iSmartDS

[ismartds]

There' Moonshell mixed in too in the design, no? But anyway, it's a really great design, I particularly like the bottom and more detailed screen =D

Yes, Moonshell can be accessed from the function menu. Original Moonshell version, not modified. You can update to new version when it is available.

You can refer to the manual here for more detail: http://www.ismartds.com/manual.html

 

[.psyched]

There' Moonshell mixed in too in the design, no? But anyway, it's a really great design, I particularly like the bottom and more detailed screen =D

Yes, Moonshell can be accessed from the function menu. Original Moonshell version, not modified. You can update to new version when it is available.

You can refer to the manual here for more detail: http://www.ismartds.com/manual.html

What I mean was if the skin wasis based partly on Moonshell?

 

[ismartds]

If you are familiar with EZ Vi skin, then you should know the detail. Here is the link of the skin competition took place at GBAtemp few days ago. http://gbatemp.net/t239950-ez5i-skinning-competition

It has all the information about how to create the skins.

 

[Mbmax]

Well, i have to admit that use ez5i skins is not a bad idea.
GBAtemp's skinners been great at work during this contest.

Now i can't wait to receive a sample of this iSmart Premium !

 

[Alfadir]

There' Moonshell mixed in too in the design, no? But anyway, it's a really great design, I particularly like the bottom and more detailed screen =D

Yes, Moonshell can be accessed from the function menu. Original Moonshell version, not modified. You can update to new version when it is available.

You can refer to the manual here for more detail: http://www.ismartds.com/manual.html

What I mean was if the skin wasis based partly on Moonshell?

I think you speak about OS skinning system code.

As iSmart OS use EZFlashVi skins, it's clear that iSmart OS is also based on Moonshell2 code.
I suppose it based on Moonshell 2.03beta (last source file).
With that, the OS support PNG with alpha canal (transparency).

It's a good choice at least for colors.
OS based on RPG source (AK2, Supercard DSOne, Supercard DSTwo, Wood) and OS based on R4 source or YSMenu (a lot of R4 something ^^) only support 15bit colors and OS based on Moonshell 1.xx (former OS of Supercard DSOne, former OS of EZFlashV) support 24bit colors.

The DS / DSi / DSLite / DSiXL can show 18bit colors => 262,144 colors
15bit colors => 32768 colors only
8 times less ! And without alpha canal !

 

[tk_saturn]

I hate to be negative, but what reason is there to get this over the EZ-Flash-Vi? Atleast with the EZ-Flash Vi you know there is a team behind it who have a proven track record of supporting their devices.

Short answer:
Price + Anti Piracy Detection + Open Source/SDK

Quality will be same if not better. You will get the support from us. Every company has its' start up period, right? Let us prove what we can do and how we do it.

So don't be negative yet. We will be sending out samples to people to write reviews. You can be negative then if you see bad ones.

If you are interested in writing a review, drop us an email. We can offer a sample for you to write one.


George

I would do a review, but I don't have a 3in1. A decent review probably needs to include that, as you've mentioned it on your site.

If you are serious about this, you really need to get either Normmatt of AKAIO/ DeSmuMe or YWG of Wood RPG/ R4 on board. On forums like these it makes a lot of difference and would instantly give your cart creditibility.

People like the Acekard GUI, it's why it's the best seller despite having a dev team which seem to uninterested in supporting it. We don't need another EZVi, but at the right price and some decent promotion (a few carts on here for a shaunj66 competition does wonders), a cart with RTS and Wood or AKAIO could easily cannibalize the Acekard sales.

I remember reading Normmatt saying that Acekard were no longer replying to his emails, so there's an opportunity there. If it were me, i'd offer YWG & Normmatt a cart + $100 if they port Wood/ AKAIO to your cart. At this late stage of the game (3DS is just around the corner), I doubt giving them full access to the SDK + atleast a subset of the source for your own loader is going to do any harm.

You will also need to get ShopTemp to stock your cart (it's the site people on here will normally recommend), and i'd probably sent a cart to those on here that do 'heavy recommending' if ShopTemp will stock them, especially those who don't already have a DSTWO. One person i'd recommend is Hakoda as I know his Acekard is failing, and he does quite a few posts on here helping others with their Flashcarts, if you are setting up your own forum he'd be a good person to have on there as a 'helper' or a 'moderator'.

The most important person to send a review cart to is PharaohsVizier who does decent forum reviews + pretty decent youtube videos, along with Another World who does comprehensive forum reviews. Their reviews carry a lot of weight. While other people do reviews on here, i'm not sure how many people actually take much notice of them.

 

[ismartds]

I hate to be negative, but what reason is there to get this over the EZ-Flash-Vi? Atleast with the EZ-Flash Vi you know there is a team behind it who have a proven track record of supporting their devices.

Short answer:
Price + Anti Piracy Detection + Open Source/SDK

Quality will be same if not better. You will get the support from us. Every company has its' start up period, right? Let us prove what we can do and how we do it.

So don't be negative yet. We will be sending out samples to people to write reviews. You can be negative then if you see bad ones.

