DS-Linker Review

DeVS · December 27, 2006, 03:18:00 PM

Well what an interesting spin I had with the DS-Linker. I will start with the "Good". Since there is hardly any "Good" this wont take long. Also this is the DS-LINKER, not to be confused with the DS-Link.

Good

EVERY game I tested works on the DS-Linker. I simply did a drag and drop of clean roms from my pc to the DS-Linker, very simple process. Games that have been giving slot 2 mods problems such as the new Castlevania: POR and Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam both worked flawlessly with no slow frames or freezing. Ultimate Spiderman booted and played flawlessly also with no freezing in the game.

The unit I received had 1gig of memory built in and the card was VERY well built. It felt like a normal retail DS cart and not "soft" like the DS-Link since there is no card slot.

The DS-Linker has the passme built in so there is no need to have a flashed DS unit to get this to work.

Bad

Man where do I start.

First and most importantly in my opinion is the USB cable that came with it. I plugged the unit into my PC and turned it on through the DS. My pc said it had recognized and mounted the unit. I went to "My Computer" and did not see the DS-Linker listed and after a few minutes windows gave me a "USB device malfunction" error. So I reached down and made sure every thing was snugly fitted and went to try again, same error. Then I noticed the USB cable that came with the unit to connect the DS-Linker to the PC was HOT, VERY HOT to the touch. That is not normal and has me very worried. I was ready to give up on the unit but then remembered I had the same type of USB cable that came with my digital camera so I decided to give it a shot with my own cable. BAM it worked first try, no errors, no problems when using my own cable instead of the included cheap one.

The next problem I noticed was transferring of games was slow. Livable but very slow. It took probably 8 to 10 minutes to transfer 4 games, and that was only after a couple of attempts because for some reason the unit kept loosing sync from my PC.

Once the games were loaded onto the unit I took out the slot 2 USB loader and started the unit up. I wanted to poke out my eyes once it had booted up. The menu is ugly and hard to read. It has graphics that cover information about the game you highlight which makes little sense. The menu is basically unreadable and you will find yourself relying on the game icons to figure out which games are which. Although the OS is a problem I consider it a very minor problem that can be fixed with a firmware upgrade.

Homebrew does not work. I put a few homebrew apps on the DS-Linker and the unit threw a fit when I tried booting it up. The DS-Linker would just sit there with it's spinning cd "loading" screen and not go from that screen. I then took all the homebrew off and just tried 1 app at a time. By doing this the unit would boot up and give a black box icon for the homebrew. Once I clicked on the black box to execute the DS went to 2 white screens. The same thing happened to all homebrew games or apps I tried (Ds Organize: All versions,ScummVM, DSLive Weather, and Doom). The unit does come with a version of Moonshell that will work.

Conclusion

If you want a slot 1 unit with built in memory and that will play all the newest DS games perfectly this is a card you might consider, although I would suggest using your own usb cables to connect it to your pc and not the cable included.

This unit is not for anyone who wishes to run homebrew or that enjoys a nice OS gui (although these problems could be worked out in the future with firmware updates).

It will be interesting to see where the DS-Linker goes after a few firmware updates, it should be good a good card after a few tweaks and fixes to the OS (and a better USB cable), but right now this card is lacking in keys areas such as homebrew support and simple stability.

The unit is half the price of the DS-Xtreme with twice as much memory but doesn't have the homebrew support that the DS-Xtreme has.

sinkhead · December 27, 2006, 03:41:14 PM

Great review, may I ask who supplied you with your DSLinker?

- Sam

PharaohsVizier · December 27, 2006, 04:09:42 PM

Great review, I might think about picking one of these up soon. I think he bought it.

realhotstuff · December 27, 2006, 07:07:47 PM

Just a quick note. I sent DeVS the DS-Linker and asked him to do a review for us. It is one of the cheapest flashcard with 1GB memory. I tried several commercial roms and had no problems. I was able to load about 25 games in it. My kids are happy with it. Not too many stores selling them though.

DeVS · December 27, 2006, 07:30:30 PM

Ya it plays DS games great, and like I said it is HALF the price of the DS-Xtreme with TWICE as much memory. Did your USB cable heat up like the sun too though?

bitblt · December 27, 2006, 07:41:58 PM

My DS-Linker cable did not overheat but I ran into a different problem that requires me to return it to RealHotStuff . . .

DS-Linker first impressions
http://scdev.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8154

PharaohsVizier · December 27, 2006, 09:13:28 PM

So overall would you guys recommend it or not?

I like the fact that I don't need to buy another microsd for this.

DeVS · December 27, 2006, 10:02:47 PM

If all care about is playing DS games it will get the job done.

zektor · December 27, 2006, 10:21:29 PM

Quote from: "DeVS"If all care about is playing DS games it will get the job done.

Taking this statement and that review into account, I think I can quickly decide whether or not I will be purchasing one of these

Good, solid and honest review tho. Thanks for the information!

sneef · December 27, 2006, 10:40:20 PM

Quote from: "DeVS"The next problem I noticed was transferring of games was slow. Livable but very slow. It took probably 8 to 10 minutes to transfer 4 games

could they be using NOR flash instead of NAND flash for the memory? NOR=slow write, but fast read...

zektor · December 27, 2006, 10:52:30 PM

Quote from: "sneef"
Quote from: "DeVS"The next problem I noticed was transferring of games was slow. Livable but very slow. It took probably 8 to 10 minutes to transfer 4 games

could they be using NOR flash instead of NAND flash for the memory? NOR=slow write, but fast read...

That does make a whole lot of sense honestly. I would bet that this is the case...

Still, I would not be able to stomach a 10 minute wait for a few games....yech..

1NOOB · January 07, 2007, 12:04:16 PM

if i already have a slot2 linker(supercard sd) , could it be a good cause some game dont work on it?

tennisgy · January 07, 2007, 05:59:56 PM

Very nice review

I like the amount of memory and price, but the quality (besides normal ds games go) does seem...bleh. BTW if you dont want it, i'll be fine with taking it off your hands

working moonshell is still a plus

DeVS · January 07, 2007, 06:41:12 PM

Quote from: "tennisgy"BTW if you dont want it, i'll be fine with taking it off your hands

I donated it to Dev-Scene homebrew developers drive. http://www.scdev.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8255

jive · January 13, 2007, 05:16:17 PM

hi, i have a two questions concerning this card. in the feature list, this text appears:

"DSLinker can be also a SuperKey or PassCard, if wirte the SuperKey or PassCard program in it."

how is that done?

second question:

moonshell is working, and the filesystem is standard fat. so in order to run other homebrew, what would have to be done? make one standard driver, similar to the supercard patcher program, or would each and every program have to be optimized fo work on this card?