About 20 versions ago I made an unofficial MDI version of the Gambas interface, and a new official MDI version is planned for the 1.1 series (like the old kernel numbering scheme, 1.odd will be development and 1.even will be stable.)
For what it's worth, it didn't take much coding at all (though I didn't do docking or any of that cool stuff), and I'm looking forward to using an MDI version again.
Just for posterity, here is my MDI hack. It long since stopped working with current Gambas releases due to changes in the rest of the IDE.
Scroll to the bottom (and use Babelfish or Google if you don't know enough Spanish.)
Daniel has already written three Gambas components (sockets, compression, and most recently XML) so I have every reason to believe he's serious about the Gtk one. I have seen posts by him on mail.gnome.org asking for help on this issue or that, so he is apparently well into coding it.
Also, you certainly can compile, install and run Gambas without Qt... you just can't write graphical programs or use the IDE without it (yet!) For example, while I wouldn't really recommend it given the existence of php, modperl, j2ee et al., you can write CGI programs using Gambas.
There's no reporting engine yet, though people are working on one, but one of its database drivers is for an embedded, serverless database (SQLite), and I think it's only a matter of time before someone does what you describe.
I am pretty sure only a couple hundred people had ever heard of Gambas before today, but that has changed. Of course the site is toast but maybe some of them will remember and look again tomorrow...
There will obviously be custom proprietary components used in VB projects that are difficult to duplicate in Gambas and under Linux, but I'm on my third major VB application port right now and it's really been a piece of cake so far, knock on wood. Being able to run any Linux program on a pipe makes it easier than you'd imagine to duplicate some pretty esoteric functionality provided by random third-party VB controls.
Those who don't think they're up to the porting can always wait for KBasic, which will not be free software but it'll still be pretty cheap (and, it claims, 100% VB compatible.)
I see two main reasons for making a GUI BASIC environment under Linux:
(1) The majority of in-house, ad-hoc applications at most businesses I've visited, "enterprise software standards" notwithstanding, are in VB, and are obstacles to rolling out Linux desktops. Gambas only alleviates this somewhat but it does help.
(2) It lowers the bar for newbie programmers and those who just want to do a little automation on their Linux box. I owe my career to the fact that my Commodore came with BASIC 20 years ago, even though the majority of my paid work has never been in BASIC.
Finally, I think a lot of people diss BASIC just because it's cool to diss BASIC; Gambas bears no resemblance to 10 PRINT "I R L33T" 20 GOTO 10, and neither does any modern BASIC that I'm aware of. And Gambas is definitely no "VB clone" except in the fact that it has a graphical IDE where you can press F5 to compile and run your app.
You might have been able to legally download Kylix without paying for it (if you filled out a form, etc...) but it wasn't free software.
Gambas could pretty much be included with any Linux distribution (even Debian...) meaning that after 15 years, computer neophytes could once again be exposed to programming in a simple, non-threatening way without having to go and buy something extra.
I think I'm as excited by that prospect as by the ability to easily port my clients' VB projects.
Well, in Spanish it means "shrimp", and the Gambas mascot (for every free software project must have a mascot...) is a blue cartoon shrimp. I don't know what message to take away from that, though...
Recent Gambas versions do have container widgets that automatically arrange their children, a la Java/Tk/Gtk/etc. I do still find myself putting code in the resize event pretty often though.
Well, when he started the project almost 3 years ago, Mono wasn't exactly usable. I'm sure someone will eventually target the virtual machine flavor of the week eventually.
I submitted it to Developers, having no idea it would end up on the main page. Thank god(s) I didn't link to the Gambas wiki on my company's colo box (which is getting a lot of traffic now anyway.)
I'm surprised it got slashdotted so fast. Anyway, it compiles to its own pseudo-code not unlike the first 3 or 4 revisions of VB.... nothing saying someone couldn't write a compiler from that pseudo-code to CLR/Mono or Parrot or the JVM, but no one's really started talking about that seriously yet.
The language is about as strict as VB is when you use Option Explicit, and wasn't built as a clone of VB, so while we have a Perl script to convert form layouts over (which I wrote, and which I will integrate with the IDE when I finish my PCRE component for Gambas soon) converting code is still a manual process, and there are a lot of differences though it's still BASIC. I will continue to work on conversion tools, though.
