gbadev.org forum archive

Well.. It works.. here are some pics...

http://www.dslinux.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=244

It would be awesome if someone could get some kind of plastic enclosures manufactured for these!

Great!

it has finally come! YEEHAW

what I want to know: isn't it possible to put the actual bootcode on the chip itself and get rid of the cardridge? (something generic, with a nice logo :p)

Boeboe wrote:

what I want to know: isn't it possible to put the actual bootcode on the chip itself and get rid of the cardridge? (something generic, with a nice logo :p)

I'm thinking the cartridge is there for the whole encryption thing (but I'm no programmer so don't take my word for it!! :)

EaDS Milliways wrote:

I'm thinking the cartridge is there for the whole encryption thing (but I'm no programmer so don't take my word for it!! :)

That is... *Checks 'Guide to programing 2nd edition'*... Correct, I believe.

That turned out a lot better than I would have ever thought. The video with Battleship had my jaw nearly hitting the desk. Not only do they have DS demo code running, but they've got the touchscreen functioning.

Kudos to everybody laboring away on these things.

really impressive. I don't like the DS as a gaming device, but i have to admit that the community is doing great process on hacking it (sometimes i wish i could understand more about hardware =()
_________________
Team Pokeme
My blog and PM ASM tutorials

EaDS Milliways wrote:

Boeboe wrote:

what I want to know: isn't it possible to put the actual bootcode on the chip itself and get rid of the cardridge? (something generic, with a nice logo :p)

I'm thinking the cartridge is there for the whole encryption thing (but I'm no programmer so don't take my word for it!! :)

The cartridget is there to do the encryption handshacking. So, if we *could* put that code on the cart to get rid of Metroid Prime, it would be a copyright violation for sure.

Lynx wrote:

EaDS Milliways wrote:

Boeboe wrote:

what I want to know: isn't it possible to put the actual bootcode on the chip itself and get rid of the cardridge? (something generic, with a nice logo :p)

I'm thinking the cartridge is there for the whole encryption thing (but I'm no programmer so don't take my word for it!! :)

The cartridget is there to do the encryption handshacking. So, if we *could* put that code on the cart to get rid of Metroid Prime, it would be a copyright violation for sure.

Copyright violation? Not more than putting the nintendo header in your GBA games.

Wouldnt it be possible to add some kind of flash memory to the PassMe design to get rid of the need of a gba flash cart?

geran wrote:

Wouldnt it be possible to add some kind of flash memory to the PassMe design to get rid of the need of a gba flash cart?

Technically possible? Yes.
Would you want it? No.

It would make it larger, it would be alot slower than the GBA port, and it would be expensive.

looks like dslinux has been on a few hundred news sites. It hath gone down.

anyway a DS flashcart would be handy for a full resolution DS movie player (theres a third version of the GBA player coming out and a patch for v2 that will have DS additions) or most emulators.

4megs of RAM would only be a problem for a few SNES games, the GP32 seems to do ok with this much

having a DS flashcart would mean you wouldn't have stuff sticking out at both ends too.

I'm wondering, how tight is the metroid cartridge held in?
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."

its soldered on so i think youd have to worry about the metroidd card snapping more than the metroid card coming undone

Dwedit wrote:

I'm wondering, how tight is the metroid cartridge held in?

...and are it's connectors getting scratched?

assassda wrote:

its soldered on so i think youd have to worry about the metroidd card snapping more than the metroid card coming undone

No, it is not.

Would it have been too hard to make the passme unit have the ds card double over the passme unit itself? Think folding the whole thing in half so it doesn't stick out so much.

Well, PCBs don't generally bend...so yes it would have been a bit harder.

Quote:

4megs of RAM would only be a problem for a few SNES games, the GP32 seems to do ok with this much

The GP32 has 8 MB of RAM, by the way.

Quote:

I'm wondering, how tight is the metroid cartridge held in?

Actually, it's not held in very tight at all.. But, that's adjustable. If you want a better "grip" just bend the PCI pins down more. As for scratching the cart.. it's not any harder on the cart then the DS slot.

