Hacking Is the price worth it for the Acekard RPG?

[Urza]

Currently, the CycloDS is the top flashcart. It probably has more potential then the AKRPG. And it has a great support team from what I've heard.

Top flashcart according to who?

As far as potential, the AKRPG is open source and therefore automatically wins that argument.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

Okay. You know. (For the sake of getting pissed off.)
GET THE AKRPG BECAUSE HE SAID SO.

 

[Urza]

GET THE AKRPG BECAUSE HE SAID SO.

Now you're catching on

 

[Sephi]

Urza is very wise, always listen to the purple man.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I only agreed with him because I just didn't want to keep on debating with Urza.

 

[Swip]

The RPG doesn't have features that the Cyclo has such as RTS.
And AKAIO has a bucket-full of features the Evo doesn't.

What's your point?

Edit: RPG -> AKAIO


I was answering the OP's question.

Does the RPG have everything else that other flashcarts don't? It's good for the storage, but what about everything else for that matter?

And the Evo has a bucket-full of features AKAIO doesn't.

QUOTE(dib @ Aug 10 2008, 04:18 PM) I would say the biggest feature of the RPG is being the only open source solution on the market. Now, this is a mixed blessing, as I think Lynx over at NDShb summed it up best in his prophetic review:

QUOTE

Open Source. I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or bad. Half of me says, "YEAH!" we can do whatever we want with the card.. As people have suggested, the USB port might make a great debug interface. The other half of me says "BOOH!" as this leaves them the ability to drop support of the device. If they release the initial firmware, and "Joe" comes along and releases a "better" firmware, everyone switches to Joe's firmware. Now, this makes Joe the maintainer of the firmware for this device. So, if something isn't working, you have to talk to Joe, as it's his firmware. Or, go back to the original firmware that might not have the features you like.

And this is precisely where we find ourselves today, with individuals like the AIO team responsible for the real upkeep of the loader software while AK does very little other than update only if the occassional game fails to work. If you want features like cheat database, you're driven to these third party loaders. And yet they're unable to develop other features like save states because AK refuses to implement it in the first party loader.

Personally, after owning it for a couple months I'm still happy to have gone with the open source product. Yet I recognize that open source doesn't necessarily mean that something is better, and I can't help but wonder which features I'm missing out on if I had gone with a Cyclo. From my understanding, they actually implement things like slow motion and save states where Acekard seems like they don't want to do any work on behalf of all these customers.

 

[Urza]

And the Evo has a bucket-full of features AKAIO doesn't.

RTS and in-game guide != "bucket-full"

As far as the open source argument, the AKBBS/AIO team has been much more productive than Cyclops since its formation. Each release brings a good page of bug fixes and implemented features.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I think the Acekard 2 is even better than the RPG. What do you have to say about that Urza?
Edit: Even better than the CycloDS because of it's overall good-ness.

 

[Urza]

I think the Acekard 2 is even better than the RPG. What do you have to say about that Urza?

I'd say they're fairly identical since AKBBS became compatible with the AK2. Whether or not the built-in NAND and USB port are worth the 40USD premium is mainly up to personal usage.

Would have probably recommended the AK2 if there weren't so many QC issues in the later batches.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I recommend the Acekard 2. Overall, it's the best:
-price
-compatibility
-GUI is very cool/unique
-top screen of menu has clock/calendar (not important though)
-supports SDHC (well, most flashcarts these days do)
-custom firmware >>AKAIO

 

[Link5084]

Is the RPG the only open source flashcart in the market? If so, why isn't features like an In-game text reader and RTS available? I thought it would have much more features than Cyclo since it's open source.

 

[Joey90]

Is the RPG the only open source flashcart in the market? If so, why isn't features like an In-game text reader and RTS available? I thought it would have much more features than Cyclo since it's open source.

People can try and make these features, but it isn't all that easy... if it was, more flashcards would have it as a standard feature anyway.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I wish the AK2 did have the In Game Guide. I use it alot for Kirby Squeak Squad.

 

[dib]

I recommend the Acekard 2. Overall, it's the best:
-price
-compatibility
-GUI is very cool/unique
-top screen of menu has clock/calendar (not important though)
-supports SDHC (well, most flashcarts these days do)
-custom firmware >>AKAIO

 

[Another World]

something no one has mentioned in this thread is that the cost of the onboard mem in the rpg isn't to make priate gamers happy, its to aid developers. you can simply plug in the kit and drop files to it, without the ware and tare on a msd slot. sure gamers get use out of it as well, with the faster speeds. i think the cost is worth it from a development stand point and as urza stated your basically getting the entire ds library (and homebrew) for the cost of the kit.

my first kit cost me 140$ for 128mb of gba support... and it was (and still is) worth every penny!

-another world

 

[dib]

That's not entirely true, because if Acekard were catering to homebrew they would make it so the USB could be applied toward debugging and uploading versions without even having to remove the RPG constantly. That is the type of functionality homebrew devs have long sought but nobody will deliver, simply because piracy is where the money is at.

 

[Aerundel]

That's not entirely true, because if Acekard were catering to homebrew they would make it so the USB could be applied toward debugging and uploading versions without even having to remove the RPG constantly. That is the type of functionality homebrew devs have long sought but nobody will deliver, simply because piracy is where the money is at.

Having to remove the RPG to access the mini-USB connector has nothing to do with piracy being popular. You have to consider that giving read/write access to two different systems (your PC, the DS) for one storage device (onboard NAND flash) is a quick way to hopelessly corrupt any data that's been/is being stored. This is why we have networked file sharing on computers. So it's in your best interest to remove the cartridge from the DS before accessing the connector anyway. It just reduces potential conflicts.

 

[Urza]

That's not entirely true, because if Acekard were catering to homebrew they would make it so the USB could be applied toward debugging and uploading versions without even having to remove the RPG constantly. That is the type of functionality homebrew devs have long sought but nobody will deliver, simply because piracy is where the money is at.

Having to remove the RPG to access the mini-USB connector has nothing to do with piracy being popular. You have to consider that giving read/write access to two different systems (your PC, the DS) for one storage device (onboard NAND flash) is a quick way to hopelessly corrupt any data that's been/is being stored. This is why we have networked file sharing on computers. So it's in your best interest to remove the cartridge from the DS before accessing the connector anyway. It just reduces potential conflicts.

I can't imagine how there would be a conflict if the DS is turned off.

 

[science]

I've managed to insert the card into my DS with the USB cable already connected, so its not impossible to do

 

[Aerundel]

I can't imagine how there would be a conflict if the DS is turned off.

Like I said, removing the cartridge just removes the risk, and worrying about damaging contacts with repeated removal/insertion is another issue altogether.

QUOTE(science @ Aug 19 2008, 08:42 PM) I've managed to insert the card into my DS with the USB cable already connected, so its not impossible to do

And as you can see, people will try to circumvent something that is preventing risks, even if it doesn't make any sense to do so.

Edit: Let me just put out a scenario...

You've managed to connect the usb cable while leaving the cartridge in, as per the above example, even though taking the cartridge out to first connect the two things is the same as just leaving the cartridge out while the cable is connected. You drag some files over, and then you think "oh, I have some stuff on my microSD that needs to go over to NAND also. Instead of removing the MicroSD and connecting it to your computer, then dragging those files back to the NAND on the RPG, you instead decide to power on the DS and use the cart's built in tools to move files around. Suddenly, you're in the position of two operating systems fighting over the same storage device, and all your stuff got corrupted.

It doesn't matter that you're smart and have backups of everything. Point is it happened, and now you have to reformat the nand and rewrite all the data again.