SCDS1 SDHC & DSLinux

cutterjohn · December 18, 2007, 09:15:22 AM

Hello, I tried posting this over at gbatemp, but received no replies, so I've decided to try my luck here in a more supercard centric forum:

I've got problems with DSLinux & SCDS1 SDHC OS3.0, EZ-Flash V 3in1. No changes in the "OS" setip defaults in any of the .ini files. 2G Kingston Japan uSD, speed setting 25. uSD is formatted FAT32 default settings, IIRC 2k clusters, all of the below worked fine for my Evolution excepting the WiFi flakiness of DSOrganize 3.1 or 3.1129. Same happened with the GnM supplied 128MB uSD with it's defau;lt format(never checked), also unsurprisingly neither Arcomage nor DSLinux managed to start with the GnM.

The DSLinux 12/14/07 download IS functional as I tested it on another card where EVERYTHING worked fine.

I tried these situations:
1. OS3 & SCDS1 SDHC
2. OS3 "official" DLDI
3. Running DSlinuxm.nds would start to CLI fine.
4. Running wnc would sometime start up WiFi using any method
5. Trying to run either retawq or links would appear to hang (let it run for several minutes)

1. same hw/OS
2. Cluny's 12/7/07 DLDI driver replacing dldi.bin in scshell directory
3. same result
4. same result
5. same result

1. same hw/OS
2. manually patching dslinuxm.nds with Cluny's driver, disabling patching on the app in the "OS"
3. same result
4. same result
5. same result

So, does anyone know if Cluny's fix is maybe not 100%, as it appears(haven't seen many posts) that scummvm and lmp-ng now work, but it doesn't seem to be helping dslinux...

All the ROMs that I've tried worked fine and even picked up the Evolution save files w/o problems. Rudolph's 3in1 seems to be working normally and it's not patched at all(i.e. default no driver and auto-patching). DS Browser works IF I run Rudolph's app and let it setup the 3in1 RAM as a expansion pack, rumble works(quieter than I expected although on lowest setting).

Arcomage.nds hangs with the loading, please wait dialog. (non-DLDI)

DSOrganize worked with either DLDI driver.

...and well, that's all I had time to try...

Any suggestions? I'm really missing the better dslinux browsers ATM, as the second best(DSOrganize) seems to fglake out on WiFi after a few page loads on ANY of my flash carts...

I did something slightly stupid and enticed my Evo to work for a minute or so, and the new version of DSLinux loaded fine, setup WiFi, loaded links and then visited /., and it worked peachily. I'm kind of beginning to think that SC need to ditch moonshell as their primary shell, and write their own, after all even Datel managed to write their own shell which worked just about as well as SCs' current setup... minus being able to run ROMs and even more incompatible with homebrew...

As to the Cyclo DS Evolution comments, I also have one of those but it was DOA, yet can be made to work with a paper(or other thin material) shim. I ordered the SCDS1 SDHC as a backup card as it seemed pretty decent feature wise and I didn't see any major problems in various forums.

dantheman · December 18, 2007, 03:45:09 PM

Try the DSLinux launcher application from http://dannysied.googlepages.com/rundslinux.nds.zip

Unfortunately, the author no longer has the source to this application, so the DSLinux guys can't add the relevant fixes to DSLinux itself. As a result, the above tool might not work in the future, assuming it still works now.

cutterjohn · December 18, 2007, 03:58:24 PM

Thanks. I'll give it a try later on. I HAD come across references to that application before(no download link).

I had just presumed that since the post was so old and that I thought that I had read that DSLinux was a fix in one of the firmwares that I didn't need to track it down and was just missing some setting/patch for it somewhere in the OS.

I'll post back again after trying it out... this evening or tomorrow as I've been focusing ATM on testing that all my GBA cart dumps work & save OK with my 3in1 as I'll be out of town around Christmas. (I kept buying GBA carts although I had the original GBA with the crappy dark screen which I could only really use in direct sunlight over the few summer months...)

cutterjohn · January 01, 2008, 11:47:40 AM

Well, double post, but I'm doing a double update in a way.

So, I tried rundslinux with OS3.0 and, basically, it does the same thing as running dslinux w/o it. Lets me boot to the CLI, get WiFi up, then freezes when trying to run any of browsers.

Next, since I was away, and OS3.0 SP1 just came out, I also downloaded that and tried a few of the problem children on the SCDS1 SDHC, including dslinux. Does the same exact thing, i.e. no change. (Just used SC's new default DLDI.BIN since they said that they fixed the unaligned problem, and left the default shipped ndsinfo.dat(ROM save fle db) in place, or IOW a vanilla OS3.0 SP1 install.)

