DS Lite
Okay, so I've been wasting my time looking around at electronics and such over the past few days. In my travels, I have figured out (in my opinion at least) the best way to get hacking on the new Nintendo DS Lite. This piece of superb portable gaming equipment is an upgrade to the Nintendo DS, is smaller, has a brighter screen, and looks cooler.
I'm now writing a noob's guide. This noob guide does not include many of advanced concepts or explanations behind all this hardware, it just details a way to start running a few things.
NOOB GUIDE!
This guide shows noobs the way to start getting the most out of your Nintendo DS Lite. (If you have earlier versions of the DS, all hardware listed is compatible.) With this guide, you can:
1. Run homebrew games on your Nintendo DS or DS Lite.
2. Watch movies/listen to MP3's.
3. Run Linux for the Nintendo DS/DS Lite
So, let's get started!
First, you need a Nintendo DS/DS Lite. Duh. Get one at Circuit City, Best Buy, or where-ever. They cost about $130 at the time of this writing (6/14/06).
Second, you need a "pass-through device." The reason for getting this device is a little complicated. I'll try to explain.
To run programs on your DS that are not official Nintendo games/official Game Boy Advanced Cartridges, you need this device. It lets the DS run DS programs through a cartridge that you put in the Game Boy Advanced slot. It does this by (well I really am not sure how, but let me give you a shitty explanation!) by-passing the Nintendo DS firmware (firmware is like an operating system, just for the DS) and trying to boot (boot means load an operating system) a DS game or operating system (like Linux! or it could be a media playing system) from the cartridge you will put in the Game Boy Advanced slot.
So, the pass-through device that you should use is Datel's MAX Media Launcher. I know for a fact that you can get it at www.cheapmod.net .Those guys ship from the UK, it costs about $35-$36 with shipping.
This type of pass-through device is called a no-pass. It is called this for various reasons (if you really care, go look at the DS Linux wiki) but anyway, it fits right in your DS cartridge slot and looks nice. It also works like a charm. The only problem people seem to have is that the little notch that locks the DS cartridge into place is a little small, and the MAX Media Launcher may get stuck occaisionally. You can fix this by cutting it out a little more, but whatever. Deal!
This device is fairly new, so there might not be alot in stock. Another device that is reportedly the SAME EXACT THING is called the SuperKey. The company that makes it has it's website here: http://eng.supercard.cn/ . A distributor list for the Superkey (which may or may not be in stock right now, it hasn't appeared much in the forums, though the MAX Media Launcher is definetely out there and can be bought) is on http://eng.supercard.cn/dealer.htm, go to the canadian one. The canadian store has a good reputation. It's http://www.kicktrading.ca/ . The SuperKey has not been reviewed as much as the MAX Media Launcher, so buyer beware.
Third, you need a flash cartridge. You need it to access cards where data is stored! Like music, movies, games, whatever. This is a cartridge that goes in the Game Boy Advanced cartridge slot, and there are a number of options for this one.
Because this is a NOOB GUIDE, I'm going to give you one option. It will work with the MAX Media Launcher and maybe the SuperKey.
You can buy the Game Boy Advance Movie Player v2 (GBAMPv2) at http://www.natrium42.com/shop/gbamp.html . Basically it is a CF adapter for the DS. It is cheap (yay!) about $28 with shipping, and works well. It says something about passkey and versions of DS on that page, but DONT REGARD THAT. DO WHAT THIS GUIDE SAYS AND EVERYTHING WORKS! the passkey is an outdate pass-through device that required SRAM. nobody cares about the passkey.
IMPORTANT- CHOOSE THE VERSION THAT WORKS WITH A CF CARD. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RUN LINUX AT THIS TIME.
This is because linux does not have drivers for writing to the mini-sd or sd versions of the M3 perfect or Game Boy Advance Movie Player
You can also buy an upgraded version of the Game Boy Advance Movie Player, it is called the M3 perfect. Buy it from natrium42, it comes with some better movie playing software than the Game Boy Advance Movie Player and will also work with other pass-through methods, but don't worry about that. The M3 perfect is about 3 times more expensive than the Game Boy Advance Movie Player, so you should probably choose the cheaper one :).
