We do realize that a few customers have been unhappy with the forced removal of the updater tool and we apologize for this. As explained in previous posts, we felt it was necessary to prevent any more corruption of units and this was a decision made by our company to ensure 100% quality service to ALL our customers regardless of the system they use.

We feel that it is critical for our valued customers to understand exactly what has happened and why we needed to do this. Here is a detailed explanation from our technical department.

Due to some low level “security” changes in the way Vista communicates with external drives we have been forced to make some changes to the internal DS-Xtreme CPU firmware which handles the USB communication. This, therefore, means that that we strongly recommend that ALL users of the DS-Xtreme product range perform this crucial update. We have now implemented a check for this new firmware into the updater. The updater will automatically program the new firmware, if older firmware is detected, at which point the updater will require you to detach the device and re-attach it so that the new firmware upgrade takes effect. The updater will then continue to update the various sub systems, including the OS and FPGA should they require updating.

We have provided a two page step-by-step PDF file to help you perform this task seamlessly.

DS-Xtreme Updater Instructions (.PDF) -

The delay in bringing together this packaged update was due to multiple factors that occurred simultaneously, as explained in our previous post. The combination of factors involved required significant changes in our design in order to accommodate, primarily, the new “security features” of the Vista Operating System.

As the technical and support arm of DS-X we apologize for this inconvenience.
To those of you who purchased our 2gig device, as newcomers into our family of products, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the confusion and delay this has caused due to the unforeseen and unpredictable changes in “security” features implemented in the Vista OS.

We would like to add, however, that the mere fact that the DS-Xtreme can be modified, adjusted and completely upgraded via our unique design, not only makes your newly purchased product more versatile and flexible today but will also be continuously tweaked and improved through regular software updates in the future. We pride ourselves on providing a ‘future-proof ‘ design, uncompromising user experience and 100% quality guarantee.

We would like to thank all of you for your support and continued loyalty to us and our products. Our quality guarantee obviously means a lot to us and it is clear that our customers expect and (will only accept) the best.

Thank you

DS-X

DS-X OS 1.1.2 Updater (NEW) -

DS-X OS 1.1.2 Skin Files -

DS-Xtreme Updater Instructions (.PDF) -

DS-Xtreme Updater Instructions (.DOC) -

The root of the problem:
A few weeks ago, we began a beta of the version 1.1.1 which shipped on the 2GB units. During this beta period, a specific bug with the suspend/resume feature of the DS-X firmware was discovered. Unfortunately, a fix for this issue was not found before the 2GB parts were programmed, and the units were shipped with this bug.

During the time between the programming of the units, and their arrival at customer's doorsteps, a fix for 1.1.1 was implemented in the form of 1.1.2, and a second beta was started. None of our beta test group had received a 2GB unit, so we were only able to test the 1.1.1 to 1.1.2 update process on the new devices internally, which revealed no issues. Believing all to be well, we released the 1.1.2 update for public use, with what would turn out to be less then ideal results.

The problem:
This upgrade was the first to include non-trivial changes to the firmware of the USB 2.0 controller onboard the DS-Xtreme in support of the 2GB version, and the first update in which all 3 portions of the device (DS-X firmware, FPGA logic, and USB controller firmware) were updated together. As it turns out, there was a dormant bug in the updater which only manifests on the 2GB devices. If a 2GB devices fails programming, it leaves the DS-X in a state in which the USB controller firmware is either corrupted or missing entirely. This can result in a variety of symptoms including the device being unrecognizable by windows and/or the DS.

The aftermath:
Many users began seeking RMAs for their new 2GB parts, believing them to contain faulty hardware. In every case we have reviewed, we have not seen any indication of faulty or unrecoverable hardware, and have no reason to believe that such faults may exist. In every support case and return which we have reviewed, we have seen:

1) The device is a 2GB device which has fallen to the firmware-erasure problem mentioned above
2) The user is attempting to update on a 64 bit OS, or Vista, which are not currently supported
3) The user had a 1.1.1 part, had data corruption related to the aforementioned bug in this version, and either attempted to upgrade to 1.1.2 for the fix (resulting in #1 or #2!) or has sought support without the upgrade.

The resolution:
As was mentioned earlier, we have now pulled the upgrade tools with the exception of the repair tool which, although it also exhibits the same bug, is necessary for support staff's use in resolving unrelated issues. Again, it should be noted that this repair tool is *NOT* recommended for end users unless guided by support staff, *ESPECIALLY* in light of these recent developments.

We have now identified and isolated the bug in the update tool (for those who are technically minded, the problem is an intermittent assertion of the CS lines of both NAND dies on the 2GB part, due to mishandling of interleave during partial erasure) and are working on a fix to this, and a few related issues (in order to avoid any additional problems) and will release a new update tool when we are confident in it's stability.

Let us also reiterate that there are at this time *no* known issues with the 2GB hardware, and returns are not necessary. We recommend that all users who have not yet upgraded do not attempt to do so, and remain with 1.1.1 firmware until a fixed updater is released.

Again, I would like to apologize for the inconveniences this has caused to both users and support staff, and thank both for pulling together to put an admirable amount of time into helping us manage and mitigate this situation over the past week.

The much awaited DS-Xtreme 2GB is now out! Stocks shipped today to all resellers that have placed pre-orders. Initial orders have all been fulfilled. Due to the overwhelming demand for this product we cannot guarantee stock levels and suggest you place firm orders now to avoid disappointment.

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM OUR DEVELOPERS:

DS-X is proud to announce the release of a long awaited update, DS-X OS 1.1.2. This is primarily an optimization and maintenance release, resolving a few outstanding end-user issues, laying some groundwork for upcoming features, and dramatically improving performance.

