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DS Flash Equipment > Basic newbie questions

#71980 - smeagol-sama - Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:33 pm

Since the spring sememster started at school I've been talking with a buddy that does a lot of console playing and modding. He was telling me about his NDS which I was really interested in, and having sold my WOW account and had some extra cash I decided to go for it. But I started researching around the web to ensure I was going about the right plan, and this is what I came up with, if anything doesn't look right let me know so I don't have a nice expensive for a college student paperweight.

Plans were to

A) Buy a new retail NDS, Silver from the local Wal Mart, date of purchase would be sometime between February 10, 2006-February 20, 2006.
B) Get a Supercard SD
C) Get a Super PassKey2.

Just wanting to confirm that I can flash a retail silver NDS purchased after the new year to play my back up's and homebrew including emulated roms. My main question really holding me back right now, is a new retail unit have some firmware that will brick it once I try to flash and play my back ups.

#71990 - tepples - Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:26 pm

smeagol-sama wrote:
Plans were to

A) Buy a new retail NDS, Silver from the local Wal Mart, date of purchase would be sometime between February 10, 2006-February 20, 2006.
B) Get a Supercard SD
C) Get a Super PassKey2.

About right, except you should consider buying the CF version unless you have a huge investment in SD cards. The CF adapters are much more widely supported in homebrew than the SD adapters.

Quote:
Just wanting to confirm that I can flash a retail silver NDS purchased after the new year to play my back up's

Gbadev.org is a homebrew forum and will not help you play backups. If you want to play commercial DS games, play them from DS Game Cards.
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#71992 - tetsujin - Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:33 pm

smeagol-sama wrote:
Just wanting to confirm that I can flash a retail silver NDS purchased after the new year to play my (...) homebrew including emulated roms. My main question really holding me back right now, is a new retail unit have some firmware that will brick it once I try to flash(...).


There was some effort put into trying to track unit serial numbers versus firmware revisions - but basically, there's not too much you can do pre-purchase to guarantee a Passme1 compatible DS. Buying one with the Metroid demo included is said to be a fairly reliable method, and probably buying silver gives you better odds.

But whatever DS you buy, a Passme2 would do the trick. Then if you flash it, just use the latest version of Flashme to make sure it'll be compatible with wi-fi games.
_________________
---GEC
I think that all the work that's been done by the homebrew community so far to support people who want to program for the GBA or DS is amazing.
Thank you, everyone, I look forward to taking advantage of your work.

#72232 - jgarneau - Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:30 am

ok, I have a question that's related: Is the v2 firmware pictochat glitch screen really a dark grayish-blue, or is it just no color with the backlight on? mine looks like it is actually black combining with the white backlight to make a slightly bluish but mostly black screen.

#72235 - tepples - Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:33 am

It is actual blue.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#72242 - jgarneau - Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:07 am

so then what the hell is going on with my DS?


:\

#72318 - kojicolnair - Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:32 pm

maybe take a picture and put it online?

#72564 - jgarneau - Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:07 pm

bang:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

and a movie:
http://rapidshare.de/files/13662436/MOV03830.MPG.html

I think the first picture is the truest representation of what the screen actually looks like to a human eye. the movie makes it look very blue. I dunno.

#72570 - m2pt5 - Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:02 am

Yeah, that's v2 blue. V3 green is really easy to spot, v4 gold looks like almost no color at all, and I have yet to see v5 magenta.

Edit: If you run FlashMe on it (no need to actually install, just run) it will tell you what version you have.
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#72571 - tepples - Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:24 am

m2pt5 wrote:
Edit: If you run FlashMe on it (no need to actually install, just run) it will tell you what version you have.

Catch-22. Running any DS homebrew is kind of a problem unless you already know what firmware version you have ("blue" v2 vs. hypothetical future "black" v6).
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#72581 - m2pt5 - Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:54 am

tepples wrote:
Catch-22. Running any DS homebrew is kind of a problem unless you already know what firmware version you have ("blue" v2 vs. hypothetical future "black" v6).

PassMe2 will run homebrew on all known versions.
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#72596 - tepples - Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:28 am

m2pt5 wrote:
tepples wrote:
Running any DS homebrew is kind of a problem unless you already know what firmware version you have

PassMe2 will run homebrew on all known versions.

It's also more expensive than PassMe or WiFiMe, as you have to buy an additional compatible game (sorry Meteos fans), and if you skipped the GBA, then you have to buy a SuperCard instead of a GBAMP. I'd guess that a lot of people reading this forum are into homebrew development only because they have a lot more time than money.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#72597 - jgarneau - Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:54 am

thanks guys.

I can't really imagine it being a hypothetical v6, as I got it used.