The PCI pins are shaped something like this:

__/^^\/

NoComply, that might be possible as the current PCB design contained space for parts that later were decided they weren't needed in this model. So, if the PCB had the LEDs and space for the Xtal removed, it could be almost an inch shorter. But, the original cart will always have to stick out the back (not enough room for a PCB and DS cart) so it could only be shortened about 1/2 inch maybe?

If your looking at the picture of the back, where you can clearly read the PassMe name and Metroid Cart, the cart is about 1/4 inch under the PCB.

TJ wrote:

Well, PCBs don't generally bend...so yes it would have been a bit harder.

I didn't mean bend the pcb, just the wires connecting to the ds cart, but I guess the passme doesn't stick out as far as the length of a ds cart so the amount you would save from doing that would not really be worth it unless the cart went under the ds. So basically pointless

Ya lynx, I was just looking at the pics, the passme sticks out about the width of the ds cart, maybe less.

Is there any way to build it internally, maybe sharing the connectors that the DS already uses?

Dib wrote:

Is there any way to build it internally, maybe sharing the connectors that the DS already uses?

Modchip?

I suppose so. Just so that instead of running the passthrough from the DS connectors to the card, couldn't you interrupt the existing connectors with a similar chip provided that there was space to fit it somewhere in the machine? I just figure it being a commercial endeavor similar to how the GBA had the Accellerator and backlit kits.

Dib wrote:

Is there any way to build it internally, maybe sharing the connectors that the DS already uses?

if you wanted to play official ds games there would also have to be an on/off switch

So how much exactly would it cost you to make one of these units?
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

dagamer34 wrote:

So how much exactly would it cost you to make one of these units?

Hm...
$30
_________________
Comming Soon: http://www.spyingwind.com

Several questions:

Does it have to use the Metroid Demo card or could any DS game be used to get around the handshaking?

Does anyone have plans for mass manufacture of these (I know some chinese company will do it sooner or later if you don't)?

If a person wasn't willing to wait for mass manufacture, what are all the plans and details they would need to get one manufactured now?

And finally... good work everyone.
_________________
www.hungrydeveloper.com
Version 2.0 now up - guaranteed at least 100% more pleasing!

Hm...
I would guess that the cost of materials and labor would come to around...
$30 + ($10/hr) + (a meaningful income = $10) = ...
$50
_________________
Comming Soon: http://www.spyingwind.com

Actually.. I'm looking into a couple of things.. Current problem with "commercial" mass production is lack of commercial grade DS cart slot. Second being it would need a case.. Don't really know if that is much of an issue.

But, for those of us that can't wait for that, I do plan on making them and selling them.. But, the current ones will be exactly like the ones in the pictures minus the LEDs (as they serve no real purpose, but were very helpfull in troubleshooting).

I'm planning on selling them for around $20 + sh.. Not to make money, but to get as many out there as possible so people can start coding! :D

For those that want to do it themselves, I am working on a step by step how to that I was hoping to have something available today.. but after working on it pretty much all day.. it's going to take the weekend.. It's actually pretty big.. and I need to do a bunch of screen shots and figure out how to get some better pictures to go with it..

Just keep checking back to see what the status is..

quick questions:
So will passthroughs work with any GBA flash cart? More specifically, will it work with the EFA? And are you limited to the memory of the DS, so 4mbit max for homebrew roms?

Depending on the skill required to make one, I'm planning on either doing that, or buy one from whoever'll make it. 20$ sounds reasonable enough i guess

josath wrote:

So will passthroughs work with any GBA flash cart? More specifically, will it work with the EFA?

As long as the writing software supports single-ROM mode, yes. Some flash cards' writing programs insist on writing the "loader" (boot menu).

Quote:

And are you limited to the memory of the DS, so 4mbit max for homebrew roms?

I'd assume that DS programs booted through the passthrough could load assets from the GBA cart.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

MumblyJoe wrote:

Several questions:

Does it have to use the Metroid Demo card or could any DS game be used to get around the handshaking?

Does anyone have plans for mass manufacture of these (I know some chinese company will do it sooner or later if you don't)?

If a person wasn't willing to wait for mass manufacture, what are all the plans and details they would need to get one manufactured now?

And finally... good work everyone.

