Hardware accelerated ‘Doom’ comes to the Pre

Pre homebrew has certainly come a long way in its short but happy life — and now it’s just gotten another little notch in its belt. Apparently, with the release of webOS 1.3.5, Palm has included a software library called SDL (or Simple Directmedia Layer) which allows developers low-level hardware access — like the kind needed to tap into accelerated 3D graphics. With a little bit of elbow grease, webOS hacker extraordinaire zsoc was able to put together a port of Doom which can be run within a card in the OS, and completely functions (including keyboard controls). You’ve got to get your hands a little dirty with the Terminal app to make things happen right now if you want to try it for yourself, though the experimenters promise an easier solution in the coming days. Exciting stuff for webOS users hungry for a little more horsepower… now let’s see if Palm puts this into play come CES.

Update: PreCentral has a video of the app in action — check it out after the break!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Hardware accelerated ‘Doom’ comes to the Pre originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This post is tagged: Hacking, homebrew, palm, Palm Pre, PalmPre, pre, sdl, Simple Directmedia Layer, SimpleDirectmediaLayer, web os, web os 1.3.5, WebOs, webos 1.3.5, Webos1.3.5