#117526 - felix123 - Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:19 am
EZTEAM announced that they will be releasing a 3 in 1 slot 2 expansion card for use with EZ5. It provides 256Mbit NorFLASH for GBA functions, ram expansion, and rumble in a single package. The rumble has adjustable strength and a development library will be provided. Black, lite sized. Price and release date not announced yet.
Official Chinese post
They could still cram more functions into it, like a motion sensor...
_________________
Nintendo DS homebrew on Wikipedia
#117580 - HyperHacker - Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:18 pm
Neat. I wouldn't mind seeing more RAM (in 1MB or 32MB pages, ideally user-selectable) and perhaps an FM radio. (They can fit one in my MP3 player along with the AAA battery, 1GB flash ROM, backlit LCD display, decoder chips, RAM, CPU, USB port, microphone, headphone jack, and line-in, and it's the size of a lighter. I'm sure they can fit one in this thing.) Maybe USB port too. I wouldn't count on seeing any of those though. :-p
But what exactly does "for use with EZ5" mean? Only compatible with their slot-1 card? Does it not have its own CF/SD port?
_________________
I'm a PSP hacker now, but I still <3 DS.
#117584 - tepples - Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:23 pm
Perhaps this GBA cart is designed to be flashed inside the DS using Wi-Fi, just like the F2A and EZFA were designed to be flashed inside the GBA over the serial cable.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#117587 - HyperHacker - Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:26 pm
That'd be kind of a shame. All these functions and only 32MB of flash space? I was feeling cramped with 128MB.
_________________
I'm a PSP hacker now, but I still <3 DS.
#117588 - josath - Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:26 pm
Probably it means you load files onto your slot-1 ez5, using tf cards or whatever it takes, then it copies them to the slot-2 card using the DS itself
#117606 - tepples - Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:11 pm
What you describe (NAND flash in one slot, NOR flash in SLOT-2) is just like the old GBA "Game Wallet" from the Flash Advance days, right?
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#117656 - felix123 - Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:13 am
#118422 - felix123 - Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:20 am
They released source code to access the various functions.
http://www.ezflash.cn/zip/triplecardsrc.rar
The price is RMB 128 (USD 17).
_________________
Nintendo DS homebrew on Wikipedia
#119743 - Tantrum - Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:20 pm
Neat. With that code it should be possible to write an app so that any slot-1 card can copy to/from it's own storage (via DLDI) to the slot-2 cart (using the supplied code above).
Can't find the cart in-stock anywhere local. But when it does appear I may pick one up and write the app (unless someone else has by then :)
EDIT: that should really say "EZ5-3in1" rather than "slot-2 cart", as I'm referring to the specific cart rather than any slot-2 cart.
Last edited by Tantrum on Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:46 am; edited 1 time in total
#119874 - Lynx - Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:56 pm
But, doesn't the current DLDI lib require you to choose which slot is active? Or did Chishm already fix that and make both useable at the same time?
_________________
NDS Homebrew Roms & Reviews
#119877 - Tantrum - Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:44 am
| Lynx wrote: |
| But, doesn't the current DLDI lib require you to choose which slot is active? Or did Chishm already fix that and make both useable at the same time? |
I don't need a FAT filesystem on the EZ5-3in1, I only need it to take a single GBA rom. Here's how I'm picturing it.....
- you boot your slot-1 card.
- you run the 'copy-my-gba-rom-to-the-EZ5-3in1' application.
- you choose a GBA rom, and it copies it to the EZ5-3in1.
- app initiates a reset-to-GBA-mode.
- NDS boots slot 2 like a normal rom.
The app also needs to handle upload and download of SRAM to keep saves.
#121609 - Tantrum - Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:44 pm
My 3in1 arrived today. I'll have a play with it later, see if I can get the supplied code writing, reading and shaking. One thing off the bat tho, it's not recognised as a standard rumble device - perhaps when you use the slot-1 EZ5 it patches the rumble code in the rom? I can't confirm this yet tho, for all I know the thing is DOA :) More info l8r...
