#153718 - maximAL - Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:27 pm
hi,
i'm thinking about getting my first flashcard to do some development and maybe try some homebrew stuff like DS linux.
one thing i don't like about most solutions is the constant (un-)plugging of the cards to store a new build.
a solution with a direct USB connection, where i can automate copying the ROM as part of the build process and then just restart the DS, would be ideal.
so far i found DS-Xtreme, but that seems to be hard to get and is very expansive.
whats up with DS linker? it has some USB connection cable - is it directly plugged into this slot 2 card thingy?
btw, it has to work under linux ;)
#153721 - Rajveer - Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:52 pm
That's the reason I got my DS-X, so that I wouldn't have to keep swapping my SD-card from my Supercard, it was getting pretty long! However the thing that annoys me about my DS-X is that I have to keep plugging and unplugging the USB cable otherwise it won't turn on. I read on another thread that with the Acekard you can keep the cable plugged in and still turn the DS on, so you simply build your project, double-click a batch file that copies it to the card, and turn it on. If someone can verify this it would be great.
#153728 - Lynx - Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:23 pm
That sounds correct, but if you access the card while the DS is turned on, it will corrupt the file system. I have confirmed that. Of course, that was with the original firmware, I haven't played with it in a while.
| Quote: |
I'm running a DS Phat with just the acekard RPG (no MicroSD) in slot-1. I attached the USB cable and inserted the card into my DS. I then plugged the USB cable into the back of my laptop. It found the device and a few minutes later said it was available. I then browsed to it to make sure I could read it fine.
I then turned on my DS and it boot to the previous folder (svsip) with a single .nds file in it. At the same time, I tried browsing the folder and was able to. I created a .txt file and was able to save it. But, at some time, the DS locked up. I then turned the DS off and back on, and it was no longer able to load back to a menu. |
from my review HERE
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#153749 - maximAL - Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:14 am
| Lynx wrote: |
| That sounds correct, but if you access the card while the DS is turned on, it will corrupt the file system. |
just turning the DS off isn't a problem imho.
but how does the DS linker actually work? it seems to be among the more widespread flashcards...
#153868 - Sweater Fish Deluxe - Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:58 pm
With my computer and the Acekard RPG with latest firmwares, the card doesn't even get recognized as an external drive if the DS is on. When I turn the system off, though, it gets recognized and I can transfer files to it. Then when I turn the DS back on, my computer thinks the drive has been removed (unsafely). Rinse, repeat.
I haven't done a lot of playing around with this since I broke my laptop's screen shortly after getting the Acekard, but for the week or so that I had them both and was transfering files as described above, I did experience a number of corruptions of the Acekard's NAND. Something in that file transfer process may have been causing the corruptions since I haven't had any in the the three weeks since I stopped doing that (because I'm not actively developing anything that needs to be tested thousands and thousands of times, I find it easier to just transfer files using the microSD card reader when I want to put something new on the card). When I was handling my card the other way I was also doing a lot of file copying from the internal NAND to the microSD, though, so that may have been the root of the problems, as well. I don't know.
...word is bondage...
#153872 - Lazy1 - Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:08 pm
I'd like to see a flashcart with an ethernet interface that could boot .nds files from the network and use a network filesystem for I/O.
#153875 - simonjhall - Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:02 pm
Oh man that would be so awesome. And if it could write to main memory through slot-2 (is this possible?) you could make a debugger in about ten seconds flat. No more pissing around with wifi!
Until then it's gonna be the superfast file copy/jank out micro sd card/stick it in ds/power on routine! I reckon I can do it in about two seconds :-)
(hence all the text fading from my flash cards, the endless dead readers and the springs missing from micro sd slots)
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#153876 - sonny_jim - Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:17 pm
I'm wondering if it's possible to modify the Acekard firmware to have the USB function whilst it's turned on.
#153877 - SevenString - Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:19 pm
Yeah Simon, I can relate.
I'm currently using a GBAMP-CF, which is pretty old-skool. I've really learned to HATE the constant in-and-out of both the CF card and the GBAMP, just to debug and fix some problem with my code that only shows up on real HW. With the CF card slot on the SIDE of the GBAMP? Ugh.
But that painful dev process should be a thing of the past soon, as I have a DS-Fire 2G card on the way, with a slot2 USB linker. :D
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#153879 - simonjhall - Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:38 pm
Ah the gbamp - I wore mine out writing the debugger and Q1! I know what you mean about that side slot. They would have halved the wear and tear if they'd put it on the front! I still hold a candle for my gbamp cf though, it's just that my cf card reader died and I can't be arsed to replace it ;-)
Thing is though, the two second copy/eject/plug in/power on routine is far far faster than any console dev kit that I've ever used!
