gbadev.org forum archive

I started making a new firmware, and you can find all the files related to it on: http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/nitro/fwnitro/. Press up/down to move cursor, left/right to adjust, select to select, start to go back to previous menu.

And also, is there a external Pictochat program that you can put on a cartridge and run, rather than being built-in to firmware?

Last edited by zzo38computer on Sun Aug 06, 2006 3:54 pm; edited 5 times in total

zzo38computer wrote:

And also, is there a external Pictochat program that you can put on a cartridge and run, rather than being built-in to firmware?

There's Ping Pals, but otherwise I don't know of anything like that.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I think someone here was doing a DS chat program... sorry, I can't remember who :/
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

zzo38computer: Please build the installer with every release of the firmware you make. In case you haven't noticed my "I own a bricker proof DS", I have to short SL1 with every firmware update, and the homebrew firmware updater was built with the assumption that you only need to short SL1 for the first 25%, but there are some DS systems that need SL1 to be shorted for any firmware update that sits outside of the reserved changable area in the upper 2048 bytes.

(v1.1)
OK, I build the installer with release v1.1 now, I made a few more changes. R button no longer works. To change the palette, go to CONFIGURATION menu and press left/right to adjust it.

Also a few questions:
* How to clear screen? The clear screen function doesn't seem to work. It just make error when compiled.
* How do you write settings to firmware? I found code to read http://www.bottledlight.com/ds/index.php/Main/Firmware but how to write?
* Is there any example codes how to do TCP/IP stuff on Internet? Such as LOAD NITRO FROM HTTP

I have a quuestion (maybe a dumb one but i need to ask it) .. Those homebrews firmwares can be tested whitout flashing?? like runing a normal hombrew??

zzo38computer wrote:

* Is there any example codes how to do TCP/IP stuff on Internet? Such as LOAD NITRO FROM HTTP

Currently, sgstair's code does UDP/IP. TCP will have to wait.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

zzo38computer wrote:

(Current: v1.1)

I started making a new firmware, and you can download on http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/fwnitro.zip. It doesn't do much yet, but you can see what it does do. I got an example and changed a few things. Can anyone help me how to do the rest, anyways?
Press up/down to move cursor, left/right to adjust, select to select, start to go back to previous menu, L to swap LCDs.

And also, is there a external Pictochat program that you can put on a cartridge and run, rather than being built-in to firmware?

Hi, I am currently about to release an internet chat program, uses sgstair's library (so it's UDP).

You can test it at:

http://bafio.drunkencoders.com/wifichat.nds

The DS part is quite ready (I have many changes in mind, but for later) the server part is almost completed and will be released as well. For now it connects to my server. Also, all conversations are public now and will be displayed on a web page (at least for my server now).

the settings are the usual for the library (static ip, no wep) and are loaded from the firmware or from a file in the CF (see wifi transfer).

Bafio

Raziel Fireeye wrote:

I have a quuestion (maybe a dumb one but i need to ask it) .. Those homebrews firmwares can be tested whitout flashing?? like runing a normal hombrew??

Yes, they can be tested like a normal software. Run the file called firmware.nds (firmware.ds.gba if the software is in the gba slot).

Quote:

Currently, sgstair's code does UDP/IP. TCP will have to wait.

OK, is there any example code for doing UDP? But, I think UDP will be unreliable, especially with wireless connection.

bafio wrote:

http://bafio.drunkencoders.com/wifichat.nds

I'm testing it right now, but nobody else seems to be.
_________________
Don't sign your posts, it's dumb.

For writing settings to the firmware, there is code in the installer, that you can reuse for that. Specifically, the function is Flash_Verify.

Code:

typedef void(*call3)(u32,void*,u32);
void read_nvram(u32 src, void *dst, u32 size) {
((call3)0x2437)(src,dst,size);
}

u8 writeread(u8 data) {
while (REG_SPICNT & SPI_BUSY);
REG_SPIDATA = data;
while (REG_SPICNT & SPI_BUSY);
return REG_SPIDATA;
}

int flash_verify(u8 *src,u32 dst) {
int i;
u8 tmp[256];

//write enable
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE|SPI_CONTINUOUS|SPI_DEVICE_NVRAM;
writeread(6);
REG_SPICNT = 0;

//Wait for Write Enable Latch to be set
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE|SPI_CONTINUOUS|SPI_DEVICE_NVRAM;
writeread(5);
while((writeread(0)&0x02)==0); //Write Enable Latch
REG_SPICNT = 0;



//page write
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE|SPI_CONTINUOUS|SPI_DEVICE_NVRAM;
writeread(0x0A);
writeread((dst&0xff0000)>>16);
writeread((dst&0xff00)>>8);
writeread(0);
for (i=0; i<256; i++) {
   writeread(src[i]);
}

REG_SPICNT = 0;
// wait programming to finish
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE|SPI_CONTINUOUS|SPI_DEVICE_NVRAM;
writeread(0x05);
while(writeread(0)&0x01); //Write In Progress
REG_SPICNT = 0;

//read back & compare
read_nvram(dst,tmp,256);
for(i=0;i<256;i++) {
   if(tmp[i]!=src[i])
      return 0;
}
return 1;
}

I modified the flash_verify function to include waiting for the write enable latch to be set, as that is how the official firmware does it, when changing the settings.

The following code is how you would use flash_verify.

Code:

u16 ver1, ver2;
u8 fw_data[0x100]
//Code here to put the users settings into the fw_data area.
read_nvram(0x3FE70,&ver1,2);
read_nvram(0x3FF70,&ver2,2); //Check to see which setting area is older.
if(ver1 < ver2)
flash_verify(fw_data,0x3FE00);
else
flash_verify(fw_data,0x3FF00);

I think that is a ARM7 code, if I am correct, how do I make the menu in the ARM9 to call the ARM7 code?

All the menu option are in ARM9 and I need it to call ARM7 codes to write the firmware settings.

I am thinking I need to make a IPC_WRITE_PERSONALDATA constant, but I'm still not sure if I need to do more than just what looks obvious

I also need help to make it display what's in the slot on the sub display and to make it auto detect what you want to start

I made some changes to firmware nitro.

http://www.caitsith2.com/ds/fwnitro.zip

Specifically, I fixed an issue where some game cards would not load, due to those games expecting the memory to be cleared out prior to loading.

Also, I made it possible to return to the main menu from the config menu. I also fixed the issue with the screen not being cleared out, when going to the config menu.

Also, I modified the installer to display a percentage progress rather than ******* that are erased, as each page is flashed.

Also, the updater was modified to deal with DS systems that have all but the last 8 pages of the firmware protected. It will now ask users of such DS systems to short SL1, and also displays a progress as well.

Also, scratch any of the previous code given. There was already a load/save personal settings function present in settings.c. I also added into that same file, load/save wifi settings as well. hopefully I got the crc16 calculation code on that section correct.

Oh yeah, for the place to put your IPC_WRITE_PERSONALDATA constant, put that in ipc.h, which should be in the arm7 include directory.

caitsith2 wrote:

I made some changes to firmware nitro.

http://www.caitsith2.com/ds/fwnitro.zip

Specifically, I fixed an issue where some game cards would not load, due to those games expecting the memory to be cleared out prior to loading.

Also, I made it possible to return to the main menu from the config menu. I also fixed the issue with the screen not being cleared out, when going to the config menu.

Also, I modified the installer to display a percentage progress rather than ******* that are erased, as each page is flashed.

Also, the updater was modified to deal with DS systems that have all but the last 8 pages of the firmware protected. It will now ask users of such DS systems to short SL1, and also displays a progress as well.

Also, scratch any of the previous code given. There was already a load/save personal settings function present in settings.c. I also added into that same file, load/save wifi settings as well. hopefully I got the crc16 calculation code on that section correct.

Oh yeah, for the place to put your IPC_WRITE_PERSONALDATA constant, put that in ipc.h, which should be in the arm7 include directory.

Thanks! It was already possible to return to the main menu from config menu by pressing START, but now there are 2 ways (which is better, as it is less confusing). I will be able to work on it on the weekend then I can post a new version here (I am not near my computer during the work/school week).

I must also add a new readme file (the one in there is for the old minimal firmware, I will keep it there and add a second one, and a printable manual file), and I should probably make the palette setting to be the color setting instead. Setting 0 (gray) will be the default colors, the other ones will be other palettes.

And I also need examples for UDP (it will be changed to TCP once TCP works), and time/date view and set.

Is it compatable with my SCSD? (that means when I put my supercard in, it starts automaticly like flashme v6)

Can someone give me some screenshots from your new FW?
_________________
http://spaces.msn.com/northwood-nds/
Pixel artist for DSweb

lockwood wrote:

Is it compatable with my SCSD? (that means when I put my supercard in, it starts automaticly like flashme v6)

Can someone give me some screenshots from your new FW?

Auto-start doesn't work yet, but you can select "LOAD NITRO FROM GBA" to load a software PassMe/FlashMe does. You just have to move the cursor down and press select. I need an example for auto-detecting what you want to start before I can make that work, though.

Here is screen-shot: http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/fwnitro.png

Now I posted version 1.2 of the firmware http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/fwnitro.zip
_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

zzo38computer wrote:

Auto-start doesn't work yet, but you can select "LOAD NITRO FROM GBA" to load a software PassMe/FlashMe does. You just have to move the cursor down and press select. I need an example for auto-detecting what you want to start before I can make that work, though.

GBA gamecode PASS or GBA title DSBooter should catch most of them.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Version 1.3 is ready:

Changed "LOAD NITRO FROM CARD" to "LOAD NITRO FROM SLOT-1" and "LOAD NITRO FROM GBA" to "LOAD NITRO FROM SLOT-2"
Added more settings: language, auto-mode (doesn't work yet), GBA screen selection
Programming mode works except for ARM7 function calls (ARM9 call works, if you put a address of a function in and select EXEC: ARM9, it will call that function)
There is a manual now, that describes how to do it. Read the file called "manual.txt" and print it out if you need to.

Also tell me if some colors are no good, and/or which colors do you like (go to CONFIGURATION - USER PREF - COLOR to change it)
_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

Last edited by zzo38computer on Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

Is the name "LOAD NITRO" all that clear? The Nintendo DS manual doesn't mention "nitro", calling the SLOT-1 cards "DS Game Card". I'd suggest "LOAD DS GAME CARD" for SLOT-1 and "LOAD DS.GBA" for SLOT-2.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Just revised fwnitro 1.3. http://ds.caitsith2.net/fwnitro.zip

Just wondering--after you install the firmware, can you uninstall it? Thanks! :D

I think you uninstall a homebrew firmware by installing FlashMe.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Ohhhhhhhhh...! But what if you already have it? Just a simple reinstall will do the trick?

