GNGB(1)

📦 in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute

👑 GNGB — the manual page, but make it cute (GNGB(1), General Commands Manual, bestie)

okay so first things first: this is gngb, section 1 of the General Commands Manual, and it's genuinely iconic. let's get into it. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

gngb — emulate various Nintendo Game Boy handheld systems 💖

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

gngb [-h] | [options] <romname>

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

gngb is an emulator program that attempts to be various forms of Nintendo Game Boy hardware. it can run the various homebrew games and demos for the system, and also images of commercially-released games. like, the whole vibe. 👑

real talk: this manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution because the original program does not have a manual page. we're doing charity work here and it's slaying.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

the program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (-). a summary of options are included below. sit down, hydrate, we're going through all of them. 🍓

  • -h, --help — print help and exit ✨
  • -a, --autoframeskip — turn on autoframeskip. this is useful if the emulator is running too slow. it will cause the emulator to drop frames every now and then to maintain a realtime emulation. it's giving "we're skipping frames but we're doing it for YOU" 🫶
  • --sleep_idle — sleep when idle. this will cause the program to sleep when it has idle cycles instead of busy looping. however, this can degrade emulation performance under some circumstances. so like, nap but be aware of the consequences 😭
  • --color_filter — turn on the color filter. 💜
  • -r, --rumble — turn on the rumble simulation. this will cause the emulated screen to shake when a rumble effect is caused by the running program. the screen is SHAKING and it's not even a real gameboy, obsessed. 🔥
  • --filter=X — set the filter to apply. these only work when using standard (not YUV or GL) video output. 0 = none, 1 = scanline, 2 = scanline 50%, 3 = smooth, 4 = pseudo cell shading 🎀
  • -R, --res=WxH — set the screen resolution to WxH (for YUV and GL mode only). 👑
  • -Y, --yuv — turn YUV mode on. this utilizes the hardware YUV colorspace conversion and scaling features if your video card supports it. most video cards with Xv support can use this feature for excellent performance. no cap, the performance is excellent. 💖
  • --yuv_type — set the type of the YUV overlay: 0 = YV12, 1 = YUY2 ✨
  • -o, --opengl — turn OpenGL mode on. this will render the gameboy screen as an OpenGL 3D texture, which on some cards may perform much better than the YUV or X11 output. this requires a 3D card with GLX support. 💅
  • -f, --fullscreen — run gngb in fullscreen. fullscreen can be toggled during use with F9. main character energy, full screen, no distractions 🌈
  • --fps — show frames per second counter in the upper left corner of screen. may be toggled through the emulator's menu. 👀
  • -s, --sound — enable sound. 🔊
  • --sample_rate=RATE — set the sound output sample rate to RATE. (typically a multiple of 11025 Hz) 🎵
  • --auto_gb — automatically detect the system to emulate based on the cartridge image that is selected. this should work in most cases. if it fails, you can use one of the [ -C, --color_gb | -G, --normal_gb | -S, --super_gb ] options to force emulation of a Color, Normal, or Super Game Boy. it's giving "let the cartridge decide" 😌
  • -j, --joy_dev=N — the default joystick is /dev/js0. by setting N here, /dev/jsN will be used in its place. 🕹️
  • -g, --gdma_cycle — this experimental option will halt the CPU during certain DMA operations. leave it off unless you are working around problems in a certain program. ⚠️ experimental, bestie, don't just turn it on for fun
  • -v, --version — show version of program. 💜
heads up: most options can be disabled with --no-OPTION (Ex: --no-sound turn sound off) 🙈

🎮 DEFAULT BINDINGS 🎮

these are the default keys in the emulator. these, along with the joystick buttons, may be changed through a custom gngbrc(5) file. yes, a whole file for your personal vibes. 🦋

  • Enter — Start
  • Right Shift — Select
  • W — B
  • X — A
  • TAB — Open menu
  • F9 — fullscreen on/off
  • F10 — show fps
  • F11 — reset
  • F12 — show keysym code
  • KeyPad 1-5 — Change palette
    • palette must be define in your gngbrc file (see sample_gngbrc) 🎨
  • KeyPad 6 — Toggle color filter

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

there is some good info in the README included in the doc directory. the gngbrc file is documented in /usr/share/doc/gngb/examples/sample_gngbrc. go read, it's worth it, iykyk. 💖

💜 AUTHOR 💜

this manual page was written by RCU <nemesis@dbz.icequake.net>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). shoutout to RCU, they ate. 🫶

and that's a wrap on the GNGB(1) page from the General Commands Manual, bestie — go emulate something iconic. periodt. 💅✨

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