLaunch/iLaunch

For Macpods:

iLaunch @ (hd0,1)/kernel.bin  /iLaunch/iLaunch

To find out the version of your Loader, reboot your ipod. When you get the menu to select Apple OS or iPodLinux, look at the top-left hand corner of your screen. It should say something like Loader 2.5.

Sometimes the ipodlinux kernel is also called linux.bin and might be located on the Linux partition of your Winpod. In that case, paste the following in your loader.cfg file for a Winpod:

iLaunch @ (hd0,2)/linux.bin  /mnt/iLaunch/iLaunch

Here the 2 in (hd0,2) is the Linux partition of your ipod. The loader.cfg doesn't exist by default and thus has to be created manually. Open Notepad or your favourite text editor and paste the following:

timeout = 15 
default = 1 
Apple OS @ ramimg 
iLaunch @ (hd0,1)/kernel.bin  /mnt/iLaunch/iLaunch
Rockbox @ (hd0,1)/ROCKBO~1.IPO 
Disk Mode @ diskmode 
Reboot @ reboot 
Shut Off @ standby

Save the file as loader.cfg and move this file to the Windows partition (for Winpods) or the root partition (for Macpods) of your ipod. For details on how to create loader.cfg files, follow KyleV's Tutorial for Windows and Linux users or fiftyfour123's Tutorial for Mac users. If you aren't using Loader 2.2 or later, then edit your rc file located in the /etc folder of your iPod's Linux (ext2) Partition and replace the word podzilla with /mnt/iLaunch/iLaunch (for Winpods) or /iLaunch/iLaunch (for Macpods).

After editing the rc file, ensure that it's Is Executable option is checked. In LTools, just right click the rc file and click on Modify. After which, check all the checkboxes. In Windows, do not edit the rc file using Notepad or Wordpad. For me, editing the rc file in Notepad/Wordpad had corrupted the rc file. Use Textpad instead.

4. Follow the Application Installation section of this Wiki for instructions on how to install each of these individual applications.

5. Restart the iPod and select iPodlinux (if you don't have Loader 2.5) or iLaunch (incase of Loader 2.5) from the Loader Menu and wait for around 5 to 10 seconds for iLaunch to start. This interval may vary depending upon the number of ROMs you have for these applications.

Installers

For windows use the iLaunch_Installer
Or if you are on a mac use the advanced_ipl_installer - this will also install linux it's self.

Application Installation

The wiki's of these applications can sometimes be confusing and users might not be able to install them correctly. Hence, i've made a set of brief instructions for installing each of these applications. For users having a Win-Pod and Windows, you will need LTools to access your ext2 Linux Partition.

1. iDoom :

Create a folder called iDoom in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Extract the contents of iDoom1_3.zip into your iDoom Game Folder (which should be located in the iDoom folder).
Replace the iDoom binary with the one from iLaunch2.1.zip.
Delete doom1.wad and rename the game wad to doom1.wad .
If the game still doesn't start, rename the game wad to doom2.wad .
If this too doesn't work, then with the game wad renamed as doom2.wad, rename the original doom2.wad to doom1.wad and copy it into this folder.

For detailed instructions, checkout this iPodLinux Forum thread: How to put WAD games on your iPod

Not all iDoom WADs work as mentioned in the thread.

2. iBoy :

Create a folder called iBoy in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Extract iBoy 0.7.5.4 into a temporary folder.
Rename the iboy_newkern binary (the file without an extension) in the temporary folder to iboy and move it into the /iBoy folder.
Move iboy.cfg into the /etc folder.
Create two folders in the /iBoy folder, called as roms and saves.
Move the Gameboy ROM's into the /iBoy/roms folder. If you have any Gameboy Color ROM's, rename them with a .gb extension instead of .gbc and then move them into this folder.
Edit the iboy.cfg file which is now located in the /etc folder. In that file, change the path for romdir to /mnt/iBoy/roms and savedir to /mnt/iBoy/saves. For 5th generation ipods, reduce the volume to less than 20% otherwise the volume will be muted. These three changes will look in the iboy.cfg file like so:

savedir=/mnt/iBoy/saves/
romdir=/mnt/iBoy/roms/
oss_volume=19

If you have a 5.5th Generation iPod, download the ipodlinux kernel called as 5.5g kernel from here. If you have any other generation iPod, other than the 5.5th Generation, replace the old ipodlinux kernel kernel.bin with the one from the temporary folder. For Winpods, the kernel.bin should be in the root of your fat32 partition (Removable Disk). For Macpods, it should be in the root (/) partition. Sometimes the ipodlinux kernel is also named as linux.bin.

3. iDarcNES :

Create a folder called iDarcnes in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Create another folder called nes in your fat32 for Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod. When iDarcNES is launched through iLaunch for the first time, the idarcnes.cfg file is created in this /nes folder. From then on, this idarcnes.cfg file should be used to configure the controls for iDarcNES.
Extract the darcnes binary in the /iDarcnes folder, after downloading it's 0.125z version from here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, as of November 25 2007, the link isn't working anymore. If someone has a copy of iDarcNES please change out the link. kevipapo1
Rename the darcnes binary to idarcnes.
Create a folder called roms in the /iDarcnes folder.
Place all your iDarcNES ROMs in this /iDarcnes/roms folder.