It changes the code start point, which would work on any game, but it then also has to update the checksum. It depends on whether it sets the checksum to a certain value or actually finds the new checksum and uses it. If it actually calculates it, this should work for any game.

tepples wrote:

josath wrote:

So will passthroughs work with any GBA flash cart? More specifically, will it work with the EFA?

As long as the writing software supports single-ROM mode, yes. Some flash cards' writing programs insist on writing the "loader" (boot menu).

Actually, that may not be true. Because my POS EZF-Advance III had a simular (or this) issue, Natrium42 fixed the jump to bypass the header that it was messing up. So, if it works with the EZF-Advance III, I'd guess it will work with pretty much any! I say that because of all the problems people have had just using this cart for GBA code.

i think ill wat till it doesnt require a ds game to be attatched and is smaller

i wish i had more money (any money) id buy one now

Where can I buy a cheap gba flash cart. Any suggestions. I live in sweden.

So I suppose someone needs to get started on a DS 'launcher' type application? Because it would make things a lot easier if it was possible to store multiple apps on a flash cart at once. You could simply combine all of the ROMs with the launcher and write the one file to the cart.

Actually, a while ago I started planning a launcher interface. Here's what I had, in case anyone's interested:

http://img50.exs.cx/img50/4145/dslaunch6yv.jpg

I haven't done any coding for it yet, all I have is this one interface image. The rectangles on the left would contain the game title/icon (read from the game headers) and the arrows on the right would let you scroll through the list. This would all be on the touch screen, and you would tap once to select a game, and more info from the header would appear on the top screen, and tapping again on that game would launch it.

Sounds good, pheonixsoft!

Hmm.. The only tool I have here is a screwdriver, and since I'm not in any engineering courses, I can't use my university's labs ><

Put me up on the list of potential buyers for a prebuilt unit :P

geran: http://www.jandaman.com - I think he ships internationally, and the prices are nice...
_________________
http://www.kiwibonga.com

Quote:

If a person wasn't willing to wait for mass manufacture, what are all the plans and details they would need to get one manufactured now?

you can order the parts online, watch these sites for more info
http://www.dspassme.com/
http://www.dslinux.org/blogs/natrium42/

geran wrote:

Where can I buy a cheap gba flash cart. Any suggestions. I live in sweden.

this isnt too cheap but the best deal ive seen, idk about shipping costs
http://www.easybuy2000.com/store/nintendo%20accessories/x-rom512.shtml

make sure whatever you buy is compatible
[warez URL removed by mod]

EDIT: another good deal, smaller cheaper
http://www.linker4u.com/pp/item_detail.asp?itemID=B5893369-98F5-4976-9D39-65678EBDABD1

geran wrote:

Where can I buy a cheap gba flash cart. Any suggestions. I live in sweden.

I live in sweden to and bought mine at the swedish site www.tv-game.nu
_________________
/As meningful to you as words written in water.

Lynx you rock! i'll take one let us know when you plan on selling them can't wait to get my hands on one.

Quote:

EDIT: another good deal, smaller cheaper
http://www.linker4u.com/pp/item_detail.asp?itemID=B5893369-98F5-4976-9D39-65678EBDABD1

I'd stay away from that one.. It's the one I have.. Unless you don't care how hard it is to get stuff working on.. Then, you know it works with PassMe.. Keep in mind.. you get what you pay for..

Quote:

Lynx you rock! i'll take one let us know when you plan on selling them can't wait to get my hands on one.

Uhh.. Actually Natrium42 is the one that rocks! I'm just glad I was able to be a part of all this! :D

Lynx wrote:

Quote:

EDIT: another good deal, smaller cheaper
http://www.linker4u.com/pp/item_detail.asp?itemID=B5893369-98F5-4976-9D39-65678EBDABD1

I'd stay away from that one.. It's the one I have.. Unless you don't care how hard it is to get stuff working on.. Then, you know it works with PassMe.. Keep in mind.. you get what you pay for..

Quote:

Lynx you rock! i'll take one let us know when you plan on selling them can't wait to get my hands on one.