If you are interested in writing a review, drop us an email. We can offer a sample for you to write one.


George

I would do a review, but I don't have a 3in1. A decent review probably needs to include that, as you've mentioned it on your site.

If you are serious about this, you really need to get either Normmatt of AKAIO/ DeSmuMe or YWG of Wood RPG/ R4 on board. On forums like these it makes a lot of difference and would instantly give your cart creditibility.

People like the Acekard GUI, it's why it's the best seller despite having a dev team which seem to uninterested in supporting it. We don't need another EZVi, but at the right price and some decent promotion (a few carts on here for a shaunj66 competition does wonders), a cart with RTS and Wood or AKAIO could easily cannibalize the Acekard sales.

I remember reading Normmatt saying that Acekard were no longer replying to his emails, so there's an opportunity there. If it were me, i'd offer YWG & Normmatt a cart + $100 if they port Wood/ AKAIO to your cart. At this late stage of the game (3DS is just around the corner), I doubt giving them full access to the SDK + atleast a subset of the source for your own loader is going to do any harm.

You will also need to get ShopTemp to stock your cart (it's the site people on here will normally recommend), and i'd probably sent a cart to those on here that do 'heavy recommending' if ShopTemp will stock them, especially those who don't already have a DSTWO. One person i'd recommend is Hakoda as I know his Acekard is failing, and he does quite a few posts on here helping others with their Flashcarts, if you are setting up your own forum he'd be a good person to have on there as a 'helper' or a 'moderator'.

The most important person to send a review cart to is PharaohsVizier who does decent forum reviews + pretty decent youtube videos, along with Another World who does comprehensive forum reviews. Their reviews carry a lot of weight. While other people do reviews on here, i'm not sure how many people actually take much notice of them.

Everything you mentioned above is in process. We are waiting for our samples to be ready so we can proceed.

Thank you for your suggestions. And I have to tell you that you caught our thoughts very well. We are doing exactly what you suggested.

When we have our forum ready, it will be great to have people like you to join us and help us as well.

 

[Ryukouki]

I have to say, I'm really impressed with the GUI. It looks really nice and I see some potential within this flash cart.

Good luck!

 

[tk_saturn]

I really urge you to allow people like Normmatt full access to your source code so they can do their own. It's what Acekard did, and it must have helped it become a success. I believe Acekard gave him priveleged information about the Acekard 2i, and he hasn't released it. It's more than likely the only way to get them interested

You have to look at the EX4iDS from R4li, i've seen a few reviews from where people have been sent free samples. It launched and has gone nowhere. I've not seen anyone recommend it on here outside of those reviews. Some of that is because ShopTemp don't stock them, and ShopTemp have an affilate program which encourages people to jump on those looking for a new cart (i'm not the worst offender). I also imagine they have given Normmatt/YWG free carts etc, but probably aren't willing to be that open with their source code.

Another suggestion I have for you is to do a special deal with ShopTemp. There have been quite a few issues with Acekard 2i's, you have the contact issues, the MicroSD card slot issues, the bricking from 512MB games. Acekard offer a 1yr warrenty, so i'm presuming ShopTemp can get a credit for these faulty Acekard's which get sent back. For a month i'd do a special deal, offer anyone on here who has brought a faulty Acekard from ShopTemo a iSmartDS in exchange if they send it back to ShopTemp. Allow ShopTemp to have a few iSmartDS's at the same price as they pay for the Ak2i's or the credit that get back from Acekard for this purpose. While you won't make anything, it won't cost you anything either, nor will it cost you a sale as they only otherwise will get sent another AK2i. It's similar to what Samsung did with the iPhone antenna issues. These people will then tell others they swapped their AK2i for a iSmartDS, and hey it works etc.

 

[Xoo00o0o0o]

Tk_Saturn, your idea is very good. If I were apart of the Ismart ds company I would follow your every word. Hopefully they'll respond to me and let me review their card.

 

[tk_saturn]

Tk_Saturn, your idea is very good. If I were apart of the Ismart ds company I would follow your every word.

Not if it's Ron Wang they won't!

 

[Ryukouki]

Geez, every team I get to talk to has someone named Wang. Makes me wonder if they're all the same person

 

[tk_saturn]

I believe it's a common surname in HK/ China. He's mainly the person behind RHS/ Top Design Services, has involvement in 0shippingZone, KimoTrading, and apparently also iSmartDS. So I imagine those sites will be selling the cart.

Slight slip up though Ron, http://www.taiwanchampion.com/

The've also added a Kernel to their website for download.

 

[Ryukouki]

I figured as much but it's kinda funny.

And wow! A kernel to use when we have no cart!

 

[Normmatt]

There' Moonshell mixed in too in the design, no? But anyway, it's a really great design, I particularly like the bottom and more detailed screen =D

Yes, Moonshell can be accessed from the function menu. Original Moonshell version, not modified. You can update to new version when it is available.

You can refer to the manual here for more detail: http://www.ismartds.com/manual.html

What I mean was if the skin wasis based partly on Moonshell?

