GBAtemp: AceKard in house!

[Costello]

Pretty lights aren't that important, the AceKard got some potential, if they can sort out the translation and keep on updating the software.

This could be the ONE!

The X-9 has a better chance of being "the one" before AceKard. The propietary file system that doesn't support most homebrew alone is a kicker for me, not including every other issue that has been mentioned.

actually no, the Ninjapass x9 is going to suck too (from what I read - that is reports from users, howto guides, etc.)
the real potential one is the microninja

 

[CacheSyntax]

Pretty lights aren't that important, the AceKard got some potential, if they can sort out the translation and keep on updating the software.

This could be the ONE!

The X-9 has a better chance of being "the one" before AceKard. The propietary file system that doesn't support most homebrew alone is a kicker for me, not including every other issue that has been mentioned.

actually no, the Ninjapass x9 is going to suck too (from what I read - that is reports from users, howto guides, etc.)
the real potential one is the microninja

Really?

Interesting. As always I appreciate your input Costello.

I'm still in the mind though that propietary formats blow though.

 

[Costello]

I totally agree with you!
Proprietary formats, unless particularly well designed, will most likely mean PC software and poor space management (no file fragmentation, data can't be moved...)
Which is by all means a negative point for the end user.

Edit:

noooooo! all my games and saves are lost! I clicked the "delete" button while one of the "free space" thingy was selected, and oh god, it formated my entire cart! How lovely!
All I can say is that I wish we didn't have to base our review on this early version of the Acekard client.

 

[kazumi213]

That's enough for me today Costello, you can take a break if you feel tired. Otherwise, please be careful with that Astonishing Krappy File System. It seem even dangerous

 

[Costello]

OK you can actually export saves

. The sav files show up on the media card and you can transfer them back to the PC. We'll try importing a save now.
I will edit my post to show the results.

Oh and also, it DOES actually remember the save type when you select it. However, if you make a mistake, there's no way back! You have to use the Acekard manager and delete the .st file that is created (that stores the save type data) when you select the save type.

 

[shtonkalot]

I totally agree with you!
Proprietary formats, unless particularly well designed, will most likely mean PC software and poor space management (no file fragmentation, data can't be moved...)
Which is by all means a negative point for the end user.

Edit:

 noooooo! all my games and saves are lost! I clicked the "delete" button while one of the "free space" thingy was selected, and oh god, it formated my entire cart! How lovely!
All I can say is that I wish we didn't have to base our review on this early version of the Acekard client.

Any reason not to wait for an English version cart to review?
I would appreciate all the info you can give on the carts you have at the moment but it really isn't the product that most of us will be buying. The English one when available is.
Perhaps by that time there will be some changes made to the OS and client software.

Not complaining but I think it may be unfair to judge the cart before release and with possibly (apart from the language) different software/OS features.
It may be easier to not format your card with English instructions and software, though I won't be surprised if it isn't...

I know a few people were unhappy with the early review of the DS-X and are still waiting for the promised follow up review. And that was a final retail sample (I know this AceKard is too, but not an English final sample).

Anyway, thank you for any and all info. I appreciate the time and effort you guys put into this.

 

[shaunj66]

There aren't going to be any differences between the Chinese and English Acekard. The software and GUI are going to be the same. They can't do anything radically different because all the hardware is already in place, and the AKFS must have taken a while to develop.

I'm sure what's said in the Chinese review will go for the English one too. If not, then we'll have to re-review the English card.

 

[Costello]

What shaun said is true. Even if it was translated to English, it would still be the same buggy featureless software.
What we can promise you is that the acekard won't get any "Cons" for being in Chinese! We won't take that into consideration for the final rating.

I just tried opening the acekard manager in Resource Hacker to see if I could possibly translate the tool to english, but no way, RH won't read the form resources. Btw the Acekard manager is coded in Delphi. Which means they could theoretically port it to Linux (and then to MacOS) using Kylix but it still requires major changes in the software and judging by the skills shown in this application, I doubt the "Acekard team" is up to it.

 

[shtonkalot]

As long as you are sure about it, that's good enough for me!

 

[kazumi213]

IMHO ANY product pretending to be sold worldwide and, moreover, pretending to be competitive MUST support AT LEAST English language from scratch. No excuses here. So they're gonna tell me a group of electronic/electric/mechanical/coders/whatever engineers don't know a damn word in english? C'mon.