EDIT: Nevermind! I get it now! :P

Updated fwnitro, now 1.3b (leaving 1.4 to zzo38computer). This time, autostart has been implemented.

It boots up in the order of DS game card if inserted, then DS.gba if it detects Gamename DSBooter or Gamecode PASS, then after that, it boots GBA, if detected. Holding Start bypasses autostart regardless of the setting, just the same way as the official firmware does it.

Also made the GBA screen/auto start setting in user prefs more descriptive than 1/0.

If I may make some suggestions:
1) You asked what colours we would like. Why not just give the ability to choose any RGB15 value? Just use simple text-based sliders or numbers to specify a number from 0 to 31 for each.
2) Since FlashMe boots DS.gba regardless of what's in the DS slot, I imagine people are used to that. (The DS.gba app becomes like a 'fake' firmware where one could potentially add options to do the things the real one does.) Could boot order be configured, the way PC BIOSes allow you to choose which devices to boot from and disable some? It's essentially the same concept. For example you could have DS.gba boot first, then DS card if it's not present, and the firmware if that's not there (never auto-starting the GBA game) if you wanted.

And FlashMe uses select to skip starting the ds.gba instead of start.

There's also a good reason to have GBA games start out on the bottom screen: the bottom screen uses BGR order like the original GBA and the GBA SP, while the top screen uses RGB order, screwing up any subpixel tricks that the game is using.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

HyperHacker wrote:

If I may make some suggestions:
1) You asked what colours we would like. Why not just give the ability to choose any RGB15 value? Just use simple text-based sliders or numbers to specify a number from 0 to 31 for each.
2) Since FlashMe boots DS.gba regardless of what's in the DS slot, I imagine people are used to that. (The DS.gba app becomes like a 'fake' firmware where one could potentially add options to do the things the real one does.) Could boot order be configured, the way PC BIOSes allow you to choose which devices to boot from and disable some? It's essentially the same concept. For example you could have DS.gba boot first, then DS card if it's not present, and the firmware if that's not there (never auto-starting the GBA game) if you wanted.

Both are good ideas, but where will the settings be stored? They could be stored in the wrong place and mess up things. If they are stored in the same place as the other settings (or even if they aren't), they could be messed up in case they were reserved for future use and now they are used. Same thing happened with Wifi settings with FlashMe. If you have an idea on how to store these settings, I will do this.

Also, why was the updater removed? Now can you use Installer without SL1 to update the unprotected part of the firmware? According to what caitsith2 wrote, I think you can. I will work on v1.4 on the weekend.
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Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

Yes, once the installer has installed the bootstrap, you do not need to have SL1 shorted to use the installer to install updates, (unless your me, and have a totally bricker proof DS. (which is why I put that hole in the battery cover that lines up with the SL1 shorting hole.))

This means the only place the settings for boot order can be stored on my DS, is precisely the area nintendo has reserved for possible future use.

caitsith2 wrote:

Yes, once the installer has installed the bootstrap, you do not need to have SL1 shorted to use the installer to install updates, (unless your me, and have a totally bricker proof DS. (which is why I put that hole in the battery cover that lines up with the SL1 shorting hole.))

This means the only place the settings for boot order can be stored on my DS, is precisely the area nintendo has reserved for possible future use.

One thing I could do, is set a "extended-settings" flag at the end of the user message. If the user message is less than 26 characters long, and character 26 of the message is set to a specific value (the extended-setting version number) then it will use extended settings in the reserved part, otherwise it will not use extended settings. That will fix it in case the reserved part becomes used for something else, you can disable extended settings until a new version of FWNITRO comes out that uses a different reserved part.
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Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

The Firmware is textbased and it hasn't got graphics like nintendo's firmware. How Did nintendo do that with only 256kb?
_________________
http://spaces.msn.com/northwood-nds/
Pixel artist for DSweb

lockwood wrote:

The Firmware is textbased and it hasn't got graphics like nintendo's firmware. How Did nintendo do that with only 256kb?

Compression.

Just like how Nintendo did Super Mario Bros. for NES with only 40 KB.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I fixed a few more things in version 1.4 now.
_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

I'm pretty sure Super Mario Bros didn't compress anything. It just made clever use of resources and had really weird data formats for optimal space.

As for where to store the settings: Anywhere that was reserved for code or resources in Nintendo's firmware. A game can't store things there. You can keep 'fake' settings in the original locations for games to use.

Firmware Nitro release 1.4A download

New this time.

* Full Editing of Wifi Connection settings. (no means to test them, just edit them)
* Full Profile editing, including nickname/message.
* (In case it isn't obvious, there is an onscreen keyboard.)
* Scroller Text (optional compile in option) (You can change the scroll text by modifying
scroller.txt, then running scroll_text_changer.exe)
* MKDS offline course hack. (Another thing you can choose to compile in or not.)
* DS Game Card Dumper (Also another compile in option.) (finally, an easy to use DS game card dumper.)
* Bug fixes in Autostarting options.
* Autostart now autostarts a DS game card with the auto start flag set. (You can still get to the menu with start+select).
* Key combinations added to boot what you want at startup. (L+R+A for DS, L+R+X for DS.GBA, L+R+Y for GBA).

working with mobilegames I know that 256k is quite much and that you can create big resources with that amount ;)..

anyway, do you need any graphics for this?, I would be happy to cough up some gui-stuff for you to enhance the visual aspect of the firmware.

Okay... either I'm really dumb, or I need to boot into Linux to compile this... right?

Right now, when I call make in the Firmware directory, I get an eror message saying "no medium" on just about very file, then various other errors ("no newline at end of file" being most noticeable) which are likely caused because of the previous error...

It's great to see this taking off now!
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

I can't get firmware.nds to run on my SC SD.

Can you still run firmware.nds (ds.gba)?

Black screen:
nds, ds.gba, nds+ndsloader, nds+small, nds+SC conv.

All give a black screen.

Jas20

I get a black screen on my flash cart too.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Black screen here. That's why I was trying to compile it. (Perhaps the binary is just leftovers from old work?)
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

I get black screens, too. But when I eject the DS game (so no DS card is inserted) it starts. (I'm using a F2A Pro)
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The future of gaming is mobile Handheld Gaming.

Ok, taking out the DS cart (not when it is already loaded) does seem to work.
(Supercard SD)

Jas20

Same results with flashcar. Just take out your DS card. Although that is weird.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

I'm having problems with fwnitro 1.4a I flashed my DS with it and it's unresponsive so menu selections. I can't select anything. The only thing it'll do is load DS games when I press start. What did I do?
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Oh no! I'm screwed. I can't run anything with my PassMe2 either! Could somebody please help?
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Ugh, i found out what was wrong with the meu selection screen, and I feel stupid. I was pressing the wrong button. My PassMe still doesn't work though. But at least I can revert to old firmware.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Specifically, the best way to use this version, as it is now, is to actually install it. You can go back to flashme if you wish. This is meant to be a full replacement firmware. There are only a few things missing.

* DS Download Play (need to learn how to use wifi to implement this.)
* Alarm Clock and settings to change it. (Need to figure out what to use for a sound for it.)
* Touch Screen calibration. (I have a really good idea of how this is done, just need to implement the code to do so, as well as figure out how to draw some pixels at a specific location on the screen, for the places to be touched during calibration. (32x32, 224x160, 128x96 in that order.)

caitsith2 wrote:

* Touch Screen calibration. (I have a really good idea of how this is done, just need to implement the code to do so, as well as figure out how to draw some pixels at a specific location on the screen, for the places to be touched during calibration. (32x32, 224x160, 128x96 in that order.)

If you are off on the two marks, then you need to calculate the midpoint as an estimate to where the 3rd calibration mark is, and you need to check to see if the inputted location is near the midpoint, so the person doesn't have a wacked touchscreen if they don't calibrate it right.
_________________
Back.

Hey, man. I can't thank you enough for fwnitro. The people at the Nintendo forums are treating me like a God since hackers are rare to them. Thanks for fwnitro!
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreenman wrote:

Hey, man. I can't thank you enough for fwnitro. The people at the Nintendo forums are treating me like a God since hackers are rare to them. Thanks for fwnitro!

What are you doing for them anyways, add items to Animal Crossing? Just even achieveing the feat of running unsigned code? I left that place. Too many noobs, spammers, and mods who don't care about the rules.
_________________
Back.

Last edited by vb_master on Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:23 am; edited 1 time in total

caitsith2 wrote:

Alarm Clock and settings to change it. (Need to figure out what to use for a sound for it.)

that would be funny, about 3KB

vb_master wrote:

dualscreenman wrote:

Hey, man. I can't thank you enough for fwnitro. The people at the Nintendo forums are treating me like a God since hackers are rare to them. Thanks for fwnitro!

What are you doing for them anyways, add items to Animal Crossing? Just even achieveing the feat of running unsigned code? I left that place. Too many noobs, spammers, and mods who don't care about the rules.

The Mario Kart course hack. I'm providing them the service of playing offline courses online.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreenman wrote:

The Mario Kart course hack. I'm providing them the service of playing offline courses online.

Oh, that's cool. Is there a tutorial on that somewhere?
_________________
Back.

Sure. Put fwnitro 1.4a on your DS and roll.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Remember to read the manual for it. The most important button for selecting your options is the select button.

I haven't yet fully documented the MKDS offline course hack menu.
Load MKDS - Load MKDS with the listed courses available for selection.
Return to Main - self explanatory.
GBA Bowser Castle 2 *** (and all selections below that.) - Push left/right to select which course you wish to play online. All courses that have *** at the end are offline courses.

The default listing of these courses are all offline courses, then Figure-8 circuit, Rainbow road, DK Pass, Cheep Cheep Beach, Delfino Square, N64 Choco Mountain, GBA Sky Garder, GCN Yoshi Circuit.

caitsith2 wrote:

Remember to read the manual for it. The most important button for selecting your options is the select button.

I haven't yet fully documented the MKDS offline course hack menu.
Load MKDS - Load MKDS with the listed courses available for selection.
Return to Main - self explanatory.
GBA Bowser Castle 2 *** (and all selections below that.) - Push left/right to select which course you wish to play online. All courses that have *** at the end are offline courses.

The default listing of these courses are all offline courses, then Figure-8 circuit, Rainbow road, DK Pass, Cheep Cheep Beach, Delfino Square, N64 Choco Mountain, GBA Sky Garder, GCN Yoshi Circuit.