I think you speak about OS skinning system code.

As iSmart OS use EZFlashVi skins, it's clear that iSmart OS is also based on Moonshell2 code.
I suppose it based on Moonshell 2.03beta (last source file).
With that, the OS support PNG with alpha canal (transparency).

It's a good choice at least for colors.
OS based on RPG source (AK2, Supercard DSOne, Supercard DSTwo, Wood) and OS based on R4 source or YSMenu (a lot of R4 something ^^) only support 15bit colors and OS based on Moonshell 1.xx (former OS of Supercard DSOne, former OS of EZFlashV) support 24bit colors.

The DS / DSi / DSLite / DSiXL can show 18bit colors => 262,144 colors
15bit colors => 32768 colors only
8 times less ! And without alpha canal !

The NDS can only display 15bit colour so the other formats are being converted down anyway. which infact makes them slower than the acekard 15bit bmp files.

 

[Neo_Ch!p]

According to iSmart website, this flashcart will be able to use EZ5i skins.

Skins:

Our skin is compatible with EZ Vi skin. You can use any of the skin for EZ Vi on iSmart Premium. Copy the .DAT file to the SYSTEM\SKIN folder and select it from the system setting.

iSmart Premium Manual

That is correct. We are still finalizing the skin and menu. We should have them ready in the next few days.

It's a good thing, like that we already have a program to make skins for iSmart, no need to wait for it ^^

If it's based on last EZ's OS we have acces to .DAT .ANI and the both .BIN.

Yes you will have access to both .BIN and .DAT and .ANI.

Here is the preview of the menu.
Function menu includes: 'Nintendo DS Games', 'GBA games for 3 in 1 pack', 'Moonshell Multi Media', 'Boot from Slot2 device'and 'System Setting'.

NDS Game menu:

Just a quick question, is the interface transition going to be smooth? or is 'clicky' like the touchpod [M3 Real]

This flashcard would blow if it had spinal-cord's DSCovered gui...

 

[BoxShot]

Alright TBH I really want this. Seems to have great potential and piques my interest.

 

[Alfadir]

The NDS can only display 15bit colour so the other formats are being converted down anyway. which infact makes them slower than the acekard 15bit bmp files.
*I look at the calendar, no it's not the 1st of april*
NDS can display 18bit colors.

...18-bit depth (262,144 colors), resolution of 256 x 192 pixels, ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_ds
http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/nintendo-...7-30895578.html
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main...DS?from=Main.DS


And no need to read technical review to see it, you only needs eyes. Lets try the same picture (a BMP for exemple) in 15bit and in 24bit with moonshell or whatever HB able to show pictures.

Of course 24bit or 32bit pictures are converted down to 18bit but not to 15bit colors !

So as i had said :
QUOTE

The DS / DSi / DSLite / DSiXL can display 18bit colors => 262,144 colors
15bit colors => 32,768 colors only
8 times less ! And without alpha-channel !

Perhaps an AKAIO supporting 24bit BMP (or PNG with alpha-channel) soon ?

Perhaps makes pictures a little bit slower to display than the acekard 15bit bmp files but certainly much more beautiful (8 times more beautiful to be to be precise ^^).

 

[Normmatt]

The NDS can only display 15bit colour so the other formats are being converted down anyway. which infact makes them slower than the acekard 15bit bmp files.
*I look at the calendar, no it's not the 1st of april*
NDS can display 18bit colors.

...18-bit depth (262,144 colors), resolution of 256 x 192 pixels, ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_ds
http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/nintendo-...7-30895578.html
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main...DS?from=Main.DS


And no need to read technical review to see it, you only needs eyes. Lets try the same picture (a BMP for exemple) in 15bit and in 24bit with moonshell or whatever HB able to show pictures.

Of course 24bit or 32bit pictures are converted down to 18bit but not to 15bit colors !

So as i had said :
QUOTE

The DS / DSi / DSLite / DSiXL can display 18bit colors => 262,144 colors
15bit colors => 32,768 colors only
8 times less ! And without alpha-channel !

Perhaps an AKAIO supporting 24bit BMP (or PNG with alpha-channel) soon ?

Perhaps makes pictures a little bit slower to display than the acekard 15bit bmp files but certainly much more beautiful (8 times more beautiful to be to be precise ^^).

those are all talking about the screen itself but the hardware to do gfx in the nds/gba only allows 16bit for each colour and so maximum is 15bit with 1 bit for alpha. Seriously go read gbatek you might learn a thing or two.

 

[Alfadir]

those are all talking about the screen itself but the hardware to do gfx in the nds/gba only allows 16bit for each colour and so maximum is 15bit with 1 bit for alpha. Seriously go read gbatek you might learn a thing or two.

Just make a test it don't need to much time to make the same picture in 15 and 24 bit and display it with an homebrew you will see the differrence no need to buy new eyes for that.

So 15bit+1 for alpha, ok, your the expert, but clearly some coders have found a way to use at least the last bit for color instead of alpha-channel.

Twice more color 32k to 64k using one more bit.