#89771 - haplessjoe - Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:48 pm
I need convincing. The MML seems adequate enough, but I know there's benefits to flashing that outweigh the NoPass solution. I'm not overly concerned about bricking, so you can leave the warnings out. I'm just looking for the straight up "pro"s of flashing vs. NoPass.
#89776 - MaHe - Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:06 pm
I flashed mine today. Yes, I was considering it for a long while, but I've done it in the end. It scarier than a rollecoaster, but true.
Though using a mirror and a toothpick with some tin foil is actually very easy (my hands were shaking like hell, I almost pushed the foil in the wrong hole >.<) - well, just make sure you're relaxed and everything will be fine. And be patient - I wiggled the toothpick for several minutes until I got contact ... :)
EDIT: I should read your post carefully first ... Well, the pros and cons:
NoPass:
+ no need to flash
+ additional EEPROM, if you'll need some (maybe when DSLinux supports it :P)
- could easily get lost
- consumes some extra power
FlashME:
+ malicious code protection (strongly recommended - even a bug in some badly written HB application could jump to FW and mess something up, though that's pretty unlikely)
+ get rid of the Health Warning Screen (I kept mine, though)
+ no RSA check in WMB!
- the whole danger of the flashing process
_________________
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#89782 - sonny_jim - Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:16 pm
Once you flashme you lose the ability to send demo's to un'flashed DS's (not sure if this is totally true)
#89791 - dualscreenman - Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:43 pm
Actually, Nintendo blocked WMB from a PC for all DS Lites.
_________________
| 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!" |
#89793 - tepples - Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:53 pm
| MaHe wrote: |
NoPass:
it :P)
- could easily get lost |
I keep mine in a full size DS game case. Other people who want to go on a trip with just homebrew can just keep it in the DS.
| Quote: |
| - consumes some extra power |
TakeMeOut.
+ You need one to flash your DS anyway, and you can use it to flash other people's units.
+ Future NoPass cards will solve the problem with sleep mode in official WMB demos and may even allow booting homebrew over HTTP.
- Warranty issues.
- Uncertain legality of distribution of the copyrighted BIOS contained in the FlashMe file, especially compared to the twice-upheld legality of code with the same purpose as NoPass in the U.S. cases Chamberlain v. Skylink and Lexmark v. Static Control.
| sonny_jim wrote: |
| Once you flashme you lose the ability to send demo's to un'flashed DS's (not sure if this is totally true) |
Only if ye be using a patcher. I host WMB multiplayer games of Meteos, Mario Kart DS, and Tetris DS just fine with my flashed DS and authentic Game Cards.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#89810 - josath - Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:45 pm
| sonny_jim wrote: |
| Once you flashme you lose the ability to send demo's to un'flashed DS's (not sure if this is totally true) |
Not true...i've sent demos all the time with my flashme'd DS, to non-flashme DS. as have many other people. i wish people would stop repeating this.
#89868 - sonic moose - Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:20 am
Can't Passme/Passkey/SuperPass and MMLs break your DS cart slot though...?
That seems like a MAJOR con to me.
#89871 - tepples - Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:32 am
| sonic moose wrote: |
| Can't Passme/Passkey/SuperPass and MMLs break your DS cart slot though...? |
Use a precision utility knife to enlarge the locking notch slightly and it won't.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#89950 - Lynx - Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:30 pm
And that issues (breaking the DS Slot) has only been found with the MML.. They must have used a poor plastics company to create their cases.
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NDS Homebrew Roms & Reviews
#90270 - sonic moose - Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:25 am
I read on another forum about a guy who had to take the spring out of his DS cart slot because his SuperPass broke it.
I just don't want the same to happen to my lite.
#90281 - Madrigal - Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:00 am
Just get a Superkey and don't bother. Superkey works perfectly. There's no point in flashing when there is this product IMO. I don't know about Passkey 3, but the Superkey is exactly like a regular DS cart, notch and all, so there is no risk of it getting stuck or damaging your DS.
#90316 - Lynx - Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:49 pm
| Madrigal wrote: |
| There's no point in flashing when there is this product IMO. |
Your opinion will change if you brick your DS. I'm not saying it will happen.. but that doesn't mean it can't.
