NDS: M3 DS simply and R4DS review [Archive] - DCEmu Network: The Homebrew, Hacking & Gaming Network

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scorpei

January 5th, 2007, 12:40

I've released my review of the M3 and R4 DS. Read it here (http://scorpei.com/R4DS.html).

Heres an excerpt

M3: The M3 packaging is made out of plastic rather then cardboard. This is similar too the packaging of the Neo2-TF. Inside the outer shell there are multiple cardboard and plastic parts holding all things together.

As the packaging of the Neo2-TF this plastic packaging has been made to open easily and to be re-usable (you can close it again), rather then the normal plastic where you need a knife to open it up (rendering it useless). As with the plastic of the Neo2-TF I ask the question “Was this a good choice?”. I'm more of a box fan but this is a fairly properly made container. The fact that you can see the product you've bought is a big plus. A lesser point is box-art as it's very plain and simple. It doesn't really appeal to me very much, even though features are quite clearly stated at the back.

A big plus is that this packaging feels like it will survive rough shipping with great ease. Knowing the M3 team that is probably how they came to the decision to use this packaging.

R4: The R4 wins it for me when it comes to looks; It's simply quite stylish and clear. Because of the square shape it is also easier to store it. What makes it so stylish is the sleeve that is holding the actual box. When you remove the sleeve you are left with a plain white box with the text R4 printed on it (sence and simplicity ;-)).

http://scorpei.com/pictures_M3&R4/PCB_front(small).jpg

I'm also hosting the FAT lib for the M3 (just got it from the M3 team). If you have questions or comments; My Blog (http://blog.scorpei.com/).

Yours,
Scorpei

wraggster

January 5th, 2007, 13:02

wierd must because you named it (small)

StealthCP

January 5th, 2007, 15:03

Excellent review, I was considering the M3 Simply for my brother's DS lite, now I'm sure about buying one :)

It's great having people review this stuff for you before buying, just so you really know how well it works. Good for you :D

steveo117

January 5th, 2007, 16:55

WWWWAAAAAYYYY better review then the one on Maxconsole.com. I can't wait to get mine but unfortunately I bought mine from Divineo.COM instead of Divineo.CN so I wont be getting it until mid January :mad: .

kcajblue

January 5th, 2007, 21:30

very nice review.
ill be getting an M3 DS Simply (when the time is right) now that i know how good it is. :D

Amethyst

January 9th, 2007, 13:44

Yep. MaxConsole's review left me clueless. A lack of dancing lights is a negative?

I like this review.

kongy108

January 11th, 2007, 13:26

anyone know what's the biggest memory cards these devices can take? Capacity wise?

toz66

January 12th, 2007, 04:28

anyone know what's the biggest memory cards these devices can take? Capacity wise?

well guys, iam sat here now with my first ever ds device...
the m3simply, and yes its just superb, for any noobs out there, well what can i say....

if you can plug a usb adapter into a pc, and drag files to it, and then plug a ds style cart into your ds.......then your gonna be very happy.

because yes its THAT simple.

question above, i emailed them before i bought it, they said no max capacity, whatever you can get.

i use a 512 MICRO sd card, and get approx 12 to 15 nds files on it.
not tried anything else yet.

few questions i have myself for any folks out there who do know the ins and outs of all this stuff.....

1. is there a way to reset back to m3 loading menu from in a game or app.??

2. can i use a web browser with the m3?, if so what do you recommend.

3. anybody got beup to work with the m3 simply.?

any answers much appreciated.

toz66

January 12th, 2007, 04:43

soz for the double post, but just read your nice review and i have a few more noob questions.

the "boot 2" menu,
what exactly is it?, baring in mind your explaining to a person who has had NO experience of any thing thats for this kind of thing.

also you mention the skinning part,

what can be changed exactly, did you mean the back grounds?? if so how..?

and finally,
m3 support,
were would i go to find out if any of the software has been updated, and would it be just like putting the first files on the sd card,

reason i ask that question is, i have found a "update" file, thats supposedly for the m3 simply, but i didnt quite understand what it meant, and how to do it.

real sorry for the noob questions , we all have to start somewhere,
do appreciate any help guys.

scorpei

January 21st, 2007, 09:33

soz for the double post, but just read your nice review and i have a few more noob questions.

the "boot 2" menu,
what exactly is it?, baring in mind your explaining to a person who has had NO experience of any thing thats for this kind of thing.
Booting slot-2 adapters (before slot-1 adapters where available only slot-2 could be used to run unsigned code on the Nintendo DS).
[quote]
also you mention the skinning part,

what can be changed exactly, did you mean the back grounds?? if so how..?
Backgrounds and buttons, by putting .bmp files in either _system or _system_ on your microSD card (not quite sure which one though).

