DS, Development, Compatibility...

**karurosu** · October 27th, 2004, 19:45

Hello everyone, this is my first post.
When I found out that I really wanted to buy a DS, I went to the Nintendo site looking for specs, features, etc. but there isnt much info there, so when I found your forum, I decided to participate
I am somewhat related to the GBAdev scene (I am a learning programmer) so pardon me if i mention linkers or flash carts, but I will for the sake of clarity only.
The first thing I noticed was the processors, 1 ARM7 and 1 ARM9, thats good if you dont want to play old GB/GBC games, because, in the GBA there was a Z80 processor in charge of running the GB/GBC games, so firts bad point.
The next thing I noticed was that there will be no Link port, that means that:
1.- I cant load any multiboot games!
2.- Goodbye multi-cart playing
3.- Goodbye to some linkers, and carts. (they are needed for actual game testing) 2nd bad point.

Maybe Nintendo has already thought of something, but still those are some really bad points.

Ok, the Specs of the system are very nice, and better stop complaining, maybe when I have mine in hands...

Anyway, I said all of the above because some nice person stole my GBA and my Flash cart, and I wanted the DS to replace them, but looks like I will have to buy also a GBA. Geez.
Sorry if I bothered anyone, I only thought that this info may come in handy for someone.
See ya.

**sully** · October 28th, 2004, 06:54

yeah too bad about the linker thingy :-[

that sucks abut your GBA - im gettin rid of my GBA with its flash cart while i can still get some money for it. so ill suggest you wont miss yours so much when the DS comes out

***wraggster*** · October 28th, 2004, 12:26

im sure a way around the problem will be available.

Homebrew on the DS looks a very mouthwatering prospect

maybe the gba port can be used for ds homebrew, who knows until it shows up

**karurosu** · October 28th, 2004, 18:29

Yeah, thats right
I came up with some ideas, since there is planned comunication between the GBA carts and the DS carts, there are high chances that the two processors would run at the same time, that means that an emulator (think about N64 in DS, the hardware allows it) may come, (imagine: GB/GBC straight from the slot, unless they put some kind of "key" for inserting carts) also, I think someone will find the way to hack the wireless and connect it to a PC, yeah....
I think that DS is still a good inversion, I cant wait to have one!

**BlackAura** · November 1st, 2004, 01:51

The DS is designed to use the wireless network capability instead of using a wired link cable. As far as I'm aware, it's still able to start up over the network, just like the GBA did. If someone can work out how to send a custom boot program to the DS, you'd have the same thing as a PC->GBA link cable, but using a wireless network instead.

Didn't the DS have a link port for GBA games though?

**karurosu** · November 4th, 2004, 20:29

No link port, in the SPECS page it says, "GBA games in single player mode only"

***wraggster*** · November 4th, 2004, 22:46

Nntendo have probably done that to stop any use of Flash Carts, athough its a shame that it makes it harder for people wanting to play Homebrew.

**portner** · November 5th, 2004, 05:48

whats all this ARM7 and ARM9...
can someone explain to me what it really is...
like how fast is it in terms of Mhz...?
issit like 1GHz? or 1.2GhZ or something?

***wraggster*** · November 5th, 2004, 06:13

Consoles cant be judged like PCs, with custom chips hardware, its very hard to actually compare.

**karurosu** · November 7th, 2004, 21:06

ARM is the name of a processor type,
The GBA came (for the first time) with an ARM7, and because ARM manufacturer released a DEVkit for that kind of processors (Thumb) some very good programmer created software for it, it was just a matter of finding the registers in the memory (a register is like a communication port of the GBA, there is one register for every key, for every dot in teh screen, etc) Then someone created DEvtools, thats why we had a GBA emulator several months before the unit actually shipped, also that is the reason of why there is too many homebrew games, DEVkits, etc.
About speed, like Wraggster said: Its impossible to judge the hardware like we do with PCs, just think about the GBC processor, it was about 7 or 8 mhz (i cant remember exactly) and the games were really good. Also the PS2 features a not so Fast Processor (compared to a computer) but its architecture (dedicated RISC) made an excellent console.
Hope that now is more clear for you.