User:GerbilSoft

<forumuser name="GerbilSoft" /> GerbilSoft is a Tech Member (and secret Administrator) of Sonic Retro. This page to be filled out when GerbilSoft stops being lazy. <_<

Gens/GS

• Gens/GS is a fork of the popular Sega Mega Drive / Genesis emulator, Gens. The main motivation for creating this fork was that the original Gens for Linux project was a disaster. Among other things, menus kept desynchronizing and various features didn't work.
• Code cleanup and optimization is another goal for Gens/GS.
• An additional motivation for Gens/GS was to combine the features of various Gens forks into one unified Gens.
• Release r7 adds support for MDP v1.0, a new plugin system.
• A partial rewrite of Gens/GS, titled Gens/GS II, has been in development for a while, but is currently stalled due to A/V synchronization problems laziness. A new basic SDL frontend is in development that reduces most of the sync issues. Currently, there's two major blockers: support for the Sega Pico tablet (yes, there's preliminary Pico emulation!), and fixing a DMA regression that breaks "The Adventures of Batman and Robin". Additionally, the onscreen FPS counter needs to be ported to the new frontend.
• Some upcoming features for Gens/GS II once Technical Preview 1 is released:
  • New Z80 emulator written in C that passes all ZEXALL tests. (Based on Stef's CZ80, but with improvements.)
  • Rewritten PSG emulator using Blip_Buffer.
  • Use of libarchive for handling compressed files.

Sonic's Edusoft

• Around March 2007, GerbilSoft found a link to download the ROM of the unreleased Sega Master System game Sonic's Edusoft. It is unknown which site the ROM was downloaded from. At the time, he thought that it was more well known, so he just saved it in an archive directory.
• On April 27, 2008, a discussion about this game started in the Sonic Retro IRC channel #retro. GerbilSoft mentioned that he downloaded a ROM image some time ago, and immediately uploaded it. A
  
  forum topic was posted with a link to the ROM image.
• Additionally, GerbilSoft created a hacked version of the ROM in order to fix a bug. Some Master System emulators don't enable VBlank on startup, and Sonic's Edusoft won't start until it receives a VBlank. The hacked version enables VBlank before jumping to the main program code. The hacked version, along with the original ROM image, are both available on the Sonic's Edusoft page.
• Unfortunately, some people weren't so happy about the ROM release. MathUser, in particular, constantly accused (and still accuses) GerbilSoft of hoarding the ROM image, even though he didn't know that the ROM was rare. GerbilSoft thinks that some people just can't stand it when others release prototype ROM images; unfortunately, he can't just outright state that here because said user will instantly revert it.

Templates

• User:GerbilSoft/GerbilBobTest - work in progress for adding Amazon ASINs to Bobs.

Other activity

• He's also hanging out on IRC.
• He helped recover lost images on this Wiki after the hack attack of 2009 with his RetroFix file search utility (and database).
• GerbilSoft has decided that, on the off chance he finds another Sonic prototype (which is highly unlikely), he will not be releasing it to the Sonic scene (or any other community). It will remain an unreleased prototype, at least until someone else discovers another copy.
• To celebrate the releases of various Sonic games, GerbilSoft has (and will) give out new copies in trivia-based giveaways. So far, he has given out two copies of Sonic Lost World (one Wii U, one 3DS), and plans on giving out two copies of Sonic Boom, possibly Bayonetta 2, and the next Sonic game (Nintendo platforms only).
  • Due to the overwhelming number of whiners who keep bitching about the tiniest problems with Sonic Boom (BLUE ARMS!!1!), I'm done with giveaways. This includes front-page giveaways and #retro giveaways. You know who you are, and you have no one else to blame but yourself.