Finally, there is no FreeTDS (Sybase/MSSQL) database driver yet, but I expect that to follow eventually.... I would be writing one myself except I keep moving people off of MSSQL and Sybase and onto MySQL.
I've only contributed a little code to Gambas, I just maintain Mandrake packages and the wiki from which the documentation is generated.
I've heard other songs played this way: framed as a commercial, with a different voice than the DJ announcing the band, track, and "presented by Rottenlabel" or something like that over the beginning and end of the song. I wouldn't call it common, but I've definitely heard it a few times and it's never been Limp Bizkit nor Avril Lavigne.
Can't say I really like it, but it wouldn't surprise me if the practice gets still more commonplace.
More than this, one (who's not a lawyer, dunno what a lawyer would say) could easily interpret "(iii) you do not distribute additional software intended to replace any component(s) of the Software" to mean that your license to distribute Java is revoked if you *ever* distribute kaffe, gcj or any other free software Java implementation.
Notice that clause iii isn't qualified with "...along with the Software" or anything like that. Even clause i includes the language "for the sole purpose of running your Programs" meaning that if you include it as a general purpose Java VM for your Linux distribution, merely including a couple example programs won't be enough to avoid violating the terms of the license.
I doubt Sun would be that stupid since they do seem to want Java to be adopted, but if a free software implementation of Java were to start stealing Sun Java's fire.... all bets would be off.
It's even possible that Mono could be cause for termination of the above license. Microsoft certainly intends.NET to replace Java.
I mean no disrespect to the GCJ project, or Classpath or any of the other contributions to the goal of a fully compatible free software Java implementation. But...
Saying that GCJ's existence proves Java is not proprietary is a bit like saying that WINE proves Windows is not proprietary.
No, Mappy-Land was an almost unrelated side scroller that sucked A LOT. All the graphics (including Mappy) were crudely drawn and the playability wasn't there at all. If you can find it at all in the NES used bins, it's like a dollar.
Regardless, it seems Nintendo has no plans to put Mappy out in the US, so it's just a question of how long I can resist having a Mappy GBA cartridge in my collection:)
Mappy is one of the mini-famicom titles released with the Famicom SP in Japan, but not in the US (probably because Mappy for the NES never came out here.) I'd love to buy it, but I dunno if it's worth the $40-50 with shipping to import it. (I did pay about $50 to import Mappy for the Game Gear, but that was enhanced quite a bit with 4-way scrolling.)
Of course I can play both the NES and GG versions on my GBA already since I have a flash cart, but I just like real carts better.
Other games that could use a full-on GBA treatment but probably won't are Commander Keen (as someone already mentioned, there's a GBC version.... it's not so fresh), some of the old Amiga Psygnosis games like Menace or Blood Money or Shadow of the Beast (now being developed as a homebrew, Gain Ground or Quartet (cool for link play), or even some of the more involved C64 games such as Fort Apocalypse....
Speaking as a gay guy who uses "gay" in its other sense as well, I think "stupid" is an oversimplification of its pejorative usage. It doesn't merely mean "stupid", it means something like "lame or ridiculous, but treated as serious by those presenting it."
For example, compare these anti-piracy efforts. This is sorta lame, but this is SO, SO GAY. I can't come up with another one-word description of that ad campaign.
I've been out of the closet since about age 15. Nonetheless, I'm not going to let thin-skinned people ruin a perfectly good word for which there's no precise synonym merely because the people who originated it meant it as an insult to people like me. In case you haven't noticed, those people use different and more hateful words now anyway.
Mandrake's had a "make selections file for automatic installation" option in its installer for a couple years now. You probably have to hit "advanced" to use it though.
On this 9.1 box I'm using right now, there's also an entry in the control panel (YaST equivalent) to make an auto-install floppy based on the running machine. So in that respect, at least, Mandrake's more or less caught up.
Hearing about the possibility of movie playback made me think, "Gee, controlling video playback with a D-pad and a few buttons will be kinda lame." Of all the baseless rumors I've heard about the DS (wireless gaming, 3D LCD, analog stick, GBA compatibility, etc.) no one seems to have considered the possibility that they could stick a pressure-sensitive surface over the second screen (meaning the one people assume will be "the map screen" or whatever) to provide extra soft buttons, not just for applications like this but to do things like make item selection easier.
It's as farfetched as any of the other speculation about the DS, but the video connection makes this possibility interesting.
