Hey guys, just wanted to speak my peace before NghtShd updates XBtool and this post fades into oblivion.
Once again, I'd like a chance to thank everyone involved. It does my heart well to know that we're able to band together in "time of need" to see that something is done. It is this spirit of community; of positive encouragement that drives the developers to code. None of this would have ever occurred without the foundation that NghtShd so generously has provided with XBtool. I can recall the first time I'd seen the boot sequence with the flubber animation, and thinking how tiring it must be to endure it every time the system is powered on. My friends were quick to point me in the direction of XBtool, and I've used it ever since. I'd also like to thank skorchir and 82ross for their dedication in picking apart the kernel. Often times people like oz_paulb, with his LBA48 code go unrecognized, although he's the reason many of you have obnoxiously large drives in your system.
If this has done little more than serve to attest to the popularity of XBtool, then I'm ok with that. This certainly wasn't any grand production; just a couple of days translating and verifying the provided hacks to a workable state. Often times developers underestimate the impact of their work, and that's a shame. I've seen many projects canned, simply because the author was unnecessarily flamed by a few ungrateful children. If anything, NghtShd should take note of the twelve hundred some odd hits this post has accumulated, and realize how much what he does is appreciated. If you're staring at a colorful boot logo when your system is launched, it wouldn't hurt to take a moment to tell NghtShd thanks. The same could be said for any of the various applications/emulators/games released on a regular basis that we've come to expect. Typically we forget that there's someone tireless hacking away at code for free, in their spare time nonetheless. It's reasons such as these that I'm angered when seeing flaming occur out of sheer ignorance. These are the kids who download Surreal 64, and race to the boards to spam about how much it "sucks", because they're unable to play Conker's Bad Fur Day, or any other game that they've never legitimately owned to begin with that really get under my skin.
I mod systems, albeit tsop, free of charge for my friends. It's not that I couldn't use the money, because quite the contrary I'm a typical desolate college student. But rather, I feel that in sharing the joy of emulation and sense of excitement that comes from tinkering with the system, that I'm giving back in a sense. It would discredit the works of everyone who's contributed to the applications that I use, the Xecuter/Avalaunch/ Evolution-X teams; lantus, Xport, oDD, and the countless other authors who's applications I use on a daily basis for me to sell their work. I'm more than happy to mod someone's system, simply on the premise that they'll be able to play some of their old favorite games. I assure you that emulation really is a gift, especially after having played emulated nes titles with children who'd have never have been exposed to them otherwise. It's great for me to be able to play the games that I hold in such high regard, and show them to kids with such a level of enthusiasm that allows them to see beyond the limitations of the original hardware.
My apologies if this comes off like a long-winded rant; I'm frequently guilty of writing as much. I'm sure that NghtShd will return to XBtool momentarily, and am glad that I've not "hosed" anyone's bios in the meantime. Take it easy. -Kyle