Homebrew Best DS internet browser?

[Lycan911]

I've come across a lot of DS browsers, but I don't know which one to choose, which one do you recommend?

 

[YoshiInAVoid]

If you have a Slot 2 RAM Expansion such as the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 then I would recommend the official DS Opera browser. There is a cheat code to make it compatible with EZ Flash 3-in-1 and various other slot 2 cards.

The homebrew ones are barely usable, don't expect much.

 

[Lycan911]

Nope, only a R4 :/

 

[tbgtbg]

I wouldn't use any DS browser unless I had no access to any other device. And even then probably not. No matter how you cut it it's going to be a pretty bad time.

If you're dead set on browsing on your DS, just download all the ones you found and try them yourself. Not like you have to just pick one.

 

[Vipera]

Opera DS is the best because the developers had enough fucks to give to develop the software properly. The only issue is that I THINK it's forced to connect to WFC first, making it useless pretty soon since the server shoutdown.

 

[YoshiInAVoid]

Opera DS is the best because the developers had enough fucks to give to develop the software properly. The only issue is that I THINK it's forced to connect to WFC first, making it useless pretty soon since the server shoutdown.

No, it still works.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Oh man, that's a tough one. The main problem is the DS's raw specs. It's got a 66 MHz main processor and a measly 4 MB of RAM, and the last time that desktop computers were that weak was back in 1995 or so when the Web was first being introduced.

If you have any form of slot-2 RAM, or you buy the official Opera slot-2 expansion pack somewhere, the official Opera browser is going to be the "best" browser in terms of overall functionality. It still can't handle pages with too many images on them, but if you turn on text-only mode from the beginning it can work decently.

On the homebrew side, the only one to look into if you don't have any slot-2 RAM is Bunjalloo. Okiwi was vaporware for so long that once it was finally released it didn't do anything, and DSOrganize actively corrupts your SD card.

If you've got slot-2 RAM available, then you have access to DSLinux. Assuming you can get it working on your device, that is. With DSLinux comes two web browsers that were originally developed for desktop Linux usage and were then ported to the DS version: Retawq and Links. These are text-only web browsers as well, but since they were designed for real desktop usage, they're the most "complete" of the bunch. They handle HTML/CSS/cookies the best compared to Bunjalloo, and you've got lots of useful options like being able to download files and having multiple tabs open for multitasking. Once you learn all the keyboard shortcuts, they're pretty darn good. I know I for one used Retawq to check for new posts on PocketHeaven and SCDev back when they were both active. You can even use the graphical version of Links to load up pages with graphics if you want, although that feature was never quite fully developed.

Long story short, as long as you go into this with a mindset of "This can browse the web although less easily than any smartphone from the past 5 years" you'll find something to work.

EDIT: Hm, I wonder if DSHobro still works. Last time I checked the auto-connect function was very broken but if you typed in the IP address manually you could still get it to work...

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

DSLinux is the best.

SDOrganizer would be the best if it didn't have memory leaks that eventually make the browser stop working until you restart the ROM again.

 

[ipwndeveloper]

DSLinux>dshobro(I used to have public server setup. if there is intrest I will turn it on again)>Opera(no ram patch or with ram)>Bunjallo>Owiki>my browser(too lazy to name, raw http get, and displayed basic html tags br,p,table etc no image support).

I do recommend DSHobro and DSlinux(lynx, retwaq) on standard DS/DSlite. Opera on DSi>every homebrew browser.

 

[Foxi4]

Considering the amount of available RAM on the system I'll have to agree that the original Opera browser is the best one available. DSLinux is all fine and dandy as an OS, but the browser can't hold a candle to the original one with the RAM expansion.

 

[DanTheManMS]

DSLinux is all fine and dandy as an OS, but the browser can't hold a candle to the original one with the RAM expansion.

For me it depends on if I want to view images or not. If I don't care about images for whatever site I'm visiting, then quite honestly I'd much prefer browsing with DSLinux simply due to the speed. Using the Opera Browser feels like being back on dial-up Internet.

As a test, I loaded up GBATemp.net without images on both browsers. With DSLinux, it took about 5 seconds for the browser to launch and another 5 to download and render the page. With Opera, it took a solid 1.5 minutes before it would recognize any button presses or touchscreen presses, and even after 3 minutes it was still trying to load the bottom half of the page. Overview mode worked slightly better, only requiring about 1 minute total before I could move around the whole page without any input lag. Obviously less complex pages would have less of a difference, but you get the point.

 

[ipwndeveloper]

For me it depends on if I want to view images or not. If I don't care about images for whatever site I'm visiting, then quite honestly I'd much prefer browsing with DSLinux simply due to the speed. Using the Opera Browser feels like being back on dial-up Internet.

As a test, I loaded up GBATemp.net without images on both browsers. With DSLinux, it took about 5 seconds for the browser to launch and another 5 to download and render the page. With Opera, it took a solid 1.5 minutes before it would recognize any button presses or touchscreen presses, and even after 3 minutes it was still trying to load the bottom half of the page. Overview mode worked slightly better, only requiring about 1 minute total before I could move around the whole page without any input lag. Obviously less complex pages would have less of a difference, but you get the point.

Yea, part of my wishes some one would update DSLinux for DSi(most likely wont happen, sadly). If I ever got a connection faster than 798kbps down, I would download the SVN and make an attempt to fix whatever mess was left behind. tried it a while back, download just kept timing out, so I gave up. perhaps a trip to find some better wifi is in order.

DSLinux is pretty cool though, one of the best things to ever run on the DS(in my opinion).

 

[Wolfgange]

Yea, part of my wishes some one would update DSLinux for DSi(most likely wont happen, sadly). If I ever got a connection faster than 798kbps down, I would download the SVN and make an attempt to fix whatever mess was left behind. tried it a while back, download just kept timing out, so I gave up. perhaps a trip to find some better wifi is in order.

DSLinux is pretty cool though, one of the best things to ever run on the DS(in my opinion).

It would be nice to have DSLinux for the DSi. I tried the DSTwo linux, but for some reason I could never get it to work. Oh well.