None of the Zaurus models available in the US have a "full keyboard"... it's something like 37 keys. You have to use the "Fn" key to even type numbers. Don't get me wrong, it still works great, but it's a far cry from "full".
It'll be nice if they start selling the C-860 here (which is a laptop form factor like this vaporware thing, only it's real) but if someone actually comes out with an x86-compatible one at a competitive price, I think all the high-end PDA's are dead meat.
Q. I want to distribute binaries without accompanying sources. Can I provide source code by FTP instead of by mail order?
A. You're supposed to provide the source code by mail-order on a physical medium, if someone orders it. You are welcome to offer people a way to copy the corresponding source code by FTP, in addition to the mail-order option, but FTP access to the source is not sufficient to satisfy section 3 of the GPL.
When a user orders the source, you have to make sure to get the source to that user. If a particular user can conveniently get the source from you by anonymous FTP, fine--that does the job. But not every user can do such a download. The rest of the users are just as entitled to get the source code from you, which means you must be prepared to send it to them by post.
If the FTP access is convenient enough, perhaps no one will choose to mail-order a copy. If so, you will never have to ship one. But you cannot assume that.
Of course, it's easiest to just send the source with the binary in the first place.
So as long as no one requests a physical copy of the source, you're right, sticking it on your site for them is good enough. The 24MB source zip file would be a little tough on dialup users, so there could be a case where they're required to provide the source on CD or whatever.
In any event, I just downloaded said file and here's what it contains (edited for lameness):
I contacted Sprint last winter to ask how I could use the GPS functionality in Java applications to run on the phone, or on a web site, with an eye to making something like a little map of the area with little dots telling me the relative positions of myself and my business partner, for example. They told me to sign up for their developer mailing list and website. I did that, and upon diving into their development forums, found that their party line is that such programming information is proprietary, and that they have some kind of exclusive contracts in place with other parties who are supposed to be rolling out services Real Soon Now.
A year later and still nothing. I've stopped bothering with it myself, and keep the locator feature turned off.... it will still tell 911 where you are regardless. Maybe someday one of the other carriers will open up this feature and someone will develop a killer app so that Sprint has no choice but to follow, but their handling of independent developers leaves a lot to be desired thus far.
Parent deserves to be +5 Funny, but in all seriousness, I just bought someone one of those laptops with Lindows preloaded. Just in the hour or so I spent configuring the network, changing desktop settings, etc. using their modified KDE control center, the X server must have crashed 6 times, and once, the machine locked up hard and when it came back it never made it into X at all (there turned out to be a problem with their cups startup script that only manifested after the net was configured.) It took me back to 1994 when Linux was still a toy....
I recognize the place for distributions like Lindows (enough to spend money on it and even buy a lifetime CNR subscription at choicepc.com), but Robertson and the gang have very plainly taken the "ease of use over stability" route, and it's not a joke.
I left the NES behind without ever playing SMB3, and never had a SNES, so I look forward to playing SMA4. I might even pick up a used e-reader for the whole experience. The previous Mario Advance games (also based on NES/SNES games I never played) have been good enough that I know I'll get hooked.
And yet...
I bought a Gamecube a couple months ago and got Super Mario Sunshine with it. After playing the "just OK" Sonic 3D games I never had any idea how much fun a 3D platformer could be, but Sunshine hooked me. I think it might be my favorite game, on any system, ever. I've also played games like Super Monkey Ball and Mario Kart Super Circuit on the GBA, and think that while it couldn't ever approach the power and depth of Mario Sunshine, something like Mario 64 cut down a bit to use the "mode 7 like" GBA texture tricks to full effect - "Mario 32", if you want - might be just what the gamer ordered. Think of it as being to the GBA what Donkey Kong Country was to the SNES - prerender a lot of it, use a lot of ROM space for sprite animation, and people will be impressed.
Sure, it'd still be recycling older games, at least broadly (assuming they decided to imitate Mario 64 at all) but it'd be a much more recent older game, a more technically impressive one (now that the GBA is getting 3 competitors, whether successful ones or not) and by the nature of the GBA, would have to be different enough that it'd have its own flavor.
I bet we see something like this happen, maybe with a coprocessor on the cart, maybe not, right around the time the PSP ships.
Slashdot Mirror
About 20 versions ago I made an unofficial MDI version of the Gambas interface, and a new official MDI version is planned for the 1.1 series (like the old kernel numbering scheme, 1.odd will be development and 1.even will be stable.)