Uhh.. Actually Natrium42 is the one that rocks! I'm just glad I was able to be a part of all this! :D

WHat do you mean with "..how hard it is to get stuff working on ...", please explain more.

geran wrote:

Lynx wrote:

Quote:

EDIT: another good deal, smaller cheaper
http://www.linker4u.com/pp/item_detail.asp?itemID=B5893369-98F5-4976-9D39-65678EBDABD1

I'd stay away from that one.. It's the one I have.. Unless you don't care how hard it is to get stuff working on.. Then, you know it works with PassMe.. Keep in mind.. you get what you pay for..

Quote:

Lynx you rock! i'll take one let us know when you plan on selling them can't wait to get my hands on one.

Uhh.. Actually Natrium42 is the one that rocks! I'm just glad I was able to be a part of all this! :D

WHat do you mean with "..how hard it is to get stuff working on ...", please explain more.

How hard it was for him to get his flash card working with his PassMe.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

for a flash cart I would stay away from any linkers that use the gba port to write to it. I would recomend an EFA.

the link i posted wasnt warez it was a chart showing which flash cards worked with the DS O_O

Quote:

the link i posted wasnt warez it was a chart showing which flash cards worked with the DS O_O

Didn't seem like Warez to me either, though maybe I didn't read it closely enough. I was reading it earlier today at work and now I can't see it... could you copy and paste the chart here?

A lot of times, the moderators will remove links to pages that are merely hosted on the same domain as a site advocating piracy.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I would suggest purchasing the SD Card GBA backup unit instead of any of those limited carts.

The biggest cart out there is 1 gigabit while this solution will let you use up to 4 gigabytes. I have one, it works fine on my DS and I currently have 250 images on the cart along with various MP3's.

URL BELOW...

http://www.hopebuy.com/%5C0001%5C0303%5C219201.htm

Though I am not sure if this would work with the passthrough because of the way it actually loads the images. Well, doesn't matter anyway as I still own a F2A Ultra 1gigabit.

It's pretty nice being able to choose from 250 titles though, instead of having to flash maybe 6 at a time MAX.

Regards,
brakken

http://www.pxn-os.com/Viper_GC_GameCube_FAQ-brakken.zip

according to the hopebuy link, it uses compact flash (CF), not smart digital (SD) memory cards.

Yes, as far as I know, the only SD card compatible device for the Game Boy Advance is the Playan. The SuperCard and MoviePlayer devices use CompactFlash cards.

tepples wrote:

A lot of times, the moderators will remove links to pages that are merely hosted on the same domain as a site advocating piracy.

That site is "bad" in other ways as well. They copied my "keyboard advance" article and published it as if it were their own (not even a link to my page). I sent numerous e-mails to them telling them to take it down. Got a few responses in the beginning, but they refused to take it down.
After a year or so I e-mailed their webhost and asked them to take it down. Fortunately they actually did.

It would be interesting how many of "their" articles are copies of other peoples work.

Guys i have an EZF advance, one of the 256 Mb ones (red) which i brought some time ago. Will this be compatable with the passthrough? Also does anyone know if the multi-boot loader on this can be turned off to enable a single-boot mode?

Godster wrote:

Guys i have an EZF advance, one of the 256 Mb ones (red) which i brought some time ago. Will this be compatable with the passthrough? Also does anyone know if the multi-boot loader on this can be turned off to enable a single-boot mode?

I have the same cart, and I'm not sure if it is entirely turned off in single rom mode. Best way I can think of to find out is to rip the cart with a different flash carts program and see.
_________________
www.hungrydeveloper.com
Version 2.0 now up - guaranteed at least 100% more pleasing!

Any recomendations of software which would be capable of this?

PhoenixSoft wrote:

Yes, as far as I know, the only SD card compatible device for the Game Boy Advance is the Playan. The SuperCard and MoviePlayer devices use CompactFlash cards.

That's because CompactFlash is a comparatively open standard: if you know how to speak ATA, you know how to speak CF. SD, on the other hand, is notoriously closed and patented.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Godster wrote:

Any recomendations of software which would be capable of this?

I'm not sure, I only own one flash cart, but I am sure somebody here has the EZFA and another type who can try to extract it and tell us.
_________________
www.hungrydeveloper.com
Version 2.0 now up - guaranteed at least 100% more pleasing!

