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[onekelly]

Just saw this post on Dragonmindeds blog http://dragonminded.blogspot.com/

Card Compatibility and Such

First, I will start with an announcement. From here on out, M3 products WILL NOT be officially supported. I will still put out compiles with the current (semi-working) 2.25 drivers, but I will not actively continue to fix them. I'm sorry it had to come to this, but I started DSOrganize as a fun little project, and with the constant stress on card compatibility, it is becoming a chore. I have tried numerous things, including using old beta drivers, and the newest drivers on the CVS. Even when I don't change the driver, compatibility changes per compile. So I repeat, I will NOT support ANY M3 device officially any longer. This includes the M3CF, M3SD, M3miniSD, and the G6, as well as any other new products that they spit out.

The second announcement goes out to card makers, as well as casual homebrewers. Card makers, PLEASE consider releasing official drivers in source form to the community. When you make a new card and claim it is compatible with homebrew, new users do not understand that drivers have to be written. The creators of homebrew take the heat because logically, if a card suports homebrew and a homebrew isn't working, it must be the programmer. Also, homebrewers PLEASE research what you are buying. I am more than happy to reply to a personal email on what I recommend to use with DSOrganize, and I'm sure most other homebrewers would be happy to do the same. There is also a perfectly usable FAQ and forums for you to find out other's successes with cards. If you have a product that is not supported by DSOrganize, please petition your card maker to put out official drivers. Asking me only does so much good, as I can only implement your card if there is a reliable driver. Asking chishm is only so good, as he would need to spend many hours reversing the card, and sometimes doesn't even have the card to test on.

As of right now, DSOrganize is tested working on GBAMP, NinjaDS, MK2 and MK3 (although NeoFlash products don't boot homebrew, they still work as storage when booted from a GBAMP). These are the only cards I own, thus the only cards I can guarantee the greatest success on. Reports state that EZ4 with read only support works, and SC CF, SC SD, and SCLite are all working, although I cannot guarantee it works to your satisfaction.

Also, before making bug reports, PLEASE be sure you are doing things correctly. For example, I got a ton of reports saying .ds.gba didn't boot on M3 and to please merge the homebrew databases so M3 could get .nds. I deleted all my work on the M3 database and merged it with the GBAMP database as so numerously requested, only to get a flood of reports saying that their M3 doesn't work with .nds. A recent conversation with someone has revealed the fact that .ds.gba booted by just pushing A TWICE. This will NOT be reversed, as I am not redoing all those packages, so in the future, please investigate to see if there is something you could be doing different.

I know that this sounds very rash, but I am starting to get tired of working on DSOrganize due to all the stress of keeping multiple releases and constantly trying to fix things not related to my code. I hope you all understand.

posted by DragonMinded at 2:48 AM | 7 comments  

[zektor]

Well, it is understandable. I think that if I were the programmer, I would honestly be only interested in getting my program to work with the cards >I< owned. Then, I would release my work. If it works for you, great. If not, too bad. He is correct in stating that these card manufacturers must work with the devs if they are to see these apps running correctly. If I were the M3 and SC team, I would definitely be working with him to any degree possible to ensure that one of the best applications continues to work on the said device, and perhaps even going so far as to donate a few variations of the cards to the guy.

[roylazarovich]

I agree with zektor, giving developers free cards and allowing them to support their products is going to save them money in the long run, by preventing potential customers who are into homebrew from "jumping ship" when they hear a statement similar to the one DragonMinded made.

[uzumakishade]

it is understandble that one would get frustrated from all the complaints if the user only tries one way/one thing to get it started and then blames the developer. i am happy and glad that it works with my supercard sd and they way DSOrganize is going it has my full on support i love all the features it has and cant wait to see more from it

[soulie]

it is understandble that one would get frustrated from all the complaints if the user only tries one way/one thing to get it started and then blames the developer. i am happy and glad that it works with my supercard sd and they way DSOrganize is going it has my full on support i love all the features it has and cant wait to see more from it

i have, for some time been pondering writing an e-book app.  One of the things that puts me off is the grief i can forsee getting if i write such an app and make it available for the only device i have (sc mini sd).  While there are multiple competing devices with multiple FS's per range (sc CF VS sd, SC lite, VS m6 VS GBAMP) i cant see this changing and this is sad.  Homebrew devs and homebrew users are all in this for the same thing (to see extra "cool" functionality added to standard devices) and while there is such a disparity in the base we/they have to work from then the homebrew scene will always have issues such as this.  Even if i was to do this, incorporating different FS's is a bind i would rather not have to deal with, it takes away time from adding core functionality.

I really love DSorganize and am starting to use it regularly in many meetings which i attend through my work ventures and seriously i would support the dev if he chose to only support one card due to this FS nonsense

[mr_jrt]

Could always just go the open source way. Code the master version for your devices, and assemble a team of coders with other flashcards to do the ports. Any conflicts and you just talk together to fix them or maintain seperate ports. Easy.