Hacking What's a good slot2 flash cartridge...

[ballin05]

I don't really know if they have anything to do with slot one cards but I have an R4DS and a want a slot2 to play GBA games.

 

[roothorick]

Believe it or not, the EZFlash 3-in-1 Expansion Pack is a good choice, if you don't mind fiddling with the arguably unstable tools currently available.

 

[DarkAura]

Whatever he just said. But for a slot 2 that has its own memory card and stuff like that, get an EZFlash IV or M3 lite.

 

[darigaaz3]

That and the EZ 3 in 1 have a lifetime of 2-4 years. Once the little battery inside it dies out, you can't save your files anymore thus rendering the unit obsolete.

Not sure if anyone attempted to replace the batteries yet, but in that timeframe, something better is bound to come out.

And $20 for 2 years of gaming with rumble and opera browser is pretty nifty in my opinion.

Just got mine 3 days ago and I am still tinkering with what is available. Enjoying it by far and it simply works wonderful once you know what you are doing. Then again, I like tinkering with stuff so it was all fun trying to get it to work.

 

[roothorick]

That and the EZ 3 in 1 have a lifetime of 2-4 years. Once the little battery inside it dies out, you can't save your files anymore thus rendering the unit obsolete.

Not sure if anyone attempted to replace the batteries yet, but in that timeframe, something better is bound to come out.

And $20 for 2 years of gaming with rumble and opera browser is pretty nifty in my opinion.Â

Just got mine 3 days ago and I am still tinkering with what is available. Enjoying it by far and it simply works wonderful once you know what you are doing. Then again, I like tinkering with stuff so it was all fun trying to get it to work.

I just opened my (GBA size) EZFlash 3in1 out of curiosity, and unfortunately, the battery is soldered in place; it can be replaced, but not without a soldering iron and a steady hand.

Also note that the GBA size 3in1 is NOT the same hardware in a different case; it's a completely different PCB that takes up the entire space inside the cartridge, with a very large all-in-one IC surface-mounted on the top of the board. I have some pictures from my crappy cellphone cam to show what I'm talking about, but imageshack is down right now...

-EDIT- Another thought. It's not completely out of the question that the battery in the 3in1 may be some kind of rechargeable battery, or even a slow drain capacitor, that recharges itself when the DS is turned on and/or in GBA mode. Do we have any actual reports of the battery dying?

-EDIT2- ImageShack has returned to us. Here's those pictures:

http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0204081008sf0.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0204081009hb4.jpg

 

[DarkAura]

I didn't even know that it has a battery. Is that also the case for the rest of the EZFlash flash carts? I hope not, I use my EZF IV a lot.

 

[Seina]

I have a Supercard Lite that works great for GBA and DSLinux. The only problem I've had with it is it's hard to get cards out of it's non-spring loaded cart slot.

 

[darigaaz3]

-EDIT- Another thought. It's not completely out of the question that the battery in the 3in1 may be some kind of rechargeable battery, or even a slow drain capacitor, that recharges itself when the DS is turned on and/or in GBA mode. Do we have any actual reports of the battery dying?

I read that up from the EZ V official forum. Not 100% sure of this but they said it will eventually die out. Not the rechargeable kind :/

 

[roothorick]

I read that up from the EZ V official forum. Not 100% sure of this but they said it will eventually die out. Not the rechargeable kind :/

Then let's add one

In the GBA size at least, there should be enough room to mount a slow-drain capacitor inside the case, simply soldering it to the same contacts as the battery goes. An outright rechargeable battery could pose a problem, as it needs special circuitry to prevent failures during recharging, and said circuitry would take up more space. Depending on the capacitance of the capacitor we use, it could hold saves for anywhere from a few hours up to a week, but I'd shoot for 24 to 48 hours. If you're going to be away from your DS for longer than that, you could boot a GBA game not intending to save, thus backing up whatever save is on the 3in1 straight to your slot-1's storage (in my case, the microSD card in my R4DS). When you next turn on the system, the depleted capacitor gets a fresh charge and the 3in1 takes off.

I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine that there's some kind of voltage applied to slot-2 by the DS when it's on, regardless of mode or even if a cartridge is present; if so, it's enough that you simply switch your DS on once a day for at least a minute or two for a 24-hour capacitor to stay charged.

When my 3in1 battery dies I'm definitely going to be trying this. If it works out, I'll offer to mod other people's carts -- for a fee.