WE DID IT!!! - WINDOWS BUILDING WORKS!

super quick summery:

• I added the –Name (or -n) option to specify a game name!
• I made windows building work (Duh)

How windows building works:

in a nutshell you essentially just need to zip the entire game directory with main.lua and friends into a game.love file. then you just copy paste it onto the love.exe file present in the zip downloads of love2D for windows and zip the whole thing up into a game!

ofc tho other things needed to be done like:

• figuring out where to download the love2d version from and also extracting it
• setting up the build environment
• staying sane

it works tho! maybe you could test it and then tell me why it broke because we all know it only works on my machine :)

Made a basic game.love build system!

the python script can copy your game dir, zip it, and then rename it to make a game.love file!

also:

• we now have 3 arguments!
  • -h, or –help (duh)
  • -b, or –build to signal the build target
  • -o or –output for signaling the output dir (like build/)

Devlog 0 - The Overview

Hello! Welcome to the first CMPHONE 4 devlog! It means a lot to me that you are reading this!

so what is the CMPHONE 4?

The CMPHONE 4 is a fully open source (eventually) phone powered by a RPI CM4 module. It will run a modified linux distro and will block out social media and use a SHARP MEMORY lcd to minimize addiction while still having support for all the necessities like native 4G calling/texting, Signal through an android container, and a modified discord client.

Roadmap!

• firstly I have to find all the components that I’m gonna use:
  • CM4, Duh.
  • Some 4G cellular chip W/ volte support
  • mental help
  • IP5356 for power management
  • matrix keyboard array (still need to decide the size)
  • some other small parts
• Next, I have to build it… :(
• Then once it works (hopefully) I can start the software development side!
  • Make a modified barebones linux distro that has a custom interface that shows up on the display for launching apps, managing contacts, and ofc settings
  • somehow get signal to display on a screen over I2C, possibly i gotta make a custom client or an android container :(
  • port an ARM discord client to function on the screen (maybe)

Outro

The scope of this project is HUGE and is gonna require me spending hours of time in both hardware and software development and therapy, but I feel that it is achievable.
That’s all for this one,
Elio

(the image for this devlog is just a stock CM4 module because I don’t really have anything to show rn…)

Devlog #0 - A quick Recap

This is my first devlog for PlayBrew, my Playdate Homebrew, and it is mostly focused on explaining what I have thus far.

What is PlayBrew?

Playbrew is a homebrew for the playdate game console that enables the user of the device (YOU!) to unlock your console’s true potential! You can code payloads, which are C scripts compiled into binary files, and then run them on-device with full low level firmware access (no sandboxing!!!). Possible payloads could be one that enables the bluetooth functionality, one that allows you to set a custom lock screen, and even one for game modding! (I have a whole list of cool ideas that I may share later)

The state of things

Sooo sadly right now PlayBrew is unfunctional 😭…
So far I have been able to modify the firmware to allow for ACE (arbitrary code execution (also don’t worry the games can’t access it so no worry of malware :D)) of some C code that gets compiled and appended to the firmware, but I am having issues with the filesystem and am unable to read the actual payloads. The way the arbitrary code runs is by modifying a function pointer to the main FW update loop to run my code, and then at the end of PlayBrew’s code it just returns into the FW update loop and the firmware runs as normal.

sooo now what’s next?

There’s a couple things I have planned, kinda ranked in order of importance:

• Getting the FS to work (I am making progress on that rn)
• Making the payload build system (gonna need help with that lol… I hate the C compiler)
• expanding the API before the full v1 release (I have to manually expose all of the functions from the FW since their addresses can change…)
• Get sleep (so basically I havzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
• make a way to dump the unlock code (it’s your FW decryption key)
• make an installer
• don’t get DMCA takedown’ed

Sign me up!

hold up there… even If you own a playdate, there are a few different things you need to know ahead of time, and in short, you can’t install it.
this is because:

• firmware for the device (specifically the pdfw file in a PlaydateOS.pdos (which is just a zip) file) is encrypted, so you gotta get your device specific key and write or find a tool to decrypt it, and I can’t legally share one because of the really dumb law called the DMCA :(
• PlayBrew is ONLY compatable with rev. B devices (the newer ones) at this time. I don’t have a rev. A to test it on but it is possible to port it, I just can’t rn
• You need your unlock code, as required in the first point. The unlock code is a special decryption key used for decrypting FW, and it is not accessable AT ALL unless you are on a FW version below 2.5.0 (maybe 2.6.0???), in which case you can use Crank2Unlock to read your code. Otherwise you gotta wait for the exploit I be cooking (or write your own lol).

Finally, If you ever wanna install this on your device, either stay on 3.0.2 which is the latest fully-stable version, or jump to 3.1.0 when It comes out since I’m not releasing my exploit till after that so It won’t be patched :)

also here’s a pic of the current header file, its super broken (Ill star one of your repo’s if you can spot the issues!) but it used to work and it will, and really that’s all that matters.