Fourth, you need a CF card. This is to store data! (Finally we get to the data, the stuff that everyone likes!) Get it from Ebay, Circuit City, Best Buy, or where-ever. They come in sizes from a measly 8 megabytes to a ginormous 4 Gigabytes. Depending on how much stuff you want to store on the card, choose a 128 megabyte to 512 megabyte card. Those are the easiest to find and therefore the least expensive. Obviously the smaller the capacity, the less expensive the card. Try to find a Type I card, because I'm not sure if the Game Boy Advance Movie Player can use Type II cards or Microdrives. (CF=Compact Flash. It is a common type of camera flash memory card.)
Finally, Fifth, you may or may not need a CF card reader for your PC. If you already have a CF card reader from a camera, you don't need to buy another. You can get these at Circuit City, Best Buy, on Ebay, WHEREVER! They cost like 5 bucks. If you see one that has slots for other cards it will work as well. They're pretty much all the same.
So... You have all this stuff! What you do is you put the MAX Media Launcher from Datel/SuperKey into the DS cartridge slot, the CF card into the Game boy Advance Movie Player/M3, the GBA Movie Player/M3 with the CF card into the Game Boy Advance Cartridge slot, and start up the DS. You will see the MAX Media Launcher/SuperKey screen after a while, and then you will be confronted with the software that is on the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect. Right now you probably didn't put any data (games, movies, music, etc) on your CF card, but when you do (you do this by taking the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect out of the GBA cartridge slot, then the CF card out of the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect, then putting your CF card into your CF card reader, and plugging the CF card reader into your Personal Computer.) the software on the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect will recognize these files and play them easily! Have fun!
Notes: I use M3 and M3 Perfect interchangably in this guide. They are the same exact thing.
GBA always stands for Game Boy Advance. I might also say Advanced. It is the same thing.
Game Boy Advance Movie Player and Game Boy Advance Movie Player v2 are not the same thing (there was a version one), but in this guide both terms are referring to VERSION TWO of the Game Boy Advance Movie Player (GBAMP).
If you want to look more into the homebrew scene, check out: www.dslinux.org , Nintendo DS passthrough methods, <-- that's a great site, http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/, and www.gbadev.org. Because you're all noobs, I'll say this once. NEVER ASK, EVER, FOR PIRATE GAMES ON THESE SITES. You will get banned like a banana. Seriously, uncool.
Also, remember that the DS can play all old Game Boy Advance games, and that all the homebrew that was made for the Game Boy Advance works for the DS. Just put it on your CF card and you're good to go.
Okay, I hope this was helpful to people. Hack Away!
I'm now writing a noob's guide. This noob guide does not include many of advanced concepts or explanations behind all this hardware, it just details a way to start running a few things.
NOOB GUIDE!
This guide shows noobs the way to start getting the most out of your Nintendo DS Lite. (If you have earlier versions of the DS, all hardware listed is compatible.) With this guide, you can:
1. Run homebrew games on your Nintendo DS or DS Lite.
2. Watch movies/listen to MP3's.
3. Run Linux for the Nintendo DS/DS Lite
So, let's get started!
First, you need a Nintendo DS/DS Lite. Duh. Get one at Circuit City, Best Buy, or where-ever. They cost about $130 at the time of this writing (6/14/06).
Second, you need a "pass-through device." The reason for getting this device is a little complicated. I'll try to explain.
To run programs on your DS that are not official Nintendo games/official Game Boy Advanced Cartridges, you need this device. It lets the DS run DS programs through a cartridge that you put in the Game Boy Advanced slot. It does this by (well I really am not sure how, but let me give you a shitty explanation!) by-passing the Nintendo DS firmware (firmware is like an operating system, just for the DS) and trying to boot (boot means load an operating system) a DS game or operating system (like Linux! or it could be a media playing system) from the cartridge you will put in the Game Boy Advanced slot.
So, the pass-through device that you should use is Datel's MAX Media Launcher. I know for a fact that you can get it at www.cheapmod.net .Those guys ship from the UK, it costs about $35-$36 with shipping.
This type of pass-through device is called a no-pass. It is called this for various reasons (if you really care, go look at the DS Linux wiki) but anyway, it fits right in your DS cartridge slot and looks nice. It also works like a charm. The only problem people seem to have is that the little notch that locks the DS cartridge into place is a little small, and the MAX Media Launcher may get stuck occaisionally. You can fix this by cutting it out a little more, but whatever. Deal!
