Hacking Android on Wii U?

[shinkodachi]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, partially because I think multitouch is the future and resistive screens are a relict of the past that's only useful for perhaps drawing pads, partially because I actually like a lot of PSVita games and I think they hold up perfectly fine against 3DS ones. Styluses for capacitive screens work perfectly fine and if you think that you really need pixel-perfect precision on a 320x240 screen then that's okay by me.

Never said anything about precision. I also agree that multitouch is the future, in fact I agree with most of what you say. It's just that I still see valid reasons to use resistive touch screens even today, be it for cost savings or catering to the (mostly) female population with long fingernails.

 

[jalaneme]

Would it? Don't even dream of having the Wii U decode MPEG-4 video (H.264) in 720p, let alone 1080p. The hardware may be good enough for SD content, but it'd require serious reworking of current ffmpeg/libavcodec implementations just to fit the Wii U. No way you can use the Wii U as a media center in any good capacity.

You'd be better off getting a Chromecast, Apple TV, whatever, and stream from your iPhone/Android.

xbmc could take advantage of the gamepad, and like you said the wii u is not multi touch like a ipad so porting android would be useless on a wii u, xmbc has built in functions for controllers and other devices as well as good media and emu support too.

also if the original xbox can handle xbmc then i'm sure a wii u can which is much more powerful than a xbox, yes the xbox has windows architecture that is why xbmc works on the xbox but maybe linux can help with the porting, i wouldn't say it's completely impossible like you say though.

 

[Goku Junior]

Maybe we can get a multi touch hack like it happend with the Xperia X8,when you flash a new kernel with a new ROM (2.3.7 Gingerbread) it include a multi touch hack (fake dual touch), the phone only support one finger, but with the MiniCM 2.2.2 at least we got it.

Of course we need to unlock the bootloader for flashing a new kernel, the new models of the phone can't flash (it has a brick risk)

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

OK, thanks for the explanation!, so Trinux it's very limited, the only part of the system that we can use it's the CPU? running Linux with only 91MB it's terrible I think, I was hoping installing Trinux in my Wii U, but I better wait for a Full hardware use version, you say that it don't have GPU drivers yet so for now it isn't very useful, but it's something!.

OK, thanks for the explanation!, so Trinux it's very limited, the only part of the system that we can use it's the CPU? running Linux with only 91MB it's terrible I think, I was hoping installing Trinux in my Wii U, but I better wait for a Full hardware use version, you say that it don't have GPU drivers yet so for now it isn't very useful, but it's something!.

While having full access to the Wii U's hardware is ideal, once we really get trinux up and running it will still have a lot more processing power then a standard wii. You think homebrew for the original wii is/was amazing? Just think what we could pull of withaccess to the wii u's main cpu.

And again we could always poort it over to Wii U mode down the road (which is definatly ideal) so we can use it to its full potential :-)

 

[Goku Junior]

While having full access to the Wii U's hardware is ideal, once we really get trinux up and running it will still have a lot more processing power then a standard wii. You think homebrew for the original wii is/was amazing? Just think what we could pull of withaccess to the wii u's main cpu.

And again we could always poort it over to Wii U mode down the road (which is definatly ideal) so we can use it to its full potential :-)

That's why I will keep in 5.0.0U to have homebrew, I will not update to any version anymore, I prefer be better safe than sorry, maybe with the Full Hardware we could port some PC games!, I will wait, for now I'm happy with vWii homebrew .

 

[shinkodachi]

xbmc could take advantage of the gamepad, and like you said the wii u is not multi touch like a ipad so porting android would be useless on a wii u, xmbc has built in functions for controllers and other devices as well as good media and emu support too.

also if the original xbox can handle xbmc then i'm sure a wii u can which is much more powerful than a xbox, yes the xbox has windows architecture that is why xbmc works on the xbox but maybe linux can help with the porting, i wouldn't say it's completely impossible like you say though.

You've got to be kidding me. I explained why xbmc won't be a reality on Wii U. PowerPC architecture just isn't designed to decode modern video formats. Even some high end Mac computers from the late PowerPC era (with G5 processors that are much, much, much more powerful than the Wii U) cannot decode HD video. Modern video formats require x86/ARM architecture, the current de facto standard architectures used in most consumer products today. Wii U does NOT run on either one. The original Xbox DOES. It's as simple as that.

 

[Foxi4]

You've got to be kidding me. I explained why xbmc won't be a reality on Wii U. PowerPC architecture just isn't designed to decode modern video formats. Even some high end Mac computers from the late PowerPC era (with G5 processors that are much, much, much more powerful than the Wii U) cannot decode HD video. Modern video formats require x86/ARM architecture, the current de facto standard architectures used in most consumer products today. Wii U does NOT run on either one. The original Xbox DOES. It's as simple as that.