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NDS Homebrew Roms & Reviews
#90318 - tepples - Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:36 pm
A bricker disguised as an update to FlashMe, such as by hijacking the gcdev.com domain which has shown itself to be unreliable, would pass through FlashMe's failsafe code because the user is already shorting SL1.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#90339 - Lynx - Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:54 pm
Good point, but I see it more likey to just receive standard homebrew to do that vs going through all the work you just mentioned. As with any unauthorised NDS homebrew, you are taking a risk. With FlashMe, it's a one time risk. Without FlashMe, it's an EVERY time risk.
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#90376 - uph4m - Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:09 am
I researched it before I flashed my Lite and ended up flashing the first night I got it. I used a nail with ground down tip and tape around it except for the tip. I was being real careful and got it done. The only problem was that I found the SL1 to be harder to short than the normal DS and it took me about 20 min instead of 20 sec. I couldn't keep it shorted. But they time I was finished I had stuck the nail in so many times and moved it around I found it to be pretty much impossible to turn the thing off. Just my 2 cents though.
#90406 - sonic moose - Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:16 am
Are there any symptoms as to tell if your cart slot is breaking?
My DS lite, the carts need to be pushed in pretty hard.. not like HARD but with some force.
crap
#90409 - Lynx - Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:23 am
I just bought a brand new one, and they seem a little harder to insert.. So, did it get harder, or has it always been that hard? I think they are using a stiffer spring or something for the click-in mechanism on the DS-Lite.
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#90479 - Madrigal - Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:32 pm
| Lynx wrote: |
| Madrigal wrote: | | There's no point in flashing when there is this product IMO. |
Your opinion will change if you brick your DS. I'm not saying it will happen.. but that doesn't mean it can't. |
That's why you get your homebrew from a reliable source and let several people test it and report back first before using it. Really, the risk of bricking while flashing is much greater than some phantom trojan. How many people got hit by that bricker anyway, like 5? Really, people are being paranoid over nothing. The nopass devices are much better than flashing. Again, IMO there is absolutely no reason to flash anymore. It blows my mind that so many people are still doing it.
#90487 - chishm - Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:26 pm
| Madrigal wrote: |
| That's why you get your homebrew from a reliable source and let several people test it and report back first before using it. Really, the risk of bricking while flashing is much greater than some phantom trojan. How many people got hit by that bricker anyway, like 5? Really, people are being paranoid over nothing. The nopass devices are much better than flashing. Again, IMO there is absolutely no reason to flash anymore. It blows my mind that so many people are still doing it. |
1) Testing code using WMB from a PC
2) No annoying health screen
3) No need to carry around another DS card, leaving the slot free for a game.
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#90488 - Veg - Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:33 pm
It blows my mind that there are some people who aren't flashing. Who wants to keep swapping carts over to play homebrew and official N games? Pain in the arse.
Flashing is the only way to go.
#90490 - adrian783 - Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:40 pm
| tepples wrote: |
+ Future NoPass cards will solve the problem with sleep mode in official WMB demos and may even allow booting homebrew over HTTP. |
sleep can be achieved by connecting pin 1 & 7 or 1 & 17 on MML, superkey and passcard 3 supports sleep natively
#90505 - Lynx - Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:39 pm
| Madrigal wrote: |
| That's why you get your homebrew from a reliable source and let several people test it and report back first before using it. |
Hmm.. that's funny.. so.. the people testing it.. better have FlashMe installed??? And I'm not even going to discuss the ways to get around this, if you wanted to brick a large number of DSs.
| Quote: |
Really, the risk of bricking while flashing is much greater than some phantom trojan. How many people got hit by that bricker anyway, like 5? |
Please remember, that was a PROOF OF CONCEPT! Just to show that it could happen.. It wasn't released to the wild with a target of everyone that runs homebrew!
| Quote: |
| Really, people are being paranoid over nothing. |
I hope you are right.. but then.. Norton, Symantec, etc.. make a lot of money from people being 'paranoid'. :)
Think if it like insurance... You pay money so that when something bad does happen, you have help. But.. You don't really want something bad to happen.
