Difference between revisions of "DS-Xtreme OpenSource Firmware Project"

Latest revision as of 02:19, 28 October 2008

DS-Xtreme OpenSource Firmware Project

The scope of this project is to open up the DS-Xtreme flash cartridge hardware/firmware for homebrewers to modify. I have asked the DS-X for the information prior on embarking on this project. No information was forthcoming.

Please remember that this wiki is updated and maintained by YOU - Please help out where you can!

Donate your DEAD DS-X cartridges to this project PM reveng @gbatemp

There seems little point in continuing the project here. A SVN project needs setting up.
Please watch for further details. In the mean time I have put the Original firmware and new
Versions 113 and unreleased versions 114 on the files page. 
There was also some censorship going on with my posts in the Gbatemp DSX forums, so I no longer post.

Project Plan

I propose the following tasks to achieve the "OpenSource" goal.

01) Do Under The Hood research on the DS-X hardware for an insight into what the firmware may be. --DONE--
02) Acquire all the files that make up the firmware. --DONE--

03) Disassemble the PC application that updates the firmware. --IN PROGRESS--
04) Create a new, "OpenSource" updater application based on the knowledge gained.

05) Disassemble the core8051 EZ-USB controller firmware.
06) Create a "OpenSource" firmware from the knowledge gained.

07) Disassemble the configuration for the FPGA.
08) Create a "OpenSource" project from the knowledge gained..

09) Disassemble the native NDS application (the launcher)
10) Create a new, "OpenSource" launcher from the knowledge gained..

11) Using the knowledge gained make some schematics of the DS-X cartridge.

This order was chosen because the firmware " update.bin" is one large zipped?, binary file. So first we have to decompile the updater application to understand how it's zipped and what parts make up the USB, FPGA and NDS launcher....

How Shuny's Downgrader Works

At offset 0x000B79F4 in the DSX updater application file you will find the URL that points to the DS-X server. This is where update.txt can be loaded by the updater application.

In the file update.txt there is a URL which tells the DSX updater application file where it can load updater.bin from.

Shuny patched these URL's to point to another server where the older update.txt and update.bin could be found.

Hats of to Shuny for a very clever and inventive piece of work.

Modifying The PC Updater Application To Load Update.txt and Update.bin Off Your PC

Using a hex/binary editor ,alter the URL found in the PC updater at offset 0x000B79F4

0x0B79F0: 02 29 B9 59 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 75 70 64 61 74 - .)¹Yhttp://updat
0x0B7A00: 65 2E 64 73 2D 78 74 72 65 6D 65 2E 63 6F 6D 2F - e.ds-xtreme.com/
0x0B7A10: 75 70 64 61 74 65 6A 2F 75 70 64 61 74 65 2E 74 - updatej/update.t
0x0B7A20: 78 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - xt..............
0x0B7A30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0x0B7A40: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................

To the following format: file://My PC Name or My PC IP/My Path/update.txt (you must terminate the string with zero).
Try not to go to far past the original URL string length as it might cause trouble.

0x0B79F0: 02 29 B9 59 66 69 6C 65 3A 2F 2F 4D 79 50 43 6F - .)¹Yfile://MyPCo
0x0B7A00: 72 49 50 2F 4D 79 50 61 74 68 2F 75 70 64 61 74 - rIP/MyPath/updat
0x0B7A10: 65 2E 74 78 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - e.txt...........
0x0B7A20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0x0B7A30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0x0B7A40: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................

Next change the URL found in update.txt with file://My PC Name Or My PC IP/My Path/update.bin

My PC Name is what you see the PC called on the network (Host Name)
My PC IP is your local machines IP address I.E 192.168.0.100
My Path is whatever path or paths you choose to put the update files in.