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Big thanks to everyone who donated for Quake2
#153880 - SevenString - Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:10 pm
| simonjhall wrote: |
Ah the gbamp - I wore mine out writing the debugger and Q1! I know what you mean about that side slot. They would have halved the wear and tear if they'd put it on the front! I still hold a candle for my gbamp cf though, it's just that my cf card reader died and I can't be arsed to replace it ;-)
Thing is though, the two second copy/eject/plug in/power on routine is far far faster than any console dev kit that I've ever used! |
Yeah, it is reasonably quick. But annoying. ;)
Plus, I'm just paranoid about HW wear-and-tear.
BTW, I'm enjoying your port of Quake to the DS a LOT. Very VERY nice work.
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"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."
#153881 - Sweater Fish Deluxe - Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:31 pm
| simonjhall wrote: |
| Until then it's gonna be the superfast file copy/jank out micro sd card/stick it in ds/power on routine! I reckon I can do it in about two seconds :-) |
Man, I don't trust the strength microSD cards, the microSD slots on flash cards or even the mSD reader enough that I would be willing to go through that process with any flash card that takes microSD.
That old routine has worked well for me with my Supercard SD, though. In fact, even if using the Acekard RPG's NAND doesn't turn out to be problematic, I'm not sure I'll stop using the Supercard for development. Something nice about having a cart dedicated to development and nothing else. Especially with the _BOOT_SC.NDS autoboot feature (thanks to chishm and Grizzly Adams for that).
...word is bondage...
#153883 - Lazy1 - Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:10 pm
If you have a nintendo wifi adapter and linux wmbhost is amazing for development, no cart switching :D
#154232 - SevenString - Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:38 am
Woo hoo! My DS Fire just got here today.
It was worth every penny and then some.
It was a joy this afternoon to just leave my DS hooked up to the computer for iterative changes and testing of my homebrew on hardware.
Drag and drop files, then turn off and on to test. No more CF/Cart madness. :D
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"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."
#154433 - HyperHacker - Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:13 am
| Lazy1 wrote: |
| If you have a nintendo wifi adapter and linux wmbhost is amazing for development, no cart switching :D |
Is there a homebrew WMB client? I'd been using the firmware WMB when I had a GBAMP, but with GnM it's no good thanks to that damn auto-boot flag. If I have it in at power-on I can't get at the firmware, if not the cart doesn't work.
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#154437 - SiW - Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:28 am
| SevenString wrote: |
| It was a joy this afternoon to just leave my DS hooked up to the computer for iterative changes and testing of my homebrew on hardware. |
I so want to do this. How homebrew-friendly is the DS Fire then? FAT work fine?
#154455 - SevenString - Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:56 pm
FAT works just fine on the DS Fire.
I've got a single large (> 4MB) .nds "ROM" of my game that's working on the DS Fire, but it also works EXACLTY the same when I run it as a tiny .nds program that accesses the files from nested folders on the cart's file system. File saves work fine too.
Even more demanding FAT-dependent games like QuakeDS work great, game saves and all.
A word of warning: if you order from www.dealextreme.com like I did, be prepared to wait for a while. They supposedly had them "in stock", but in reality, they had to wait a couple of weeks for their supplier to get them in to them. Once dealextreme received their supply, they shipped my unit immediately, and went from Hong Kong to my house in California in only two days.
So although I wouldn't order from them if I needed something right away, I wasn't in a hurry on this one, and I did have a good, trustworthy purchasing experience with them.
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"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."
#154456 - simonjhall - Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:39 pm
| SevenString wrote: |
| BTW, I'm enjoying your port of Quake to the DS a LOT. Very VERY nice work. |
Thanks mate :-)
I'm interested in this card. What happens if you try and mount it when the DS is on? Can you do that? (ooh, I'm bleeding - huh)
Anyway, if we could do that it'd be super-ace, like. It then wouldn't be a complete stretch to rig up some kind of PC/DS interface allowing the two to talk to each other. PC-based file serving? Nice.
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Big thanks to everyone who donated for Quake2
#154469 - SiW - Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:46 pm
Yeah, I'm prepared to wait, because come on! Thirty bucks!
#154513 - SevenString - Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:07 am
| simonjhall wrote: |
| SevenString wrote: | | BTW, I'm enjoying your port of Quake to the DS a LOT. Very VERY nice work. |
Thanks mate :-)
I'm interested in this card. What happens if you try and mount it when the DS is on? Can you do that? (ooh, I'm bleeding - huh)
Anyway, if we could do that it'd be super-ace, like. It then wouldn't be a complete stretch to rig up some kind of PC/DS interface allowing the two to talk to each other. PC-based file serving? Nice. |
With the default firmware, if you're connected via the slot-2 linker, it gives you the option to launch in either "USB Mode" or "Menu". "Menu" launches to the normal cart file selector, and USB Mode is dedicated to passive flash device filetransfer.
I have a feeling that simultaneous memory access via USB linker AND the DS would cause some sort of conflict. But it's a cool idea. I could certainly streamline development even more if I could do tricky soft-controls of the DS from the PC.
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"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."