Not that I want to burst your bubble or anything, but XBMC has a PowerPC distribution. Not only that, most modern HD video formats are decoded on hardware decoders embedded into the CPU or the GPU, not in software, and as far as I know, the Wii U has those (hence HD Netflix and other HD streaming services).

 

[shinkodachi]

Not that I want to burst your bubble or anything, but XBMC has a PowerPC distribution. Not only that, most modern HD video formats are decoded on hardware decoders embedded into the CPU or the GPU, not in software, and as far as I know, the Wii U has those (hence HD Netflix and other HD streaming services).

Not bursting my bubble, you're raising valid points. However, it requires we go a bit deeper in the technicality of these things: that XBMC has a PowerPC distribution does not mean ffmpeg/libavcodec is natively supported on PowerPC. This is where the discrete decoder chips come into play, which I'd like to add are usually very specialized and can decode only certain kinds of media. Thus, the Wii U may be able to handle Netflix and other services in HD, but can it handle anything other than simple MPEG-4 streams? What about movies in MKV container and AC3 audio (compressed Blu-ray), or MPEG-4 High Profile video (Blu-ray movie rips), or 10-bit MPEG-4 files (anime)? You know, the kind of stuff you'd actually want xbmc to play.

If you're fine with just serving up regular MP3s and simple MPEG-4 video, then be my guest. But by the time such an implementation has been made, I'm sure everyone agrees it was a waste of time. It's just not happening.

 

[Foxi4]

Not bursting my bubble, you're raising valid points. However, it requires we go a bit deeper in the technicality of these things: that XBMC has a PowerPC distribution does not mean ffmpeg/libavcodec is natively supported on PowerPC. This is where the discrete decoder chips come into play, which I'd like to add are usually very specialized and can decode only certain kinds of media. Thus, the Wii U may be able to handle Netflix and other services in HD, but can it handle anything other than simple MPEG-4 streams? What about movies in MKV container and AC3 audio (compressed Blu-ray), or MPEG-4 High Profile video (Blu-ray movie rips), or 10-bit MPEG-4 files (anime)? You know, the kind of stuff you'd actually want xbmc to play.

If you're fine with just serving up regular MP3s and simple MPEG-4 video, then be my guest. But by the time such an implementation has been made, I'm sure everyone agrees it was a waste of time. It's just not happening.

Again, I wouldn't be so sure. Hardware decoders are specialized, yes, but also multi-purpose. I guess only time will tell - for now we only have usermode access, and that's less than splendid when it comes to using bare metal hardware.

 

[mightymuffy]

Your better off getting a clone device knowing the Chinese they've already cloned the WiiU

Oh God what a thread! Just when I'm thinking the iOS=64bit=better-for-N64-emulators post couldn't be beaten, we get this!!

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, partially because I think multitouch is the future and resistive screens are a relict of the past that's only useful for perhaps drawing pads, partially because I actually like a lot of PSVita games and I think they hold up perfectly fine against 3DS ones. Styluses for capacitive screens work perfectly fine and if you think that you really need pixel-perfect precision on a 320x240 screen then that's okay by me.

We've been through this one before haven't we Foxi luv..... Nintendo want a low cost, low latency product, and the input lag present on capacitive still doesn't make the grade with their "60Hz goalposts" they still go for. When a capacitive screen arrives that reduces input lag to respectable levels (AND of course is affordable) then they'll make the swap. Multitouch IS the future, you know it - I know it - Nintendo knows it, but it's going to be sometime in the future before it becomes a viable choice for them to implement... Capacitive works great on a Vita, but Sony doesn't mind using the "30Hz goalposts".....
I'm not slagging off either company (or yourself) here, but each to their own ehh....
(Yeah I've made the goalposts thing up just now - would've been more fitting during the World Cup, but whatever... )

 

[Foxi4]

We've been through this one before haven't we Foxi luv..... Nintendo want a low cost, low latency product, and the input lag present on capacitive still doesn't make the grade with their "60Hz goalposts" they still go for. When a capacitive screen arrives that reduces input lag to respectable levels (AND of course is affordable) then they'll make the swap. Multitouch IS the future, you know it - I know it - Nintendo knows it, but it's going to be sometime in the future before it becomes a viable choice for them to implement... Capacitive works great on a Vita, but Sony doesn't mind using the "30Hz goalposts".....
I'm not slagging off either company (or yourself) here, but each to their own ehh.... (Yeah I've made the goalposts thing up just now - would've been more fitting during the World Cup, but whatever... )

There's only one problem I have with your Hz argument - why would you want to refresh input information 60 times a second when the actual games usually run at around 25-30 FPS? Hell, Metal Gear Solid 3D dipped to 15 FPS. Do you really need to log input information faster than the actual game can process it? I don't think so. Now, if we were talking about constant 60 FPS then that's different, but we're not, are we?