Quote:

That's because CompactFlash is a comparatively open standard: if you know how to speak ATA, you know how to speak CF. SD, on the other hand, is notoriously closed and patented.

I've been eyeing flash carts for almost three years now and haven't committed to anything, but this seems really promising and interesting. Do the compact flash cards go into this device like SD Cards go into the Play Yan or does itplug into the top? Does it support Pogo Shell?

Also, judging from their art work either Konami okayed their use of Neo Contra's Bill Rizer or the're violating copyright law with their sticker.

I have found that this Supercard that I got works very well as long as your not in to developing games for your gba.
*finds a CF card laying around and some gba games*
oooo!
512MB CF card = Mucho Games to load on and play!
_________________
Comming Soon: http://www.spyingwind.com

First, When I say I had problems with the EZF-Advance III, it wasn't talking about with PassMe, I was talking about in general. If you want to "know" my pain, just do a search on google. You will fine a LOT of forums bashing this cart. Now, it may be because it only has Japanese documentation. But, I fought just to get homebrew GBA stuff working on it. But, I did finally get it figured out, and most of the headache was due to it "auto" selecting the Save Type. Next was getting it to Multiboot. Still haven't gotten that one fully figured out.. it's pretty much hit or miss if it will work.

Also.. EZF-Advance III has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EZF people! This cart is a cheap KNOCK OFF. The name is "stolen" to help sell the cart. If you have a EZF cart, I hear they work very well. Just trying to clarify.

Now.. as for using Movie Player or Super Card (CF devices), I doubt they will work as they have "software" to interface to the CF. PassMe doesn't take any of this into account, and since it's looking for Arm9 code and gba is all ARM7, I don't think it could run it either.

Now, I have a GBA Movie Player. But again, because it uses a menu system, it doesn't work out of the box. That doesn't mean that maybe someone could maybe write something for the CPLD and make it work.

Hiya,

I second what Lynx says about the Supercard (I own one myself). It is _NOT_ a real flashcart, as it requires heavy patching of the ROMS to make them work. Plus, as it uses an SRAM chip not fast enough, some ROMS will never work at all (Yoshi's Island for instance). Finally, the HW is completely undocumented/closed.

The F2A/F2AUltra are perfect for homebrew development and well documented.

Vince
_________________
Reclaim control of your F2A/F2AU with if2a !!

has anyone tried rewriting the firmware file for the GBA Movie Player? it updates itself when i sees a particular file in the root directory of the CF card, and i was thinking that mayb someone had hacked this firmware file

Quote:

has anyone tried rewriting the firmware file for the GBA Movie Player?

Hmm.. Now that is a sweet idea! You can update the interface (they're working on releasing software, but there are a few available for download now) but rewriting the actual code would be a pretty cool idea.

Lynx wrote:

First, When I say I had problems with the EZF-Advance III, it wasn't talking about with PassMe, I was talking about in general. If you want to "know" my pain, just do a search on google. You will fine a LOT of forums bashing this cart. Now, it may be because it only has Japanese documentation. But, I fought just to get homebrew GBA stuff working on it. But, I did finally get it figured out, and most of the headache was due to it "auto" selecting the Save Type. Next was getting it to Multiboot. Still haven't gotten that one fully figured out.. it's pretty much hit or miss if it will work.

Also.. EZF-Advance III has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EZF people! This cart is a cheap KNOCK OFF. The name is "stolen" to help sell the cart. If you have a EZF cart, I hear they work very well. Just trying to clarify.

Now.. as for using Movie Player or Super Card (CF devices), I doubt they will work as they have "software" to interface to the CF. PassMe doesn't take any of this into account, and since it's looking for Arm9 code and gba is all ARM7, I don't think it could run it either.

Now, I have a GBA Movie Player. But again, because it uses a menu system, it doesn't work out of the box. That doesn't mean that maybe someone could maybe write something for the CPLD and make it work.

I've just got one of these EZFA-III cards with linker.

I've not got my DS yet but I have managed to flash things to the cart without problems.

I saw it mentioned that the bundled usb cable was to blame for most problems.

What problems have you had exactly?

The EZF-Advance and EZ-Flash Advance are two different products, right?

