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Kernel, Shell Boots on DS Linux

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the pokemon-and-penguins dept.

mrseigen writes "According to dslinux.org, the Linux kernel successfully boots on the Nintendo DS along with a simple shell, sash. Input is done via the d-pad. How long until Netstumbler?" While maybe not the most practical platform, it's impressive on its technical merit.

10 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Not practical? by lostchicken · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, a portable device with a lot of battery power, wireless, two screens and a touchscreen input running a general purpose operating system that's relatively inexpensive and that many of us already have couldn't possibly be practical...

    I'd never want my GameBoy to replace my palmpilot...

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    -twb
    1. Re:Not practical? by Zigg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And, of course, DS homebrew is possible in any number of ways:

      1. With a "PassMe" device -- a card that slides into the DS slot and instructs the DS to execute DS code from the GBA slot. Requires a piggybacked game card, which Nintendo helpfully provides with most DS units.
      2. With "WifiMe" -- a downloadable-from-the-main-menu jump to the GBA slot. You're tied to a PC, but you don't need any hardware besides -- again -- a GBA card.
      3. With a firmware update created by homebrewers that replaces the DS's ability to run GBA games with a new ability to run DS-mode code from the GBA slot.

      Honestly, CowboyNeal... how can this not be practical? Is it just not as cool as playing JavaScript tetris -- tethered to a PC, mind you, and requiring the use of one particular game -- on a PSP?

  2. Re:D-Pad by froggero1 · · Score: 1, Insightful
    If you read the article...

    You use the buttons. The directional pad scrolls through letters, a selects the current letter, L inserts a space, R cycles through lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and some special symbols like /. B works like enter.
    --
    ~/.sig: No such file or directory
  3. Why not Kismet? by shakezula · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It'd make more sense to wonder about Kismet. Netstumbler is a Win32 app, no Linux port to speak of, and it's not open source.

    --
    I know what you're thinking. Did I forward 65,535 packets or 65,536 packets?
  4. The "why"... by Kjella · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not only for the technical accomplishment, but for the sheer, "why?" factor...

    I'm guessing because it hasn't been done before. I must admit I found most of the exercises in school boring, partly because they had already been solved. Many people don't want to be the 235,523th to create an MP3 player.

    Making a OSS program copying closed source software isn't very creative either. Most "serious" applications and stuff have been done already, and so many of the projects left have more or less no reason. They're simply a challenge, and one you wish to solve on your own. No knocking down open doors, no "answer" to check against.

    As much as it may seem trivial, creating something unique is a part of many people's self-realization. Some create a piece of art, some decorate their home or garden, some create a new piece of software. There's a tremendous feeling of achievement there you could never get by mere copying.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:The "why"... by Viol8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Many people don't want to be the 235,523th to create an MP3 player."

      I think you mean "Many people don't want to call out to an mp3 API written by someone else who did all the hard work". If so many people in your school can understand and implement the actual MP3 algorithms then you must be attending a special undercover college of geniuses.

      "There's a tremendous feeling of achievement there you could never get by mere copying."

      And no ones ever tried to run linux on some inappropriate gadget before. Nope , this is a totally unique achievment. *cough*

  5. Mind the key layout by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wouldn't imagine it would be all that difficult to code a software keyboard on the touch screen, and just have the user point to the letters he/she wants to type.

    Don't lock yourself into QWERTY or Dvorak. Typing on a touch screen resembles typing with one finger more than anything else, but the QWERTY and Dvorak key layouts are designed to alternate keypresses between hands, which isn't always the best choice for single-finger typing. Look at Fitaly for inspiration.

    I am giving some serious thought to actually doing this... after I evaluate the risks.

    What risks, other than a possible patent on the Fitaly layout?

  6. Re:Netstumbler? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Thats kiddie talk. Four out of five choosing hackers prefer Kismet.

  7. Re:Well by Frogbert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And naturally because this is a linux distribution there are two competing desktop environments.

  8. What I'd like to see by JFMulder · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Is a VNC client or X11 client for the machine. This way, I could be somewhere else in my house, and check my emails from my DS, instead of going to my computer. Or I could check something on the web from the couch in living room.

    Or modify the kernel so that an attempt to read any file actually streams it from the network to your DS for execution or editing.