and finally,
m3 support,
were would i go to find out if any of the software has been updated, and would it be just like putting the first files on the sd card,

reason i ask that question is, i have found a "update" file, thats supposedly for the m3 simply, but i didnt quite understand what it meant, and how to do it.[.quote]
Not a clue sorry, try to keep an eye on news sites as they tend to get the updates
[QUOTE=toz66;326601]well guys, iam sat here now with my first ever ds device...
the m3simply, and yes its just superb, for any noobs out there, well what can i say....

if you can plug a usb adapter into a pc, and drag files to it, and then plug a ds style cart into your ds.......then your gonna be very happy.

because yes its THAT simple.

question above, i emailed them before i bought it, they said no max capacity, whatever you can get.

i use a 512 MICRO sd card, and get approx 12 to 15 nds files on it.
not tried anything else yet.

few questions i have myself for any folks out there who do know the ins and outs of all this stuff.....

1. is there a way to reset back to m3 loading menu from in a game or app.??
As of now there is I think, if not it will be here in a few days/weeks

2. can i use a web browser with the m3?, if so what do you recommend.Yes if you have the original RAM expansion pack or an M3 perfect lite / SC non-rumble. You could also try DSlinux but I don't think the .nds build has retawq

3. anybody got beup to work with the m3 simply.?

Works like a charm ;).

toz66

March 23rd, 2007, 01:41

sorry for bumping an old thread,

but now iam used to the m3 simply a lot better now..

i still have one question regarding the slot 2 menu.

firstly, iam a correct in saying , its purely supposedly to work by having an original gba cart in, then just booting to the m3simply, and choosing "boot2"?

if this is so, why then has mine never worked at all.
heres what i do......

m3 simply cart in,
original gba cart in

switch on,
choose boot 2

..... white screen,...nothing else,

needs hard reset to bring back.

so guys what is this boot 2 menu for exactly, or have a got it wrong completely.

thanks for any help..

p.s..one tiny other question to avoid another post......

were is the best place to get original..OR homebrew, m3simply menu os files?? (the front end of the m3)

DanTheManMS

March 23rd, 2007, 02:44

The "boot slot-2" thing is for booting a slot-2 homebrew device like a Supercard or M3 Perfect. It's not meant for regular GBA cartridges. For regular cartridges, you can try a couple different programs, the most useful of which being one by Hyperhacker, found at http://hypernova.amarok-shadow.com/programs.php?id=bootgba

Azure Hydra

March 23rd, 2007, 02:47

Tegamal

March 23rd, 2007, 03:59

well guys, iam sat here now with my first ever ds device...
the m3simply, and yes its just superb, for any noobs out there, well what can i say....

if you can plug a usb adapter into a pc, and drag files to it, and then plug a ds style cart into your ds.......then your gonna be very happy.

because yes its THAT simple.

question above, i emailed them before i bought it, they said no max capacity, whatever you can get.

This is true. 4gig is currently the largest on the market, although they are a little hard to find & are overpriced. 2gig is perfect.

i use a 512 MICRO sd card, and get approx 12 to 15 nds files on it.
not tried anything else yet.

My friend and I both have 2gig Sandisk cards, while mine has quite a bit of room, his has about 42 .nds files on it & it's just about full.

few questions i have myself for any folks out there who do know the ins and outs of all this stuff.....

1. is there a way to reset back to m3 loading menu from in a game or app.??

Yes. Press X, Y, B, A, L, & R at the same time. It will soft reset to the main page from a game. Make sure the Soft Reset button is green (top right corner of the touch screen on the "Game" menu. Does not work with most Homebrew Apps, but does with .NDS.

2. can i use a web browser with the m3?, if so what do you recommend.

If you have a RAM pack, you can download the browser .nds, & there are also several free browsers in the works, but nothing out yet.

3. anybody got beup to work with the m3 simply.?

Yes.

any answers much appreciated.

soz for the double post, but just read your nice review and i have a few more noob questions.

the "boot 2" menu,
what exactly is it?, baring in mind your explaining to a person who has had NO experience of any thing thats for this kind of thing.

Like mentioned above, it's for Slot 2 boot devices, not GBA carts. It will just freeze the system.

also you mention the skinning part,

what can be changed exactly, did you mean the back grounds?? if so how..?