 

[stinkingbob]

Yep. Acekard seems like a winner to me. For the one and only one poster who said that the AceKard was cool, go ahead and buy it and spend 30 minutes trying to figure out how to use the darn thing. I bet you won't and I bet you would probably start a topic on this forum to get help for it.... But seriously, I think that Shaun should stop spending so much time on the AceKard now. Preliminary tests already reveal that the AceKard does not live up to its expectations. Its futile to do further testing on the card when there are so many inconveniences with it. From the posts I have read so far from Shaun and Costello, AceKard will never beat out DS-X. Before, I stated that Shaun would rate Acekard at 4.5/10. I change that to 3.5/10.

Anyways, someone posted:
***********
"Not complaining but I think it may be unfair to judge the cart before release and with possibly (apart from the language) different software/OS features.
It may be easier to not format your card with English instructions and software, though I won't be surprised if it isn't...

I know a few people were unhappy with the early review of the DS-X and are still waiting for the promised follow up review. And that was a final retail sample (I know this AceKard is too, but not an English final sample)"
***********

Well, if you are a company, wouldn't you want to send out a damn near perfect working copy of your product to a reviewer?? Why would you send something that is half complete?
Something that is so complicated to use? No, AceKart is not worth it, even if it cost $50.
Lastly, no one was unhappy with the DS-X review. They were being critical because the DS-X had a fixed amount of memory so they couldn't store 20+ games on it. Basically, they vented and in doing so, said the ds-x was not worthy of the price and that they would wait for other slot 1 solutions to come around. Well, here it is: the Acekard! Gotta love it, right.
b.

 

[EeK]

actually no, the Ninjapass x9 is going to suck too (from what I read - that is reports from users, howto guides, etc.)
the real potential one is the microninjaÂ

You're serious about the MicroNinja being "the one", Costello? Why's that?

I've been considering buying a DS-X for quite some time, now (since it's been announced, actually), but with so many new slot-1 flash carts being released, I thought it would be wiser to wait just a little bit more. Since the AceKard don't seem all that great, the only other option that could prevent me from buying the DS-X was the NinjaPass X9, But if you're serious about the MicroNinja, then I would like to know its advantages/disadvantages, if that's possible.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Costello]

Well this is just my opinion, that is based on quick users comments and a howto guide explaining how the X9 works. There is also the fact that the FAQ is copied from the DS-X website. And there's that too: (from their FAQ)

Q: What countries will the X9TF be available to?
A: About at this November 2006.

About the microninja we have had several topics about it already. Check them out here:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=38734&hl=microninja
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=39073&hl=microninja

The microninja is the same as the NinjaDS except for the size (the microninja is the same size as a DS cart.)
The NinjaDS is truely a good product, the only huge drawback is its shape. The new firmware will supposedly bring 100% DS compatibility, and I'd like to remind you that it actually supports drag & drop, doesn't require any PC software at all, and doesn't require any particular operation to get the games running or saving (unlike the X9).
The OS is also attractive (unlike the X9) and it has interesting built-in features such as an image viewer, a music player, and more.

So yeah... to me the microninja is the most promising of the three.

 

[furyoo]

if you have to have your own file structure, and you have to have software to move rom from point a to point b, that would be patching. if not, you tell me what is.

i really hope the new ninja is atleast on par with the ds-x. so far, that is the best solution for people who just want to play games, and enjoy ease of use.

To use NTFS in DOS, you need a third party software to move files around because DOS cannot support NTFS natively. So does it imply you're patching the files everytime you move it? The only reason you don't have to do this in XP is because NTFS is supported natively, hence no need to use a third party software to shift around with FAT and NTFS because the algorithm is already built in.

It's the same with this card. Just another file structure with a different way of arranging data. That is not patching, otherwise every data in the world can be labelled as patched.

 

[RyuKakashi]

Well this is just my opinion, that is based on quick users comments and a howto guide explaining how the X9 works. There is also the fact that the FAQ is copied from the DS-X website. And there's that too: (from their FAQ)

Q: What countries will the X9TF be available to?
A: About at this November 2006.