For what it's worth, it didn't take much coding at all (though I didn't do docking or any of that cool stuff), and I'm looking forward to using an MDI version again.
Just for posterity, here is my MDI hack. It long since stopped working with current Gambas releases due to changes in the rest of the IDE.
In fact, someone is working on it already:
http://wiki.gnulinex.org/gambas/6
Scroll to the bottom (and use Babelfish or Google if you don't know enough Spanish.)
Daniel has already written three Gambas components (sockets, compression, and most recently XML) so I have every reason to believe he's serious about the Gtk one. I have seen posts by him on mail.gnome.org asking for help on this issue or that, so he is apparently well into coding it.
Also, you certainly can compile, install and run Gambas without Qt... you just can't write graphical programs or use the IDE without it (yet!) For example, while I wouldn't really recommend it given the existence of php, modperl, j2ee et al., you can write CGI programs using Gambas.
There's no reporting engine yet, though people are working on one, but one of its database drivers is for an embedded, serverless database (SQLite), and I think it's only a matter of time before someone does what you describe.
I am pretty sure only a couple hundred people had ever heard of Gambas before today, but that has changed. Of course the site is toast but maybe some of them will remember and look again tomorrow...
It has been built on cygwin, but no one has provided a screenshot to prove it runs ;)
There will obviously be custom proprietary components used in VB projects that are difficult to duplicate in Gambas and under Linux, but I'm on my third major VB application port right now and it's really been a piece of cake so far, knock on wood. Being able to run any Linux program on a pipe makes it easier than you'd imagine to duplicate some pretty esoteric functionality provided by random third-party VB controls.
Those who don't think they're up to the porting can always wait for KBasic, which will not be free software but it'll still be pretty cheap (and, it claims, 100% VB compatible.)
I see two main reasons for making a GUI BASIC environment under Linux:
(1) The majority of in-house, ad-hoc applications at most businesses I've visited, "enterprise software standards" notwithstanding, are in VB, and are obstacles to rolling out Linux desktops. Gambas only alleviates this somewhat but it does help.
(2) It lowers the bar for newbie programmers and those who just want to do a little automation on their Linux box. I owe my career to the fact that my Commodore came with BASIC 20 years ago, even though the majority of my paid work has never been in BASIC.
Finally, I think a lot of people diss BASIC just because it's cool to diss BASIC; Gambas bears no resemblance to 10 PRINT "I R L33T" 20 GOTO 10, and neither does any modern BASIC that I'm aware of. And Gambas is definitely no "VB clone" except in the fact that it has a graphical IDE where you can press F5 to compile and run your app.
You might have been able to legally download Kylix without paying for it (if you filled out a form, etc...) but it wasn't free software.
Gambas could pretty much be included with any Linux distribution (even Debian...) meaning that after 15 years, computer neophytes could once again be exposed to programming in a simple, non-threatening way without having to go and buy something extra.
I think I'm as excited by that prospect as by the ability to easily port my clients' VB projects.
Well, in Spanish it means "shrimp", and the Gambas mascot (for every free software project must have a mascot...) is a blue cartoon shrimp. I don't know what message to take away from that, though...
Recent Gambas versions do have container widgets that automatically arrange their children, a la Java /Tk/Gtk/etc. I do still find myself putting code in the resize event pretty often though.
Well, when he started the project almost 3 years ago, Mono wasn't exactly usable. I'm sure someone will eventually target the virtual machine flavor of the week eventually.
I submitted it to Developers, having no idea it would end up on the main page. Thank god(s) I didn't link to the Gambas wiki on my company's colo box (which is getting a lot of traffic now anyway.)
I'm surprised it got slashdotted so fast. Anyway, it compiles to its own pseudo-code not unlike the first 3 or 4 revisions of VB.... nothing saying someone couldn't write a compiler from that pseudo-code to CLR/Mono or Parrot or the JVM, but no one's really started talking about that seriously yet.
The language is about as strict as VB is when you use Option Explicit, and wasn't built as a clone of VB, so while we have a Perl script to convert form layouts over (which I wrote, and which I will integrate with the IDE when I finish my PCRE component for Gambas soon) converting code is still a manual process, and there are a lot of differences though it's still BASIC. I will continue to work on conversion tools, though.
Finally, there is no FreeTDS (Sybase/MSSQL) database driver yet, but I expect that to follow eventually.... I would be writing one myself except I keep moving people off of MSSQL and Sybase and onto MySQL.
