Nintendo DS Development Tutorial :: Day 1 :: Environment Setup

By the time you are finished reading this page, you should have a fully functional Nintendo DS development environment setup.


Hardware Requirements
Software Requirements
Frequently Asked Questions



Hardware Requirements

• Nintendo DS:  This will cost you about $120-150 new.  As the emulators are not close enough to the actual hardware yet, you will definitely want to have a DS to test your demos on.  Plus, it's so much more fun to see your creation running on the real thing!

• Flash Cartridge & Passthrough Device Me:
  

  • GBA Flash Cartridge: If you already own a compatible GBA flash cartridge (read the following forum topic or list of known working flash carts to check), then all you need to do is purchase a PassMe device.  dsPassme.com is one of the few places still selling them.

  • DS Flash Cartridge: There are currently four DS cartridges:
    G6Flash (currently 3rd generation with 1Gb, 2Gb, or 4Gb space)
    M3 Adapter (works with Compact Flash or SD card)
    NEO Flash (available in 512Mb or 1Gb)
    Super Card & Super PassKey (works with Compact Flash or SD card)
    

• Computer:  I will assume you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP on a relatively decent computer.  Otherwise, you may pull your hair out waiting for your code to compile!  
  Note: For now, at least, these tutorials will not support Linux or Mac OSX.

• WiFiMe, or FlashMe:  You could setup WiFiMe (if you have a compatible wifi card). Or you can use either the PassMe or WiFiMe method to modify your firmware with FlashMe.  Just make sure you check out Lynx's FlashMe tutorial if you choose to flash your firmware.

Software Requirements

When I first started trying to code for the Nintendo DS, I had to set everything up manually.  As of August 10th, 2005, there is now a program called devkitPRO Updater that you can use to install everything you need.  Download & install the latest version before moving on.
Note: You don't need to install devkitPPC or devkitPSP for NDS development, but I would recommend every other component.



Closing Thoughts

What next?  Until I can find the time to work on the next couple of day's tutorials, you are on your own.  There are plenty of examples that come with devkitPRO Updater. Why don't you take a look at them (in \devkitpro\examples\nds) and see what you can figure out?  There is also tons of other source code available, you will just have to do some Googling or go through my Links!



Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will you ever add support for Linux or Mac OSX dev'ing?

A: Probably not as it's hard enough to find the time for Windows tutorials.


Q: What happened to NDS Dev Env?

A: Once devkitPRO Updater was released, it became obsolete.