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Flash Equipment > Bit of a new-ish hardware question

#10291 - Enti - Mon Sep 01, 2003 8:41 pm

I've recently become interested in GBA development. The project that I was hoping to work on should be easy, but a few of the integral files would be very large. My problem begins here, as the biggest flash cards (512Mb and 1Gb) are mostly unavailable because of their grey market nature and lack of demand (I'm assuming). I was wondering if anyone knew where I might pick one up (if it is compatable with an SP, I've heard that a certain brand is not). Alternatively, I have considered ordering a much smaller card, and outfitting it with larger memory chips. Is this even feasible? It would seem to be okay, but I have no idea wether the card itself has a controller that is responsible for indicating how much storage space it has, or if the device that uses the card detects it on the fly. Any hints on where I might start researching? And last but not least, I was wondering if anyone has a rough estimate on how much processing capability the GBA has. It's a nasty question to ask due to the strange hardware setup, but I was curious about how quickly it would be able to preform certain operations. Any help would be appreciated.
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#10295 - tepples - Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:46 pm

Enti wrote:
I've recently become interested in GBA development. The project that I was hoping to work on should be easy, but a few of the integral files would be very large.

Very large in what way? What kind of data are you storing? Audio? Video?

Quote:
My problem begins here, as the biggest flash cards (512Mb and 1Gb) are mostly unavailable because of their grey market nature and lack of demand (I'm assuming).

Remember that official GBA carts are only up to 128 Mbit in size.

Quote:
I was wondering if anyone knew where I might pick one up (if it is compatable with an SP, I've heard that a certain brand is not).

The problems with GBA SP mostly involve flashing the cart while the internal light is on.

Quote:
Alternatively, I have considered ordering a much smaller card, and outfitting it with larger memory chips. Is this even feasible?

Don't push it.

Quote:
I was wondering if anyone has a rough estimate on how much processing capability the GBA has.

It has a 16.8 MHz ARM7TDMI processor; what specifically do you want to know?
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