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NDS Homebrew Roms & Reviews
#90526 - haplessjoe - Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:51 pm
| adrian783 wrote: |
| sleep can be achieved by connecting pin 1 & 7 or 1 & 17 on MML |
Could you please offer some more information? This is the first I've heard of this and seems like a good solution for me as I use MML and the "Sleep Mode" feature is one of the primary reasons I'm considering flashing.
#90545 - tepples - Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:25 pm
| Veg wrote: |
| Who wants to keep swapping carts over to play homebrew and official N games? Pain in the arse. |
You still have to swap to play more than one official N game, unless you're counting WarioWare: Touched! as more than one game.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#90554 - Veg - Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:02 pm
Well, obviously.
If you've got a NoPass or whatever clogging up your DS slot, and you want to keep switching between homebrew and official NDS games, you've got twice as much 'game inserting' and 'game removing' to do.
#90746 - Madrigal - Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:36 am
| chishm wrote: |
1) Testing code using WMB from a PC
2) No annoying health screen
3) No need to carry around another DS card, leaving the slot free for a game. |
1) I'll give you that one. But the average user isn't going to need that
2) Not a big deal. It flashes for like half a second on the Superkey
3) Again, no big deal. Just swap it out when you want to play a real game
| Quote: |
It blows my mind that there are some people who aren't flashing. Who wants to keep swapping carts over to play homebrew and official N games? Pain in the arse.
Flashing is the only way to go. |
That's the lamest reason for flashing I've ever heard. If you're too lazy to swap out a game cart, you've got bigger problems. It's called a video game system. You've had to swap carts since they've existed.
#90799 - tepples - Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:08 pm
| Madrigal wrote: |
| It's called a video game system. You've had to swap carts since they've existed. |
Some people are too used to PCs, laptops, PDAs, and especially Xbox Live Arcade, which don't require swapping.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#90811 - Madrigal - Sun Jul 02, 2006 6:53 pm
| Lynx wrote: |
| Madrigal wrote: | | That's why you get your homebrew from a reliable source and let several people test it and report back first before using it. |
Hmm.. that's funny.. so.. the people testing it.. better have FlashMe installed??? And I'm not even going to discuss the ways to get around this, if you wanted to brick a large number of DSs.
| Quote: |
Really, the risk of bricking while flashing is much greater than some phantom trojan. How many people got hit by that bricker anyway, like 5? |
Please remember, that was a PROOF OF CONCEPT! Just to show that it could happen.. It wasn't released to the wild with a target of everyone that runs homebrew!
| Quote: | | Really, people are being paranoid over nothing. |
I hope you are right.. but then.. Norton, Symantec, etc.. make a lot of money from people being 'paranoid'. :)
Think if it like insurance... You pay money so that when something bad does happen, you have help. But.. You don't really want something bad to happen. |
Forgot to respond to this.
1) No, I'm not saying you should have flashme to test homebrew. I'm just saying let a bunch of people test it first and report back before you give it a go, whether you have flashme installed or not. I followed this practice with my regular flashed DS as well.
2) People still got hit by it.
3) This isn't like going on porn and warez sites with no antivirus. Just get your homebrew from a reputable site and let a bunch of people test it first and the risk is next to nothing. Again, this is a smart practice whether you have flashme installed or not.
#90863 - kirra - Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:19 am
If you're at all worried that you may brick it.. I can assure you, that you'd have to make some major mistake (like poking the flashing tool into the other hole) to mess up. I have had no experience what so ever with electronics and shorting and all that and I just flashme'd three US polar white DS Lites. Very quick very easy.
This is the guide I followed:
http://ndshb.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=108
I had a friend look at the screen and tell me if it stopped or if its moving while I had the back facing me so I could jiggle to tool around.
#90935 - haplessjoe - Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:48 pm
Well, I decided to go ahead and flash. In the end it seemed like there was really no reason not to (aside from the bricking, of course).
I used a 5/64" Allen key wrapped in electrical tape and everything went perfectly. I used a small mirror to watch the screen and barely had to readjust the tool at all.
Thanks for all the input and information guys.