EG this: http://www.ezflash.cn/images/ez3.jpg and this: http://www.ezf-advance.com/ezfaIII.jpg are made by different companies? And it's the second one that is a cheap "knock-off" and should be avoided? Because I am thinking of buying the first one, and I need to know which is the one people are having problems with.

I have an ezflash 2 and love it....but i don't know if it will work with passme or not.

The REAL EZ-Flash products at some point in their lifetime, had Borden as their developer. As I understand it, he sold the rights to some of his flash carts (not the ones you are talking about).

I have a EZ-Flash Advance made by Borden (www.gba-toys.com) and have had little problems with it.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Quote:

I have a EZ-Flash Advance made by Borden (www.gba-toys.com) and have had little problems with it.

That is the same one I have (256Mb), and it works like a charm. I've had the cable not recognize my GBA a few times, but that was a while ago. The only problem I have with it is that if I want to see my work on the DS, I have to have my old GBA with me to burn my stuff, and then move the cart over.
_________________
DS - It's all about DiscoStew

The EZF-Advance III is the cheap knock off.

DiscoStew wrote:

Quote:

I have a EZ-Flash Advance made by Borden (www.gba-toys.com) and have had little problems with it.

That is the same one I have (256Mb), and it works like a charm. I've had the cable not recognize my GBA a few times, but that was a while ago. The only problem I have with it is that if I want to see my work on the DS, I have to have my old GBA with me to burn my stuff, and then move the cart over.

GBA's can easily be bought for $40 if not less. Compare that to how much it would cost to buy a "Ds flash cartridge" and it would probably be cheaper.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

I've ordered a supercard compact flash to gba.

The difference between 256Mbits and 256Mbytes has become apparent.

My 256Mbyte CF card will be more use.

I ordered through hopebuy.com works out at about ?36 pounds including delivery to the UK.

The company that makes supercard are releasing firware and game patches on a regular basis.

If this works ok I'll ebay the EZFA-III

If your looking for something to work with PassMe, the Super Card and GBA Movie Player will not. Otherwise, I love my GBA Movie Player. I use it all day long to listen to music.

I'll be sorted witha supercard then.

Not bothered about the passme really I just want movies music and games.

For now anyway.

roll on friday and I'll have a DS

Any word yet on using a EZF-Advance (the red one, with the RTC) with PassMe? I already have the EZF-Advance cart, and I would perfer to use it rather than buy a new GBA cart. I havent yet figured out how to make it load only one file without doing the loader as well. Any tricks I could use?

maniacdevnull wrote:

I havent yet figured out how to make it load only one file without doing the loader as well. Any tricks I could use?

I actually looked into that myself. First format the card, then the option to uncheck multiboot and IGF is available. Just uncheck them, load a DS demo and burn it to the cart. I haven't tested it on the real hardware since I haven't built a passthrough yet but I'm pretty sure it should work.

maniacdevnull wrote:

Any word yet on using a EZF-Advance (the red one, with the RTC) with PassMe? I already have the EZF-Advance cart, and I would perfer to use it rather than buy a new GBA cart. I havent yet figured out how to make it load only one file without doing the loader as well. Any tricks I could use?

Few people have a PassMe in the first place. You might have to wait a while until the first order of PassMe's have been shipped to customers, as someone is bound to have an EZF-Advance.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

zazery wrote:

I actually looked into that myself. First format the card, then the option to uncheck multiboot and IGF is available. Just uncheck them, load a DS demo and burn it to the cart. I haven't tested it on the real hardware since I haven't built a passthrough yet but I'm pretty sure it should work.

Thanks for the tip! Once I got EZF-A software version 1.03 (avail here) that let me burn the demo ROMS onto the cart without the loader. However, for some of them, it complained they weren't GBA files (true enough). Any way to have it skip that check and burn them anyway?

dagamer34 wrote:

You might have to wait a while until the first order of PassMe's have been shipped to customers, as someone is bound to have an EZF-Advance.

Waiting is my LEAST favorite. :P

maniacdevnull wrote:

<snip> However, for some of them, it complained they weren't GBA files (true enough). Any way to have it skip that check and burn them anyway?