#121611 - simonjhall - Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:52 pm
If you're thinking of buying one of these and only have a DS phat then watch out - you won't be able to plug in the extra memory/rumble thing into slot-2.
If anyone knows of an adaptor to make it fit in a phat, please shout!
_________________
Big thanks to everyone who donated for Quake2
#121613 - Diddl - Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:57 pm
rumble function works fine with every rom. you can adjust it in 3 strength (EZ5 config: L+R).
but normally it is locked. there is a romlist database which also includes a rumble support flag. spyro works fine with rumble and it recognized it (spyro config page - rumble option only with trimode cartidge).
#121648 - ttabbal - Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:23 pm
The EZ5 firmware enables the rumble when you load the games that can use it. It looks like their loader activates it based on a ROM list. Same thing with the RAM expansion. In it's default bootup mode it looks like a GBA cart (NOR flash is mapped to 0x08000000).
I got one last night and have been messing with it. I also found some sample code over on the EZ5 forum for accessing the various functions, it's basically a card tester for all the functions.
http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?p=29106
That's the thread link over there. I haven't had a chance to test it, but I can already see what I was doing wrong trying to use the code the EZ Team gives out. If I get some time tonight, I'm going to attempt to write a quick and dirty GBA loader for it. I'll post here when I have something that works. If the code I got from the other forum works, I should be able to get something working reasonably quickly.
#121649 - Tantrum - Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:35 pm
Excellent. Thanks, ttabbal! You've saved me from wasted effort :) If you post code or PM me, I'll happily test it.
#121835 - ttabbal - Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:11 am
Test build 1 is available!
http://www.tabbal.net/LoaderTest.nds
This loads a file called 0001.gba from the root directory of your Slot-1 device into the expansion cart's NOR Flash.
Limitations/Bugs:
It only erases 2Mbyte of the NOR before writing. This might mean you need to use small ROMs. I'm testing with Goomba Color.
No SRAM management is available. Saves from homebrew and probably patched commercial ROMS will save, but if you load another ROM or otherwise mess with the SRAM, you will lose your save.
No real sanity checking, if you load something that isn't a GBA, is too big, etc. it will try to load it anyway. It may or may not work.
Usage/Expected Results....
Don't forget to DLDI patch the NDS file!!
When you run it, you will see the app erasing the NOR blocks. After that, it prints out the contents of your root dir, so you can see that libfat is working.
After that, it goes into the copy/verify loop. At the end, you should see an EOF notification, followed by "Copy Complete!". You can restart your DS now. If you don't see the EOF (it might be a line or two up) then there is probably a problem.
When you start your DS, remove the slot-1 card so that you can boot in GBA mode from the DS firmware menu. I have not implemented the GBA reboot code yet. Your GBA ROM should start running now.
Please report any errors you see to me and I'll see if I can get them fixed for the next test build.
Please report success as well, I would like to know how it's working for people.
#121859 - cory1492 - Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:19 am
| ttabbal wrote: |
| I also found some sample code over on the EZ5 forum for accessing the various functions, it's basically a card tester for all the functions. |
Actually, it was the sample code I requested (to write a GBA/ds.gba loader for other slot 1 cards) and put into a working form for release.
BTW: NOR must be erased (in blocks) before it is reprogrammed, in this NOR all bits get set to 1 on erase, and once changed to 0 by writing must be erased before they can be 1 again. (I might be backwards on the bits, but EZ4 definitely formats bytes to 0xFF.) So yeah, if you only erase 2mbit, you should only write those 2 pages or suffer bit errors. SRAM/PSRAM do not behave this way.
#122177 - ttabbal - Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:33 pm
Here we go! TR2 of my crappy NOR flasher is ready! Source included right out of the gate this time.
http://www.tabbal.net/copyTest-TR2.zip
Changes for this version:
You can now pick a ROM to load. It looks in the /GBA directory of your slot-1 card to locate ROMs. If you don't want to put them there, ummm... change it and compile your own. :)
Left and Right to select the ROM file, A to choose it.
