DS Lite homebrew
So recently it was my birthday and I got a Nintendo DS Lite. Some say that I am too old for this kind of thing, but I recently found out that it could be modified to run some homebrew code quite easily, including Linux and I couldn’t help myself. My Xbox modifications have turned it into one of the best things I own, so I wanted to see what this does.
Well that was all I needed to get on the case, so I went into Bergen to get a black DSLite - the new small formfactor model, and I think it looks quite nice even though I probably bought it in the most expensive place in the world for it:
Then I ordered from a site called hopebuy that initially looked quite dodgy, but turned out really well. To get it working you need a gamecard running custom software, then a device to store your homebrew applications on. These usually are based around some kind of flash memory. I decided upon a superkey card, and a supercard lite in black with a 1Gb Micro SD card.
It arrived in about 4 days from Hong Kong. And all worked straight away, I formatted the MicroSD card (which is amazingly small - like a small fingernail), then put in the superkey in the back of the DS Lite, with the supercard lite in the front holding the MicroSD card.
Software is free available on the web from dev-scene.com and here are some highlights:
- DS:Linux. A Linux port running on the DS - amazingly small text but I am going to use this for its SSH client I think! With the built in WiFi it becomes fully networked.
- DS:DrumMachine: A TR909 and TR808 emulator for the DS. - haven’t got this to work yet but I am sure that I will do soon.
- DS:Organize: A palm pilot kinda app.
- DSVNC: A VNC client which I haven’t used yet because I don’t run VNC at home.
- Moonshell Media player for MP3s, videos etc..
- Nitrotracker - an xm tracker for the DS. This is my favourite application so far, its alot of fun, and you can even record from the built in Microphone.
There are emulators, homebrew games and much more, but I haven’t had time to look at them all yet, and so I am going to go and have a play. I will report back!
October 19th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Its still going strong till this day. I have noticed the battery life is lower than it used to be, but as long as you don’t just shut the lid, and you actually shut down the machine its acceptable.
I think if you just close the lid, its not going into a power saving mode, just as it would be if you have a gameboy installed.
The tracker I have been playing about with alot, and I have also backedup my games which means that I can have more than one game on the system at once.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:39 am
About how much did all of the homebrewing software cost? and does the supercard lite work togetehr with the superkey?
March 27th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Well most of the software is completely free, once you have bought the kit you just need to transfer the software across and its usually free homebrewed by people just wishing to share.
And yes the supercard lite does work with the superkey.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:17 am
did you have to patch the software and games??
July 21st, 2008 at 8:55 am
Yes indeed I did have to patch the software.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 am
did the patching software come with the super card and superkey , because i ordered the same stuff?