The latest update from M3 allows you to upload 12 different skins to a themes folder that you can change by pressing Select, or set it to Auto Mode & it will change skins each month.

and finally,
m3 support,
were would i go to find out if any of the software has been updated, and would it be just like putting the first files on the sd card,

reason i ask that question is, i have found a "update" file, thats supposedly for the m3 simply, but i didnt quite understand what it meant, and how to do it.

Go to M3's website, they add the newest system files on there when they update them. Just copy it to the TF/MicroSD card & choose to overwrite the old ones.

real sorry for the noob questions , we all have to start somewhere,
do appreciate any help guys.

Hope this helps!

DanTheManMS

March 23rd, 2007, 04:24

Actually as of a few hours ago, there is one web browser that works, in DSOrganize. See http://dragonminded.blogspot.com for details.

You can also use the text-only browser Retawq in DSLinux. Since the DLDI version works on the M3 Simply, you can use that. If you have the Opera RAM expansion, you might have enough RAM to run Links as well.

toz66

March 27th, 2007, 05:23

thanks guys,

yes it now clears the boot 2 option up,

i did think it booted normal gba games,

as for the browser ill go check that out.

but thanks again guys

boco77

April 28th, 2007, 13:03

I'm gonna get the m3 simply but have a couple of questions about it.

1. Is there a way to play GBA roms on it? I heard it doesnt play them?

2. Can I still trim roms or compress them in any way and play them like that?

Tegamal

April 29th, 2007, 14:40

I'm gonna get the m3 simply but have a couple of questions about it.

1. Is there a way to play GBA roms on it? I heard it doesnt play them?

No, you will need a Slot 2 device to play GBA roms.

2. Can I still trim roms or compress them in any way and play them like that?

Yes, but I heard it disables the wi-fi in some games. I just left mine alone & have 40 games uncompressed.

:)

Dembonz

January 17th, 2008, 23:26

Bought the R4 for my brother for Christmas and was really impressed. It actually made me jealous I didn't have one :rolleyes:

SpeedGamer

January 24th, 2008, 07:35

Bought the R4 for one DS ,
And the M3DS real with GBA expansian for another....

Was also looking into the new cheaper & modern slot1 "DSTT", very impressive.

Was going to settle for the "EZ-FLASH 3 in 1" to compliment my slot 1 card, but reading about the extra homebrew needed plus patching required for saving games turn me off..

So far nothing I see beats the "m3 real" for most advanced total solution.

wiggy fuzz

January 24th, 2008, 08:34

i also have the m3 real perfect bundle - it fits perfectly in my blac ds lite, but it gets a little stick in my silver one

also i don't trust the spring - and it sits quite deep in the slot

gamer8000

January 26th, 2008, 15:49

gamerzville

January 29th, 2008, 19:16

Hey Everyone!
If you're looking for a great UK supplier of R4DS and DSTT cards, go to www.r4revolution.co.uk

I bought an R4DS from them and i received it after 2 days. Just thought i'd share this with all my fellow gamers.

I can get you the DSTT + 2GB Micro SD card (SD card by Integral UK)for £35 + £1.99 1st class royal mail, with paypal or pppay protected payment, the 2GB card will come with the latest DSTT Kernel (TTMenu OS v1.07, 2007-12-17), I will also install Moonshell 1.71 if required, all pre tested prior to dispatching, and UK stock NOW!

dispatched next day after payment cleared.

[email protected] for information.

I would like to add, the DSTT has been rated better than the R4 Revolution, see http://www.buy4ds.co.uk/article.php?article_id=19 (also check their pricing), I have had the R4 and the DSTT, both are excellent carts, I was a bit upset that the R4 didn't take the 4GB SDHC Micro card I purchased, but not to worry, works no problem in my DSTT :thumbup:

gamerzville

January 31st, 2008, 21:27

just in case people were a bit dubious of contacting me about purchasing the DSTT, I'm sure would be I guess, you dont know me, I dont know you, so I setup some auctions on ebid. happy days guys and gals, keep the faith ;o)

http://uk.nine.ebid.net/perl/auction...6-0&mo=auction

you can either purchase,

DSTT + 2GB MICRO SD

or

DSTT ONLY.

choice is yours.... you'd be crazy not to....

wickscorrie

February 2nd, 2008, 15:36

looking to put a game onto the r4ds but it is coming up on the computer as a nds-xpa file when double clicking on this there are 2 files one a .rar and the other a .sfv instead of the nds file i would usually drag over, have tried dragging the nds-xpa file over but can't get it to open in the ds
any help most appreciated

wiggy fuzz

February 2nd, 2008, 17:12

read the rules, will you?