The program will then ask you to confirm by holding R and L. It also checks for the flash ID on the 3in1 to prevent you from attempting to write to something else. I doubt it would do much, but you never know.
You will see it erase and copy/test, Copy Complete! is displayed when it is done, along with the title of the ROM you loaded, just reads the GBA header after flashing.
It should also be checking the ROM filesize before letting you flash. It should display an error if you pick a file that is too big (32MByte). You can then pick a new file. I haven't tested that part very well, so please let me know if you run into anything.
Erase will now attempt to erase only as much as you need for the ROM. Note: I need to go find a full size ROM to test the border condition with. I am not 100% sure on that case. All the small ROMs I have tested work fine.
#122179 - tepples - Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:59 pm
| ttabbal wrote: |
| Note: I need to go find a full size ROM to test the border condition with. |
Make your own full-size ROM.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#122180 - Diddl - Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:03 pm
Very cool! so I can use Trimode expansion with any slot 1 card (not only EZ-V)? would it possible to implement a zip file extractor, so I can save space on my slot 1 card?
#122269 - ttabbal - Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:51 am
Excellent idea tepples! Thanks for the pointer. That will make a great test ROM! And I don't need an eyepatch to use it! :)
#122271 - ttabbal - Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:03 am
| Diddl wrote: |
| Very cool! so I can use Trimode expansion with any slot 1 card (not only EZ-V)? would it possible to implement a zip file extractor, so I can save space on my slot 1 card? |
Well, my app can use 1/3 of it. :) I only have NOR flashing working right now. Cory got the RAM expansion to work for the Opera browser though. So with the two of us, you can use 2/3 of it. :) I know Cory has been playing with rumble, so we might get that working soon as well. We know how to make the rumble work, it's making it work with normal games that is a bit tricky.
I am using an M3 Simply right now, and it works great. Any libfat DLDI compatible card should work. I'd welcome more feedback if anyone else has a cart and wants to test it.
As for ZIP, I think it can be done. Is there an open source ZIP lib compatible with devkitpro? It likely won't happen until I get SRAM management working though. Right now your saves get clobbered by the next ROM when you switch. I'm thinking basic SRAM stuff will be the next milestone. :)
#122294 - Diddl - Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:32 pm
free zip lib is available, I'm sure. linux has no problem with zip files from windows. for example this midnight commander can extract nearly everything and MC is open source.
#122296 - kusma - Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:44 pm
IIRC the Zlib source distribution include the a minimal unzip-lib in the contrib-folder.
#122690 - ttabbal - Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:49 am
Here we go again! TR3 is ready for testing. This version cleans up the code a little and adds automated SRAM managment. The saves are stored in /GBA/Save, and you may need to create that folder for this to work. I'll look into creating it automaticly. Other than creating the folder, the program does everything it needs to.
It's pretty simple, when you write a ROM, it attempts to read an INI file it stores in the Save directory. If it finds it, it reads the name of the ROM you wrote last time and writes a SAV file for it. This is a plain SRAM image, nothing fancy. It then writes the ROM, reads the save if it can find one, and updates the INI file for next time.
I also added the ability to manually save the SRAM if you want to, select "B" at the main screen and it will write the save, again based on the INI file.
Known bugs:
The save directory must exist prior to trying to save.
The save files don't have a date/time stamp on my system. This doesn't effect the DS any, but some Windows programs don't like it. Copy the files to your hard drive and Windows will assign a date to make those programs happy.
When reading in the SRAM save file, if there is an error opening the file it assumes there isn't one and blanks the SRAM. This could be a bad thing. I need to figure out if the file is there or not first. Make backups of your SRAM save files once in a while, please.