I found out that you cannot load Dovoto's emulator versions of his demos. However, I am able to load every other demo that I have.

maniacdevnull wrote:

Waiting is my LEAST favorite. :P

I agree completely but it's worth it in the end. I will be making a PassMe soon so I'll let everyone know if it works.

I saw DarkFader updated his page and added a better version of the PassMe code. It has autostart and works with every cartridge.
Will the sold PassMe's have this version in them?
BTW: I saw http://www.kraln.com/ sells PassMe's for cheap!

Lynx, could you check if you are able to pull out the PassMe unit once the code is redirected to the GBA slot? I'm wondering if I need to make 2 units to test multiplayer code when someone figures it out.

zazery wrote:

Lynx, could you check if you are able to pull out the PassMe unit once the code is redirected to the GBA slot? I'm wondering if I need to make 2 units to test multiplayer code when someone figures it out.

I already tested it and it works. You can pull out the PassMe and use it to boot a second DS.
You could also probably remove the GBA flash cart and insert it into the second DS since current homebrew demos run from memory. I could test it when I get home.
_________________
www.natrium42.com

It says on www.dspassme.com that Lynx will be using PCI connector pins to connect the card to the DS cart so that we won't have to soldier it on. Does this mean that one will be able to easily take any card and put it in there for the passme to work? Will the DS card be permanently stuck to the PassMe?

Also, those who have no idea how to soldier, will we be able to send our Metroid cards to you for testing and soldiering?
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Any cart can be put in, and it is "like" a slot. No soldering required, no damage to cart.

Lynx wrote:

Any cart can be put in, and it is "like" a slot. No soldering required, no damage to cart.

Any idea when you will have a picture of this type of design?
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Uhh.. they day after I made it? It's the design on http://www.dspassme.com

From the photo, I'm guessing that those pins would get bent out of alignment really fast, especially given 6-year-old players in the house.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

Lynx wrote:

Uhh.. they day after I made it? It's the design on http://www.dspassme.com

Oh, sorry. It looked like in the picture labeled "testing" that you soldered the Metroid card to the PassMe.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

How many 6 year old programmers do we have? (Just because I write code like a 6 year old, doesn't make me 6 years old! :P )

Lynx wrote:

How many 6 year old programmers do we have?

Not all homebrew games are play-tested exclusively by their developers.

Case in point: My cousin "J" (name elided to protect the innocent) is a 9-year-old BASIC programmer who plans to get C For Dummies for his 10th birthday. His brother "M" is a 6-year-old who can pass 9 foot songs on DDR. "J" has long wanted to branch out into games for Nintendo handhelds, and it would be nice if "M" wouldn't wreck his equipment during play-testing.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

tepples wrote:

Lynx wrote:

How many 6 year old programmers do we have?

Not all homebrew games are play-tested exclusively by their developers.

Case in point: My cousin "J" (name elided to protect the innocent) is a 9-year-old BASIC programmer who plans to get C For Dummies for his 10th birthday. His brother "M" is a 6-year-old who can pass 9 foot songs on DDR. "J" has long wanted to branch out into games for Nintendo handhelds, and it would be nice if "M" wouldn't wreck his equipment during play-testing.

[rant]
Wait a minute, 9 foot songs?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? What the ****? At 6-years old? His feet can barely reach all of the arrows. You are talking on a pad right, not keyboard?
[/rant]

Lynx, what do you mean by 6 year old programmers? I am confused...
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Quote:

Lynx, what do you mean by 6 year old programmers? I am confused...

Just that I think of the PassMe being a device for developers to use. Most developers would know how to treat a device like the PassMe without worry of damaging it. Now, under that "assumption", then you would need to be a 6 year old programmer for it to become an issue.

Anyway, future versions of PassMe will be more "general population" friendly.

Lynx wrote:

Quote:

Lynx, what do you mean by 6 year old programmers? I am confused...

Just that I think of the PassMe being a device for developers to use. Most developers would know how to treat a device like the PassMe without worry of damaging it. Now, under that "assumption", then you would need to be a 6 year old programmer for it to become an issue.

Anyway, future versions of PassMe will be more "general population" friendly.