I don't get it?
_________________
Back.

Everything related to FWNITRO is now stored in http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/nitro/fwnitro/

Isn't anything new there yet, but I am working on it right now

About compiling it:

The reason you can't compile (it says "no media") is because it is set for absolute paths. Type "make clean" and then type "make" and it will compile. "No newline at end of file" is a warning, it will not cause it not to compile (probably the reason for this warning is in case it is an include file, it might mess it up by putting 2 lines on one line instead, but I don't know everything about this compiler, so I'm not really sure).
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Last edited by zzo38computer on Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:26 am; edited 2 times in total

Just checking... I've never updated my firmware before, and definietly not with something other than FlashMe.
I can just run Updater when I'm already on Flashme, right?
(Last time I shorted SL1 took an hour... almost impossible to find metal objects in this house!)

Also... where is the updater.nds in fwnitro?
All I can find is installer.nds, and it demands to short SL1 :(
(Or perhaps I just happen to be unlucky, and I have one of those DSs that has a bigger protected area...)

Edit:
Okay... it's flashed :D
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

Last edited by Mr. Picklesworth on Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:23 am; edited 1 time in total

Mr. Picklesworth wrote:

Just checking... I've never updated my firmware before, and definietly not with something other than FlashMe.
I can just run Updater when I'm already on Flashme, right?
(Last time I shorted SL1 took an hour... almost impossible to find metal objects in this house!)

Also... where is the updater.nds in fwnitro?
All I can find is installer.nds, and it demands to short SL1 :(
(Or perhaps I just happen to be unlucky, and I have one of those DSs that has a bigger protected area...)

There is no more updater.nds. Run installer.nds and it will change only the changed parts.
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Caitsith: That's a really nice MKDS hack that you have added!
I'm guessing that this is only possible so nicely on the firmware level, right?
(The software solution(s) seem to have all sorts of difficulties with different platforms).
So, is that the case, or did you just write a really nice patcher?
(Also... though it's been said a million times: I am so amazed that Nintendo pulled Tick-Tock clock and Banshee Bordwalk, which both run beautifully, but kept Rainbow Road which is constantly exposing lag issues).

*Wonders if I can dual-boot firmwares.
I'm addicted to the happy looking one, but I also love the capabilities of the happy working one. (This one).
Is it possible to put it back to booting/reading DS cards without being the firmware, or was that ability killed for a reason?
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MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
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Mr. Picklesworth wrote:

Caitsith: That's a really nice MKDS hack that you have added!
I'm guessing that this is only possible so nicely on the firmware level, right?
(The software solution(s) seem to have all sorts of difficulties with different platforms).

So, is that the case, or did you just write a really nice patcher?

That about puts it right. When done at the firmware level, you have direct access to the decrypted secure area, and you know 100% where that area is. Also, unlike flash cart solutions, there is no possibility of the region being contaminated/cleared out accidently.

Mr. Picklesworth wrote:

(Also... though it's been said a million times: I am so amazed that Nintendo pulled Tick-Tock clock and Banshee Bordwalk, which both run beautifully, but kept Rainbow Road which is constantly exposing lag issues).

Yeah, I have to agree with you on this one. I only wish Nintendo could have spent another month to do further testing. Lag is not an issue with shroom ridge, or any of the other courses, in regards of tracking where everything is, as each DS is calculating where the objects are. The only lag that is an issue, is where each of the player karts are.

Mr. Picklesworth wrote:

*Wonders if I can dual-boot firmwares.
I'm addicted to the happy looking one, but I also love the capabilities of the happy working one. (This one).

Dual-booting isn't really an option, at least not without physically modifying the DS (replacing the 256KB eeprom with a larger one, like 512KB.), as well as modifying the bootstrap to allow selection of what one to load, not to mention, probably compressing both of the firmwares.

Mr. Picklesworth wrote:

Is it possible to put it back to booting/reading DS cards without being the firmware, or was that ability killed for a reason?

If your referring to booting regular DS cards, That should be at the top of the main menu, "LOAD DS GAME CARD".

mastertop101 wrote:

caitsith2 wrote:

Alarm Clock and settings to change it. (Need to figure out what to use for a sound for it.)

that would be funny, about 3KB

ugh, my girlfriend has that on her mobile for her alarm (except it has a trumpet blaring as well...not nice at all to wake up to)
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caitsith2: did you upload 1.4A to that link? I was looking through its source and didnt see any compile time option besides the MKDS hack, also it looks like the source is 2 days old compared to the post date for it. (just want to be certain what I grabbed is actually 1.4A)

Great work BTW, hopefully some very interesting things can come of this.

One other question, wasnt too clear on this point: does this HB firmware have a restore/protected area similar to FlashMe?

Sebbo wrote:

ugh, my girlfriend has that on her mobile for her alarm (except it has a trumpet blaring as well...not nice at all to wake up to)

Tell me about it.
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Weird. It should have been 1.4A, (unless your browser cache somehow retained the older copy "for" your convenience). Just in case that was the case, here is a direct link to 1.4A. http://www.caitsith2.com/ds/fwnitro_1.4A.zip

cory1492 wrote:

One other question, wasnt too clear on this point: does this HB firmware have a restore/protected area similar to FlashMe?

Yes it does. Same restore keys as flashme, (A + B + START + SELECT). The source code to this restore functionality is contained in the installer source, referred to as the bootstrap. I do not recommend messing with that section of the source code.

So this is a completely homebrew replacement? Can I have some screenshots?
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Back.

vb_master, dont espect a new visual change, its all text-based.

Raziel Fireeye wrote:

vb_master, dont espect a new visual change, its all text-based.

is it possible to MAKE it have graphics?
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popcorn

Err, yes, but you have to figure out how to compress all the code + graphics to 256KB ...

png compression, and graphics designed in a smart way, so they compress well, like the gui in the current firmware..

wouldn''t take more than a 30-50kb (avoiding fullscreen images, only talking about buttons and stuff)

MaHe wrote:

thundrestrike wrote:

Raziel Fireeye wrote:

vb_master, dont espect a new visual change, its all text-based.

is it possible to MAKE it have graphics?

Err, yes, but you have to figure out how to compress all the code + graphics to 256KB ...

eld wrote:

working with mobilegames I know that 256k is quite much and that you can create big resources with that amount ;)..

anyway, do you need any graphics for this?, I would be happy to cough up some gui-stuff for you to enhance the visual aspect of the firmware.

eld wrote:

png compression, and graphics designed in a smart way, so they compress well, like the gui in the current firmware..

wouldn''t take more than a 30-50kb (avoiding fullscreen images, only talking about buttons and stuff)

Sounds like eld is the man for help. :)
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You could always use vector for a lot of the buttons, backgrounds, etc; but that rules out easy custom skins.

You could always have it load a graphic interface if it finds a flash cart with the required skin files.
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I just tried this, it's really gotten a lot nicer since the first release. It's kinda cool to see this really taking off. :)
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This isn't supposed to be graphical (I want to save space in case more features must be added). Someone could make a graphical one based on this one though...

I can probably work on it on Fri/Sat/Sun this week. Here is a list of a few things I must correct:

Make optional compiled features work properly so they can be disabled
Remove all warnings when type "make"
Alarm Clock, DS Download Play, Calibration
More option to Programming mode menu
etc.

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You should make it easy to add your own gui, so that the end user, at compile time, could choose between few features and awesome graphics, some features and less advanced skin and text skin with tons of features.
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"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

if the ability to remove functionality on build was possible.. that would be an option if you could features you don't touch.

even if you could have the core in the firmware + pretty gui - Store the extra features as some kind of binary based plugins loaded into RAM

but A gui really is the last thing the devs should be thinking about
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I wouldn't be too sure about that... A cool interface would be nice to show to friends and get attention to the ds homebrew scene.
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

As I commented before, even the official firmware uses small graphics and mostly lines, gradients etc. that take nearly zero space. You could fit a fully working GUI in less than 10kb with careful planning. But I also agree the features and usability comes first, then the GUI (even if good looking and effective graphics can improve also usability).

Well, just my 2 cents on this... I'm not a gfx artist myself but technically speaking adding GUI in small size is quite trivial.

yup, tiles can be used to create a gui at that size, it all depends on how much bling it should have.

IMO, I don't see a mariokart hack is an important built in feature in a firmware.

the space the gui will take is the smallest issue.

One thing that someone mentioned in the thread is to have the firmware look at the flashcart for plugins or even guielements such as a custom wallpaper.

extendable clean firmware with a customizeable GUI and all the functions for starting/downloading games, changing settings, and some kind of additional homebrew organizing tool that can list all homebrew on the flashcart.

caitsith2, do you intend to implement Bafio's code for IP-WMB?

So, is there any reason why this shows only black screens when a DS card is inserted?

Quote:

IMO, I don't see a mariokart hack is an important built in feature in a firmware.

Not necessarily, except that:
-It barely takes up any room.
-It is best achieved through the firmware.
-It could eventually be turned into an open-ended patching program. (Its presence could inspire somebody to do that).
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

I think the best way to have anything that is not directly connected and necessary in the firmware stored on a/the flashcard, though that might require diffrent firmwares for diffrent kinds of flash cards, right?

I think with custom GUI and plugin on the flashcard this could really turn into something really great. When I say plugins I mean like play mp3, avi, nds, gba etc.

Now that would be cool.

Kturbo wrote:

I think the best way to have anything that is not directly connected and necessary in the firmware stored on a/the flashcard

But would it still be possible to read the decrypted content of the inserted DS Game Card's secure area after detecting the type of flash card and loading firmware extensions from it?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

A small mockup, on my believes why a gui wouldn't hurt..

more fancy graphics compared to regular pixel-firmware, icons to the left with more drop-down alternatives as shown, textbox when holding or clicking the icons.

plugins could perhaps even be able to add more buttons to the interface when the firmware starts and loads them.

file/homebrew browser?, which applies to both the slot-2 memory and if an FAT-driver compatible flashcart is inserted, it browses the CF/SD card memory.

this graphical part could be compressed down to 10-15 or so kb with smart tiling. icons could each be around 300-400 bytes depending on complexity.[/img]

Many of these comments are good comments, but now I have some comments:

I am thinking of removing the Mario Kart Hack and scrolling screen and replacing both with things more generic. So you could enter codes/read codes from GBA cartridge to use (something like Action Replay does). The scrolling screen will probably replaced with date/time display, name display, and user message display. Also should be a way to load plugins from the GBA cartridge (such as a GUI), although a GUI is never planned to be built-in (for one thing, I prefer text-only).