I only save 64KB of SRAM. That's all a GBA game that doesn't know about bankswitching will be able to see anyway. It looks like there are 128KB save files in commercial games, but it sounds like they are rare. I'm also not sure what the save patch does in this case. I might need to extend the size of the files. Please report any problems and I'll look into it.
http://www.tabbal.net/copyTest-TR3.zip
#122705 - Diddl - Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:59 am
| ttabbal wrote: |
| The save files don't have a date/time stamp on my system. |
did you use latest libfat and latest devkit (r20) for testing it? I will compile it myself and check this at the evening.
#122729 - ttabbal - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:00 pm
| Diddl wrote: |
| ttabbal wrote: | | The save files don't have a date/time stamp on my system. |
did you use latest libfat and latest devkit (r20) for testing it? I will compile it myself and check this at the evening. |
I used devkit r20 and the libfat that came with it. Is there a newer version I should look into? I suppose I could download from CVS and build whatever they have in there....
#122750 - Diddl - Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:45 pm
in CVS is a small bugfix for libfat concerning fseek() behind file end but else this is same as r20 includes.
but problem is, only arm7 can read RTC so there is a small ARM7 handler nessecary.
#122828 - ttabbal - Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:19 pm
| Diddl wrote: |
in CVS is a small bugfix for libfat concerning fseek() behind file end but else this is same as r20 includes.
but problem is, only arm7 can read RTC so there is a small ARM7 handler nessecary. |
Any hints on what to put in there? I'm a bit new to DS programming so I haven't figured out how to access everything yet.
#123636 - six-five-two - Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:44 pm
Sorry for the small bump and noob question but..
What does this do? Does it make it so when you run a GBA game from M3 simply it directs it to the 3-in-1 or does it add a menu to the 3-in-1 so you can have more than 1 game on the 3-in-1?
#123638 - ttabbal - Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:57 pm
| six-five-two wrote: |
Sorry for the small bump and noob question but..
What does this do? Does it make it so when you run a GBA game from M3 simply it directs it to the 3-in-1 or does it add a menu to the 3-in-1 so you can have more than 1 game on the 3-in-1? |
What does what do? The program? copyTest is a flasher for the 3in1 cart. So it lets you write programs to the cart and manages SRAM saves. You can run GBA stuff, homebrew, even some .nds.gba homebrew has been shown to work. Normally, you would use it to put a ROM on the cart so you can play a GBA game or one of the more mature emulators that run in GBA mode. I wrote it because I wanted to play Zelda Oracle games in Goomba Color without my M3-CF hanging out of the bottom of my DSLite.
I do have a test version of multi-ROM booting working. Saves don't work in it yet and it is somewhat limited, but it works. So yes, you can have more than 1 ROM on a 3in1.
#123654 - six-five-two - Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:31 pm
As soon as you get saves to work... tell me please.
#124036 - ttabbal - Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:53 pm
| six-five-two wrote: |
| As soon as you get saves to work... tell me please. |
Saves work fine. It's save handling for a multi-boot configuration that doesn't work. :) As far as I know, all bug bugs have been squished and the app is working quite well. Just stick to single ROMs and you're good to go.
#126118 - Nintendo Maniac 64 - Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:24 am
Would it be possible to use this to access the RAM from an actual slot-2 device with no media in it?
I had a Supercard CF that had one of its pin connectors break off. It works, but it can't read from media. I was planning on MAYBE getting an R4 and it'd be great if I could use my Supercard's 32MB of RAM. If this isn't possible, then I'll just probably get a slot-2 M3.
#126120 - dantheman - Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:43 am
NM, this is a slot-2 hardware expansion pak, so you would use it instead of your Supercard for RAM, though it would serve a different use. You could use the R4 and the EZ-V expansion, or the R4 and the Supercard, but not the Supercard and EZ-V together. I'm guessing you thought this was a software solution then, since you asked if it would help the R4+Supercard combo, which leaves no slots open.
#126126 - Nintendo Maniac 64 - Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:07 am
Oh, it's a hardware solution...?
