KDS Homebrew Menu v1.1b

Here there is my most recent homebrew application :) I must admit that not all the code is from mine, I only did the visible layer while the core of the software is excellently done by Chishm and Wintermute of Drunken Coders: it was previously mentioned on this blog's post http://kdshomebrew.blogspot.com/2010/06/ds-homebrew-menu-by-devkitpro.html, the homebrew loader with the ARGV protocol compatibility for an efficient use of the NitroFS.

So, what I have done is a frontend of the homebrew menu (or HBMenu in abbreviated mode), or better known as GUI ---Graphical User Interface---, and I called it KHBMenu, standing for KDS Homebrew Menu. If you look the figure of the cited post, everyone can see that the interface of the HBMenu is... "functional", minimal; so I decided to implement a nicer visualization, more in a kind of a menu of any flashcard for the DS, but with my own style I think :P the final result can be seen in the following figure:

The NitroFS filesystem and the HomebrewMenu

In the post I wrote more than a week ago, concretely the located at http://kdshomebrew.blogspot.com/2010/06/ds-homebrew-menu-by-devkitpro.html, I mentioned the libnds developers' own homebrew loader with a simple flashcard navigation menu, that is only capable of execute non-commercial applications; even I embedded a snapshot of my own DSi with the hbmenu running.

I also mentioned why this homebrew menu was so important ---because of the relatively-new filesystem NitroFS developed by Wintermute, the nowadays main libnds programmer, instead of the obsolete EFS library ---, but I didn't explained what kind of relation was yielding between both two things: now this post is trying to make things clearer.

My first DS homebrew application: Digital Simon

While I'm actually involved in many NintendoDS programming research and some homebrew applications, I have decided to publish the first videogame ---and the unique one until today, indeed XD--- I developed for NintendoDS: a Simon-like game, that takes advantage of the DS touch screen, called Digital Simon ---their initials are DS, in a hidden joke :P---.

DS Special Homebrew Menu by devKitPRO

Well, it's know by most NintendoDS owners that the available flashcards are capable of running both homebrew applications and videogame backups. Also, the main conflict between Nintendo and the flashcard manufacturers is that the backups are always related to piracy.

This war has arrived at the point of Nintendo beginning to block those flashcards, so the homebrew software can be avoided. Because of that, the devKitPRO and libnds teams released this year 2010 a special Homebrew Menu, that is, a simple launcher intended to support DS homebrew developers and their users which has no means to run commercial games: only homebrew. This is my own DSi running this hbmenu.

This Homebrew Menu, or hbmenu, will be really necessary for the homebrew applications developed by using the 1.4.x versions of libnds that are taking advantage of the recently innovative embedded filesystem to store media data, called nitroFS. This filesystem will be focused in future posts, since my RPG project, Shades of Oblivion, will use it.

First steps on DS homebrew programming

Although KDS Blog is not pretending to be a complete NintendoDS software development tutorial, I've thought it would be a good idea to post the first message related to DS programming in libnds as a start point to everything: the programming tools, as well as useful document resources to learn about the hardware capabilities and how to use it. 

KDS Blog Inauguration

Today, June the 4th, a new blog is born. It will be mainly about NintendoDS homebrew programming, but also about KDS software progresses. What is KDS? Well, formally this is the name of a homemade software developing group for NintendoDS; concretely, it's me :) My nick is kitus, so the first letter stands for me; the two final letters are obvious, I think...