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DS Flash Equipment > DownloadPlay / WiFiMe / Wireless Debuggers

#146152 - kusma - Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:32 pm

Ok, so I'm thinking of jumping on the DS-WiFi wagon, and I'm having some questions as to what my hardware-options are. I've done some forum-crawling, but the situation still isn't exactly clear to me.

Here's my current perception of the homebrew WiFi-situation:
  • The Nintendo DS does not directly handle WPA encrypted wireless-networks. To connect to these, some kind of bridging is required.
  • WiFiMe only works with non-USB RALINK cards on Windows.
  • The official Nintendo WiFi USB Connector isn't cracked, so it cannot be used for homebrew. (?)

Here's what I wish to archive:
  • Connect my NDS lite to the internet. I already have a wireless network, but it's encrypted. Opening up the network is not really an option.
  • Be able to play games on-line and browse the internet.
  • Be able to use wireless debuggers and download play for development from my laptop.
  • Use an USB-stick as a enctyped network to open network bridge on my Windows XP laptop.
  • I'd prefer as few dirty hacks as possible. If "standard" components can do the job, I'd prefer this. If possible, I'd like to use the official Nintendo WiFi USB connector.

The way I see it, I most likely have to give up some of these goals, and that might be OK. Does anyone have any tips or corrections for me here?

#146155 - melw - Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:23 pm

kusma wrote:
WiFiMe only works with non-USB RALINK cards on Windows.

If you're referring to WMB (I see no reason why one should use WiFiMe for booting homebrew anymore in 2007), it works perfectly both on Windows and Linux PC's.
kusma wrote:
Connect my NDS lite to the internet. I already have a wireless network, but it's encrypted. Opening up the network is not really an option.

You need to change from WPA to WEP... If it's not secure enough for you - well, tough luck. WEP keeps random wifi lurkers and bandwidth snails away from your network just as well as WPA.

I don't know anything about using USB wifi adapters myself (RALINK PCMCIA plugged to my laptop over here), but I'd like to state also that only thing I really need ta RALINK card for is for occasional use of download play, the rest of the traffic (wireless debugging, web usage, games etc.) goes over a normal wifi router, with WEP128 encryption enabled.

#146157 - kusma - Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:37 pm

melw wrote:
If you're referring to WMB (I see no reason why one should use WiFiMe for booting homebrew anymore in 2007)...

What's the difference, and where do I find more information on WMB? I basically wish to execute applications remotely so I can debug without having to eject my flash-card all the time...

Quote:
You need to change from WPA to WEP...

Oh, okay. That sounds like something I could do.

Quote:
... only thing I really need ta RALINK card for is for occasional use of download play...

By the description at wikipedia, Download Play doesn't really sound like something I would need support for, I guess. When does people typically need it?

Thanks a lot for the help so far, I'll give changing the encryption-setting a go tonight, I guess.

#146158 - sonny_jim - Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:55 pm

Quote:

I basically wish to execute applications remotely so I can debug without having to eject my flash-card all the time...

I think DSFTP can be used to accomplish this, although the site seems to be down at the moment.

#146159 - melw - Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:02 pm

kusma wrote:
melw wrote:
If you're referring to WMB (I see no reason why one should use WiFiMe for booting homebrew anymore in 2007)...

What's the difference, and where do I find more information on WMB? I basically wish to execute applications remotely so I can debug without having to eject my flash-card all the time...

WiFiMe is in practice same as wireless PassMe - if you have DS with original firmware v1-3 you could boot homebrew with it. Since FlashMe and 2nd generation flash adapters arrived it's nowadays rather useless method for booting homebrew. WMB (wireless multiboot) application is needed for sending .nds files in wireless fashion.

kusma wrote:
By the description at wikipedia, Download Play doesn't really sound like something I would need support for, I guess. When does people typically need it?

Bad choice of words on my side. By download play I ment WMB - as you're using the DS's "download play" function to receive the files.

#146199 - kusma - Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:21 pm

OK, just changing the WiFi-encryption to WEP did the trick, my DS now connects perfectly to the internet. I guess for development all I really need is some wireless-debugger (and possibly DSFTP), I guess I'll look into simon's and/or masscat's GDB-stub(s) for this.