Hacking Hardware Homebrew Looking for Old-Obsolete NDS Devices

[bjiru]

Hello! my first post on GBAtemp so sorry if this is formatted wrong or in the wrong place

I am coming to you today though to ask if anybody has any old Nintendo DS modding cartridge's that aren't used anymore
I'm talking about old cartridges like the:

"PassMe" - A big tall DS cartridge that had a genuine DS game rom chip re-soldered on

"PassKey" an even earlier Cartridge that required a genuine DS cartridge to work

The Passcard and GBA sd card cartridge combo

I'm looking for any kind of older-now obsolete cartridge like these from the early days of original DS hacking, I've recently been going through the history of the original DS homebrew scene and I just think these old ways of doing things from before the DS's security was properly cracked is really really fascinating. I've been putting together a bit of a project about the history of the DS modding scene, and want to try some of these out for myself, But obviously, being now obsolete, It is near impossible to track any of these down these days.

I'm not sure if asking were to buy things is allowed here, please do tell me if its not, But If anybody knows any place that still sells these things, or if you have one of your own sitting around you'd be open to selling, please let me know!

 

[zxr750j]

Sorry, I won't sell it but this is my og passme Never noticed there's a place for a LED, someone got that installed?

 

[davidmorom]

This is the oldest thing I have, a MicroNinja DS, but comparing with what you are looking for, it can be considered as "modern". The ROM compatibility is awful, but it still works fine (as bad as the first day, I mean).

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[SylverReZ]

The gerber and CPLD firmware files for PassMe exist in the wild somewhere, so it's not impossible to build your own after all. Then again, you're better off with a flashcart, unless you like to experiment with PassMe stuff.

 

[zxr750j]

The gerber and CPLD firmware files for PassMe exist in the wild somewhere, so it's not impossible to build your own after all. Then again, you're better off with a flashcart, unless you like to experiment with PassMe stuff.

I did make a jtag-adapter thingy for programming the passme via parallel port, as useless as the passme itself but form me too cool, makes me feel old though.

 

[SylverReZ]

I did make a jtag-adapter thingy for programming the passme via parallel port, as useless as the passme itself but form me too cool, makes me feel old though. View attachment 465394

That's a very good adapter you've made.

How I would do this, though: instead of installing batteries, I would pull the +5V from USB and install a voltage regulator to pull it down to +3V, enough for the chip to power. Having leaky batteries isn't always a good thing, but hey, this was based off an old diagram back in the day.

 

[zxr750j]

That's a very good adapter you've made.

How I would do this, though: instead of installing batteries, I would pull the +5V from USB and install a voltage regulator to pull it down to +3V, enough for the chip to power. Having leaky batteries isn't always a good thing, but hey, this was based off an old diagram back in the day.

I did just read the fucking manual
(No clue where I sourced the resistor)

 

[DinohScene]

I've got a superkey, passcard 3, passkey 2 and several GBA flashcards.

Edit: I believe I'm forgetting something tbf....

 

[SylverReZ]

I've got a superkey, passcard 3, passkey 2 and several GBA flashcards.

Edit: I believe I'm forgetting something tbf....

I used to have a Passcard 3 years before I sold it off. Believe it was made by the M3 or SuperCard team given how the metadata in the ROM is identical.

 

[master801]

The gerber and CPLD firmware files for PassMe exist in the wild somewhere, so it's not impossible to build your own after all. Then again, you're better off with a flashcart, unless you like to experiment with PassMe stuff.

You had already uploaded it lol

https://gbatemp.net/download/passme-1-2-source-files.38110/

Also,
lol @ OP's attempt at trying not to pay Ebay prices

 

[SylverReZ]

You had already uploaded it lol

https://gbatemp.net/download/passme-1-2-source-files.38110/

My god, I totally forgot about that. Lol.

Think I've gotten it from the EurAsia downloads mirror if I remember.

 

[master801]

My god, I totally forgot about that. Lol.

Think I've gotten it from the EurAsia downloads mirror if I remember.

RIP EurAsia.

Lots of files from there are lost in time after they shut down.

 

[Apache Thunder]

lol do N-Cards count? they are very old and predate the R4. They are only a bit newer then the pass me cards really.

I think they were initially made in 2006 with clones starting to appear in 2007. They are also the oldest flashcarts that still run the latest games. The hardware design they use means they don't patch games to make rom reads work. Instead the ASIC blob chip on the flashcart takes care of that. They lack AP patching/Cheats so you have to AP patch the roms you put on it but they still almost run anything besides nand save based carts and 512MB size roms.

They also use a slot-2 GBA cart with a USB port that you use to put files onto them. They were nand based carts that used internal storage so no MicroSD card you can take out to put files onto externally. Have to use the USB cart.


(at least until recently. I made a special build of GM9i that allows transfering files onto them if you have a soft modded 3DS/DSi)

 

[ak1nok]

Does anyone have gerber files of PassMe version 1.5?
I don't like version 1.4 very much.

 

[SylverReZ]

Does anyone have gerber files of PassMe version 1.5?
I don't like version 1.4 very much.

Because of how it looks or performs? I think PassMe version 1.5 was only a commercial product, and no gerber files to my knowledge ever exists.

Sorry, I won't sell it but this is my og passme Never noticed there's a place for a LED, someone got that installed?View attachment 465390

Do you know what the board thickness of the PassMe? I'm planning on building my own. The PDF guide that tells you what bill of materials you need, only mentions '2 square inch' for the board, which doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Lumstar]

Not much... I might have a Passcard somewhere, or an obsolete Supercard CF that suffers from slowdowns in many games.
Definitely got Action Replay DSi, and Nintendo's rather neglected official Rumble Pak.

 

[ak1nok]

Because of how it looks or performs? I think PassMe version 1.5 was only a commercial product, and no gerber files to my knowledge ever exists.


Do you know what the board thickness of the PassMe? I'm planning on building my own. The PDF guide that tells you what bill of materials you need, only mentions '2 square inch' for the board, which doesn't make any sense to me.

Thank you!
It's not that I don't like them. But I think version 1.5 was one-sided. And 1.4 is double-sided, which is not very convenient. You have to insulate the back of it. It doesn't look very nice.

I could be wrong though, I just saw that Natrium42 made a single-sided PassMe board. It's quite possible that version 1.5 is just a simplified PassMe 1.4 without all the test stuff.

The board of my homemade PassMe is 1.5 millimeters thick. They fit in nicely and are a normal fit. I feel like there's a margin there and you could do 2 millimeters, but I'm not sure.

 

[SylverReZ]

Thank you!
It's not that I don't like them. But I think version 1.5 was one-sided. And 1.4 is double-sided, which is not very convenient. You have to insulate the back of it. It doesn't look very nice.

You don't need to insulate the back if the vias are covered by solder mask, it's only when the copper is exposed that you do cover the back to prevent shorts. I do like PassMe v1.5 because of how clean the design is over the other revisions.

 

[zxr750j]

@SylverReZ it's 1.6mm

 

[SylverReZ]

@SylverReZ it's 1.6mm

Thank you.
I've just ordered x5 PCBs so that I can build one.