Although with the original Nintendo DS there was a GBA cartridge slot built-in. I don't remember about the DS Lite, though.

The lite did as well.

but the DSI and beyond didnt

which sucks because you can sometimes get bonuses by putting a GBA pack at the bottom while playing a DS game

I pointed calc84 to get his opinion on either confirming my diagnosis that this was infeasible, or contradict me and call it possible, but I think the internets swallowed him somewhere along the way.

i couldnt put much detail into how it'd work before since i was on my phone, but my booting idea is to detach the cartridge holder,resolder it to a booting flash card, and solder the boot chip in the card readers place in its place.wiki says addressing allows up to 254mb but games are only 1/8th that.im also thinking of a way to attach a usb slot for simpler rom transfers to/from the pc and reading from usb flash disks.
i am using a gameboy advance (not SP).no gbc cant emulate gba because gbc is 16bit and gba is 32.gbc also has a smaller screen ratio and lacks the secondary special nintendo gba proccessor (you know the gba has 2?the second is z80 to allow backwards compat with the gbc)
i wrote down a few sites about GBA game development below if your interested...
www.loirak.com/gameboy/gbatutor.php
www.ziegler.desaign.de/GBA/gba.htm
www.dwheeler.com/gba/index.htm

Lastly, how did this post turn into a subject about emulation?

The topic got hijacked because its author disappeared.

Sounds to me like what you're describing is way, way more ambitious than your skills are currently in terms of hardware and software, as far as I know. I always encourage ambition, but not to the point where you're going to frustrate yourself.

im not frustrated, just VERY interested. have another idea for booting?
most of these changes are fairly simple (with the exception of the boot card) but i really want to go through with it.from what ive heard, the language is somewhat similar to z80 so im sure i can pick it up quickly.the basic idea was to covert the gba into something somewhat like a "modular pc".i guess really dont need a boot.but itd be nice to have usb port for simpler pc connection and a few utilities like a notepad and a music player

Well, the original Gameboy had a processor somewhat like the z80, but from what I've heard, the GBA has an ARM processor of some kind (cf. the rest of this topic). You can't just attach a USB port and expect it to work without massive amounts of code.

I meant that you might become frustrated if you attempted this.

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, but I've been getting a lot deeper into this.turns out there are 3 different languages suitable for GBA developement, C,C++, and Assembly which is VERY similar to z80 but instead seems to use R registers instead of ABCDEHL. I figured to kill 2 birds with one stone I'd learn C++.Right now I'm using a "customized" version of devkitadv (I created and exported a registry key that allows me to compile my source files by right clicking on a file and clicking 'Compile GBA' and made a batch file to copy all the GBA header files to the compiling directory) As for the comment on the port idea, I recently found out you can buy flash cards with usb ports built in for easy linking and there is a tool called GBATool that acts as a shell to boot any room on a flash (and it comes with the source!) right now I can create pictures of any size, adjust the palettes, have written my own routines for drawing rectangles,borders,and direct screen-copied tile and sprites, and have even gotten a head start by creating custom sized window and mouse routines for the GUI I planned. I thinking about switching to the HAM development kit.
I haven't created or worked on any TI software since my last post until yesterday, when after spending 2-hours re-creating my grayscale and map drawing routines, i found out I couldn't compile with Brass cause I hadn't re-installed the .NET Framework.Anyway, I must admit I like working with a 32-bit and 256 colors more than 8-bit and 2 colors, and am having a hard time keeping any interest in TI dev besides working on-calc while on the road. DevkitAdv is very hard to set up when beginning, so if anyone wants to try, send an

[post edited by Kerm to remove offer of software in violation of the Cemetech TOS]

Good luck. I was thinking of adding a rechargeable battery and backlight to my GBC, so I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

but dont you know that the most recent GBA SP has a backlight?

(you can turn it off and on btw )

this seems awesome

Anakclusmos, good luck on this; I hope you'll keep us updated on your progress. However, I hope you change your mind about abandoning TI software dev after working on this.

Thanks
I know the GBA SP has a backlight, but I dont care much for the shape. I liked the original GBA better because it large enough for my meaty hands, which is why i'm replacing the screen.

I don't intend on quitting TI dev, i still might work on a few common projects like EchoOS, Zelda, TI-Advance, and ProgPad. But i think i might have to switch to TASM cause the .NET Framework is giving me hell on my PC.I got the latest version but my pc keeps saying its not installed and Brass won't run.

I believe SirCmpwn gave me a link to a set of tools to compile a TI-OS which i trashed after figuring out i needed to learn C(or was it C++ or C#?) I think I might pick that back up and see what I can do.

You need to use z80 ASM to write a calculator OS, just as you do for a calculator program or application. There's not yet (and may never be) any free z80 compiler that can create small, tight code.

That's strange, because when I asked SirCmpwn what he used to compile KnightOS he linked me to a dev kit made for the Zilog processor type that compiles C/C++...

I was gonna post this in another forum, but I had an idea I wanted some opinions on...What would everyone think about a cold-touch soldering gun with a syringe-like tip that automatically feed solder?

Again, I said *that can create small, tight code*. There's SDCC and a few others that can create decent code, but nowhere near what a knowledgeable, skilled coder can create on his or her own. Regarding the soldering iron, sounds cool, but I'm worried that that would limit how fine the point could be. Also, wouldn't that make the solder melt inside the barrel?

no, the idea would be to only heat the tip of the pen so it wouldnt melt in the barrel, and with a small focused point it should take less power to use.

That sounds like a good idea, but electromechanically how do you propose achieving that?

no, the idea would be to only heat the tip of the pen so it wouldnt melt in the barrel, and with a small focused point it should take less power to use.