 

[shinkodachi]

Again, I wouldn't be so sure. Hardware decoders are specialized, yes, but also multi-purpose. I guess only time will tell - for now we only have usermode access, and that's less than splendid when it comes to using bare metal hardware.

If we'd have kernel access the story wouldn't be much different. We already know all the chips that are inside the Wii U. And Latte is based off Radeon HD 5000/6000 series, with reduced functionality so it's not a given that GPGPU or other functions are intact. That's 4-year-old tech with constraints. Good luck getting that to play nice with xbmc.

 

[Foxi4]

If we'd have kernel access the story wouldn't be much different. We already know all the chips that are inside the Wii U. And Latte is based off Radeon HD 5000/6000 series, with reduced functionality so it's not a given that GPGPU or other functions are intact. That's 4-year-old tech with constraints. Good luck getting that to play nice with xbmc.

I know we know the hardware, that's not my point. Kernel access simply allows you to utilize better and more directly. Again, I honestly believe the Wii U has enough juice for normal everyday multimedia support. It sure isn't a powerhouse, but it should be fine for HD media, even if not all codecs will work well.

 

[shinkodachi]

I know we know the hardware, that's not my point. Kernel access simply allows you to utilize better and more directly. Again, I honestly believe the Wii U has enough juice for normal everyday multimedia support. It sure isn't a powerhouse, but it should be fine for HD media, even if not all codecs will work well.

Well, to each their own. I know how exciting it is to make new functions available through hacking/homebrew, whenever we really get to that point in the Wii U's lifespan, but to me it just makes no sense to force something out of nothing. Again, if you're willing to transcode all of your media library to a specific, possibly lower quality format, just to make it play on the Wii U when there are cheap devices out there that play your existing formats in their respective qualities, I give up.

 

[Foxi4]

Well, to each their own. I know how exciting it is to make new functions available through hacking/homebrew, whenever we really get to that point in the Wii U's lifespan, but to me it just makes no sense to force something out of nothing. Again, if you're willing to transcode all of your media library to a specific, possibly lower quality format, just to make it play on the Wii U when there are cheap devices out there that play your existing formats in their respective qualities, I give up.

Considering that I already do it or used to do it for the Wii/DS/PSP/PS3 and a myriad of other devices, I have no problems converting to different formats as long as I don't have to buy yet another box to sit next to my TV. Honestly? If the console can do it then there's no reason why it shouldn't - all the power to those who wish to enable such functionality. Then again, I'm going to buy a PS4 anyways, so multimedia support on the Wii U is the last thing I'm looking forward to, I'm just playing the devil's advocate here.

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

Everyone relax lol. Stop bickering. First of all codecs can be ported over to the Wii U. It does not have to run on "bare metal" either. We could run it in some sort of alternative environment, that is able to translate everything "on-the-fly." Once we achieve full access to all of the Wii U's hardware we have three CPU's to work with. Plus The main CPU alone (Espresso) is Tri-core, i believe the other two (correct me if I'm wrong here) are single core. That gives us a total of 5 cores to work with, of varying processor types. Is the Starbuck solely designed to maintain security in Wii U mode? Of course, but if we can compromise ITS security and run our own unsigned code on it as well as the other 2 processors our possibilities of running some pretty cool stuff increases by a longshot . The Wii U has the potential to do higher quality media playing then MPEG4 etc. Its simply a matter of the right people working together to make it happen. Hardware wise the Wii U doesn't match up to the ps4 or xboxone by a longshot, but in comparison to the original wii (which was also lacking in hardware), its a powerhouse! Its just a matter of unlocking its full potential and becoming familiar with the inner workings of it.

Think of all that was possible on the original wii? The homebrew scene was MASSIVE and full of so many amazing applications. If sceners could pull that off on the original wii, we can certainly create some even more amazing stuff on the Wii U's hardware, once we sort it all out . Don't underestimate the Wii U's homebrew capabilities . It may seem super limited right now, but thats only because we haven't crippled the security entirely yet. The Wii U is much harder to crack then the original wii ever was. But once this is cracked wide open I expect the scene to blow up much like on the wii. The only difference is its taking longer to get there, and the apps will be far superior to what the wii could do

 

[naxil]

I think nvidia gpu can decode any kind of video fprmat via opengl...
Orgoogle dvx6 codec powerpc

 

[Jaguarjj96]

I'm leaving this here because we all know that it's coming soon. The questions are how soon and how would it be implemented. OK ppl, let's start talking.

Anyone found a way? Been over 10 years

 

[LightyKD]

Anyone found a way? Been over 10 years

WOW I forgot this post existed!