M3 DS Simply for Nintendo DS
September 13, 2007 | 7 Comments
A while ago I stumbled upon this site which eventually lead me to check out the M3 DS Simply for Nintendo DS.
This device is marketed with the following features:
~ The same size as an original DS cart
~ Built in PassMe (No need for boot card or anything else to boot )
~ Using Micro SD card (Trans Flash) as external storage. Cheap & variety usage
~ Boot clean dump images
~ Super simple to use , drag and files over to the micro SD card (No drivers required)
~ Standard FAT system support
~ Support different speed of micro SD card even the low speed SD card .Run games without any lag or slow down
~ upgradeable Firmware ( OS / Bios / Kernel )
~ Touch screen control & robust skinning support
~ No need battery , back up the save file into the micro SD card directly .Never lose your save
~ Auto detect the save type & automatic generate saver file
~ Homebrew support , IO lib will release on launch
~ Direct watch movie , listen MP3 & read TXT on the DS via the use of Moonshell
~ Support WiFi, DS rumble pack & DS browser
This was enough to intrigue me, so I picked up the M3 DS Simply w/ 1GB Micro SD Card for $79.95 plush $6.99 shipping. In retrospect, I’d have been better of getting the M3 DS Simply without the microSD card ($59.95) and buying that part from Amazon, where the 2GB microSD card is only $22.99.
I have to say, after playing with this thing a bit, it is freaking amazing. Anything you could reasonably desire it to accomplish, it gets done easily. This thing is crazy amounts of fun, highly recommended.
Tags: console source, ds, hack, m3 ds, m3 ds simply, microsd, nintendo ds, rom, roms, wifi
Wiimote Meets Computer
December 11, 2006 | 2 Comments
Jon sent me along an article about Darwiin Remote. This sweet little OSX application allows you to take advantage of the inherent Bluetooth that the Wii-motes use to wirelessly connect to the Nintendo Wii. I love standard technologies…
You launch the application, then make your Wii-mote Bluetooth discoverable by pushing (1) and (2) simultaneously. Once the app connects, you can use the IR ability to take over mouse control. The developer has also mapped the (A) button to be the left click and the D-pad to arrow keys.
The other mappings are all fairly specific for Frontrow, which is annoying for me (I have a G5 without Frontrow). Listed as a desired future feature is customizable key mappings which I look forward to.
At the moment the IR sensing mouse movement is a bit too twitchy. It would be nice if the sensitivity could be turned down. As it is now, double clicking is nearly impossible.
I think this application has great potential, especially considering it is only version 0.3. Check out the developer’s blog or the Sourceforge Project. I’m hoping this matures to the point where I can regularly use my Wii controller to control video and music. This would be convenient as my Mac is currently attached to my receiver and 42″ Samsung DLP TV.
With a bit more complication, you can use the Wii-mote in Windows as well. This “how to” is written by LiquidIce, who is playing with all kinds of potential Wii hacks. There is also an interesting project that is focused on attempting to port Linux to the Wii, WiiLi.org. All kinds of fun is likely to come out of this exploration.
Tags: bluetooth, darwiin, darwiinremote, hack, hacks, liquidice, mac, macintosh, Nintendo, nintendo wii, osx, remote, wii, wii controller, wii hack, wii-mote, wiili, wiimote
Warcraft 3 No CD Hack
September 5, 2006 | 188 Comments
If you are anything like me, you bought Warcraft 3 many years ago and are completely fed up with having to have the CDs with you when you want to play, where you want to play. A group of friends and I play DotA every Thursday night, each of us has purchased at least one copy of the game, but we are lucky if more than one person remembers to bring their CDs. We then spend a great deal of time passing around a CD to (re)spawn games. I will suffer with this no more!
ElliotBack.com provides instructions and the hack download on his site. It appears he has been keeping up with patch versions, currently we are at 1.20e. This is an easy install and a must do for anyone playing Warcraft regularly. It works perfectly with both the original game and The Frozen Throne. There are no known problems running this on Battle.Net.
Update: On the 13th Blizzard fixed some things on BNet to prevent some some crappy script hacks. As a (intentional?) side effect the no cd crack was busted. However the brilliant Vadoff came up with a new solution. The hack is a bit more complicated and the site that hosts the download is crappy. Anyway, here’s the new one. Be sure to read the readme file.
Tags: blizzard, dota, frozen throne, hack, no cd, nocd, warcraft, warcraft 3
XBox 360 Hack
May 23, 2006 | 2 Comments
From an Engadget article it appears that making copies of 360 games is now a real possibility. The hack involves taking a part your DVD burner so you can switch disks without ejecting. Considering dual layer DVDs are now under $2.00, making backups of your games might be worthwhile.
Of course you also need to do a fairly complicated firmware hack so your backups will boot.
In some ways this actually makes me want to have an Xbox 360. There is something very satisfying about modifying hardware to do things it wasn’t intended for. However, the only new system I’ll be buying this year is the Nintendo Wii.
Tags: firmware, firmware hack, hack, microsoft, Nintendo, nintendo wii, xbox, xbox 360, xbox 360 hack
Design Your Own PCB
November 10, 2005 | 7 Comments
Alan recently pointed me at Pad2Pad in response to my article about eMachineShop.
Pad2Pad is a way to get custom PCBs manufactured and delivered. You download the software, design the circuitry you’re looking for and then order it up.
Why is this fun and interesting?
Lately Jon, Al, me and others have been repeatedly involved in various electronics projects. Hacking a couple different consoles, building a magstripe reader to find out what identity information is encoded on the cards in our wallets, and planning some new projects. In the meantime Al has become crazy good at soldering increasingly complex things. We’re looking for more challenging projects.
We recently designed a device for building a switch controlled array of LEDs to attach to your office door. This would have a red, yellow, and green light so our administrative assitant could easily tell how busy we are without asking. Her idea, seemed like fun, but we never actually built it…
Now Jon is planning a new-fangled binary clock which should be way cooler than the one on ThinkGeek. Anyway, with these electronics examples you can see why a bunch of guys like us might like the idea of getting custom designed PCBs.
After using the downloadable tool, the one complaint I have is there is no simulator to test your logic. I’ve used LogicWorks a bit, and that is one of it’s strongest features.
Tags: Alan Baker, binary, binary clock, clock, console, electronics, emachineshop, hack, hacking, LED, LEDs, magnetic stripe, magstrip, pad2pad, PCB, PCBs, solder, soldering, thinkgeek