About the screen only displaying black when a DS card is inserted, that is a bug in the software, which either I or caitsith2 must correct.
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User message display would be a good idea.
It doesn't have much reason to exist, as it is... and having the scrolling message made post-compilation would be excellent :)
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MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

I think there might be anither bug in the mix too. On my brother's DS, I couldn't run the initial installer without first installing FlashMe. (His was an unmodded v4) Nor does PassMe work with fwnitro after it is flashed on my DS
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dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreenman wrote:

Nor does PassMe work with fwnitro after it is flashed on my DS

What the hell would you need to use passme after your firmware is flashed?
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Well, what I am saying is that fwnitro messes with PassMe. Even before it is installed. Since PassMe doesn't work after flashing fwnitro, it has led me to believe that fwnitro has a bug in it *somewhere*. I'm just giving more in-depth info so the source of the bug may be found faster/easier.
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dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

derula wrote:

What the hell would you need to use passme after your firmware is flashed?

Well, perhaps fwnitro loads the nds's in a different way compared to standard firmware, which could cause problems with future games.
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Version 1.4c: Not much things corrected, but here it is anyway: http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/nitro/fwnitro/fwnitro_v1_4c.zip

I have been testing it on the emulator, so many things don't work on emulator. When the SuperCard-CF comes in the mail I can test it on actual DS and make it much more, including version 1.5
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dualscreenman wrote:

I think there might be anither bug in the mix too. On my brother's DS, I couldn't run the initial installer without first installing FlashMe. (His was an unmodded v4)

That was because the installer was hard coded to install only on DS systems with firmware ID code "MACP", which is v1-3. v4-5 have ID code "MACg", v6 (DS lite) has firmware ID code "MACh", and IQue DS has firmware ID code "MAC[0xC2]".

Because of this, I changed the installer to now generate the firmware encryption key based on the ID code present in the system. The reason the addition of flashme allowed you to install hbfirmware, was that flashme overwrote the ID code with "MACP", rather than build its bootstrap for the current firmware ID code. The changed installer is now in the uploaded 1.4A release.

Im guessing that nintendo changed the firmware ID codes, assuming that because we have the encryption key for "MACP", we could decrypt the newer versions if they didn't change. of course we knew not just the "MACP" encryption code, but the master code used to create it, plus nintendo has a convenient way to detect what DS systems you are running the software on.

tepples wrote:

Kturbo wrote:

I think the best way to have anything that is not directly connected and necessary in the firmware stored on a/the flashcard

But would it still be possible to read the decrypted content of the inserted DS Game Card's secure area after detecting the type of flash card and loading firmware extensions from it?

I imagine so. The secure area should remain there until you actually run the game, whose code would overwrite it with something else. (That is, everything is running at firmware level until you start the game.) Download Play blanks it out as a precaution (hence why you can't boot DS carts from hbfirmware through WMB), but that's about it.

Heh, does booting into GBA mode clear RAM at all? It might even be posible to read it there. ;-)

Any of the DS memory that gets transferred over to the GBA gets totally cleared out by the GBA bios, so no, even if the secure area is inside any memory mapped to the GBA, you would not be able to read it out.

Bit behind on doing this: Thanks caitsith2! - the link your 1.4A post linked to is/was http://www.caitsith2.com/ds/fwnitro.zip, so I dont know if it was my browser or only what was there.

Just a note, as far as I can tell the SC's SD card is in standby mode (and inaccessable) unless the supercard boots its internal software. I have only tested this by wifi with chishms FAT library (and did not add any delay to see if it was only initially unavailable), but I was unable to wake/access the SD card with my limited knowledge without using the supercards bootup sequence first (essentially if its in standby one must send the SD card a special command to wake it and then likely a mode command to put it in serial mode). Its possible this is handled internally by the hardware after a bit of time, but it could also be a problem with the M3SD as well.

any progress on graphics? It would really make me want this downloaded when thers graphics

oh and is it still possible to test the firmware without actually installing it
_________________
popcorn

I believe it was posted by zzo38 that they weren't developing any graphics for fwnitro, although if somebody was insterested, they could make their own firmware based off fw nitro with a graphical User Interface.

You can already test fwnitro without installing it.

After unzipping the download file, go to the file named "firmware" and flash firmware.ds.gba to your storage medium and boot it. (If you use
WMB, then boot the .nds file. Just boot it any way you can.) That will give you a preview of what fwnitro will look like.
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dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreenman wrote:

I believe it was posted by zzo38 that they weren't developing any graphics for fwnitro, although if somebody was insterested, they could make their own firmware based off fw nitro with a graphical User Interface....

That is what I said at first, but maybe, after everything else works, I might add some graphics as well (but it will be optional, you can disable graphics if you wish, still). I'm not sure yet, but if I do, it won't be until everything else works first.

Still, if you want, you still can create your own based off this, if you believe I won't do it, or think it will take too long...
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Will this ever include the testing capability within the Wifi connection settings? Also, I was wondering if it would be possible to change the default boot order. I'm assuming a DS game card is still necessary to be in the DS in order for sleep mode to work properly (its the same way with Flashme), but I'd like my DS flash cart in the GBA slot to load first without pressing any button combination. That issue and the lack of a GUI are the two reasons I'm currently hesitant, but it still looks good.

jhoff80 wrote:

Will this ever include the testing capability within the Wifi connection settings?

Probably not, I don't think that code will fit into the firmware. If it does fit though, it probably will be put on eventually.

Quote:

Also, I was wondering if it would be possible to change the default boot order. I'm assuming a DS game card is still necessary to be in the DS in order for sleep mode to work properly (its the same way with Flashme), but I'd like my DS flash cart in the GBA slot to load first without pressing any button combination.

This and maybe other settings (such as GUI on/off) may be added to either another section of memory or the last u16 character of the message string, but it might be a few weeks before I can continue working on this

Quote:

That issue and the lack of a GUI are the two reasons I'm currently hesitant, but it still looks good.

Lack of GUI shouldn't be a problem, there is still a menu... But, if there is graphics, it will be the last thing I will add. (caitsith2, or maybe anyone who wants to, might help me with the graphics at that time)
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Yeah, its kind of ironic, because I was just today wondering if there was any way to adjust Wifi connection settings outside of using the roms. If the test connection feature was added, that'd be perfect for me. Maybe it would be possible to have different options during the compile process for different features, to make more room?

Also, this is probably a stupid question, but it looks like the program has to be compiled in linux. Is there any precompiled version available for windows or mac? Finally, this seems a little more complicated to set up than flashme, is there any concise how-to file for actually flashing the firmware with this?

Okay, never mind, I found the installer.nds and firmware.nds files, and was able to get it installed. However, I thought I remembered reading about a feature to dump roms and a few other things that I didn't see in the menu. I went back to flashme for now, only because like I said before, the test connection feature would be nice. Also, I couldn't get the MKDS hack menu to load up. Does an original copy of MKDS have to be in the DS for that to work possibly?

jhoff80 wrote:

Also, this is probably a stupid question, but it looks like the program has to be compiled in linux. Is there any precompiled version available for windows or mac? Finally, this seems a little more complicated to set up than flashme, is there any concise how-to file for actually flashing the firmware with this?

No, it doesn't have to be compiled in Linux. It works just fine in Windows. But it doesn't compile unless you type "make clean" and then "make" afterwords. And anyways, I think the precompiled file is included anyways.
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jhoff80 wrote:

However, I thought I remembered reading about a feature to dump roms and a few other things that I didn't see in the menu. I went back to flashme for now, only because like I said before, the test connection feature would be nice. Also, I couldn't get the MKDS hack menu to load up. Does an original copy of MKDS have to be in the DS for that to work possibly?

Are you using the 1.4c release by zzo38computer?. At one point, I had uploaded 1.4a, and was preparing to post for its release, and at the last minute, uncovered a show stopping bug. I had to postpone that release. I think zzo38computer downloaded that build, not realizing that was not meant for public consumption.

The 1.4a release that is out now, is actually more current than the 1.4c release. (the 1.4c release doesn't have the dump game card code in it, and it has the old wifi connection settings read/write code, that sometimes locks up on the DS. (That was the last minute show stopping bug I found.)).

Also, yes, you do have to have the original MKDS game card inserted in order to use the offline course hack.

As it is, I updated zzo38computer on the code base I am currently working with. (currently calling it 1.4d)

Alright, thanks. Will the dump card code also work on the M3 SD? (Just out of curiosity, since a lot of homebrew software won't).

I wasn't able to test that. I did use chishm's fat library though. Not sure if it supports writing to M3 SD or SC SD.

FWNitro 1.4D released. Here is whats new.

* DS card Dumping code moved to ARM9. (ARM 7 space needed for future use, like wifi for DS download play.)
* Alarm Clock user setting implemented.
* RTC settings implemented.
* Bottom screen where touch screen keyboard resides cleaned up.
* Info banner displayed above scroller (Line 1:Nickname, Current Date/Time, Line 2:User message)
* Source cleaned up a bit.
* New Installer code base (Now can be installed on unmodified DS lite/DS firmware v4-5/DS IQue.) (1.4A was silently updated with this installer code base later on.)

**EDIT** Here is a screenshot.
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Excellent work!

1)Very good idea to have the MKDS Offline Course Hack implemented right into the firmware. I just played the hidden courses moments ago for the first time thanks to it.

2)Can't you change it so that it boots off from the SC menu instead of the FWNitro one? Like FW-V7 does... It would be much more practical to test homebrew code!

Red XIII wrote:

Excellent work!

1)Very good idea to have the MKDS Offline Course Hack implemented right into the firmware. I just played the hidden courses moments ago for the first time thanks to it.

Yup, chishm's hack is now detected as a commercial game and bans your MK:DS Game Card from WFC if used. This way it doesn't run directly from the GBA Slot, so it can't get banned! :)

Any progress on the SC SD black screen problem?

I too get the black screens if a ds card is inserted - no bigg, I can take it out, but it makes dumping impossible with a SC SD.

Many thanks for a very cool firmware.

@gonaDS:

I also have SC SD, ran the installer and it works fine... NO black screens anywhere.

BUT: The "dump ds card" feature indeed doesn't seem to work on SC SD,it won't take off 000.0%...

P.S. I would vote "yes" for graphic inteface,as long as it met the small size everybody talks about.

I just flashed this to me DS, and it is pretty cool :)

The DS card dump doesn't seem to work with my M3SD(older/larger version) though. When I select it, it goes to the screen for like 1/2 second, then goes back to the main menu. It doesn't go past 00.0%.