Use START->RUN->CMD ipconfig /ALL to find your Host Name and IP Address, if you don't know it

Look here for out last chance ^^: http://forums.ds-xtreme.com/showthread.php?p=57612

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Please remember that this wiki is updated and maintained by YOU - '''Please help out where you can!'''
 <div><span style="color:#f4ae08;">Donate your '''DEAD''' DS-X cartridges to this project PM reveng @gbatemp</span></div>
+ There seems little point in continuing the project here. A SVN project needs setting up.
+ Please watch for further details. In the mean time I have put the Original firmware and new
+ Versions 113 and unreleased versions 114 on the files page.
+ There was also some censorship going on with my posts in the Gbatemp DSX forums, so I no longer post.
 |}
 |-
@@ Line 36: / Line 43: @@
   '''05)''' Disassemble the core8051 EZ-USB controller firmware.
-  '''06)''' Create a new, "OpenSource" firmware from the knowledge gained.
+  '''06)''' Create a "OpenSource" firmware from the knowledge gained.
   '''07)''' Disassemble the configuration for the FPGA.
-  '''08)''' Create a new, "OpenSource" project from the knowledge gained..
+  '''08)''' Create a "OpenSource" project from the knowledge gained..
   '''09)''' Disassemble the native NDS application (the launcher)
@@ Line 55: / Line 62: @@
 == '''How [http://shunyweb.info/forum/ Shuny's] Downgrader Works''' ==
-At offset 0x000B79F4 in the [[:media:V112_UpdaterTool.rar| DSX updater application file]] you will find the URL that points to the DS-X server. This is where [[:media:V112_update.txt| update.txt]] can be loaded by the [http://wiki.gbatemp.net/images/c/cf/V112_UpdaterTool.rar updater application].
+At offset 0x000B79F4 in the [[:media:V112_UpdaterTool.rar| DSX updater application file]] you will find the URL that points to the DS-X server. This is where [[:media:V112_update.txt| update.txt]] can be loaded by the [http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/images/c/cf/V112_UpdaterTool.rar updater application].
 In the file [[:media:V112_update.txt| update.txt]] there is a URL  which tells the [[:media:V112_UpdaterTool.rar| DSX updater application file]] where it can load [[:media:V112_update.bin| updater.bin]] from.
@@ Line 110: / Line 117: @@
 <!-- ******************************************************************* -->
 <!-- ******************************************************************* -->
-== '''Work In Progress Log''' ==
-'''5th January 2008:'''
-Initial viewing of the PC Updater tool yields the following information.
-) The updater was coded with [http://www.codegear.com/products/delphi/win32 Borland Delphi] development environment in C/C++.
-) The updater contains [http://zlib.net/ ZLIB compression libraries] (probably for the firmware).
-) The updater contains [https://www.altera.com/support/software/download/programming/jam/jam-index.html Altera Jam] FPGA communication libraries (maybe for the JTAG connector on the circuit board).
-) The updater contains [http://www.indyproject.org/Sockets/index.EN.aspx Indy Sockets library.]
-) The Updater contains [http://download.cypress.com.edgesuite.net/design_resources/reference_designs/contents/cy4604___usb_developer_s_ustudio_18.pdf Cypress USB communication libraries.]
-On running the updater, it uses windows sockets api to download '''[[:image:V112_update.txt| update.txt]]''' and '''[[:image:V112_update.bin| update.bin]]''' from the DS-X server. The Indy Sockets api is probably the wrapper to call the windows sockets api, for platform independency. Delphi also has wrappers for the application windows. The applications resources can easily be pulled out with XN Resource editor. I've also noticed on some of the disassembly that the updater looks like it can take command line arguments?
-'''7th January 2008:'''
-main page redesigned for clarity.
-Firmware and other files moved to a separate wiki page, and descriptions added for the files.
-Link to the initial hardware explorations, files and api's added.
-Changed the Mozilla references to the Indy.Sockets libraries.
-Some terminology corrected
-'''11th January'''
-corrected the how did Shuny do it (missed the bit about altering update.txt)
-added a little tutorial on how to make the updater load locally
-Although it pains me so, I removed the DS-X comment, by request of throwingwinks :(
-ToDo:
+Look here for out last chance ^^: http://forums.ds-xtreme.com/showthread.php?p=57612
- I'm currently trying out a few disassemblers on the[[:image:V112_UpdaterTool.rar| PC updater application .exe]] to see which gives me the best results.
- Get hold of the NDS launcher that was acquired with NO$GB and the wifi homebrew. This could be useful to  This log need moving to the discussion page.
 [[Category:NDS Slot-1 Carts]]