Nintendo DS homebrew wheee!!!!

[the_wasd_man]

Yesterday I just got my M3 simply in the mail (see a review here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=44631)

Now what this does is that it allows you to run homebrew on your DS. Homebrew are free programs created by the community, that are completely free (gotta love open source)

But I gotta say, this makes the DS so much better. The M3 comes with MoonShell, a sort of OS. Now, MoonShell lets you play MP3s, watch videos and read ebooks! I've just turned my DS into a PSP, but with a touchscreen, how cool is that?

But MoonShell is just the beginning, there are a bunch of other homebrew programs out there. A great one is beup. Beup is essentially MSN. MSN on my DS! There's Dsmail, essentially Outlook for your DS...

It's just awesome.  :metallica:

Here's a screenie:



Note that I took the liberty of changing the backgrounds in MoonShell. That's an other great thing about open-source... well, it's open-source! :D

Also note that it uses micro-SD cards. I've got a 1GB one, but man, are they tiny!

So now I essentially have an MP3 player, that can watch videos, that I can use to chat with, to check my e-mails, that reads my txt files, and, of course, plays games. Really, if you have a DS, you need this.

Hacking rules. ;D :ninja :metallica:

[Rico]

Very cool!  I may have to look into that.  What is the direct link to buy this from?

[the_wasd_man]

There are lots of sites from where you can buy these... the two I know of are:

http://www.kicktrading.ca/m3-ds-simply-microsd-p-162.html

http://www.gamersection.ca/product_info.php?products_id=374

Those are both Canadian sites, though... all the other ones I know of are European, so I'd got with them even if shipping can be a bit more. :)

You'll of course also need a micro-SD card. Those sites sell them I think, that's where I got mine, it was convenient. But then I saw that newegg.com was selling them for $8 a piece. I'd go with them. ;)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134215

Oh, also, I just heard that a homebrew DS browser is on the way, check it out.

http://gnirfleo.blogspot.com/

And if you're worrying about it being complicated, well, it really isn't. Heck, I managed to do it. ;)

Oh and here's a list of homebrew that'll work with the E3 simply (there are a lot of other cards out there, but the simply is, well, simple :D)

http://wiki.scorpei.com/index.php/M3_DS_Simply_compatibility_list#Applications

[Rico]

I'll check those sites out.  Thanks much for the information.

[the_wasd_man]

No prob. :)

Just spreadin' the good word! :D

[PepperDude]

That's a really great. . .can I call it a hack?.  If I had a DS I would definitely have buy that program. 

[the_wasd_man]

Oh yeah. I qualifies as a hack. It's not official or anything. ;)

Uh... I just installed DSlinux on it... man... more trouble than it's worth (I'm not much of a coder)

[the_wasd_man]

More pics. Why? Because I can, and I'm having way too much fun with this!

ZOMG! teh Linux!



Watching a Simpsons episode guest starring a certain "Mr. Nimoy"



Beup, otherwise know as MSN:



It reads txt, too!



Ah... I love technology

[Rico]

Wasd - how's the video quality and the sound when you watch a TV show or movie?  Do you use earbuds?  I wasn't sure what the resolution was on the DS.

Also, how much space does a 30 min Simpsons show take up and do you have to convert it into any special format to play it on the DS?

Thanks!

[the_wasd_man]

Ah, good question, Rico.

Unfortunately, you do have to convert your video files into a special format, called DPG.

There are two converters out there, that I know of.
The process is fairly painless, and is pretty quick. Here's the link:

The better one (better quality)

http://ls5.cydonianknight.com/

The simpler one (quality is OK, but you only have to push a button)

http://www.themanfromdelmonte.co.uk/nintendo-ds/bin/moonshell10_dpgtools.zip

The resolution of the DS is 256x192, so the videos will be in that format, or something similar.The quality on the videos is OK. Since you're watching it on a 2" screen, it doesn't have to be that great. The audio is of good quality, and you can use the speakers or the headphones.

Also, the Simpsons episode was originally about 85MB and the program chopped it down to 47MB. Not that bad.

[Rico]

Couple of follow up questions (I feel like a reporter)...

What format types will it accept to convert from? (.wmv, .mov, .avi, .mpeg, etc??)

How long does the conversion process take?

[the_wasd_man]

So far for me it has has worked with avi, mpeg, wmv and mov (I was surprised by mov, usually nothing works with that).

The conversion varies depending on how long the video is. But my Simpsons episode took about 5 minutes.

[Trekkygeek]

Wow, an amazing collection of information. I just bought a DS, I use the Opera browser but it's hard work. I had heard of homebrew but always thought it complicated. Now having read this post, it seems worth the hard work. Thanks mate. :cheers