Since iDarcNES doesn't have a feature to quit yet, you will have to manually restart your iPod.

4. Podzillae :

The installation of Podzilla Legacy (Podzilla 0) and Podzilla 2 is explained very well by their own wikis. Hence, that's the best guide to install them.
If you would like to launch more than one Podzilla then create a folder called Podzillae in your fat32 for Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Place your Podzillae binaries such as Floydzilla or Palmzilla into the /Podzillae folder. If there are no binaries in the /Podzillae folder or the /Podzillae folder is empty, iLaunch will launch the default Podzilla installed (Podzilla 0 or Podzilla 2).

To use a stable version of Podzilla 2, please delete the libstdcxx folder from the /usr/lib folder of your ext2 Linux partition (for Winpods) or root partition (for Macpods) of your iPod. The Libstdcxx Module requires a lot of memory and makes Podzilla 2 unstable when launched from iLaunch. Libstdcxx is a redundant module when it comes to using the standard modules of Podzilla 2 and is only required for building and using Customized Modules and is thus not required.

5. iPodMAME :

Extract the contents of iPodMAME 0.18.07 into your Windows or fat32 partition (for a Winpod) or the root partition (for a Macpod) of your ipod.
Rename the ipodmame folder to iPodmame.
Create your iPodMAME Game folders in the iPodmame/roms folder (Please see Naming Conventions).

6. ScummVM:

Extract the contents of ScummVM.zip in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Create your game folder in this /ScummVM folder having a name exactly as that in the ScummVM ROM List.txt. For e.g., to play Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge you have to create the folder monkey2 in the /ScummVM folder.
Place all the required files to play the ScummVM Game into this game folder.

7. MvPd:

Extract the contents of MvPd.zip in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Modify mvpd.cfg located in the /MvPd folder only if you have a Macpod and have extracted all the contents of the zip file in your root, and not in the mnt folder.
The /MvPd/schemes folder contains three default schemes. You can place additional schemes into this /MvPd/schemes folder from here.

8. iGameGear:

Create a folder called iGameGear in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Extract only sms from iGameGear20061017.zip in the /iGameGear folder.
Create a folder called roms in the /iGameGear folder.
Place your iGameGear ROMs (SMS and GG) into the /iGameGear/roms folder.

9. igpSP:

Create a folder called igpSP in your fat32 or Windows partition (for Winpods) or in your root or /mnt folder (for Macpods) of your iPod.
Extract the contents of igpsp1.0.zip into the /igpSP folder.
Download gba_bios.bin and place it in the /igpSP folder. This is the Gameboy Advance Bios and is illegal to share it on iPodLinux. Hence please Google for it!!!
Create a folder called roms in the /igpSP folder.
Place your Gameboy Advanced ROMs into the /igpSP/roms folder. Use less than 8 characters in the ROM names. For e.g., Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors ROM should have a preferred name as dbzsw.gba.

Naming Conventions

I haven't used a ROM List for iBoy because the other options of iBoy will not be accessible. Furthermore, iBoy has its own ROM List. The following naming conventions are only for iPodMAME:

1. Name the games' folders exactly as mentioned in the romlist.ipl.txt file included in the iPodMAME setup file.

2. Do not use spaces at all in a folder name. For e.g., Matrx Pac folder should be named as iPodmame/roms/MatrxPac.

3. iLaunch will create a space before a capital letter. For e.g., if the foldername of matrxpac is MatrxPac, it will appear as Matrx Pac on the iPod screen.

For the remaining applications, you can name the folder however you like but don't use dots(.) in the foldername. If dots are used, iLaunch will consider it as a file and not a folder, and will ignore it. You can also use spaces and numbers in the foldernames. iLaunch will display the foldernames for these applications as it is. For e.g., iDarcNES/Super Mario Brothers 2 will appear as Super Mario Brothers 2 on the iPod screen.

Controls

Turn the Touch Wheel left or right to highlight the options outside the wheel. Once the desired option is highlighted, press the Center Button to select the option. To select an option inside the wheel, press the corresponding button on the iPod. For e.g., Restart = MENU & Turn Off = Play/Pause. To launch the Skin Selector, turn the Hold Switch On from any of the two Main Menus.

ROM List Menu

iPod Button	Function
Touch Wheel Right	Move Downwards
Touch Wheel Left	Move Upwards
Play/Pause	Next Page
MENU	Previous Page/Quit to Main Menu
Rewind	First Page
Forward	Last Page
Center/Action	Launch Selection

If iLaunch appears frozen especially after displaying the Launching.... screen or just after quitting an iGameGear ROM, for more than 5 seconds, please press the Rewind Button (|<<) on your iPod.