Both tests were with the 12/14/07 dslinux build, as the build(and install) DOES work, just not with the SCDS1 SDHC, IOW it runs just fine on a Cyclo DS Evolution. (Didn't feel it worth the bother of trying other builds as the 11/22/07 build also failed in a similar fashion...)

Also note, I did NOT try any other network apps, e.g. ssh, and ALSO tried running all test(all OSes) with patching mode both on AND off, but it makes no difference.

Still using the Kingston 2GB Japan uSD, speed auto-detected to 25x under both OS3.0 & OS3.0 SP1.

Note, also in case I didn't mention it above, or all of this above, I'm using a 3in1 for RAM expansion, and running dslinuxm.nds. With OS3.0 I also tried running dslinux with and without running Rudolph's app to set the 3in1 to exp pack mode, but that made no difference as I expected.

dantheman · January 01, 2008, 02:56:41 PM

Hm, when you type "free" how much memory gets shown? If you're using the 3in1, you should get a total of about 16-20 MB of free RAM. If this is the case, then running Retawq shouldn't crash the system, so I have no clue why it does.

The SCDS has always had issues with DSLinux as far as I know.

cutterjohn · January 01, 2008, 03:50:30 PM

Quote from: dantheman on January 01, 2008, 02:56:41 PM
Hm, when you type "free" how much memory gets shown? If you're using the 3in1, you should get a total of about 16-20 MB of free RAM. If this is the case, then running Retawq shouldn't crash the system, so I have no clue why it does.

The SCDS has always had issues with DSLinux as far as I know.

Just going to try this with OS3.0 SP1 & NOT using Rudolph's app to set to expansion pack mode:

# free
MemTotal: 17648kB
MemFree: 15068kB
Buffers: 172kB

14428kB avail after bringing up networking.
224kB Buffers.

AFAICR it looks to be the same as what I got with the Evolution...

Stranger and stranger, I decided to try ssh for the hell of it since I was in dslinux, and THAT works PERFECTLY, so AFAICT ONLY the browsers are failing to run.

I'm going to reboot, run Rudolph's app to put the 3in1 into mem exp mode and see if that does anything...

[EDIT]
OK, running Rudolph's app to and putting 3in1 to exp pack mode results in the same memory used/buffers/avail.

ssh still works, links freezes up.

I'm going to check and see if a newer build is available and try that out as well...
[/EDIT]

cutterjohn · January 17, 2008, 08:25:08 AM

A little update:
Links and retawq are still freezing up with same builds with SCDS1 SDHC OS 3.0 SP2.

Both work with same install on a Cyclo DS Evolution FW 1.22 & 1.3B

Dudu.exe · January 17, 2008, 11:26:46 AM

I think DS organizer is far the best browers.. and it works a lot better then DS Linux for everyting, and do a lot, lot more!

I didnt use the DS linux for ages!

dantheman · January 17, 2008, 05:32:53 PM

Links is still the only way I know of to save image files directly to your card and also to browse with full-sized graphics (DSO only shows images smaller than 256x192) without a PC server (unlike DSHobro). I personally also like the way Retawq handles the Page Up / Page Down buttons much more than DSO since I actively read long stories on the net, but that probably doesn't affect most people. Really, it's a matter of personal opinion. I use the DSO browser on occasion, but often I use Retawq or Links for speed and downloading capabilities. I can also unzip the files I download and patch with DLDI while I'm at it, which is nice.

In any case, I'm still baffled as to why DSLinux isn't working here. Obviously the problem is the SCDS if the same builds work fine on the CycloDS Evo. At least it's booting, which is an improvement over the past, but not being able to use the browsers does suck.

The only thing I can think of is perhaps loading the file using DSOrganize or something, using the custom SCDS exec_stub.bin file from DragonMinded's site. I could never get DSLinux to load in DSO myself, but I use a Supercard miniSD so that's probably part of the problem.

cutterjohn · January 17, 2008, 05:34:58 PM

Quote from: Dudu.exe on January 17, 2008, 11:26:46 AM
I think DS organizer is far the best browers.. and it works a lot better then DS Linux for everyting, and do a lot, lot more!

I didnt use the DS linux for ages!

DSOrganize's browser is OK, but after a few pages the WiFi refuses to connect to anything, and I really don't like it using temporary files as a cache instead of a RAM expansion pack. On top of that, links and retawq render sites closer to how they should appear than do either DS Browser of DS Organize's browser...

cutterjohn · January 25, 2008, 03:31:58 PM

New post so that it'll be noticed if anyone else was bothering to follow.

