Simple questions for beginner

[Mr_linguistic]

Hi everyone

I'm highly considering purchasing a DS soon, and have researched about it quite a bit. During said research I stumbled across this site and found a lot of interesting things. Basically I have a few questions about a few things I'm a bit confused about. I'd appreciate all help givin. Here they are.

1. As far as emulation/homebrew goes, whats the best way to go about it, hardware wise?

2. Taking into account the above question, what can the DS emulate, and what formats (ie gba emulation via .gba files?)

3. Does the serial number issue still count if using an m3 adapter?

4. What is this passkey included with m3?

I guess that's it. I'll probably remember more later on. Thanks for any help everyone :) .

[souLLy]

if you want an easy life you'll be looking for an older firmware ds (i dont know the specifics of this but i'm sure someone will know)

basically:
-you plug in the passme device to your ds with an original ds game in it
-you load the homebrew you want onto your flashcard (the m3 in your case) with the software you got with the card
-put your flashcard into your ds
-turn the ds on
-play!

if you want to skip the need for the passme, you can flash your ds' firmware with flashme (if you have all the above equipment then you're set). this means all you'll need plugged into your ds afterwards is the flashcard to run ds homebrew.

hopefully that's all clear enough :)

[Mr_linguistic]

Thanks for that info mate. How exactly do I flash the firmware anyhow, because that no gba way is definetley the path I want to take. Can anyone confirm if the m3 is the best for the job or what?

[SoCal]

Thanks for that info mate. How exactly do I flash the firmware anyhow, because that no gba way is definetley the path I want to take. Can anyone confirm if the m3 is the best for the job or what?

I have heard only good things about the m3 but I have no experience with that card. However, I highly recommend the Supercard. It comes in two flavors, SD and CF. Either one is great. I have the Supercard SD and it has worked flawless. If you look around you can find Supercard deals that are bundled with the SuperPass (FlashMe Replacement) which allows you to flash your DS firmware.

[Mr_linguistic]

I see, so you have what's written the guide on this site?

http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/nintendods-homebrewfaqguide.shtml

As I understand it, the sd/cf card plugs into the supercard adaptor, which in turn sticks into your ds. Where does the superpass key come into the equation, and what exactly does it do? I read what souLLy said, but I'm still a tad confused. How exactly do I skip the need for the passme/super pass key?

*edit* Ok I'm dying here guys. I really need help desperatley. This is a lot more confusing than I'd ever imagined. Anyway I did some more research and found this

http://www.dspassme.com/dstrackerlist.shtml

In that list is a few ds serial versions I can get my hands on. So now my enquires are pretty simple. I want to play gba roms, and things like that hexen port I've seen as well as possibly some music. That's it. I don't care about movies or any other applications, just games. So which hardware do I go for? I'm mainly interested in battery life and like I've asked above, the skipping of passkey etc. Please if anyone helps, keep in mind im a complete idiot on this subject.