BigRedPimp no DSDev

It seems that the WMB client a lot of us use for sending our homebrew to our DS systems doesn’t quite work for the new DS Lite. The reason for this happens to be the 2nd range of MAC addresses (00:16:56 rather than 00:09:BF) that Nintendo has is being used on the Lite. The new version supports both ranges so now you can send to both DS systems. Get the new WMB client here.

Tags: General // 4 Comments »

Recently, I bought myself a Buffalo Tech WHR-G54S router so I could fix some connection issues I was having with my old router as well as giving myself a new toy to play with. I decided on Buffalo not only because of some good reviews I’ve read but also the fact that it supports their AOSS technology. AOSS might sound familiar to those of you who read my Nintendo Wi-Fi post some months back. AOSS allows you to configure any supporting client device at the touch of a button (or 2). Why am I bringing this up now? I’d like to show off one of the little-used features of the NDS’s WFC config screen.

To give you an idea how it works, let me step you through the process I used.

1. Install the host device (in this case, the router)
2. Tweak your network settings as you see fit
3. Go into your NDS’s WFC config screen (my game of choice was Lost Magic but any WFC-enabled game will do) and select an empty profile
4. You should have 3 buttons (duh) but the only one that is of interest to you is the AOSS one
5. Tap the button and then hold the AOSS button on your host device
6. The host and the NDS will start talking to each other to make sure they both support AOSS
7. Once they’re done, the host will send over the Wi-Fi connection config data and store it in the selected profile
8. The NDS will then verify that the connection works
9. That’s it, unless there was some sort of funky error. For that, see your manual/tech/guru/etc

That’s it, really. Now onto the reason for this post.

When setting up my AOSS profile, I noticed that instead of the normal “Ready” text on the button, it had an AOSS icon. This made me believe that somewhere in the profile data lies an identifier that says if the profile is AOSS or not. Oh how I didn’t expect to find as much as I did.

Using the information from the User Settings page of the NDSTech Wiki, I decided to dive in head first. There was a good chunk of information missing and I figured I could find the identifier myself. Turns out that instead of finding just the identifier, I completed a good chunk of the missing information (about 69 bytes worth), thanks to AOSS. Rather than just dancing around the subject, I’ll post my findings here until they can be added to the Wiki. There’s still a bit more left to figure out (for instance, the 14 bytes starting at 0xF0 bother me) but that’ll come in due time. Follow the link below for the technical stuff.

[Read more →]

Tags: General // 1 Comment »

I was pondering my upcoming trip to the west coast (US, that is) and what would make the travel time fun. One thing I’d like to do is blog while I’m out. Sitting in the airport by yourself is boring so what better way to pass time than to write random thoughts to your blog. Since the browser choices are limited/shitty right now (at least until Opera DS comes out), one could make a custom app to post. What would make a well-suited DS blog app?

“Must have” features:

• XML-RPC, Atom, e-mail interfaces for posting (would cover a good chunk of blog options)
• HTML & rich text editing
• Multiple account support
• Handwriting recognition & keyboard entry

“Nice but not necessary” features:

• *Voice recording (could be used for those podcast people out there)
• **Photo/Video uploading via some means (FTP, HTTP, etc)
• Plug-in based system to allow for more blog types as well as posting options later on
• Templates for commonly-used formatting options
• Anything else?

* We could use the various CF/SD storage devices available for storing said voice messages via fatlib and post them somewhere (Putfile, for example)
** Photos can be stored the same way as voice but there is a catch. Right now, there’s no means of taking photos from the DS other than pulling them off pre-existing media (again, CF/SD). A nice addition to this app could be some sort of cart (using the GBA bus) to interface w/ any USB-enabled camera via PTP. This cart could then save the pictures to our various mediums for use when posting.

The way I see the photoblogging working from a DS is that you start a new post, tap “Attach Photo” and it gives you a menu listing pictures on both your storage medium as well as your camera, if one is attached to the cart. From there, it could post both the pictures to some storage site (ImageShack, for instance), grab the url, link it into your post then publish the post to your blog.

Pipe dream, I know. Any takers?

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

I’ve managed to add some new stuff to my APA class (small part of a bigger whole). It’s changed a little bit from what was last seen of it (my Chip8 emu source contains an older version). Here’s a rundown of what I have and what’s planned.

Added:

• Can initialize the class for use with bitmap or tile modes
• Pixel plotting (the beef of the class)
• Line, Rectangle, Circle, Polygons, Filled Circle, Filled Rectangle, Filled Polygons
• Flood Fill (though it could still use some work)
• Bitmap/Sprite drawing (draws an image at x,y)
• Transparency modes (None, RGB Color)
• Pen modes (Normal, AND, OR, XOR)

Next:

• Transparency modes (Indexed Color, Alpha)
• Writing modes (direct to video, buffered)
• Anything else that comes up…

I also have a fractal class that I’m playing with to test it as well as working on some text display stuff. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Tags: NDS, Projects - Software // Add Comment »

My good friend MrMr[iCE] has made a web-based editor for Lox which I’ve been tweaking. Also, WinterMute (of devkitPro fame) has made an editor for use on the NDS. It will save to any device (I hope) that uses Chishm’s FAT libraries (GBAMP, MK2/MK3, SC SD/CF, etc).

The submissions should be sent to the same address as pointed out here and here.

Tags: Lox DS, NDS, Projects - Software // Add Comment »