AFAIK the firmware doesn't work as it should if you send it via WMB oder start it from flash cart, does it? I mean DS download play, starting a DS game and the Mario Kart Hack (Load DS from GBA, Load GBA and all the configuration things work).

I'm sure this has been answered already, but I'm thinking about flashing it too and just want to be sure ;)
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I still only get two black screens when a DS Card is inserted.
Been trying to boot it from GBA Flash Cart and GBAMP. What's wrong?

Most likely, the secure area has been trashed. You might actually have to install it, in order to try things out.

Likewise, you cannot boot NDS if this is sent via WMB, as WMB purposely trashes the secure area.

Hmm, I can't start a DS game but I don't get black screens when one is inserted (with F2A Pro 256).
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Hmm. After experiencing some 2 black screen lockups with a game I own, I have determined that I may have to rewrite the DS game card loading routine, to conform with the exact memory clearing nintendo does.

Basically, the process is code for ARM7 DS game card loading/ram clearing sits at 0x38F600, and clears out 0x2300000-0x23FEE00, as well as 0x37F8000-0x38F600. Additionally, ARM9 code for this process sits at 0x23FE00, which does its little thing. Both of them jump to their respective code spaces derived from the header, after the DS card arm7/9 binary is loaded.

The CRT0 in the ARM7/9 binaries of the DS card is then responsible for clearing out 0x38F600-0x38FF00, and 0x2200000-0x2300000 and 0x23FEE00-0x23FF800. Most DS cards work without some of the memory ranges cleared out, but some of them explicitly rely on these memory ranges cleared out, and if they are not cleared out, you get the 2 black screens.

This means I am now going to take a crash course writing some DS card loading bootstraps that will properly do these tasks, and end the 2 black screen lockup once and for all.

i just flashed my DS with your firmware, but when i tried to dump SM64DS to my GBAMP it just kept saying "Initializing FAT".
does it support dumping to the GBAMP and more than one partition (1st partition=FAT, 2nd partition=EXT2) ?
and would a GUI fit in the ds?

It does support the GBAMP, but I am not certain about support for multiple partition CF cards.

This looks really nice (do all those features work?) but I still don't think all of these things need to be in the firmware. I'd suggest just making a simple shell of sorts. All it would include is code to read (not write) CF/SD and the basic options (run GBA/NDS card, run from GBA slot, and maybe download and run if it doesn't take up too much space). Anything else would be loaded from some specially-named directory on the memory card (you could even choose the directory name/path at compile time). You just list the files, without extension, choose one, and run it; it loads into some unused part of RAM and gets executed. It'd be just like having them built in, but they're actually stored on the card.

I can probably make a working example (though I'm currently working on other things), ask me if you want one. (Also, really nice font there.)

Hi all ^^
First post and i'll try to speak english as good as i can...

Just for report. I flashed my DS v2 with this firmware (1.4D). Iit was in flashme v6 before.

I use Supercard SD.

I got same problem than RobertsD for the DS card dumper.

DS download play doesn't work, when i choose it, menu is staying on screen and nothing happens... i can't use wifime anymore :/

The MKDS hack works perfectly (very easy way to choose race) :-)

Everithing else works great! nice job :)
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DS v2 - FWNitro 1.4d - SCSD - 2*1Gb

I am very intrigued by this firmware. Although I do have a few reservations. Does this firmware have the capabilities in terms of loading backups and homebrew as flashme. Also, if it does, then does this firmware (I believe I have read this in a previous post) simply overwrite flashme to kind of "cover" flashme while keeping flashme code intact. One last question. Can this firmware be overwritten as easily as flashme with an m3 sd by putting the flashme file onto the sd card? Thanks for the help./

FWNITRO replaces FlashMe. You can remove FWNITRO and reinstall FlashMe by telling FWNITRO to run flashme.nds using any homebrew hardware.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

..Only one problem...

FWNITRO hangs when reading sector 0 of the SD card when run from the INSTALLED firmware. So this is how I got it to write to the SD card while having FWNITRO installed:

USING MY VERSION OF FWNITRO 1.4D:

1. Put in a DS cart in the slot. Put the SCSD with a SD card inside into the GBA slot. The firmware version must be on the SD card. Rename firmware.ds.gba to firmware.nds and make sure its on there.
2. Turn on the DS while holding in START+SELECT to override the autostart and boot into FWNITRO menu (prevents black screens it seems too!).
3. Goto LOAD DS FROM GBA and press SELECT.
4. In the Supercard menu select firmware.nds and right after selecting it, hold down START+SELECT to bypass the autostart again.
5. Choose DUMP CARD in the menu...

If you don't have FWNITRO installed, just use firmware.ds.gba renamed to firmware.nds and put it on the SD CARD. Follow the instructions 3 to 5 above.

AND NOW THE PROBLEM I'M HAVING... :(
When FWNITRO is loaded from the firmware the DS cards header is wrong. It's displayed as . and ####. It writes a 128KB file titled ####.nds appropriately to the SD card.

Two solutions I'm thinking of...
1. Get the installed firmware to stop hanging at sector 0 of reading the SD card.
2. Figure out how to detect the DS cards header properly from within FlashMe + the firmware.

Route 2 is easier it seems, but that's on my end of things. For the FWNITRO team, getting route 1 to work would be optimal imho.

Download the source + installer + firmware for my edited version of FWNITRO 1.4D at:
http://www.friggingames.com/fwnitro14d_zttd.zip

FWNITRO team: I encourage you to use the above source to get the Dump to work on SC SD. If you need help let me know. It was the best I could do.

Thanks and hope this helps.

Last edited by zodttd on Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:44 am; edited 1 time in total

How big is your SD card? DS cards are big (I think 128MB max, capable of 4GB); maybe it's messing up because you don't have enough space?

Anyway it sounds like the problem is probably in your write code. Did you try modifying the parts in the existing FWNITRO code that get this information, and just having them display it on the screen? That'd tell you whether it's actually reading wrong or the file writing is just messed up.

Oh, and about my idea above, thought of a nice addition. When looking for the modules or whatever you want to call them, if it finds one with a specific name (autoexec.xxx or whatever), run it automatically. Then when you have your memory card inserted with several megabytes of space, you can store a cool graphical interface on it, and when you don't, you get the standard text menu.

How risky is making your own firmware anyway? I imagine I could just test most of it by running it as _BOOT_MP.nds on GBAMP or similar; my only real concern is botching some code in the write-protected sector and bricking my DS. Is there any initialization I have to do when making the bootstrap code, or can I just immediately read the button status and jump to the GBA slot if they match something (to have a recovery code like FlashMe does)?

zodttd: What exactly did you change? (Sorry, I can't check right now...) Also, it has to work with CF card as well...

Zemysterieux: The DS DOWNLOAD PLAY option doesn't work yet, it won't do anything so far.
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I replaced everything related to GBA_NDS_FAT, which is basically the gba_nds_fat.c, disc_io.c, and io_xxx.c inside the ARM9 firmware directory. I used Moonshell V1.1's implementation of GBA_NDS_FAT. I didn't modify much from Moonshell's code. There's some new files including scsd.s which is the ARM assembly code for handling SD read/writes to the card.

CF support is included, as it *should* work with:
Neoflash MK2 MMC Card support
GBA Movie Player support
M3 Perfect CF support
Supercard CF support
Supercard SD support
M3 Perfect SD support (can't write)
Flash Cart support

I can only test with the SC SD and possibly a FlashAdvance 2 Pro flash cart.

Any clue why the DS card's header's game ID is replaced with #### when used as a .nds with FlashMe? Or why it would crash when dumping inside the FAT_InitFiles when reading sector 0 of the SD card when used as actual installed firmware? Not sure why there would be a difference in it's behaviour between the two ways of running it.

If I changed too much code for your taste, I might be able to just implement io_scsd.c and scsd.s instead of a full GBA_NDS_FAT library replacement.

Thanks for the fast reply. :)

the main thing you should work on now is making it have graphics cause I don't really wannna install it cause its just plain ugly... I wanna have something cool that they can't get to show off to my friends :D

I like graphics
_________________
popcorn

He has no reason to make graphics for it right now. It works, so right now, he should just focus on making all the features work as they should, and add any new features he wants to before he makes graphics for it.

If someone else wants to make a gui/graphics for it, they can....

I'll say this before it's too late:
Mockups are irrelevent.

If somebody starts on a graphical end, and proves that it is a worthwhile task which does not take up too much space, I will help you out.

I agree with Roberts here.
There are still a lot of things that can be thrown into this firmware, but the addition of a GUI may limit that growth.
_________________
Thanks!
MKDS Friend Code: 511165-679586
MP:H Friend Code: 2105 2377 6896

Why are people obsessed with graphics?
It's a firmware, it doesn't need them.
Look at the BIOS setup on a PC or Open Firmware on a PPC Mac (EFI on Intel Macs), they don't have OR NEED graphics.
You don't spend enough time in them to need the graphics and their functionality isn't enhanced by graphics.

And modules, whilst a good idea (as pointed out by someone earlier in this or the homebrew firmware thread) are kinda stupid, unless they were completely optional.
As you'd need something in the GBA slot, so why not just boot something off there?

Look, graphics pwn, mkay? If you don't have cool graphics, your friends will laugh and you'll get bullied. I'm picturing a firmware where you can choose modules at compile time, choose if you want a gui or lots of features.
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

Sausage Boy wrote:

Look, graphics pwn, mkay? If you don't have cool graphics, your friends will laugh and you'll get bullied.

Well, they can laugh at DSLinux. Like I care. And besides, if you didn't code the firmware yourself, why should you be proud?

Well, different people have different opinions, that's why I'm "pro-choice" :P
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

HYPERHACKER

Quote:

How big is your SD card? DS cards are big (I think 128MB max, capable of 4GB); maybe it's messing up because you don't have enough space?

they are not that bit.. REMEMBER bits not bytes.....

1Gb is only 128MB not that big

imo. people how try to look cool in front of their friends because of a GUI are pretty lame.

I installed v1.4d and DUMP DS CARD stays on initializing FAT

I have the GBAMP with cf formated in FAT32

it just stays there?

can FWNITRO write over itself with updated ver?
_________________
Who me?

That's what I said. O_o 128MB.

