First of all Slubman asked me to mention that he had to restart working on his firmware from scratch because of some complications and his website is Here

Update: Slubman has released a public version of an .fxe version of his firmware you can find it on his site, so you can either use your favorite fxe launcher to boot it or you could use it with either GPBios (rename it as boot.fxe and make sure it's in the root otherwise it'll sit there at a blank screen until you hit a direction button) or with Aquafishes MFW if you want to directly boot it... enjoy!

TJ Hooka: When did you get your gp32?

Slubman: I got my gp32 on July 2002, but really began to use it on ADIC 2002 results (January 2003).

TJ Hooka: What made you think to make a firmware?

Slubman: In the beginning, I just wanted to know how to make a firmware, so I made a first multi-firmware in order (with no public release) to have tools I was most use on my GP32 (European bios, pc-link, yafl and comi). But the result was a collection of tools with no interaction between them, I also had to reboot in order to switch between them, so I decide to rewrite all of them, in one program and one GUI.

TJ Hooka: What's your opinion of developing for gp32?

Slubman: I'm using Official SDK and found it very easy.

TJ Hooka: How far have you gotten on the firmware?

Slubman: I've made the multi-firmware during December, and working on the actual one since January 2004.

TJ Hooka: Will the explorer have all the basic functions (Move, delete, copy, rename, etc.)?

Slubman: Yes Explorer will have all of these functions, the explorer is my implementation of comi from my first multi-firmware. The explorer will let you manipulate files/directories on your smc without connect your GP32 to pc, and also have more functionality than pc-link (like files/folders copy)

TJ Hooka: Will pc-link be just darkfaders or will you incorporate it into the firmware with gfx to look good?

Slubman: As I have no idea on making this tool, for instance it will be darkfader's one, but I'm interested in getting/making one with a true incorporation into the firmware.

TJ Hooka: Wow, RF-Link! That's an option you don't see very often and not at all for a bios, will it be just a file transfer program or will it have other options?

Slubman: Yes, it will just be to transfer files from a GP32 to another one. Can't say more for the moment, because I have not yet begin coding this part :(

TJ Hooka: Why put a format option on the GP32 itself, isn't pc-link sufficient or is it for if you want to clear your smc for gp-link transfer?

Slubman: I added that option, because some smc I bought couldn't be formatted using pc-link, but when I format them with my flashed GP I've been able to use them :) And it also creates all directories needed onto the SMC, so no need to connect the GP32 to the PC before use a new SMC.

TJ Hooka: What languages will it be in?

Slubman: At the moment there is English and French, I've already found someone for a German translation. The firmware is ready for any language (but no accentuated characters).

TJ Hooka: When do you expect to release it?

Slubman: There will be a first release as soon as I get the rf-link option finish. This release will be a simple GP32 program, not the firmware one. Then after getting all bugs corrected, and some improvements, I will release the firmware

TJ Hooka: Do you plan on incorporating extra's eventually like maybe a mp3 player or text viewer or picture viewer, etc.?

Slubman: No I don't plan to implement those viewers because I found them more profitable as stand alone applications :)

A big thanks to Nicolas Doualot (a.k.a. slubman) for the interview and for coding for our favorite (well my favorite) handheld!

*Interview finished 20/03/04*