Leapster Explorer

We are currently in the process of upgraded and organizing these pages, please forgive the mess, thank you.

Platform
LeapFrog Pollux Platform

The Leapster Explorer is part of 3 different devices that all share a common hardware platform, based around the Pollux SoC. The platform page contains information generic across these devices, and it is recommended that you refer to that page as it is a good starting point to understanding the Leapster Explorer, and contains some basic How To's and Tutorials to get you started.

Project Summary
The Leapster Explorer (like its predecessor the Didj) is a toy produced by Leapfrog marketed as an educational handheld gaming console for kids aged 4-9. Although it has a proprietary graphical front end, it runs a generic Linux distribution on the same ARM9-based processor as the Didj. Console access to the Explorer is achieved using the same method as found on the Didj.

Lots more information on the Didj

Source Code
Explorer Source Code

Tutorials/How To's
 Bootloader 
 * Emerald Boot

 Compiling 
 * Linux Framebuffer Driver
 * How to Patch and Build the MMC Drivers
 * Building The Explorer Root File System

 Hacks 
 * How to Overclock your Explorer
 * Changes to your system that will make your life easier
 * How to make a NAND cartridge
 * Forcing a Firmware Version Update
 * Camera Interface

 Booting From External Sources 
 * Testing Kernels via USB Boot
 * USB Boot without LFConnect
 * Developer mode settings for USB Boot
 * Using the GPIO subsystem to change boot options
 * Cartridge Boot Settings

Adding Device Drivers and Packages
 * How to Install OpenEmbedded and Bitbake
 * Mount UBI Image on host Linux PC

Building SDL
 * Random Explorer Notes
 * Building libSDL
 * Building SDL_ttf font library
 * Building SDL_image library with jpg and png support
 * Building SDL_mixer audio library
 * Building tslib
 * SDL Resources

Applications
 * Play Theora Video files from the LX UI
 * Load your own Flash files from the LX UI
 * Compile and install mplayer for the explorer

Graphics
 * creating .rgb files on the didj
 * Changing the fb driver to display the boot logo correctly

Details
Leapster Explorer Memory Map

File System Contents List
Contents of erootfs version 1.0.8.6905

Contents of erootfs version 1.1.46.8291

Contents of erootfs version 1.3.4.2044