QJ.NET presents ‘Know the Developers’

OK, so forgive me for the cheesy title. I had little time to decide about it. Anyways, since this is the first of a series of articles, let me run you guys thru the details.

‘Know the Developers’ is a project which I took up because I felt that few people know the developers well. Sure, they use their homebrew, but if you were to ask them something about its author, they would be pretty quiet. This series of articles will let you know them better. There will be interviews. There will be small biographies. And possibly, a rundown thru all of their homebrew. Suffice to say each article will be enough to help you ‘know the developers’.

More about this week’s guest after the jump!

OK, so forgive me for the cheesy title. I had little time to decide about it. Anyways, since this is the first of a series of articles, let me run you guys thru the details.

‘Know the Developers’ is a project which I took up because I felt that few people know the developers well. Sure, they use their homebrew, but if you were to ask them something about its author, they would be pretty quiet. This series of articles will let you know them better. There will be interviews. There will be small biographies. And possibly, a rundown thru all of their homebrew. Suffice to say each article will be enough to help you ‘know the developers’.

And this week in the box, we have none other than zx-81, the emulator-making machine! So IÂ’m pretty sure that everyone has heard of him. If not thru one of his emulators, then thru our front page. This guy has a serious knack of getting on the front page multiple times a week.

So how much do you guys know about him? Not much eh? ThatÂ’s what IÂ’m talking about. So letÂ’s begin.

Ludovic Jacomme, better known as ‘zx81’ is a resident of Paris, France. And before you start to think of him as a big fat nerd sitting on his computer the whole day porting emulators, check out a few things:

His education:
1994-1999 PhD in Computer Sciences and Microelectronic, University of Paris VI
1992-1993 DEA in Microelectronic and Computer Sciences, University of Paris VI
1991-1992 Master’s degree in Computer Sciences, University of Paris VI
1990-1991 Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, University of Paris VI
1988-1990 DEUG A Physical sciences for Engineers, University Paris VI
1987-1988 Baccalaureat (British A Level), Lyc?Fran?s du Caire, Cairo, Egypt

His work experience:
June 2005 Research and development of CAD Tools for FPGA design
2002-2005 Research and development of CAD/TCAD Tools for VLSI design
1994-2002 Research and development of CAD Tools for VLSI design
1993-1994 Unix administration and support of the alert system network of the Paris fire brigade

Wow! Want more? He even has a few published books to his credit. Now IÂ’d have no problem listing them out here. But frankly, considering the field which he works in, I donÂ’t think most of us would be able to make the head and tail out of those names.

If weÂ’re talking about his contribution to the PSP homebrew community, well, itÂ’s huge. He has ported multiple emulators, including but not limited to Intellivision, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Atari 800/130/5200, Colecovision, plus multiple calculator emulators. He has also contributed to software like PSP-FTPD, Portable VNC and many more.

So thatÂ’s that. Now I was lucky enough to interview him recently. LetÂ’s check it out, shall we?

— Interview —

QJ: Firstly, a big thank you for letting us interview you. Would you be kind enough to tell us your age?
Zx81: IÂ’m an old man of 36 years.

QJ: And what exactly do you do, apart from making homebrew?
Zx81: IÂ’m a developer who does research in EDA (Electronic Design Automation) for micro-processor design.

QJ: So, when exactly did you begin programming?
Zx81: It was a long time ago, when I was 12Â… On a zx81 Sinclair.

QJ: And IÂ’ll take a guess that your nickname is taken from there?
Zx81: Yes, that was my first computer. I’ve developed small ‘pong-like’ games.

QJ: So when did you buy your PSP? And was it for the games or homebrew?
Zx81: That was 4 months ago. A friend of mine showed me his PSP at work. And some existing homebrew. And I wanted to develop my own software for it, or to port existing software. I bought it after Fanjita released the eLoader for FW 2.5. And I bought my PSP only for homebrew.

QJ: Well, thatÂ’s not something which I hear everyday. Anyways, when did you start programming for it?
Zx81: I first tested many emulators, homebrew, etc. Two weeks after I bought my PSP, I started programming for it by first installing the SDK and recompiling existing homebrew. Finally, I started porting linux/unix software. And yes, my first homebrew was a Hello World app, like all developers. Then, I ported the HP48 Calculator Emulator.