Is there some flaw with the dumper?
since every time that I try to extract the information of the cartridge of DS it is begun and the accountant doesn't advance..
I have made tests with SC SD/CF and M3SD and in three passes the same thing
Is an error or that I should make to achieve a successful extraction of data?
And can I suggest something?
Serious possible that borders could be loaded for the games of GBA (GBA Mode) or also to load him "Skins" like to the M3 (all this from the CF/SD)
Or also to load him a Game enhacer like the "DipStar" (clear from the firmware)
Ahead of time thank you to listen to me

it would be nice to see the nes emulator in firmware, then u can just run the NES roms from the cart
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MK DS FC: Dragon 330772 075464
AC WW FC: Anthony SamsClub 1933-3433-9458
MPFH: Dragon 0215 4231 1206

Or have a nes emulator on your card and tap like, two times more? o_O
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

but u have to compile the roms and all into a bin, where as u could just run a .nes file, this way u dont have to constantly recompile
_________________
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MK DS FC: Dragon 330772 075464
AC WW FC: Anthony SamsClub 1933-3433-9458
MPFH: Dragon 0215 4231 1206

That could be fixed by allowing file name associations within the firmware. Then a .nds file containing an emulator would be loaded and the ROM filename placed in argv[1].
_________________
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-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

so what is causing it to stay at initializing FAT screen, I cant get passed that? ( when trying to dump DS cart)
_________________
Who me?

tepples wrote:

That could be fixed by allowing file name associations within the firmware. Then a .nds file containing an emulator would be loaded and the ROM filename placed in argv[1].

I don't think that's a job for the firmware really, more like a job for moonshell or something, a shell you want to use. The firmware could be made to autolaunch it if it can find it, giving the impression that everything is in the firmware.
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

I finally got a Nintendo DS unit (comes with Animal crossing game, it came off the shelf previously unused, but has blue firmware (excelent!)), I can test thing directly on Nintendo DS now. Expect this software to be created faster now!
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*Cheers* Keep up the good work.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

New version 1.5 available: http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/nitro/fwnitro/

Settings in options.h to ignore auto-start flag in NDS card (in case it causes problems or you don't like that function, and this is also what was causing the screen to go black)
On-screen keyboard functions have been changed a bit: Cursor is displayed after text, color of input text is now highlighted, and Esc key works (same as B button to cancel)
L and R buttons can be used on main menu to toggle back-light
You can now call ARM7 functions in PROGRAMMING MODE

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Interesting. The Lights are very interesting. Works like a dream. But for some reason this function:

Code:

Finally, there are Key combinations for Automatic starting of what you want, even if the option
is disabled.
L + R + A = Boot DS Game Card
L + R + X = Boot DS from GBA
L + R + Y = Boot GBA (for some unknown reason, if autostart is enabled, it will insist on booting
DS Game card instead.)

isn't working, and hasn't ever worked for me. Is there some trick to doing this?
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Thanks for v1.5 zzo38computer, much appreciated :)

Umm... *also needs help*

How do I enable the MKDS hack? I changed the option.h file already. The thing is that I don't have libnds.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Last edited by dualscreenman on Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm not sure why L+R+A, L+R+X, L+R+Y isn't working, but I think you have to hold all 3 buttons down before press power (it probably won't work in testing mode). I didn't create this function, I believe caitsith2 did, maybe they will answer when they are available (if they know!).

Another thing that I would find useful (but I'm not quite sure how to make it work) is if that option is compiled in, you can put a _auto.nds file on the CF card (or SD card, and it should work M3 or SuperCard or anything else) then when you load DS from GBA or Autostart, it will automatically start that file instead of booting the GBA cartridge directly.

Also I wonder if you can do on a NDS, sound by tones (like the GBC does) rather than by loading a sound file.

Here are the features which I plan to add next:

Alarm clock
_auto.nds file support
Hold R to make it scroll faster (like it does in Super Smash Brothers Melee) (except on main menu, because on the main menu the R button toggles the backlight on the bottom screen)

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Ah, hold before power button. Gotcha. It works now.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

zzo38computer wrote:

Also I wonder if you can do on a NDS, sound by tones (like the GBC does) rather than by loading a sound file.

Yes. Six of the Nintendo DS sound channels have an alternate square waveform of 1/8 to 7/8 duty in 1/8 duty steps, and two have an alternate sample-and-hold binary noise waveform. Or you can synthesize waveforms in RAM and point the DS sound hardware there.

Quote:

Here are the features which I plan to add next:

_auto.nds file support

Why this name? I thought the accepted standard was _boot_mp.nds (with the "mp" for historical reasons).
_________________
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-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

tepples wrote:

zzo38computer wrote:

Here are the features which I plan to add next:

_auto.nds file support

Why this name? I thought the accepted standard was _boot_mp.nds (with the "mp" for historical reasons).

Yes, I will make _boot_mp.nds instead (it can be used in case some cards, such as SuperCard CF, don't support it automatically). (I was thinking of using _auto.nds in case _boot_mp.nds conflicts with anything, but now I realize that idea doesn't make any sense.)
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dualscreenman wrote:

Umm... *also needs help*

How do I enable the MKDS hack? I changed the option.h file already. The thing is that I don't have libnds.

You can't enable or disable any compile-time options without libnds. You need to download that before you can do that. When this software is complete, I think I will publish a few versions with various options turned on and off in case you can't or don't want to compile it.
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Oh, okay. I'll just revert for a while.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

The following code should be dealt with in main7.c

Code:

case IPC_CALL_ARM7:
((call0)IPC_ARM9_P1)();

should actually be

Code:

case IPC_CALL_ARM7:
((call0)IPC_ARM9_P1)();
break;

This is just a matter of what if the function returns properly, and the function called hosed the personal settings area in ram. We don't want the arm 7 writing the hosed settings into the firmware.

zzo38computer wrote:

Hold R to make it scroll faster (like it does in Super Smash Brothers Melee) (except on main menu, because on the main menu the R button toggles the backlight on the bottom screen)

This could get confusing. Why not make toggling the backlight an option in the main menu? If someone finds out how to adjust the brightness on DS Lite, you could use the same option for this (make it a compile-time option to choose whether you use normal or Lite); on normal DS it's just On/Off, and on Lite it's V. High/High/Low/V.Low/Off.

I think the whole idea of making your own firmware is pretty awesome, but I really don't like some of the controls (Select to open, L/R to toggle light, etc); they don't match the sort of "standard" most games/apps use. Is it possible to make the buttons configurable? Just defining them in a header file would be fine. (Put something like #define MENU_SELECT_BUTTON SELECT in the header, then check for MENU_SELECT_BUTTON instead of SELECT (or whatever you named it) in the main loop.)

HyperHacker wrote:

zzo38computer wrote:

Hold R to make it scroll faster (like it does in Super Smash Brothers Melee) (except on main menu, because on the main menu the R button toggles the backlight on the bottom screen)

This could get confusing. Why not make toggling the backlight an option in the main menu? If someone finds out how to adjust the brightness on DS Lite, you could use the same option for this (make it a compile-time option to choose whether you use normal or Lite); on normal DS it's just On/Off, and on Lite it's V. High/High/Low/V.Low/Off.

If we could just get loopy to update flashme, to put the correct firmware ID code back in place, then the firmware code can be used to detect what system fwnitro is running on, and use that to determine the backlight settings available. "MACp" is DS with Firmware versions 1, 2 or 3. "MACg" is DS with Firmware versions 4 and 5. "MACh" is DS lite (version 6 and up). "MAC[0xC2]" is IQUE DS.

Yeah, but that'd take up a bit more space. A firmware replacement isn't something you're generally going to move to another console.

tepples wrote:

I thought the accepted standard was _boot_mp.nds (with the "mp" for historical reasons).

Actually, the whole name is there for hitorical reasons. The original GBAMP FW hack (v1) was written in ASM in under 800 bytes. For this reason I couldn't parse long directory entries. I also wanted to pad the name out to 8.3 characters, since that completely fills a directory entry and can be checked with 3 comparisons (3 data words). I placed the underscore character at the beginning to separate it from the rest of the dirctory in file listings.

It was specifically _BOOT_MP.NDS because it was called to properly boot the NDS from the GBAMP (since the FW was merely a bootstrap loader).

But since we are no longer woking within the limitations of the 800 byte NDSMP v1, we can choose a better name. For consistency, I recommend _BOOT_DS.NDS, but perhaps someone can come up with a better alternative.
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caitsith2 wrote:

The following code should be dealt with in main7.c

Code:

case IPC_CALL_ARM7:
((call0)IPC_ARM9_P1)();

should actually be

Code:

case IPC_CALL_ARM7:
((call0)IPC_ARM9_P1)();
break;

This is just a matter of what if the function returns properly, and the function called hosed the personal settings area in ram. We don't want the arm 7 writing the hosed settings into the firmware.

Oops, I forgot to add "break", I will fix that on the weekend if no-one else does before I do.

Another problem is that Animal Crossing will not run. I'm not sure why... There may be a bug in this software! (Mario Kart DS, Kirby Canvas Curse, Mario Partner In Time, and a commercial GBA game (I don't remember the name) all run properly.)

Also, eventually DS Download Play must be made to work as well.
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I might have the fix, as Lunar dragon song was broken as well.

First off, on both the ARM 7 and ARM 9 side, Disable all interrupts prior to loading the DS card, and reenable the interrupts if loading doesn't succeed.

Second, Move all of the Check card routines, (The one that checks if the card was removed at one point), from the ARM7 to the ARM9, and make the ARM9 do it, even before sending the IPC to the ARM7.)

excellent work on the FWN zz and caitsith. I am always happy to see an update of this. I am not 100% certain but I think moonshell / infantile put a method to adjust the dslite's lighting.

zodttd and anyone else who is wondering why it freezes when trying to dump to an SD card- I said it before in this thread already! If you read the few public docs on SD/SD in SPI mode you will see that on initial powerup they are set to a wait/sleep state and are nearly inaccessable. The current FAT driver works on the assumption that the inital powerup is already taken care of by the supercard kernel. (I am also looking at this with the assumption that the internal chip hardware on both devices does nothing to start the SD interface on its own)

The ~solution; implement the function to wake the memory card (bring it out of idle state) and set it to SPI after detecting SD media. A HAlayer version of this for PIC chips works something like this:
-write 0xFF to input/tx 10 times (get and trash the response each time)
-sendCommand(CMD0) with no other data aside from crc
-if response is 1 then sendCommand(CMD1) (as above) until card response is not zero or it has been done 256 times
-write 0xFF again to tx

When a SD card is first powered up (or reset), the only thing it will respond to is CMD5 (used to start sdio and not SPI mode?) and CMD0. All others will fail, which is likely why the driver halts on the first CMD to read that is sent to the SC/M3 serial SD interface.

