Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hacking The DS's Wireless

Posted by timothy on from the limited-but-so-what dept.

xNoLaNx writes "Darkain, maker of the remote control program for Winamp, RM-X, has been working day and night hacking the Nintendo DS and its wireless, and making a custom USB power connection for it. He has been able to monitor packets over 802.11b coming from PictoChat and more."

27 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Clue for the clueless? by fembots · · Score: 5, Informative

    I remember when I was playing King Quest in 80's, when the king has to go to this wizard place to learn some magic. I had to resort to opening up the binary files and read some command lines to know what to do and what to pick up. I didn't have too much luck with Police Quest though, since it's more of an action-based game :)

    So now with these decoded Mario64 packets, we know to wait for yoshi in the middle of kira spa, room 1?

    Other than that, I don't know what is the use of these decoded packets.

    The USB power cable is cool, if not for the fact that we already can buy USB-powered XMas tree, desk fan and whatnot.

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:Clue for the clueless? by FLAGGR · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm just glad someone is working on the DS wireless, I want some damn documentation on how it works so I can code for the thing without an expensive devkit (I know sniffing packets isnt gonna do much, but its a start)

    2. Re:Clue for the clueless? by zallus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Picture someone with Mario64DS playing with someone on a laptop with Mario64DS in an emulator, or with a specially written bot. Really, as a rule, once protocols in use in PCs get involved in gaming, interesting things become possible.

      --
      I mod down pathetic posts.
    3. Re:Clue for the clueless? by double-oh+three · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why just game code? Someone should trick the thing into using it's wifi to connect to the internet. IIRC the thing has a small mic and speakers, so someone could add Skype or some other VoIP program on it

      --
      "For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
    4. Re:Clue for the clueless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Samba was created by only "sniffing packets."

    5. Re:Clue for the clueless? by Traa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Cool! It would be just like a cellphone! Except it would be really expensive, not have a good form factor for this type of use. And now you can't even play games on it. ;-)

    6. Re:Clue for the clueless? by unixbob · · Score: 5, Funny

      That would make it an N-Gage then?

      --
      The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
    7. Re:Clue for the clueless? by Mechanik · · Score: 3, Funny

      Cool! It would be just like a cellphone! Except it would be really expensive, not have a good form factor for this type of use. And now you can't even play games on it. ;-)

      You mean like the N-Gage?

  2. Future Possibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Imagine sooner or later, with the right development one could load up ethereal on their DS and start monitoring the local wifi connection.
    This game system could turn into a neat little surveilance device.

  3. pictochat/im? by chocolatetrumpet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So... will I be able to participate in a pictochat with my cousins' DS, while I use my powerbook?

    --
    Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
  4. that's all well and good.. by jx100 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Nitro project is actually working on tunnelling games over the internet. I believe they're using some of this guy's data as help, but they're also doing other stuff.

  5. Wake-On-LAN by z3021017 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hope somebody finds a way to hack WoL capability for the DS.

    I thought one of the best things about these new handhelds (PSP included) was that you could play people you didn't know by just 'beeping' them whenever they were in range.

    --
    Bored? Visit my exciting counter page!
  6. Ds is gonna have so many hacks by Cracell · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't have one yet, but from looking at it, it appears very hackable, which will be nice once I get the cash for one I expect this to be the first of many

    --
    Signatures are so 90s
  7. DS as general-purpose internet client by ewg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was disappointed to learn that the DS doesn't support networking beyond local links to other DSs.

    With Wi-fi support in every unit, I'd pay $30 for a "game" cartridge with an internet suite based on Opera or maybe the mobile Mozilla technology. Give me a web browser, IMAP client, AIM, and maybe an RSS reader and I'm good.

    Hopefully something like this is on the way, something a little more portable than my laptop.

    --
    org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
    1. Re:DS as general-purpose internet client by Snowmit · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please, yes! And while you're at it, make some scheduling software for so that I can claim that it's my PDA and I need it at meetings.

      --
      I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
    2. Re:DS as general-purpose internet client by MBCook · · Score: 3, Informative

      I wouldn't be suprised if someone sold that, but the screens are under 300x200 each. Great for games, but not much for web surfing.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    3. Re:DS as general-purpose internet client by vandoravp · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually it seems almost perfect with two screens. One shows a thumbnail of the whole page, the other shows a blow up of a small portion that you can easily move around.

  8. LAN tunnel for the DS by agtorange · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can already see someone making a LAN tunneler program for the DS that use a good old wireless router and a program on the computer to grant players the power to play online. It might work something like this. You bring up the program and it gives you list of games you pick a game and then pick a "room" depending on the game the "room" might hold more or less players. The room would fool the DS into thinking it near these other player as if they are in the same physical room. Once in the "room" you can simpley turn on the DS load up the game like metroid hunters and its game on!

  9. DS usb power cable by Allison+Geode · · Score: 4, Interesting

    i read that the DS can use the same power cable as the GBA SP. why bother hacking that together (other than the sheer nerdy joy of doing it yourself)? someone already made one: http://www.the-console-corner.com/gba_sp_usb_power _cable.htm
    (sorry for not making that html. lazy tonight.)

    1. Re:DS usb power cable by darkain · · Score: 4, Informative

      yes, they can use the same power cable. yes, you can buy pre-made cables from lik-sang. the one on the site mentioned above is actually a SP cable, not a DS cable, but the mod was done for the purpose of using it on the DS. some people out there have purchased the SP and the DS, and therefor would have two power adapters. instead of having two of the same thing, this could give you a variety of mothods for powering your units, such as gathering friends together in one small location where power outlets become scarce, and because of the akward shape of the power adapter, it will can cover 2 or more outlets on a power strip. using usb instead means you can use any free usb slot available on your desktop computer, laptop, or powered usb hub.

    2. Re:DS usb power cable by Smiffa2001 · · Score: 3

      URL'd URL here:

      http://www.the-console-corner.com/gba_sp_usb_power _cable.htm

      Nifty idea though, as I bet there are some people that won't want to hack stuff to pieces (can't think who though.....)

  10. Devkit for the rest of us please! by shumacher · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nintendo, I know you won't listen to me, but please, do what Sony did with the Aibo and release a consumer-grade development kit!

    1. Re:Devkit for the rest of us please! by Knetzar · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nintendo, I know you won't listen to me, but please, do what Sony did with the PS2 and release Linux for it!

    2. Re:Devkit for the rest of us please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nintendo, I know you won't listen to me, but please, do what Sony did with Michael Jackson and pretend you don't know these freaks.

  11. AiroPeek NX? by bagofcrap · · Score: 5, Interesting

    from the article:

    List of things you need to get started:
    * TWO (or more) Nintendo DS Units
    * A WiFi card of some kind
    * AiroPeek NX software package

    AiroPeek NX?
    hmm... sounds interesting... *click* *click*

    Its 3.5 grand for a copy w/ a 12 month support contract!?!

    Not to sound cheap (cos I am), but um, thats a bit of an investment for what sounds like etheral w/ tcpdump on windows.
    Anyone with experience w/ Airopeek mind sharing all the cool stuff it can do?

  12. Re:travel risks... by Stevyn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now I got to worry about packet sniffing dogs when I cross the border into Mexico? Great!

  13. you don't need AiroPeek NX, free software works by chizu · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been doing most of the same stuff as Darkain has, but under Linux using all free software. Ethereal/tcpdump doesn't keep the raw 802.11b packets needed to see all of the DS data, but AirSnort does. AirSnort will record to pcap format and then you can mess with the packets in Ethereal. Just a heads up for those who don't want to pay for AiroPeek and still want to mess with low level wireless stuff (like the Nintendo DS).