About the microninja we have had several topics about it already. Check them out here:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=38734&hl=microninja
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=39073&hl=microninja

The microninja is the same as the NinjaDS except for the size (the microninja is the same size as a DS cart.)
The NinjaDS is truely a good product, the only huge drawback is its shape. The new firmware will supposedly bring 100% DS compatibility, and I'd like to remind you that it actually supports drag & drop, doesn't require any PC software at all, and doesn't require any particular operation to get the games running or saving (unlike the X9).
The OS is also attractive (unlike the X9) and it has interesting built-in features such as an image viewer, a music player, and more.

So yeah... to me the microninja is the most promising of the three.

isn't the x9 by the people that made ninjapass and not ninjads?

 

[digital_sin]

a stand alone software that has to be used to manage the cart is really REALLY annoying. that's what you get from using your own file system.

the ds-x has limited memory, but the upside is it's just drag and drop, wherever there's internet (which is EVERYWHERE), and wherever there's a PC nearby, you can just upload new stuff on it. it doesn't even matter what OS is it. that's a big plus for me.

 

[CacheSyntax]

To use NTFS in DOS, you need a third party software to move files around because DOS cannot support NTFS natively. So does it imply you're patching the files everytime you move it? The only reason you don't have to do this in XP is because NTFS is supported natively, hence no need to use a third party software to shift around with FAT and NTFS because the algorithm is already built in.

It's the same with this card. Just another file structure with a different way of arranging data. That is not patching, otherwise every data in the world can be labelled as patched.

It's time for an analogy!

Let's say you're driving down the road, and you're tire goes flat. If there isn't a spare, you attempt to patch it.

Now, let's say you're driving down the same road, same quick car, enjoying yourself just as you would above, and you get stuck in the mud. Great, now you have to attempt to get out yourself, or get pulled out.

What do both of these two analogies have in common?

They both take time away from fun, and they both suck ass.

Unless that's your idea of fun, then have at it!

 

[CacheSyntax]

What shaun said is true. Even if it was translated to English, it would still be the same buggy featureless software.What we can promise you is that the acekard won't get any "Cons" for being in Chinese! We won't take that into consideration for the final rating.

I just tried opening the acekard manager in Resource Hacker to see if I could possibly translate the tool to english, but no way, RH won't read the form resources. Btw the Acekard manager is coded in Delphi. Which means they could theoretically port it to Linux (and then to MacOS) using Kylix but it still requires major changes in the software and judging by the skills shown in this application, I doubt the "Acekard team" is up to it.

Careful Costello, we wouldn't want anyone to think you're biased or anything.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Intersting read, I look forward to hearing about the card after you do a full review on it.

 

[shtonkalot]

Anyways, someone posted:
***********
"Not complaining but I think it may be unfair to judge the cart before release and with possibly (apart from the language) different software/OS features.
It may be easier to not format your card with English instructions and software, though I won't be surprised if it isn't...

I know a few people were unhappy with the early review of the DS-X and are still waiting for the promised follow up review. And that was a final retail sample (I know this AceKard is too, but not an English final sample)"
***********

Well, if you are a company, wouldn't you want to send out a damn near perfect working copy of your product to a reviewer?? Why would you send something that is half complete?
Something that is so complicated to use? No, AceKart is not worth it, even if it cost $50.
Lastly, no one was unhappy with the DS-X review. They were being critical because the DS-X had a fixed amount of memory so they couldn't store 20+ games on it. Basically, they vented and in doing so, said the ds-x was not worthy of the price and that they would wait for other slot 1 solutions to come around. Well, here it is: the Acekard! Gotta love it, right.
b.

Hi, someone here

Well I'm not a company but I do see your point. I would "want to send out a damn near perfect working copy of your product to a reviewer" but I didn't say anything about that. My point was only that the cart may perform differently to the retail English language versions. Shaunj66 and Costello have made it clear that they believe that is not the case. Cool.

And on the other point I'm sure if you bother to look that you will find some people were vocal about having issues with the review of the DS-X, not the product. Though you are correct about some people complaining about the internal memory size that is again not at all what I was getting at.
Some people were under the impression that the DS-X team had influenced the review and even suspicious because there is a dedicated forum for the DS-X. Others complained that the compatibility was not tested thoroughly enough or that the card that GBAtemp received was of better quality.
I was not one of those complainers. I liked the review. I am still waiting for the follow up though, the more info the better.