The HALayer for SD/MMC that I am referring to can be found as "Portable FAT Library for MCU Applications" on circuit cellar (by Ivan Sham - sham176.zip) - have a look for yourself though, I am by no means 100% certain this is all that would have to be done.

Animal Crossing works at least on 1.4D
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

Sorry about that Cory. I misunderstood your original post.

That explains a lot though. It's why the SD driver works after booting through the Supercard kernel, but not straight from the firmware. This was when using my mashed up code with sd.s.

I'll see if I can get the Supercard SD working when I find more freetime. Hopefully someone will take your advice even quicker though, since you basically laid it out as good as it gets.

Btw though, in 1.4D the same error occurs on an M3 Perfect CF. I wasn't expecting it to fail at FAT_InitFiles() when using a supported CF module. But it did. FWNITRO 1.4A works though, although I Had to move the ' j= ' line right after where FAT_fopen() is to get it to read the dump filesize properly. This seems to be already fixed in 1.4D, but 1.4A needed this change.

My guess is something beyond the FAT library is causing this error. But as cory laid out, even if this error is fixed, someone would still need to wake up the SD card as explained. :(

Keep up the great work on FWNITRO! :)

As v1.5 hasn't the MKDS hack,do I have to use the v1.4D, wait for a future release with it enabled or do i have the ability of enabling it manually?

Red XIII wrote:

As v1.5 hasn't the MKDS hack,do I have to use the v1.4D, wait for a future release with it enabled or do i have the ability of enabling it manually?

Probably the next release will have it enabled, but you can also enable it in options.h and recompile it (if you have devkitpro). Although eventually this feature will be replaced with a more general feature, which can work with all games (hacking files could be stored on CF cards or whatever).
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Okay, I have put in the few things that should, but not 100% sure that it does, for fixing the booting of some games. Also Nipped an issue with the Programmers Call Arm7 function, by adding that necessary break. Also, I made a set of 4 builds. (No MKDS hack or scroller, just the scroller, just the MKDS hack, and both.) (Just copy the installer from the appropiate directory over.)

http://ds.caitsith2.net/fwnitro%201.5a.zip

Hmm.. the scroller doesn't seem to work in any of the builds it should. (Maybe I'm being dense and missing something?) The other builds work, though.

Very nice work.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

caitsith2 wrote:

Okay, I have put in the few things that should, but not 100% sure that it does, for fixing the booting of some games. Also Nipped an issue with the Programmers Call Arm7 function, by adding that necessary break. Also, I made a set of 4 builds. (No MKDS hack or scroller, just the scroller, just the MKDS hack, and both.) (Just copy the installer from the appropiate directory over.)

http://ds.caitsith2.net/fwnitro%201.5a.zip

I can also boot Animal Crossing.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreen, I didn't actually add any of the scroller text. If you wish to make the scroller work, without going into commandline, put the scroll_text_changer.exe into one of the binary directories, edit one of the scroller examples, (scroller example.txt has info on how to format the scroller), and rename it to scroller.txt, put into same directory as exe, then doubleclick the exe.

I may make a gui version of the program, when I am not feeling too lazy to do so, to make the process a little easier.

caitsith2 wrote:

dualscreen, I didn't actually add any of the scroller text. If you wish to make the scroller work, without going into commandline, put the scroll_text_changer.exe into one of the binary directories, edit one of the scroller examples, (scroller example.txt has info on how to format the scroller), and rename it to scroller.txt, put into same directory as exe, then doubleclick the exe.

I may make a gui version of the program, when I am not feeling too lazy to do so, to make the process a little easier.

Yup, that settles that, I'm dense. j/k
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

I would like to submit this guide to be included with the fwnitro downloads.
It looked better in notepad. XP. Maybe I could host this in my webspace the ISP gave me.

Using the scroller feature
==============================================================================

To enable the scrollbar in this version of fwnitro, drag scroll_text_changer.exe into the appropriate folder that allows
the option of a scroller. Then edit scroller_example.txt and rename it scroller.txt. After editing, the final step is to run
scroll_text_changer.exe to enact the changes in install.ds.gba (or installer.nds). Once this is done, flash your DS(nitro)
unit with the installer application.

==============================================================================

- a comprehensive guide by dualscreenman
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

I may include this scroller guide with the next version on the weekend.
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:D Yay, I like contributing. I made some minor changes. You want me to put it in another post or see if I can post the new one to my webspace? (That is, if you want to use it)
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

dualscreenman wrote:

:D Yay, I like contributing. I made some minor changes. You want me to put it in another post or see if I can post the new one to my webspace? (That is, if you want to use it)

I might use it if you tell me what changes you made (you could just post what the differences are...) but post it on your web-space if you want, just make sure the version is indicated.
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Okay, got it up http://users.erols.com/echidna/scroller_enable_guide.txt. I made some clarity changes, told where to find formatting instructions (scroller_example.txt), and that's about it.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

I found some bugs in fwnitro 1.5A. (Minor ones, though) the bigger one has to do with the personal message option you can set in the preferences menu. I had mine set to "Hello, uber 1337 haxX0r". I went back and changed it to "Oh man you pwn!" (Hey, I got an ego to feed, too. :p) Yet the last eight characters are never removed, even though they are erased in the message-editing area in the configuration menu. My message now diaplays "Oh man you pwn!7 haxXor".

The other bug is more of a graphical (Can you call it that?) error. While holding any one of the auto boot button combos while powering on, you can see the first little bit of the scroller in white before the game/app loads. I thought you'd want to know about these.
_________________

dualscreenman wrote:

What about Gaim DS? Gaim pretty much has support for all IM programs.

tepples wrote:

"Goshdammit, the DS is not a Gaim-boy! It's a third pillar!"

I have version 1.6 now created. Now there is alarm clock function, and I fixed the bug in executing ARM7 code from programming menu.
http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/nitro/fwnitro/
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Man, this keeps getting better, and only 106K so far. :-) Some things I noticed:

-When you select "LOAD DS CARD" and no card is inserted (or you booted it from WMB), it switches to "NO DS GAME CARD". Why not just show that from the beginning?
-DS DOWNLOAD PLAY doesn't appear to work, I'm guessing it's still not implemented. I'd suggest at least adding "(not implemented)" or some such to it. Or heck, show descriptions of what the options do on the bottom screen; the description for this could just say it doesn't work.
-Is it supposed to show my name and such? It only shows the menu, time/date and keyboard. Maybe this is because I used WMB, but my apps can access user settings through WMB fine (dunno if it works the same as if it's booted from firmware, but the point is it's possible). In fact on the USER PREF menu, it shows nothing for name and "WR" for message. Maybe it's just because these are in Japanese?
-Having an built in RAM dumper, while kinda useless, is cool. The layout is a bit lacking, though. Showing the last few digits on the left and ASCII on the right would be a plus.
-The alarm clock function is cool, but I can't seem to figure out how to work it. Pressing Y makes it go off and X stops it, but there's no place to set the time (unless I'm supposed to use the user pref menu, which isn't very convenient). This option isn't documented either, and why is POWER OFF in the middle of the menu?
-I can't access the MKDS course hack through WMB, which makes sense since it can't load the game anyway (though MKDS is inserted). However, I can when I run the app from GBAMP, it just won't start the game. O_o

Hm, it won't even run the DS card if I put it on my GBAMP as _BOOT_MP.nds. Though if I do that, then select LOAD DS FROM GBA, it recognizes that no DS card is inserted immediately.

Heh, if you can get Download Play working, and maybe make the alarm clock a little less heart-attack-inducing, this will have every feature I need. :-) BTW, you still have a screenshot of V1.1 up.

Here is whats new in fwnitro 1.6A
* Rewrote scroll_text_changer, so that the previous need to copy it and scroller.txt to appropiate directory is obsoleted. Now the program just applies the changes to all of the builds with the scroller option enabled. (As such, I rewrote the scroll text changer instructions to reflect this.) (You can still change it the old way if you wish. It will still work that way.)
* It is now possible to start a DS game card or GBA gamepak with the backlight off. Starting ds from gba with backlight off is pointless as most homebrew applications just turn the backlight back on anyways.
* onscreen keyboard now plays it click sound.
* Fixed a rare, but serious bug, that allowed a user to completely erase his nickname. (which could potentially cause some problems in official NDS games, and possibly the 20109 error in Nintendo WFC enabled games.) This bug can be caused in earlier versions by completely erasing your nickname in the change nickname option, hitting start, then hitting B to cancel the change.
* Closing the lid while in alarm clock now turns off the backlight.
* Changes to the personal message are now properly displayed.
* Scroller does not scroll while autostarting anymore.
* Pushing A/B on the alarm clock settings now behaves the same as setting the Hour/Minute in the Real Time clock settings.

FWNitro 1.6A binary
FWNitro 1.6A source

As it stands now, all thats left to implement, is touch screen calibration, and ds download play.

Last edited by caitsith2 on Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:05 am; edited 1 time in total

HyperHacker wrote:

-When you select "LOAD DS CARD" and no card is inserted (or you booted it from WMB), it switches to "NO DS GAME CARD". Why not just show that from the beginning?

Well, the bios properly sets the required invalid flag, if no DS card was inserted initially. However, there is no quick way to detect every frame if the DS card was removed. It is however correctly detected if the card was removed at one point, when you do try to select it. (Card hardware state no longer matches DS hardware state.)

HyperHacker wrote:

-DS DOWNLOAD PLAY doesn't appear to work, I'm guessing it's still not implemented. I'd suggest at least adding "(not implemented)" or some such to it. Or heck, show descriptions of what the options do on the bottom screen; the description for this could just say it doesn't work.

Yeah, this option still needs to be implemented.

There, FWNitro 1.6B released.

FWNitro 1.6B binary
FWNitro 1.6B source

Whats New
* Main Menu rearranged. Now all primary settings are at top, Optional compile settings below that, and finally, power off at the bottom of the menu.
* It is now easier to change the alarm clock settings, right from the alarm clock itself. (Push A to go to alarm clock settings.)
* Alarm clock now has a snooze function. Snooze function silences alarm for 10 minutes, "not bloody 9 minutes!!". Also, pushing the B button more than once, adds 10 minutes to the snooze time up to 90 minutes. (this feature is definitely not in the official firmware.)
* The alarm clock no longer turns back on immediately after shut off, if it went off due to the Time being equal to the personal alarm clock setting, and the time is still equal to personal alarm clock setting.
* Unlike official firmware, Alarm clock does NOT shut off after one minute, and unlike most alarm clocks, it does NOT shut off after 2 hours. It goes on till the end of time, battery dies, or you shut it off.

