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[sjdswanlund]

Recently, I've been looking into getting more use out of my Nintendo DS, and I thought getting into the Homebrew scene would be the best way of doing that. I'm definitely interested in being able to use it for more than just playing games, but using it for other media purposes. Also, I want to learn about making my own games and being able to make it DS compatible, as well as being able to download other homebrew games and roms.

However, after googling for a while, as well as looking at some articles on Wikipedia, I'm still having trouble about where to start or knowing which hardware is the best buy or the most recommended. If anyone could help me out, I'd appreciate it - I have a normal Nintendo DS, no Lite or DSi version.

[Hideous]

You're going to want DevkitARM with PALib if you want to make any DS homebrew (it's possible without PALib, it just simplifies it).

[RC]

If you do use devkitPro, be sure to download Programmer's Notepad 2, otherwise it's a bitch to view the examples (and compile, I imagine.)

I acquired it (devkitPro) 3 days before my HDD broke so I didn't have much time to do anything with it, and still haven't to this day, but I am planning on it at some point.

[nyarla]

If you install the windows version of devkitARM with the installer, it includes Programmer's Notepad 2 already.

Whenever PAlib is mentioned the devkitPro guys link to this statement: http://wiki.devkitpro.org/index.php/PAlib

..though this may be slightly outdated now, I think there's a new beta version which is compatible with the current libnds version.

Basically they recommend not using PAlib, because, among other reasons, it's built on an out of date and buggy code base, and has a hard time keeping up with changes/fixes in libnds.

If you install devkitARM it comes with heaps of examples showing pretty much everything you need to get started

[Hideous]

Oh wow. Yeah it was about 2 years since I used PALib and devkitARM and the like, anyway, so don't trust me.

[sjdswanlund]

Do these compatible with Vista and 64 Bit computers?

[RC]

I'm pretty sure it's compatible with Vista, since that's what I have. Really though that shouldn't matter since you're making NDS games to be played on an NDS or emulator.

[agj]

Last I looked, the GBADev forums were the place to go for DS homebrew related stuff.

[roboprez]

Now from the tone in your first post i'm guessing you can't run homebrew on your DS. you need to buy a Slot-1 device from anywhere you want. My favorite site is http://www.ozmodchips.com/ mainly because it has free shipping in AUS . I recommend getting the M3DS real but the AceCard 2.1 sounds like a good deal as well. Some advice I have is DON'T GET AN R4DS, some reviews say it's really good but at that time there weren't any others to compare it to, it's really outdated.

Now about developing I found this set of tutorials when I was interested in this stuff http://www.dev-scene.com/NDS/Tutorials The first tutorial tells you what you need to download and stuff. I noticed it points out that you need a basic understanding of C programing. Probably why I didn't get to the end of them

[nyarla]

Yeah, you'll need to know or learn some C to get started..

Another really good tutorial is Patater's Manual: http://patater.com/manual

That's the only one I know of which is up to date with the current version of libnds.
It uses C++ rather than C, so there might be a bit more to get your head around..

[MegaIlinx]

Here's a framework I use to work on DS games. It doesn't use PALib, however it shows how to use the framebuffer and sound. Fixed timestep, and a input/rendering example!

http://willhostforfood.com/files4/3/6/9/3692473/Framework.zip