Hacking Where to buy the GBA and Expansion pack?

[R2DJ]

I have a DSTT. The original plan was to buy the DSTT and the rebranded Ewin GBA and Expansion pack but I only managed to buy DSTT itself because the expansion pack is out of stock. I've searched for the stores where I previously bought from (consoleup.com, buy4ds.co.uk, etc.) and they only sell the Perfect bundle.

Any UK-based sellers that sell this expansion pak separately? If there isn't any, can you recommend where can I buy it? Thanks in advance!

 

[Fo0+]

Buy an Ez flash 3-in-1 with RAM and Rumble from dealextreme, no shipping cost. A good choice if it's compatible with the DSTT.

 

[Bri]

The eWin 2in1 is usually available from psxboy.com (~$14 shipped) and from sky2k.com (I think it's more expensive there).

The EZ 3in1 will also work with the DSTT if you use the GBA ExpLoader loader program. In comparison, the EZ 3in1 has a crappy rumble built in and has extra NOR flash memory, but only has half the faster volatile memory that the eWin has. The NOR memory can store a single game while the NDS is off, so once loaded with a game it acts more or less like a GBA cartridge. The bad thing is that the NOR memory is quite slow, and it takes a minute or two to load a game (the volatile memory takes a few seconds). For larger GBA games, you must use the NOR memory because the EZ 3in1 doesn't have enough of the faster volatile memory. The Opera browser and some homebrew use the volatile memory as well, so the EZ 3in1 only has half as much for those applications.

In short, the eWin is slightly cheaper, simpler, and has twice the faster volatile memory. The EZ 3in1 has the extra NOR flash memory and a crappy rumble.

-Bri

 

[Mario123]

The eWin 2in1 is usually available from psxboy.com (~$14 shipped) and from sky2k.com (I think it's more expensive there).

The EZ 3in1 will also work with the DSTT if you use the GBA ExpLoader loader program. In comparison, the EZ 3in1 has a crappy rumble built in and has extra NOR flash memory, but only has half the faster volatile memory that the eWin has. The NOR memory can store a single game while the NDS is off, so once loaded with a game it acts more or less like a GBA cartridge. The bad thing is that the NOR memory is quite slow, and it takes a minute or two to load a game (the volatile memory takes a few seconds). For larger GBA games, you must use the NOR memory because the EZ 3in1 doesn't have enough of the faster volatile memory. The Opera browser and some homebrew use the volatile memory as well, so the EZ 3in1 only has half as much for those applications.

In short, the eWin is slightly cheaper, simpler, and has twice the faster volatile memory. The EZ 3in1 has the extra NOR flash memory and a crappy rumble.

-Bri

psxboy is sold out of ewin

http://psxboy.com/index.php?gOo=goods_sear...;imageField.y=0

 

[Bri]

The eWin 2in1 is hard to come by nowadays it would seem. I think sky2k still has them, but I think it's more expensive than psxboy.com if you include shipping. You could e-mail psxboy.com to see when they expect them in stock.

-Bri

 

[Mario123]

The eWin 2in1 is hard to come by nowadays it would seem. I think sky2k still has them, but I think it's more expensive than psxboy.com if you include shipping. You could e-mail psxboy.com to see when they expect them in stock.

-Bri

any reason why it's rare nowadays?

Edit:
with shipping, sky2k's price is $18.38.

DX has the 3in1 for 19.23 shipped.

the 3in1 also has rumble (altho weak). is eWin that much better than the 3in1?

or just get the 3in1?

 

[Bri]

any reason why it's rare nowadays?

I don't know why it's rare, but only a few stores have ever carried it (and one of them psxboy.com is currently out of stock).

QUOTEthe 3in1 also has rumble (altho weak). is eWin that much better than the 3in1?

Well...that's a difficult question given that they are about the same price.

Here's the deal. Yes, the EZ 3in1 has the crappy rumble. But you can get a much better rumble (if you really want it -- rumble isn't all that great anyway) in a separate $4 eWin rumble pack. I believe that there are also some games that don't support rumble, but start the EZ 3in1 a-rumbling and won't stop until you turn off the NDS (those games have to be patched to avoid this annoying behavior). So I don't consider the rumble to be that much of a plus, but some people might.