SCDS1 SDHC OS 3.0 SP2 AND dslinux-dldi 1/23/08 build.

Links and retawq are now working! Didn't check out anything else as I was pretty happy about that.

[EDIT]
Minor update:
dslinuxm.nds fails to load, while dslinux.nds works normally...
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
I suppose that I should also add:
Now testing on a Toshiba 2GB uSD, but it should be same specs as the kingston used earlier.

Latest official ndspatch.dat
Latest jmr ndsinfo.dat
[/EDIT2]

dantheman · January 25, 2008, 04:35:26 PM

sonny_jim recently made some modifications that broke compatibility with many carts, but just in the past day or two he found and fixed the problem. I'd wait for the updated builds to become available on Kineox's page or find his posts on GBAdev with the links to the builds he compiled himself. Just keep a backup if your current working copy on your computer just in case.

No clue why dslinuxm.nds doesn't work for you, but you're only missing out on having madplay and PIXIL in RAM for slightly faster usage.

cutterjohn · January 25, 2008, 05:45:46 PM

Quote from: dantheman on January 25, 2008, 04:35:26 PM
sonny_jim recently made some modifications that broke compatibility with many carts, but just in the past day or two he found and fixed the problem. I'd wait for the updated builds to become available on Kineox's page or find his posts on GBAdev with the links to the builds he compiled himself. Just keep a backup if your current working copy on your computer just in case.

No clue why dslinuxm.nds doesn't work for you, but you're only missing out on having madplay and PIXIL in RAM for slightly faster usage.

Yeah, I know that it won't be caching for those apps on startup, but my primary interest was the browser. Pixil was mostly broken in the last two builds that I tried, so unless it got fixed no big deal anyways, and I never tried madplay.

Seems to be using more RAM now too as well, as when I start up BEFORE loading networking I only have a little above 14MB of free RAM v. the ~14.5MB that I had previously.

I ALWAYS keep copies of the unchanged TARballs, and don't really have anything else under dslinux that I can't easily re-create.

My NDS stuff, well I backup my saves(if I remember to) every time that I pop in the uSD to the PC, along with misc. other data. Remembered to do it today before I installed dslinux for another round of testing. (Only had ROMs on that card at the time as it's a new uSD.)

Also, I still haven't gotten around to testing ssh, but I'll try both that as a terminal client, and scp for copying files if I remember to before my battery dies, and if I remember to turn on ssh on my test box... If I do, I'll try to post an update later.

dantheman · January 25, 2008, 11:57:50 PM

Just out of curiosity, what happens when you boot it without the 3in1 inserted? Is there enough free RAM to start the wireless network and launch Retawq? WNC will probably crash without enough RAM, so try using the "rc.conf" method to connect. Obviously Links is out of the question, but at least in the old builds there was enough RAM to launch Retawq with smaller pages. I'm not sure if this holds true in the newer builds, which is why I'm curious.

cutterjohn · January 26, 2008, 01:10:44 AM

Quote from: dantheman on January 25, 2008, 11:57:50 PM
Just out of curiosity, what happens when you boot it without the 3in1 inserted? Is there enough free RAM to start the wireless network and launch Retawq? WNC will probably crash without enough RAM, so try using the "rc.conf" method to connect. Obviously Links is out of the question, but at least in the old builds there was enough RAM to launch Retawq with smaller pages. I'm not sure if this holds true in the newer builds, which is why I'm curious.

ndslinux.nds (DLDI version) would appear to be incapable of booting w/o a memory expansion pack any longer. I get an exec failed/out of memory error during the boot process.

Still haven't had a chance to try out ssh, and I doubt that I will tonight, but will try to remember to try at some point over the weekend and will leave an update, unless some other enterprising individual does so first...

[EDIT]
Also got a core dump by having a c. 500k text file embedded in HTML loaded(gamefaqs) then trying to get links to switch from HTML mode to "plain" mode... Been a LONG time since I've seen one of those and I had to stare at it for a couple seconds before I realized what I was looking at.
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
Speaking of the devil, here's the exact same thing from the official forums. (The OP's English is the worst that I've seen since the World of Gothic forums...)
http://dslinux.org/f0rums/viewtopic.php?t=498&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
[/EDIT2]

[EDIT3]
Looks like there's a new build, as kineox's page says updated 1/27/08. Downloading it now.

Never did get around to testing ssh. Maybe today if I get a chance to install and test the new build.
[/EDIT3]