QJ: Wow, thatÂ’s a big leap!
Zx81: IÂ’ve already ported the X48 on many UNIX systems, and I knew the sources very well. So it was easier.

QJ: So whatÂ’s your favorite platform for PSP development?
Zx81: For development, I like Linux and Solaris. In fact, to port an emulator, there are several steps. I can sum it up like this:

1. Re-compile the emulator on the original platform (For me, Linux only. I hate Microsoft)
2. Test it and see if itÂ’s good or notÂ… Complex or notÂ… And with enough features or not
3. Re-compile this emulator using the PSPSDK and patch all sources when necessary.
4. Re-write the GUI, Sound.
5. Re-write all the screen/frame display stuff.
6. Optimize it
7. And finally, add missing features like Save States, ROM Loading, etcÂ…

QJ: And you work with multiple emulatorsÂ… YouÂ’re a machine.
Zx81: ItÂ’s easier in fact. When I get stuck on one, I can continue with another. Lol. And I develop for FW 2.5, which means that I must run GTA everytime I need to test a new version. So itÂ’s easier to test several emulators at the same time. ItÂ’s more efficient.

QJ: LetÂ’s take a break from development, shall we? What would be your favorite gaming console?
Zx81: From the recent ones, I only have a PSONE and a PSP, but I do have many PCs. And I like to play multiplayer games on my PC. But as a gaming console/handheld, the PSP is the best. I love the hardware inside. My favorite games would be Joint Operation Typhoon Rising, F.E.A.R. and Half Life 2, all three FPS games on PC.

QJ: And your favorite PSP game?
Zx81: IÂ’ve only got GTA lol.

QJ: IÂ’m sure you use a lot of homebrew on your PSP. What would be your favorite?
Zx81: Yes, of course! I really like AFKIM for chatting, Bookr to read my scientific PDFs in the subway, little games such as Freecell and all the emulators you can imagine. And of course! One of the best homebrew, PSPRadio!

QJ: Everybody loves PSPRadio! Anyways, out of all the emulators which youÂ’ve ported, which would be your favorite?
Zx81: My favorite would be my Caprice32 port, PSPCPC. I owned a CPC and I enjoyed it so much at that time. It was also one of the most difficult. I spent many hours on it, mainly because the original source of the emulator is very buggy.

QJ: You’ve been in the homebrew community for some time now. What do you think about the ‘non-developing’ community? Love ‘em or hate ‘em?
Zx81: I donÂ’t know. I recently read a lot of bad comments from kids who donÂ’t like old-school emulators. ItÂ’s a bit annoying. But there are so many other kind people. Always giving me advice and feedback.

QJ: And how do you feel about the developer community?
Zx81: Very good community, just like all other free software/open source communities. IÂ’m in contact with most of the authors of the emulators IÂ’ve ported. And also other coders which offer their help, feedback. ItÂ’s very cool. IÂ’ve also had a good experience in free software development, mainly in my domain (Software for Micro-Electronic Design). IÂ’ve spent many years developing free software on this subject with many others around the world.

QJ: What advice would you like to give to people getting into software development for the PSP?
Zx81: For beginners, itÂ’s best to write Lua scripts. ItÂ’s easier and you can write very good homebrew in a short time. For veterans, IÂ’ll say that you have to be a very good coder on Linux or Windows to make something good. The debugging environment on the PSP is very limited. And itÂ’s worse when you develop for 2.XX firmware, because there is no debug environment.

QJ: Thanks a lot for your time! It was a blast.
Zx81: It was cool. If you want me to port something, feel free to ask.

QJ: How about a PS2 emulator? That will keep you busy for ages. 🙂
Zx81: Lol! IÂ’m looking for a challenge, not an impossible mission.

QJ: Anyways, from me, QJ.NET and the whole community, a big thanks for your work. And I hope that you can continue making the PSP homebrew community a much better place.

— End of Interview —

So that is Mr. Ludovic ‘zx81’ Jacomme for you. I hope you guys enjoyed our new feature. I’m thinking of doing this as a weekly feature. And next week, we have another popular developer who has made your life much easier. So “who is it?” you may ask. Well, keep guessing.