Tftpds

tftpds
General
Author	Sten Larsson, Gustav Munkby
Type	Utilities
Version	2.3
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2006/08/01
Links
Download
Website
Source

tftpds is a Nintendo DS application that allows you to receive a file over the wireless network and program your Flash Advance Pro flash cart inserted in the GBA slot.

It can then boot .ds.gba and .gba-files. It can also read/write sram.

Note: Download is for v2.3 only (last release was v2.4).

User guide

You need to have your Wifi Connection settings saved to firmware using for example Mario Kart DS.

Boot tftpds.ds.gba like any other homebrew application on the Nintendo DS.

Wait for "TFTP server ready..."

Transfer files to/from your PC using a TFTP client. Examples using curl (http://curl.haxx.se/):

a. Sending

• This writes the file 1 Megabyte from the beginning of the cart:
• curl -T tftpds.ds.gba tftp://192.168.0.189/rom/100000/
• This writes the file "sram.sav" to the sram:
• curl -T sram.sav tftp://192.168.0.189/ram/

b. Retrieving

• This retrieves the sram contents:
• curl -o sram.sav tftp://192.168.0.189/ram/

The cart will be scanned for things that looks like bootable files. Click on a file on the touch screen to boot it.

The files will be displayed as <title> (<ds or gba>) (<offset in hex>)

Paths

To access flash cart: /rom/<offset in hex>/<any filename>

The offset must be a multiple of 0x40000 bytes (256 kilobytes), because this is the erase block size on the flash cart. Examples: C0000, 100000

To access sram: /ram/<any filename>

GBA menu

tftpds.ds.gba can be booted on a gba. It will then display a simple menu which allows you to boot gba programs on the flash cart. This is useful if you want to play a gba game on you Gameboy Player or to play a game that makes use of the gba link port (like PocketNES). Typically you will have tftpds.ds.gba as the first thing on your flash cart, and it will now work on both ds and gba.

Implementation details: This works by appending a small multiboot menu rom to the end of tftpds.ds.gba. A custom loader is used with dsbuild that detects that it's a gba, copies the rom image to ram, and branches. This is possible since the loader is executed on ARM7, the same cpu as on the gba, and both Passme/Flashme and the gba boots the cart in the same way (by branching to 0x8000000).

Known issues

• Only Flash Advance Pro (aka Turbo FA) is supported. If you've got GBAMP, SuperCard, etc. you should try bafio's "wifitransfer" instead.
• It's quite slow (about 30 kb/s transfer speed)
• Cannot boot .nds-files.
• Cannot retrieve files from flash cart.

Changelog

2.3 (20060801)

• Updated to work with latest devkitPro and dswifi.
• Fixed a bug that erased too much on the cart if the file was a multiple of 256 kb.
• The path that curl sends seems to have changed.
• You can now scroll the list of boot items.

2.1 (20060325)

• Added gba menu. It's now possible to boot on a gba.

2.0 (20060303)

• A GUI which lists files on cart.
• Boots gba files.
• Read and write sram.
• Using paths to select where to write.
• Fixed a bug in dswifi which prevented large files from working correctly.

1.0 (20060222)

• Initial release.

External links

• GBADev - http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8682 (archived)