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[mavis]

I don't know if anybody has seen this, I just found it this morning. It looks like someone is (finally!!!) working on a real DS hardware solution, using mini-SD ...

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/panyawo/e/896b518249a79f55acdcd8a82c4f8caf

It's in Japanese but the pic alone is drool-worthy ...

I hope this inspires others (the M3 team and of course the SuperCard team) to put something like this together!!!

[Critical_Impact]

I dont see why we cant just use gba carts, we can fit more in, only advantage  is being able to use gba carts like the rumble pack

[mavis]

I dont see why we cant just use gba carts, we can fit more in, only advantage  is being able to use gba carts like the rumble pack

Well for one thing, GBA carts are HUGE compared to DS carts. The Supercard sticks out about a centimeter from the DS, and willl stick out even farther with the DS Lite (two centimeters) ... A DS cart adpter, however, would fit in the DS/Lite exactly like a real DS cart (possibly, at least judging by that pic) so there wouldn't be any extra pieces hanging out. That would be VERY cool, I think.

Also, since we wouldn't have to have a cart in the GBA slot, the battery life would be greatly improved. Slowdowns might be a thing of the past as well, as DS games would be running normally from the DS slot as opposed to having to route them through the GBA slot - a bit of a hack as it stands now.

Honestly though, the main thing (for me, anyway) is looks and size - why have a big ugly blue piece of plastic sticking two centimeters out of my DS Lite when I can have a normal size DS cart adapter running a mini-SD - totally concealed and unobtrusive .... ? I can't wait for DS-based adapters to be made available!

[Critical_Impact]

Arent supercards really big because they have onboard ram and everything? If we use a nds based cartridge unless we can fit ram in it we wont be able to make homebrew larger than 4mbs i think

[xizz88]

so right now, the supercards suck up more energy than would the ds-based cartridges?

[mavis]

Arent supercards really big because they have onboard ram and everything? If we use a nds based cartridge unless we can fit ram in it we wont be able to make homebrew larger than 4mbs i think

Yeah but why can't the SD card (or mini-SD, whatever) be used as RAM? If the read/write speeds of the SD card are faster than those of real DS carts, why would RAM be neccessary? Just a question (to which I don't really know the answer) ...

And yes, xizz88 - the GBA carts use a lot more power than a real DS cart. I think they cut the battery life down by several hours, at least ...

[kraken]

I think you would lose a lot of functionality with this.  It won't be able to play GBA software for example.  Then theres the issue with mini-SD cards costing a lot of money for smaller capacities, and themselves being so small it would be almost impossible to not lose if you have 2 or more going.  As for cosmetics, there is no reason why there couldn't be a new flash cart for the GBA slot that is smaller (or takes mini-SD for that matter), especially if RAM was removed.  The only advantage is the battery life, something that I don't see much of a problem as because even with a supercard the DS still gets double the battery life of a PSP.

[bitblt]

First of all the bablefish translation clearly states "It's not a NDS Flash-cart".  Sorry.  I'm not a hardware expert but the picture is obviously an unpopulated passme board (no CPLD) connected by wires (serial?) to a standard SD reader. The smaller version is a trimmed passme board.

It's still pretty cool though.  Its a neat hack to connect an SD reader directly to the DS game port.  The problem is a factory DS wouldn't know what to do with it.  However, with a flashme'd DS running some clever homebrew it could serve as an alternative storage device for games/apps.

I personally don't think it's possible to fit an SD reader, and a CPLD, and some RAM/ROM into the form-factor of a standard DS game.  I could be wrong.  Most likely a real DS solution would stick out of the back like a superpass2, and would draw extra power from the DS battery.

[mavis]

However, with a flashme'd DS running some clever homebrew it could serve as an alternative storage device for games/apps.

I personally don't think it's possible to fit an SD reader, and a CPLD, and some RAM/ROM into the form-factor of a standard DS game.  I could be wrong.  Most likely a real DS solution would stick out of the back like a superpass2, and would draw extra power from the DS battery.

A little bit sticking out of the top (like the SuperPass) or wrapping around to the back (like that other Pass device, can't remember the name) would be better than what we've got now, I think. As for the RAM, would you even need that if the read/write speeds of the SD card were high enough? Why couldn't the extra space on the SD card be used as RAM?

[darkuni]

A thin, miniSD card sticking out would be MUCH more fragile that the RUGGED Supercard.  Snag that on something ... look out.

I actually ... gasp .. LIKE the supercard sticking out.  Sounds creepy, but I palm the DS and wrap my thumb around the Supercard.  Its HELLA comfortable, sturdy ... of course it only really works with touch only games - but its cool.

Plus, I always have some REAL DS game in the slot (right now its AOE, but previously it was AC) because some games STILL don't run full speed off the Supercard - so I'll play the original.

[bitblt]

. . . As for the RAM, would you even need that if the read/write speeds of the SD card were high enough? Why couldn't the extra space on the SD card be used as RAM?

The problem is SD RAM is only accessible through the SD interface, which is similar to a USB interface.  This SD interface requires special code and extra processing to access SD RAM.  A factory DS doesn't know how to do this.  The supercard has a small CPU (to process the SD), and special code (the firmware) that understands the SD interface.  The supercard also has internal RAM that is directly mapped into DS address space, in the same area as a real game ROM.  When you load a game from the supercard menu the firmware copies SD RAM into internal RAM and continues DS (game) execution there.  For those game that are bigger than the supercard 256Mb internal ram the supercard tricks the DS into thinking it has more RAM by copying small chunks of SD RAM into internal RAM.

[754boy]

Yeah, mini-SD is fucking expensive. I dont mind my CF poking out a little as long as I can play some free stuff  

[Koji]

Yeah, mini-SD is fucking expensive. I dont mind my CF poking out a little as long as I can play some free stuff  

Mini SD expensive? Funny... the local best buy and comp USA sells both SD and miniSD (with full SD adapter) for the same price. I wouldn't be all that surprised if a lot of SD cards are already "mini" sized boards in larger card casings.

[someone_Else]

I wouldn't be all that surprised if a lot of SD cards are already "mini" sized boards in larger card casings.

Yeah, like those 'SD+USB' SD cards, where the actual card is only in half of it, with a USB 'plug' tab on the other half with a foldable bit of plastic to make it fit to the normal shape of a full SD card.

By the way, I'd love one of these suckers for SC, no need to carry around a card reader for file management on the go.

[WarGames]

All the information you need is here in english:

http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.kako.com/neta/2006-004/2006-004.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://blog.goo.ne.jp/panyawo%26hl%3Den%26hs%3D7ro%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG

Neat hardware development.