DS Flashcards and You
Part III: The Applications
by Jared “Gapporin” Bottorff
Did you know your DS can do more than just play games? It can also function as a web browser, an IM client, an IRC client, a PDA, text reader and more. Since I use only a few applications myself, I will only be hitting the high notes in this article. Read on to find out how to use these features for yourself.
– ClIRC: When the homebrew scene first came about, many developers wanted to try their hands on seeing what the built in Wi-Fi connection in the DS was capable of doing. Even though some applications are not Internet-based, many of them have been programmed to take advantage of the DS’ Wi-Fi.
A couple of IRC programs have been released for use on the DS, and they work fairly well. However, ClIRC stands far above the rest. The advantages that this program has over others seem almost unfair. Some of the features of ClIRC include the ability to copy settings in the option menu or text in the IRC window. You can use up to three servers at the same time. DCC connection is available both from DS to PC and PC to DS, something I believe no other program, IRC or otherwise, can achieve. Logs are stored directly on the SD card. You can set the colors and highlights to your own liking, and create IRC scripts to use with ClIRC. All settings can be changed from within the program. ClIRC handles multitasking as well: You can download files via DCC, get a server’s chanlist and still chat all at the same time.
It doesn’t matter if you are a casual user or an advanced IRC pro. If you use IRC at all, you need this program on your DS.
– Colors!: There are several drawing applications available for the DS. Some are pixel editors and others involve creating animations. There are two main drawing programs, however, and they are Colors! and Phidias. Colors! is a more simplistic drawing program while Phidias is more advanced and full-featured. If you wanted to think about it in analogy form, you could say that Colors!:Paint :: Phidias:Photoshop.
Since I never claimed to be a very good painter, I chose Colors!. Since it is a simpler painting program, it doesn’t claim to be feature rich. However, there are a few things worth noting. The biggest draw about Colors! is that it uses the touch screen’s pressure sensitivity to realistically display what you draw. Press the screen harder, and your markings show up darker. Press it lightly, and your markings are lighter. You can use this to great effect in your drawings.
All the drawings made are in a 512×384 resolution, with a 2-stage zoom to zero in on certain areas of your drawing. Once you are finished painting, you can replay the painting process from start to finish. You can load and save paintings that you have created onto your SD card, and even e-mail them to friends using the DS Wi-Fi.
So, if you like to doodle from time to time and fancy yourself an amateur Picasso, give Colors! a try.
– DSAIM: Although there are many different DS IM clients available, I personally use DSAIM because I mainly use AIM as a means of communication.
DSAIM is straightforward. When starting up the program for the first time, you are asked to enter your username and password. Afterwards, once it finds your profile and buddy list, press the R button to find who is online and to start chatting with other users.
If you do not use AIM, there are other programs that use different protocols. BeUp is a highly regarded program that uses the .NET Messenger/MSN protocol. In addition, JabberDS allows Jabber users to talk to each other with the DS.
– DSHobro: Along with IRC, web browsers were one of the first types of applications to be developed on the DS. Because of this, many different browsers have been programmed on the DS. The one hurdle they all face, however, is the ability to display pictures. All of the browsers programmed so far can only display text and text boxes. DSHobro, however, can display pictures…but it uses a little extra as well.
The browser actually consists of two different programs – the client and the server. The server is launched on your PC and runs in the background. The client is the DS program. What happens is that when you request a website on the client, the server brings it up, compresses and optimizes it for the DS, and then sends the website over Wi-Fi to the DS. It shows pictures, allows you to type in text boxes and brings you to any web site you please.
Even though web browsers on the DS still are not to the point where they would take over browsing from a PC, this is about the closest you’ll currently get.
– DSOrganize: DSOrganize was programmed to be a substitute for the DS’ built in firmware, and at the same time add more functionality to the DS. DSOrganize includes a calendar, a day planner, an address book, a To-Do List, a scribble pad for doodling, a file browser, a calculator, an IRC client, a web browser and a homebrew database. Despite DSOrganize’s good intentions, the program is an equal mix of parts good and bad.
First, the good. The PDA-like functions are actually well thought-out, and are helpful in organizing your data (as the name might imply). The IRC client is nothing special, but it works and does the job flawlessly. The web browser is text-based, but again it can access simpler sites like Google with ease. The homebrew database is a very neat idea. What it consists of is an online source run by the creator of DSOrganize that contains homebrew programs, DS demos and more. Using the database program on your DS, it will connect to the database, download whichever program you want directly to your SD card, unpack it and install it on its own. The main purpose of the homebrew database is to keep up with updated releases so that you don’t have to swap your SD card out to your PC every time you want to download an updated version of a program. This can prove to be a double-edged sword, as you will find out later.
The biggest problem with DSOrganize is that it is buggy and full of errors. While streaming Shoutcast Radio over the Wi-Fi (one of DSOrganize’s main features), there is a bug that only allows you to start streams three different times before crashing. Because streaming radio is constantly buffering, you will not be able to listen to very much under those restrictions. Search Google and I guarantee you that there’s a host a bugs, ranging from IRC to the web browser to playing MP3’s to whatever. It is simply not stable, and not useful at all for any long-term usage.
Unfortunately, due to personal issues, the author of the program has discontinued development of DSOrganize, so this is what we are left with. It would be nice if someone picked up where the original author left out, but due to the fact that the author’s permission is needed for such a takeover (and to the fact that the author has deliberately made himself unreachable and/or disappeared), this seems an unlikely venture. DSOrganize is amazing in concept, but fails in execution. It’s a shame that this remains as the last testament to what could have been a must-have application.
– DSReader: For those of you who read on the ago, DSReader is the perfect companion. Although many programs support text viewing, DSReader makes it more book-like in execution, which is perfect for those long commutes. DSReader uses TrueType fonts as a display, so you don’t have to use Times New Roman for everything you read. You can also change font sizes from small to large and back whenever you prefer. There is also a bookmark system you can use to save your place in the text file, so that when you come back to it again, it will load directly to your bookmark and you can pick up where you left off.
If you would like to test it out, I recommend heading over to The Moon Books Project, which has specifically formatted texts and movies that you can use on your DS. Everything on the site is legal and free of charge.
Speaking of movies, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a mention of Moonshell. Moonshell is a full featured multimedia player, and probably the most popular homebrew application for the DS. For video, it supports DPG video files. You can either use the included DPGTools program or use an independently programmed converter called BatchDPG. Despite the obvious compression used to make movies playable on the DS, they actually look very good when played in Moonshell.
Moonshell also supports a slew of music files, such as MP3, OGG, MOD, SPC, MDX, GBS, HES, NSF, XM, MIDI and low bit rate AAC audio files. Images are also viewable under Moonshell, and it supports non-progressive JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG images. Chances are, even if you have not downloaded Moonshell before, you’re using it already. It is so powerful that some homebrew carts use it partly or in full as their OS.
– DSFTP: DSFTP is an FTP server for your Nintendo DS. This can be handy for transferring files to and from a remote DS. It’s more geeky than practical, but it’s still kind of neat.
– DS2Key: While DS2Key was originally designed to allow PC users to use the Nintendo DS as a wireless game controller on their PC, that’s not what a lot of people are using it for. DS2Key has a wireless scanning feature that scans for wireless signals, reporting back information such as AP names and channels, and WEP information … making it a great program to use for Wardriving.
Another similar program is DSBlue, which includes a WiFi scanner, an AP finder, Packet Spy (a sniffer) and a port scanner.
In Part IV, I’ll tie up some loose ends and hit on some miscellaneous information about DS flashcards and the programs they run.