This device is fairly new, so there might not be alot in stock. Another device that is reportedly the SAME EXACT THING is called the SuperKey. The company that makes it has it's website here: http://eng.supercard.cn/ . A distributor list for the Superkey (which may or may not be in stock right now, it hasn't appeared much in the forums, though the MAX Media Launcher is definetely out there and can be bought) is on http://eng.supercard.cn/dealer.htm, go to the canadian one. The canadian store has a good reputation. It's http://www.kicktrading.ca/ . The SuperKey has not been reviewed as much as the MAX Media Launcher, so buyer beware.
Third, you need a flash cartridge. You need it to access cards where data is stored! Like music, movies, games, whatever. This is a cartridge that goes in the Game Boy Advanced cartridge slot, and there are a number of options for this one.
Because this is a NOOB GUIDE, I'm going to give you one option. It will work with the MAX Media Launcher and maybe the SuperKey.
You can buy the Game Boy Advance Movie Player v2 (GBAMPv2) at http://www.natrium42.com/shop/gbamp.html . Basically it is a CF adapter for the DS. It is cheap (yay!) about $28 with shipping, and works well. It says something about passkey and versions of DS on that page, but DONT REGARD THAT. DO WHAT THIS GUIDE SAYS AND EVERYTHING WORKS! the passkey is an outdate pass-through device that required SRAM. nobody cares about the passkey.
IMPORTANT- CHOOSE THE VERSION THAT WORKS WITH A CF CARD. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RUN LINUX AT THIS TIME.
This is because linux does not have drivers for writing to the mini-sd or sd versions of the M3 perfect or Game Boy Advance Movie Player
You can also buy an upgraded version of the Game Boy Advance Movie Player, it is called the M3 perfect. Buy it from natrium42, it comes with some better movie playing software than the Game Boy Advance Movie Player and will also work with other pass-through methods, but don't worry about that. The M3 perfect is about 3 times more expensive than the Game Boy Advance Movie Player, so you should probably choose the cheaper one :).
Fourth, you need a CF card. This is to store data! (Finally we get to the data, the stuff that everyone likes!) Get it from Ebay, Circuit City, Best Buy, or where-ever. They come in sizes from a measly 8 megabytes to a ginormous 4 Gigabytes. Depending on how much stuff you want to store on the card, choose a 128 megabyte to 512 megabyte card. Those are the easiest to find and therefore the least expensive. Obviously the smaller the capacity, the less expensive the card. Try to find a Type I card, because I'm not sure if the Game Boy Advance Movie Player can use Type II cards or Microdrives. (CF=Compact Flash. It is a common type of camera flash memory card.)
Finally, Fifth, you may or may not need a CF card reader for your PC. If you already have a CF card reader from a camera, you don't need to buy another. You can get these at Circuit City, Best Buy, on Ebay, WHEREVER! They cost like 5 bucks. If you see one that has slots for other cards it will work as well. They're pretty much all the same.
So... You have all this stuff! What you do is you put the MAX Media Launcher from Datel/SuperKey into the DS cartridge slot, the CF card into the Game boy Advance Movie Player/M3, the GBA Movie Player/M3 with the CF card into the Game Boy Advance Cartridge slot, and start up the DS. You will see the MAX Media Launcher/SuperKey screen after a while, and then you will be confronted with the software that is on the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect. Right now you probably didn't put any data (games, movies, music, etc) on your CF card, but when you do (you do this by taking the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect out of the GBA cartridge slot, then the CF card out of the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect, then putting your CF card into your CF card reader, and plugging the CF card reader into your Personal Computer.) the software on the GBA Movie Player/M3 Perfect will recognize these files and play them easily! Have fun!
Notes: I use M3 and M3 Perfect interchangably in this guide. They are the same exact thing.
GBA always stands for Game Boy Advance. I might also say Advanced. It is the same thing.
Game Boy Advance Movie Player and Game Boy Advance Movie Player v2 are not the same thing (there was a version one), but in this guide both terms are referring to VERSION TWO of the Game Boy Advance Movie Player (GBAMP).
If you want to look more into the homebrew scene, check out: www.dslinux.org , Nintendo DS passthrough methods, <-- that's a great site, http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/, and www.gbadev.org. Because you're all noobs, I'll say this once. NEVER ASK, EVER, FOR PIRATE GAMES ON THESE SITES. You will get banned like a banana. Seriously, uncool.
Also, remember that the DS can play all old Game Boy Advance games, and that all the homebrew that was made for the Game Boy Advance works for the DS. Just put it on your CF card and you're good to go.
Okay, I hope this was helpful to people. Hack Away!