Skins

iLaunch now comes with a brand new Skin Selector which can be launched from any of the two Main Menus of iLaunch by turning the Hold Switch On of your iPod. Only if you select a skin, other than the current skin being displayed, iLaunch will launch that skin. If you select the current skin again from the Skin Selector, it will just return to the top of the Skin's List. Place the extracted Skin folder in /iLaunch/Skins. If you like, you can change the foldername of the Skin too (except for the current skin being used for iLaunch) but don't use spaces in the foldername.

Depending on the overall file size of a skin, the memory allocated to the skin is decided. So as more memory is allocated to the skin, the lesser number of applications can be launched in a single iLaunch Session. Therefore, the larger the File Size of the skin, the lesser number of applications can be launched before iLaunch crashes due to running out of memory.

To download a skin, goto the Skins section and download the skin based on the Filename in the list below:

Sr. No.	Skin Name	Creator	Filename	File Size	Preview
1.	iLaunch 2 Dark	SereR0kR	iLaunch2Dark.zip	123 KB
2.	Old iLaunch 2	iLauncher	Old.zip	150 KB
3.	Leopard	SaintJimmy5294	Leopard.zip	224 KB
4.	Finder	Crazyboarderboy6	Finder.zip	274 KB
5.	iCandy	Crazyboarderboy6	iCandy.zip	489 KB

Creating A Skin

Now with easy implementation for iLaunch Skins, anyone who knows even basics of Image Editing can create iLaunch Skins. Please follow the below guidelines in creating a skin for iLaunch:

Create the set of 25 images for your skin having the exact same filename as those used in the default iLaunch2 Skin. The skin should be made for a 320x240 resolution screen even if the iPod has a lesser resolution than that.
Place these images in a folder having the name of your skin but don't use spaces in the foldername.
In that folder, create a text file called config.txt. This text file will contain the coordinates of the images as well as the color of the ROM List font. Please refer to Skin Config Guide for a detailed explanation on how to create your own config.txt file. Use the config.txt of the iLaunch2 Skin as an example.
Place this folder in the /iLaunch/Skins folder.
Start iLaunch, launch the Skin Selector by turning the Hold Button on in any of the two Main Menus and select your new skin!!!

Known Issues

1. Now you can launch many more applications in a single iLaunch session. But launching too many applications eventually crashes iLaunch. After launching Podzilla 2, launching iBoy or an iDoom WAD will crash iLaunch.

2. Although there is a Wiki option in the second Main Menu of iLaunch, it's currently not possible to launch the Encyclopedia module of Wikipodia. This is because Wikipodia uses the libstdcxx module to load Encyclopedia which requires a lot of memory. Thus if Wikipodia is launched from iLaunch, it gives a bzip error:-3 error while loading the Encyclopedia module of Wikipodia.

3. While restarting or shutting down iLaunch, their screens might not appear and iLaunch might just restart or shutdown, depending on which option was selected.

4. There is no 2nd skin menu in iLaunch, even though there are 2nd menus for ROM lists.

Whats in the future release?

1. The above known issues (albeit #4) are caused because iLaunch runs out of memory. The reason that happens is because the ipodlinux kernel doesn't free the memory after exiting any application. The ipodlinux developers know about the problem and once it's fixed, I will update the iLaunch wiki.

2. iLaunch is still not compatible with 3rd generation ipods because Hotdog, the graphics engine of iLaunch, is not compatible with those ipods. Hence, once Hotdog is compatible, I will update the iLaunch wiki with an iLaunch binary that will also be compatible with 3rd generation ipods.

3. Implement Encyclopedia for the iPod.

4. There is room for still two more applications to be implemented in iLaunch.

To download the source for iLaunch 2.1, please goto the Download section and download iLaunch2.1-Src. To download the older versions of iLaunch, please click here

Version History

2

Implemented iDarcNES.
Implemented Podzillae.
Implemented ScummVM.
Implemented MvPd.
Implemented iGameGear.
Implemented igpSP.
Added two new skins.
Implemented the Skin Selector.
Easy Skin Creation.

1.3

Compatibility with all ipods.
Compatibility with Windows formatted (Winpods) as well as Mac formatted (Macpods) ipods.
Ordering of ROM Lists.
Fixed a multi-page rom list bug.
Fixed a ROM List centering bug.
Fixed the Scrolling Action.
Fixed the empty ROM List bug.
A new skin.

1.2

Implemented a multi-page ROM List.
Much more stable.
Simplified Naming Conventions.
Fixed the backlight bug caused by iBoy.
Fixed the crash bug for Podzilla.

1.1

Implemented iPodMAME.
An actual ROM List that displays the actual ROMS listed in the iDoom, iPodmame and iNes folders.
Much more stable.
Changed the scrolling in the ROM Lists to same as that in the Apple OS. Turn the Touch Wheel right to move down the list and left to move upwards.

I would like to thank SereR0kR for the concept. I would like to specially thank Hyarion for lending me some of his code and without whom I wouldn't have completed this project. Finally, I would like to thank courtc, aegray, josh, davidc and the rest of the developers of #ipodlinux.

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