The EZ 3in1 has two types of memory: slow NOR flash memory (non-volatile) and faster volatile memory (if you don't already know, volatile means that the memory is erased when it no longer has power, i.e. when the NDS is turned off). So, how slow is the NOR? Well, it can take up to 2 minutes to load a game to NOR compared with a few seconds to load the game to the faster volatile memory. So what is the purpose of the NOR memory? I'm not entirely sure, but the slower memory can store a game even when the NDS is turned off, and once stored you can play the game over and over similar to a real GBA cartridge (once loaded to the NOR, playing the game is relatively fast). With the volatile memory, you have to reload the game each time you want to play, but it only takes a few seconds so no big deal in my opinion. Only the fast volatile memory can be used as extra memory for the Opera browser or homebrew. The problem with the EZ 3in1 is that it has half as much of the fast volatile memory as NOR memory, which means that larger GBA games must be loaded into the NOR memory rather than the faster memory.

The eWin has twice the fast volatile memory as the EZ 3in1 and none of the slower non-volatile NOR memory. So you can load larger GBA games to the fast memory. It also means that the eWin 2in1 has twice the memory available for the browser and homebrew as the EZ 3in1. Because it has no NOR to worry about (all games load to the volatile memory), it's easier to use.

I personally prefer the simplicity of the eWin and don't see much point to the NOR memory, but some people do use the NOR memory. So, I guess the question is whether you prefer the extra NOR memory and rumble (if so, get the EZ 3in1) or twice the fast volatile memory (if so get the eWin).

Hope that helps!

-Bri

 

[Mario123]

wow.. thx for the detailed reply!

sounds like eWin is the technologically superior product, whereas 3in1 has a bell/whistle (rumble).

i only plan to use the 3in1/eWin for web browsing (ie: Opera).

i guess i'll get the 3in1 since the Rumble is a bonus, and i dont need all that volatile memory?

 

[DanTheManMS]

For the web browser it doesn't really matter how much RAM you've got, as long as you have at least 8 MB. There's no advantage to using the Ewin over the 3in1 in terms of the Opera browser, as it's only going to use 8 MB max regardless.

 

[Bri]

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that the browser will use whatever memory is available and will take advantage of the extra memory of the eWin. It would make sense that they wouldn't hardcode an artificial maximum on the cache in case they decided to change the amount of memory it's shipped with, but I guess it's possible that they did.

@Mario123: Assuming DanTheManMS is correct, the only reasons you would need the extra volatile memory are 1) if you want to use it to play larger GBA games as they currently won't fit in the EZ 3in1's volatile memory, or 2) if you use a particular homebrew application that can take advantage of the additional memory. If DanTheManMS is incorrect, then the Opera browser might run a bit faster with the eWin as it could cache more data.

-Bri

 

[DanTheManMS]

I use the Opera browser with my slot-2 Supercard that has 32 MB of RAM. It still complains about being out of memory after about the same amount of time as it does with the official slot-2 RAM pack (I have the official cartridge and just use the "Opera RAM" program to use it with my Supercard). I'm pretty sure it's a hardcoded max of 8 MB.

 

[Bri]

I've never had Opera complain about being out of memory at all (I've only used it with an eWin 2in1). It would make more sense for them not to hardcode a limit on the amount of memory that can be used for cache, but it's possible that they did. Still, your evidence doesn't seem particularly strong!

I did a search and didn't find the answer, but Wikipedia states that the Memory Expansion Pak adds 10MB of memory (which along with the 4MB of internal memory gives the browser 14MB). But I haven't found any information about whether the browser will take advantage of memory above 10MB provided by a GBA expansion pack if it is available.

-Bri

 

[DanTheManMS]

Then Wikipedia is wrong, as there is most definitely only 8 MB on the RAM pack. The last time I heard of it having 10 MB was before it was released, as speculation. Chishm himself reverse-engineered it to come up with this fact.

Your evidence isn't exactly that strong either. "It would make sense" doesn't affect design decisions as much as one might think.

 

[Bri]

True, but I wasn't actually presenting it as evidence since I don't really know the answer. It would be good to know for certain.

BTW, there are a lot of websites out there stating that the browser ram is 10MB, so it's not limited to Wikipedia. A least one site claimed that it was 4MB (along with the 4MB of internal memory makes a total of 8MB) There seems to be a lot of misinformation about the ram pak.

ETA: I posted a thread about it here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=89948
So far, two posters agree with you (Minox_IX being one of them).

-Bri

 

[Minox]

From what I've heard and read, the official RAM-pack has 8 MBs RAM and that Opera only uses 8MB of a slot 2 flashkarts RAM even though it has more than that.