I've only contributed a little code to Gambas, I just maintain Mandrake packages and the wiki from which the documentation is generated.
http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9807/07/payol a/
I've heard other songs played this way: framed as a commercial, with a different voice than the DJ announcing the band, track, and "presented by Rottenlabel" or something like that over the beginning and end of the song. I wouldn't call it common, but I've definitely heard it a few times and it's never been Limp Bizkit nor Avril Lavigne.
Can't say I really like it, but it wouldn't surprise me if the practice gets still more commonplace.
More than this, one (who's not a lawyer, dunno what a lawyer would say) could easily interpret "(iii) you do not distribute additional software intended to replace any component(s) of the Software" to mean that your license to distribute Java is revoked if you *ever* distribute kaffe, gcj or any other free software Java implementation.
.NET to replace Java.
Notice that clause iii isn't qualified with "...along with the Software" or anything like that. Even clause i includes the language "for the sole purpose of running your Programs" meaning that if you include it as a general purpose Java VM for your Linux distribution, merely including a couple example programs won't be enough to avoid violating the terms of the license.
I doubt Sun would be that stupid since they do seem to want Java to be adopted, but if a free software implementation of Java were to start stealing Sun Java's fire.... all bets would be off.
It's even possible that Mono could be cause for termination of the above license. Microsoft certainly intends
I mean no disrespect to the GCJ project, or Classpath or any of the other contributions to the goal of a fully compatible free software Java implementation. But...
Saying that GCJ's existence proves Java is not proprietary is a bit like saying that WINE proves Windows is not proprietary.
No, Mappy-Land was an almost unrelated side scroller that sucked A LOT. All the graphics (including Mappy) were crudely drawn and the playability wasn't there at all. If you can find it at all in the NES used bins, it's like a dollar.
:)
Regardless, it seems Nintendo has no plans to put Mappy out in the US, so it's just a question of how long I can resist having a Mappy GBA cartridge in my collection
Mappy is one of the mini-famicom titles released with the Famicom SP in Japan, but not in the US (probably because Mappy for the NES never came out here.) I'd love to buy it, but I dunno if it's worth the $40-50 with shipping to import it. (I did pay about $50 to import Mappy for the Game Gear, but that was enhanced quite a bit with 4-way scrolling.)
Of course I can play both the NES and GG versions on my GBA already since I have a flash cart, but I just like real carts better.
Other games that could use a full-on GBA treatment but probably won't are Commander Keen (as someone already mentioned, there's a GBC version.... it's not so fresh), some of the old Amiga Psygnosis games like Menace or Blood Money or Shadow of the Beast (now being developed as a homebrew, Gain Ground or Quartet (cool for link play), or even some of the more involved C64 games such as Fort Apocalypse....
Speaking as a gay guy who uses "gay" in its other sense as well, I think "stupid" is an oversimplification of its pejorative usage. It doesn't merely mean "stupid", it means something like "lame or ridiculous, but treated as serious by those presenting it."
For example, compare these anti-piracy efforts. This is sorta lame, but this is SO, SO GAY. I can't come up with another one-word description of that ad campaign.
I've been out of the closet since about age 15. Nonetheless, I'm not going to let thin-skinned people ruin a perfectly good word for which there's no precise synonym merely because the people who originated it meant it as an insult to people like me. In case you haven't noticed, those people use different and more hateful words now anyway.
Mandrake's had a "make selections file for automatic installation" option in its installer for a couple years now. You probably have to hit "advanced" to use it though.
On this 9.1 box I'm using right now, there's also an entry in the control panel (YaST equivalent) to make an auto-install floppy based on the running machine. So in that respect, at least, Mandrake's more or less caught up.
Hearing about the possibility of movie playback made me think, "Gee, controlling video playback with a D-pad and a few buttons will be kinda lame." Of all the baseless rumors I've heard about the DS (wireless gaming, 3D LCD, analog stick, GBA compatibility, etc.) no one seems to have considered the possibility that they could stick a pressure-sensitive surface over the second screen (meaning the one people assume will be "the map screen" or whatever) to provide extra soft buttons, not just for applications like this but to do things like make item selection easier.
It's as farfetched as any of the other speculation about the DS, but the video connection makes this possibility interesting.
None of the Zaurus models available in the US have a "full keyboard"... it's something like 37 keys. You have to use the "Fn" key to even type numbers. Don't get me wrong, it still works great, but it's a far cry from "full".