XD Wow I'm dense. Dan, go tell the ZFGC mods to make fun of me and to gimme a temp ban for my stupidity being on the level of the idea of being able to download RAM.
#126162 - tepples - Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:02 pm
At one time, you could install software and get more RAM. Connectix's RAM Doubler was a replacement for the half-donkey virtual memory implementation of Mac OS 7 and Windows 3. It put some of the swap file on a compressed RAM disk at a time when simple data compression and especially decompression was faster than seek times, so more of your working set was sitting in RAM and less on a spinning platter.
And later this year, Sony is expected to release a new version of PLAYSTATION 3 Other OS Installer with an updated hypervisor that unlocks some of the 256 MB VRAM for use as a RAM disk.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#126221 - Dood77 - Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:39 am
| tepples wrote: |
| At one time, you could install software and get more RAM. Connectix's RAM Doubler was a replacement for the half-donkey virtual memory implementation of Mac OS 7 and Windows 3. It put some of the swap file on a compressed RAM disk at a time when simple data compression and especially decompression was faster than seek times, so more of your working set was sitting in RAM and less on a spinning platter. |
xD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftRAM < The third worst tech product of all time, according to PCWorld, it also had dealings with the FTC about falsely advertising the ability to double your ram. In addition: "The system also increases the size of the Windows page file, something easily achievable for free and without the use of additional software by changing system settings."
(If your wondering, the first and second worst tech products were AOL and RealPlayer.)
#126363 - Dan2552 - Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:30 pm
| Dood77 wrote: |
| tepples wrote: | | At one time, you could install software and get more RAM. Connectix's RAM Doubler was a replacement for the half-donkey virtual memory implementation of Mac OS 7 and Windows 3. It put some of the swap file on a compressed RAM disk at a time when simple data compression and especially decompression was faster than seek times, so more of your working set was sitting in RAM and less on a spinning platter. |
xD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftRAM < The third worst tech product of all time, according to PCWorld, it also had dealings with the FTC about falsely advertising the ability to double your ram. In addition: "The system also increases the size of the Windows page file, something easily achievable for free and without the use of additional software by changing system settings."
(If your wondering, the first and second worst tech products were AOL and RealPlayer.) |
OMG! I have SoftRAM on its original floppy disk!
#126366 - tepples - Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:01 pm
But RAM Doubler actually worked.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#127056 - tondopie - Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:30 pm
This sounds cool.... but i don't know. EZ Flash seems to a be a pretty piracy oriented company and I'm against piracy. The homebrew compatabilty is not the best either... but the rumble and RAM and GBA is hard to pass up. Is it worth it?
| tepples wrote: |
| But RAM Doubler actually worked. |
I still have that floppy... good old 1990w/e
_________________
Development Blog: http://teendev.org
Homebrew Podcast: http://homebrewcast.net
Web Design: http://xtendesign.net
#127116 - toma - Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:02 am
the rumble doesn't work with official carts which sucks. the ram works with dslinux though. the gba part i'm using for pocketnes, works great :) the only homebrew i haven't had work is dscent, but it doesn't seem to be a problem specific to just the ez5. i've been using it for about a month purely as a homebrew device and i've been liking it.
_________________
DOT MATRIX WITH STEREO SOUND
#127960 - the warlock - Sun May 06, 2007 11:55 pm
| tondopie wrote: |
This sounds cool.... but i don't know. EZ Flash seems to a be a pretty piracy oriented company and I'm against piracy. The homebrew compatabilty is not the best either... but the rumble and RAM and GBA is hard to pass up. Is it worth it?
| tepples wrote: | | But RAM Doubler actually worked. |
I still have that floppy... good old 1990w/e |
With DLDI, pretty much anything that has a driver is about the same for homebrew. As for the GBA cart itself, it's worked with every homebrew program I've tried (disclaimer: so far I've only tried Luminesweeper, Lockjaw TOD, and Motocross).