Most of the alarm clock ideas taken from http://tripoint.org/kevtris/Projects/nixie/index.html.

HyperHacker wrote:

Man, this keeps getting better, and only 106K so far. :-) Some things I noticed:

-When you select "LOAD DS CARD" and no card is inserted (or you booted it from WMB), it switches to "NO DS GAME CARD". Why not just show that from the beginning?
-DS DOWNLOAD PLAY doesn't appear to work, I'm guessing it's still not implemented. I'd suggest at least adding "(not implemented)" or some such to it. Or heck, show descriptions of what the options do on the bottom screen; the description for this could just say it doesn't work.
-Is it supposed to show my name and such? It only shows the menu, time/date and keyboard. Maybe this is because I used WMB, but my apps can access user settings through WMB fine (dunno if it works the same as if it's booted from firmware, but the point is it's possible). In fact on the USER PREF menu, it shows nothing for name and "WR" for message. Maybe it's just because these are in Japanese?
-Having an built in RAM dumper, while kinda useless, is cool. The layout is a bit lacking, though. Showing the last few digits on the left and ASCII on the right would be a plus.
-The alarm clock function is cool, but I can't seem to figure out how to work it. Pressing Y makes it go off and X stops it, but there's no place to set the time (unless I'm supposed to use the user pref menu, which isn't very convenient). This option isn't documented either, and why is POWER OFF in the middle of the menu?
-I can't access the MKDS course hack through WMB, which makes sense since it can't load the game anyway (though MKDS is inserted). However, I can when I run the app from GBAMP, it just won't start the game. O_o

Hm, it won't even run the DS card if I put it on my GBAMP as _BOOT_MP.nds. Though if I do that, then select LOAD DS FROM GBA, it recognizes that no DS card is inserted immediately.

Heh, if you can get Download Play working, and maybe make the alarm clock a little less heart-attack-inducing, this will have every feature I need. :-) BTW, you still have a screenshot of V1.1 up.

DS Download Play still isn't implemented (it needs to be, but no-one seems to have any idea how)
The name and message won't displayy if it is in Japanese or uses any non-ASCII characters (actually, I put mine in Japanese as well before I updated the firmware, so now it won't display for me as well...)
I will update the screen-shots on the weekend
Some DS software won't load properly from the Supercard CF unless you start it in fail-safe mode (I'm not sure why...)
I will add a feature to options.h #define ALARM_FREQUENCY 440 that you can set to a different frequency if you wish (440 Hz = middle A on the piano)
Animal Crossing still doesn't work for me, but it works on my brother's DS unit. Everything in the code looks correct though!
Touch-screen calibration also needs to be implemented

_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

Hmm...
FWNitro is becoming a seriously useful tool.
Not only has it got the "hey look at my DS" factor, but it allows you to backup (quite easily) the games you own.
Seeing how it does this is there any chance you could implement a save backup feature too?
That way I can make sure I keep my 100% Super Mario save (yes i know Rain does this, but that's another tool that i need to have on CF.)

JaJa wrote:

Seeing how it does this is there any chance you could implement a save backup feature too?

And keep it updated when Nintendo introduces new save types? That might be something that's better kept as an extension on CF because it doesn't involve the secure area of a DS Game Card.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Huh, in version 1.6 Metroid Prime Hunters somehow locked the firmware when I tried to boot the game, but 1.6b is fine. Cool.

By the way, like this alarm...it's so incredibly jarring I don't know how it WOULDN'T wake me up. :D
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

JaJa wrote:

Seeing how it does this is there any chance you could implement a save backup feature too?

It's easier to just use Rain, which is quite frequently updated as new games are released.

Last edited by m2pt5 on Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:27 am; edited 1 time in total

Any chance we could see the alarm clock as a standalone app, or better yet, a Moonshell plugin?

Edit: Sorry for the double post - it's late, I'm tired, and I wasn't paying attention.

Awesome. Are there any plans for customizable controls, though? I realize I could just tweak them in the code easily enough, but not everyone knows how.

aahw come on, snooze is 10 minutes? ;)
it's been 9minutes, ever since the first alarm clock was created :P
the reason for the 9minutes is, sionce the old clocks werent very accurate, having one minute less of snooze-time would allow for a small correction of this inaccuracy. now i know the ds is way more accurate. but if you dont enter the correct time, its still off ;)
at least add the option for people who wish to live by the old way ;)

The 9th Sage wrote:

Huh, in version 1.6 Metroid Prime Hunters somehow locked the firmware when I tried to boot the game, but 1.6b is fine. Cool.

By the way, like this alarm...it's so incredibly jarring I don't know how it WOULDN'T wake me up. :D

Maybe I have the wrong libraries. What files does caitsith2 have that I don't? (Just say which files I need the newest versions of, and what versions you have, and I will check it out for myself.) Maybe then I can fix it. I know... I have thes problems as well, with Animal Crossing.

And I know the alarm is good, it uses the square wave generator rather than loading another sound file (to save space)

m2pt5 wrote:

Any chance we could see the alarm clock as a standalone app, or better yet, a Moonshell plugin?

Yes it would be good idea to make the alarm clock also a standalone app (not everyone uses Moonshell, but I guess a Moonshell plugin could be made as well), and the standalone alarm clock would have more features, such as graphics, more selection of sound (or even to load a sound from CF card), set snooze option, set alarm depending on days of week, multiple alarms, etc.

But the alarm feature built-in to FWNITRO will not have all these extra features.
_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

Whacko wrote:

aahw come on, snooze is 10 minutes? ;)
it's been 9minutes, ever since the first alarm clock was created :P
the reason for the 9minutes is, sionce the old clocks werent very accurate, having one minute less of snooze-time would allow for a small correction of this inaccuracy.

Actually, the first digital clock with a snooze bar snoozed for 8:31 because 511 seconds was the biggest number that would fit in a 9-bit seconds counter. Copycats snoozed for 9 minutes.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I found another bug in this software, and I can't see what is wrong.

Some software, when loaded from the CF card in normal mode, the ARM7 code doesn't run. But it works OK in fail-safe mode.

How can I fix this problem?
_________________
Important: Please send messages about FWNITRO to the public forum, not privately to me.

One thing to note, is that at start up of fwnitro, ARM9 takes control of both the DS Card, and the GBA slot busses. When you start anything up, the control should be returned to the ARM7. That might be something to look into. During failsafe code, the ARM7 has control of all of the game card/game pak busses. Its not caused me any problems, so Im not sure if this might be the problem, but it shouldn't be.

Released version 1.6c

* Alarm clock hard coded values moved into options.h (If you wish to have 9 minutes like 99% of the alarm clocks on the planet, you just change that option and recompile.)
* minor bug fix to the snooze function.

Get it at http://fwnitro.caitsith2.net/

Would it be possible for you to implement the ability to insert a DS cart after FWnitro has started?
I don't own a PassMe, which is required to use Project DipStar, so the PassMe simulator in FWnitro would be very useful for me to get around this requirement. (I can't flash FWnitro to my DS because I NEED DS download support.)

any chance of adding some kind of password screen... just incase it a DS gets stolen?

gbadev.org forum archive

DS development > FWNITRO - New Replacement Firmware! (v1.6)

#72554 - zzo38computer - Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:13 pm

#72560 - tepples - Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:19 pm

#72563 - Mr. Picklesworth - Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:33 pm

#72567 - caitsith2 - Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:56 pm

#72572 - zzo38computer - Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:36 am

#72573 - Raziel Fireeye - Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:37 am

#72574 - tepples - Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:03 am

#72578 - bafio - Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:33 am

#72580 - zzo38computer - Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:42 am

#72582 - m2pt5 - Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:00 am

#72586 - caitsith2 - Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:31 am

#72588 - zzo38computer - Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:48 am

#72707 - caitsith2 - Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:18 am

#72727 - zzo38computer - Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:58 am

#73416 - lockwood - Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:04 pm

#73476 - zzo38computer - Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:04 am

#73498 - tepples - Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:57 am

#73579 - zzo38computer - Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:28 pm

#73597 - tepples - Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:30 pm

#73682 - caitsith2 - Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:38 am

#73737 - Dorian Underwood - Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:29 pm

#73740 - tepples - Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:41 pm

#73742 - Dorian Underwood - Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:44 pm

#73757 - caitsith2 - Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:01 am

#73761 - HyperHacker - Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:19 am

#73788 - tepples - Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:00 am

#73811 - zzo38computer - Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:48 am

#73842 - caitsith2 - Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:10 am

#73876 - zzo38computer - Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:56 pm

#73877 - lockwood - Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:10 pm

#73888 - JaJa - Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:56 pm

#73906 - tepples - Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:34 pm

#74422 - zzo38computer - Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:54 am

#74450 - HyperHacker - Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:39 am

#75473 - caitsith2 - Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:00 am

#75478 - eld - Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:50 am

#75480 - Mr. Picklesworth - Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:23 am

#75482 - jas20 - Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:09 am

#75502 - dualscreenman - Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:59 pm

#75511 - Mr. Picklesworth - Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:41 pm

#75522 - Ilomoga - Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:26 pm

#75539 - jas20 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:38 am

#75540 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:01 am

#75543 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:18 am

#75544 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:24 am

#75545 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:28 am

#75546 - caitsith2 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:47 am

#75547 - vb_master - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:17 am

#75548 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:18 am

#75550 - vb_master - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:22 am

#75551 - mastertop101 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:22 am

#75556 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:35 am

#75557 - vb_master - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:39 am

#75560 - dualscreenman - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:49 am

#75562 - caitsith2 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:24 am

#75571 - vb_master - Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:03 am

#75572 - zzo38computer - Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:17 am

#75575 - Mr. Picklesworth - Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:46 am

#75576 - zzo38computer - Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:20 am

#75577 - Mr. Picklesworth - Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:52 am

#75578 - caitsith2 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:33 am

#75582 - Sebbo - Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:26 am

#75591 - cory1492 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:42 pm

#75593 - tepples - Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:02 pm

#75648 - caitsith2 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:40 pm

#75649 - caitsith2 - Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:45 pm

#75659 - vb_master - Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:28 am

#75665 - Raziel Fireeye - Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:48 am

#75671 - thundrestrike - Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:21 am

#75697 - MaHe - Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:08 am

#75699 - eld - Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:27 am

#75713 - Xtreme - Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:11 pm

#75731 - CubeGuy - Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:48 pm

#75750 - The 9th Sage - Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:27 pm

#75817 - zzo38computer - Thu Mar 16, 2006 6:00 am

#75827 - Sausage Boy - Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:39 am

#75833 - Mrshlee - Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:40 am

#75839 - Sausage Boy - Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:17 pm