It'll be nice if they start selling the C-860 here (which is a laptop form factor like this vaporware thing, only it's real) but if someone actually comes out with an x86-compatible one at a competitive price, I think all the high-end PDA's are dead meat.
Not entirely true. Read the GPL FAQ:
Q. I want to distribute binaries without accompanying sources. Can I provide source code by FTP instead of by mail order?
A. You're supposed to provide the source code by mail-order on a physical medium, if someone orders it. You are welcome to offer people a way to copy the corresponding source code by FTP, in addition to the mail-order option, but FTP access to the source is not sufficient to satisfy section 3 of the GPL.
When a user orders the source, you have to make sure to get the source to that user. If a particular user can conveniently get the source from you by anonymous FTP, fine--that does the job. But not every user can do such a download. The rest of the users are just as entitled to get the source code from you, which means you must be prepared to send it to them by post.
If the FTP access is convenient enough, perhaps no one will choose to mail-order a copy. If so, you will never have to ship one. But you cannot assume that.
Of course, it's easiest to just send the source with the binary in the first place.
So as long as no one requests a physical copy of the source, you're right, sticking it on your site for them is good enough. The 24MB source zip file would be a little tough on dialup users, so there could be a case where they're required to provide the source on CD or whatever.
In any event, I just downloaded said file and here's what it contains (edited for lameness):
Archive: GPL.zip
Length Name
751701 busybox.tar.gz
24236327 uClinux-2.4.17.tar.gz
24988028 2 files
So unless they're offering the mplayer source separately, they're probably in violation of the GPL anyway.
I contacted Sprint last winter to ask how I could use the GPS functionality in Java applications to run on the phone, or on a web site, with an eye to making something like a little map of the area with little dots telling me the relative positions of myself and my business partner, for example. They told me to sign up for their developer mailing list and website. I did that, and upon diving into their development forums, found that their party line is that such programming information is proprietary, and that they have some kind of exclusive contracts in place with other parties who are supposed to be rolling out services Real Soon Now.
A year later and still nothing. I've stopped bothering with it myself, and keep the locator feature turned off.... it will still tell 911 where you are regardless. Maybe someday one of the other carriers will open up this feature and someone will develop a killer app so that Sprint has no choice but to follow, but their handling of independent developers leaves a lot to be desired thus far.
Parent deserves to be +5 Funny, but in all seriousness, I just bought someone one of those laptops with Lindows preloaded. Just in the hour or so I spent configuring the network, changing desktop settings, etc. using their modified KDE control center, the X server must have crashed 6 times, and once, the machine locked up hard and when it came back it never made it into X at all (there turned out to be a problem with their cups startup script that only manifested after the net was configured.) It took me back to 1994 when Linux was still a toy....
I recognize the place for distributions like Lindows (enough to spend money on it and even buy a lifetime CNR subscription at choicepc.com), but Robertson and the gang have very plainly taken the "ease of use over stability" route, and it's not a joke.
I left the NES behind without ever playing SMB3, and never had a SNES, so I look forward to playing SMA4. I might even pick up a used e-reader for the whole experience. The previous Mario Advance games (also based on NES/SNES games I never played) have been good enough that I know I'll get hooked.
And yet...
I bought a Gamecube a couple months ago and got Super Mario Sunshine with it. After playing the "just OK" Sonic 3D games I never had any idea how much fun a 3D platformer could be, but Sunshine hooked me. I think it might be my favorite game, on any system, ever. I've also played games like Super Monkey Ball and Mario Kart Super Circuit on the GBA, and think that while it couldn't ever approach the power and depth of Mario Sunshine, something like Mario 64 cut down a bit to use the "mode 7 like" GBA texture tricks to full effect - "Mario 32", if you want - might be just what the gamer ordered. Think of it as being to the GBA what Donkey Kong Country was to the SNES - prerender a lot of it, use a lot of ROM space for sprite animation, and people will be impressed.
Sure, it'd still be recycling older games, at least broadly (assuming they decided to imitate Mario 64 at all) but it'd be a much more recent older game, a more technically impressive one (now that the GBA is getting 3 competitors, whether successful ones or not) and by the nature of the GBA, would have to be different enough that it'd have its own flavor.
I bet we see something like this happen, maybe with a coprocessor on the cart, maybe not, right around the time the PSP ships.