Ahh.. I see. In any case, have you figured out the types of payment you will probably accept? Like PayPal, check, Cash (although risky), etc...
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Xodus is supposedly going to help us mass-produce them. Xodus is the groups name that helped with the Xenium xbox mod chip.

dagamer34 wrote:

tepples wrote:

His brother "M" is a 6-year-old who can pass 9 foot songs on DDR.

[rant]
Wait a minute, 9 foot songs?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? What the ****? At 6-years old? His feet can barely reach all of the arrows. You are talking on a pad right, not keyboard?
[/rant]

On a BNS Ultra DX-Xtreme pad, "M" passed all of single maniac on DDR Konamix before his sixth birthday. Powered by Too Much Dedication. (ObDS: Imagine Dancing Stage on Dual Screen Developer System.)

To address Lynx's concern: The issue isn't with 6-year-old programmers but with 6-year-old play-testers (e.g. "M") who live with 10-year-old programmers (e.g. "J" once he learns C) and 24-year-old programmers (e.g. tepples).
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

can iuse the XG-Flash2 Edition2005 (512Mbit) with pass me??

Does anyone know if the CPLD used in PassMe is available in Canada, specifically close to Vancouver. It is very expensive to order from Digikey if you are ordering one chip. If someone has an extra I'd be happy to buy it from them.

zazery wrote:

Does anyone know if the CPLD used in PassMe is available in Canada, specifically close to Vancouver. It is very expensive to order from Digikey if you are ordering one chip. If someone has an extra I'd be happy to buy it from them.

Well, if you wait a while, you could order a kit from www.dspassme.com. It comes disassembled for only $12.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(

Well I already ordered the PCB, plus as you said it will take a while for Lynx to recieve and send the parts.. I was kind of hoping to have the PassMe really soon since I'm off school next week and I thought it would be a perfect time to write a small game.

Ok something is not right in the PassMe documentation. It says you need to order a 3" PCB, when if you open up the design in Eagle it is 2". There are multiple references to 2" and 3" all through the page. Any idea why?

According to Sparkfun.com, it should be a 3" order. I verified it with them, and am updating the documentation to reflect the 3" order instead of 2". The next version of PassMe will be a 2" version for sure.

Good to know, too bad it was after I ordered. They aren't the most organized company so they're having a tough time processing my order.

Right now I'm trying to order the CPLD directly from Xilinx. I talked to the local representative and he said that he might have a free sample. My only problem is I don't know exactly which chip it is. I am thinking it's the XC9572XL-7PC44C, can anyone confirm this? If that's not the one, which one is it on the lsit? Thanks.

[url=http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/productview_cpld.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=&sSecondaryNavPick=&category=-11208&iLanguageID=1&category=/Xilinx+Products/Silicon+Devices/CPLDs/XC9500XL+3_3V+ISP/XC9572XL)http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/productview_cpld.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=&sSecondaryNavPick=&category=-11208&iLanguageID=1&category=/Xilinx+Products/Silicon+Devices/CPLDs/XC9500XL+3_3V+ISP/XC9572XL]Product list[/url]

zazery wrote:

My only problem is I don't know exactly which chip it is. I am thinking it's the XC9572XL-7PC44C, can anyone confirm this? If that's not the one, which one is it on the lsit? Thanks.

[url=http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/productview_cpld.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=&sSecondaryNavPick=&category=-11208&iLanguageID=1&category=/Xilinx+Products/Silicon+Devices/CPLDs/XC9500XL+3_3V+ISP/XC9572XL)http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/productview_cpld.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=&sSecondaryNavPick=&category=-11208&iLanguageID=1&category=/Xilinx+Products/Silicon+Devices/CPLDs/XC9500XL+3_3V+ISP/XC9572XL]Product list[/url]

No, this chip is in the PLCC-44 package. You need the VQFP-44 package.

There should be "VQ44" instead of "PC44" in the name. Also, the "7" denotes the speed grade (higher means slower). I am using a speed 10 chip which is slower than a speed 7 chip.
_________________
www.natrium42.com

Thanks for the explanation. What you said makes sense; I forgot to look at the packaging type.

Can we make a list of verified carts that work with the new PassMe code?
(Just to be sure)

- metroid demo USA
- metroid demo EUR
- super mario 64 DS USA

- Wario Ware Touched USA