Hacking Dealextreme Fire Linker

[dbgtdob]

Fire Linker with 128MB Flash for GBA and NDS
$10.25 free shipping

anyone get this yet, its only 10 bucks so is it cheap quality? and does it support moonshell etc...... or what, it says movies on the box so is it moonshell or those gba movie files?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4707

 

[4saken]

It was posted somewhere else before. Since it uses serial (or parallel or whatever - I'm not good at these things), I'm assuming its kind of like the old GBA flash cards.

EDIT: Okay it uses USB or serial/parallel

 

[Darkforce]

Wow, talk about cheap! Beats the £170 ($250) I paid for my first GBA flash card! Not seen them about before but ordered one for the hell of it - will have a write up in a couple of weeks.

 

[4saken]

Looking forward to it >_>

I'm wondering whether its actually 128 MB or 128 Mb

 

[4saken]

Wow these carts keep getting revived, I remember this exact flash cart from about 2 years ago also called the Fire Linker. If it is the same cart, which it looks like it from the pictures, it is 128MB, meaning it'll hold 1 GBA game at a time.

It works pretty well in terms of GBA, never tried it on a DS.

Err if it is 128 MB, that means it can hold more ._. (average GBA game is around 8 MB)

The original Fire Linker also connects in a similar way, so this may be the real deal (though it doesn't look like it)

 

[4saken]

good one

 

[thegame07]

So is there any gba games that wont fit on this

 

[xcalibur]

I dont think so, i really think its 128 MB(not bit)
DX usually mentions if it is in bits or bytes

 

[O.G]

So is there any gba games that wont fit on thisÂ

Yes, any games that are 256 mbit in size. The only noticeable games that are decent, are the mother series on the GBA.

 

[Lupigen]

The thing I'm interested in finding out is what sort of PC connection this uses. The box says USB, yet the (possibly stock) photos clearly show a parallel cable.

As for the cart sizes, the only 256mbit GBA games I can think of at the moment are Kingdom Hearts: COM and Riviera: The Promised Land.

 

[ghettobob]

well this is a deal...only $10 to play a GBA game. You save $20

 

[GirAiD]

I wonder when will they start selling these things.

 

[PikaPika]

I might get that JUST for the fact that Kazuma from S-Cry-Ed is on the Cart

 

[thegame07]

So is there any gba games that wont fit on this 

Yes, any games that are 256 mbit in size. The only noticeable games that are decent, are the mother series on the GBA.

thanks, Well i will pass on this because I already have a gba card I was looking for a bigger sized one.

 

[TLSpartan]

I ordered one of these on Friday. So is it a confirmed 128Mb guys. Ehh, I payed 13AUD for it so I don't really care anymore.

EDIT-Wrong word

A further EDIT- Linkage to my Thread about the Firelinker Link

 

[Glacius0]

I might get that JUST for the fact that Kazuma from S-Cry-Ed is on the Cart

lol, hadn't even noticed that, even though I just finished watching S-scy-ed. Which reminds me. Why is the series named S-cry-ed? For as far as I know it has nothing to do with the anime itself

 

[TLSpartan]

The cart is only 16 MEGABYTES guys. Its on the product page.

 

[Darkforce]

Received my cart today.

Would have a review up for today but I've already spent a fair bit of time fiddling about with this cart and my fingers are itching for a go on Guitar Hero 80s.

Quick impressions: Yes, it's a 16MB cart. No USB cable - as the picture shows it's just a parallel port cable which flashes via the GBA or GBA SP link port. A disc comes bundled with software on but it's all in chinese so pretty much impossible to use and no English version seems to exist. Thankfully after some searching I found a program called flashcart.exe which works perfectly (after setting parallel port to EPP in bios).

Compatibility with GBA games looks good - not had any that havn't worked yet and I've tested about 15 games. Flashcart.exe will automatically trim roms to make room for the multiboot menu if needbe. Saving may be an issue with a few games because the largest single save flashcart.exe seems to want to make is 64kb despite 256kb of space being available. So I need to look into this, but it's only going to affect a few games if it is an issue, otherwise saving is pretty straight forward and backing up and writing saves using flashcart.exe seems easy. Still have to test homebrew on the GBA side of things, but don't expect to encounter any problems.

edit - oh and the flashcart.exe software has the ability to use cheatcodes with GBA games but again havn't had a change to test this out yet.

Regarding DS compatibility, obviously you will need flashme or a passcart/slot 1 cart to boot into DS mode. I tried using loadme to patch a couple of games as .ds.gba files. flashcart.exe burns them fine but I boot onto two white screens with my DS. So I don't know what's up with that =(. Tried homebrew app Phidias.ds.gba (i think it was the supercard version?) booted fine but some of the tools weren't working. Again I need to look into the DS side of things a bit more.

Overall it's shaping upto be a great little cart for $10, will have a mini review with pics and everything up in a day or two.

 

[Gartok]

Thank you VERY much for that link and review, Darkforce. I ordered this about a week ago and was worried there might be problems with the software... I have saved the files from your link and can't wait for mine to arrive.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[Icarus]

I wonder when will they start selling these things.

You mean this? Cuz there's already one xD