You may note that we seemed to have "skipped" version 1.1.1, this is not quite the case... The currently shipping 2GB devices are pre-programmed with 1.1.1 which is very similar to this version but lacks the increased virtual eeprom and has a known issue with suspending while running applications. It is highly recommended that ALL users apply this update to enjoy the maximum flexibility their ds-xtreme can offer.

Also, as the primary optimization changes rely upon the existence of compiled script and media files, it is imperative that after the 1.1.2 update is successfully applied, users either copy the newest skin files to their device, or use the default on-board system skin, in order to enjoy the dramatically improved scene loading times.

Changelog:

+ Support for compiled (.cnut) scripts in skinning engine for improved load times
+ Support for compiled media files, textures, and palettes
+ Support for 2GB (16Gb) hardware
+ Preliminary support for X and Y buttons in UI
+ Some additional widget API implemented for upcoming features
+ Support for unicode text in scripts and settings files
- Updated font rendering library to more recent version
- Removed alignment requirement in Libfat/DLDI driver hook
- Changed IRQ handling to support nested interrupts (Internal change, not relevant to end-use at this time)
- Doubled virtual eeprom size to resolve compatibility issues (now 512KB)
* Fixed a known bug in Libfat/DLDI driver hook routines which could potentially cause issues with some homebrew on writes. (Note that we had not seen this issue manifest, but decided to resolve it preemptively)

+ Addition
- Change
* Bugfix

DS-X OS 1.1.2 Updater -

DS-X OS 1.1.2 Skin Files -

The source should be commented well enough to follow, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to post them in our home-brew discussion forum here!

--Aphex

Download dsxdldi.zip here

This update brings software version to 1.1.0, and hardware version to 1.0.1.

As this release includes quite a few skinning changes, it is important to add the "public partition" files from http://news.ds-x.com/ to your ds-x drive after the update!

Software Change-log:
+Multiple skin selection/support (Holding B during startup forces system backup skin to be loaded)
+Entirely new skin!

+Scroll-bar widget

-New loading and top screen

-Cosmetic change to App loading transition
-Previous (1.0.x) skin is now available as "OS10"
+ "Preset" directories searching option
+ "SkinApps" Skin engine based applications support

+Sudoku, Pwng, and Calculator examples
* Instant boot MBR handling bug fixed
* Instant boot LED handling bug fixed
* Better eeprom emulation mode detection
* Fixed an issue with graphics engine display quality (line skipping)
* Dpad release events are now properly placed into event queue

Hardware Change-log:
* Resolved QKIN timing issue
- Changed default IO state on CPU bus which should help improve reliability all-around.

+ Addition
* Bug fix
- Change

Download the latest updater HERE
Download the public partition (1.1 skin and skinapps) files HERE

Peace,
Leto

As this is a hardware logic update, it will take slightly longer to apply then a normal firmware update, and the progress bar will proceed more then once. It is important that you leave your usb cable connected until a message box appears telling you that the update has completed. The LEDs will turn off during the update, and will turn back on when the update is complete. After the update, the updater will still report the firmware version as 1.0.2, this is normal.

With this release, our firmware version stays at 1.0.2, and the hardware version is brought up to 1.0.1. The next release of the updater tool will be able to show the firmware and hardware versions separately.

Before applying the update, users who have been affected by the qkin problem should format their DS-Xtreme, and it is recommended to copy the 1.0.2 skin folder, available below, back onto the device.

We would like to take this time to again thank everyone for their patience with us as we developed this fix, and also to apologize for the inconveniences this bug has caused. We would also like to thank all of the users who helped us in resolving the issue, especially those users who sent us their devices for analysis, and all of the initial beta testers.

--Aphex

Download the new updater HERE

Download the 1.0.2 skin folder HERE

Units from our latest batch, which were shipped last week, have been hit with a “bug” which has come to be known as the “qkin” bug.

To the best of our knowledge, this issue affects a significant number of the latest batch devices.

All units shipped have passed factory testing but the issue is extremely complicated and can only be analyzed and replicated on the last batch of units made.

Due to the above facts, we only became aware of the problem through our customers over the holiday period, and as a result have been working feverishly to try and identify the problem and solve the issue.

THE CAUSE:

The bug has been traced down to a vendor supplied part which had a revision in silicon. While we were made aware that this revision was going to occur, we were not given complete details as to the change, and were under the impression that this change would have no effect on our design.

Unfortunately we could not address the issue with the part supplier immediately, as we had to wait till after the holiday period when they re-opened for business, in order to get more detailed documentation and facts regarding the changes to the silicon.

WHAT IS BEING DONE:

We are currently working very closely with the responsible vendor to re-design our code as fast as possible to fit the changes made to the silicon.

We have stopped all programming of units in the factory to wait for the latest revision of code to suit the new silicon.

When initial versions of our update have passed internal testing, we will release the firmware to a small public beta group. Once we are satisfied that all is 100% working, we will then release the final version to the public. While a dedicated timeline would be ideal, we are very much dependent on the help from the responsible vendor

Please be patient with us, while we work round the clock to get this issue resolved and a working update released. We would like to assure all our customers that we are taking full responsibility for all our units and will be updating all resellers and consumers on our progress.

Thank you for you patience and support during our launch period.

Happy Holidays!

Production Delays.

Since I have covered a lot of this in both our support system and forums, I will briefly highlight the situation here. In order to eliminate/reduce the plastic mold quality issue we experienced in a very small % of the initial units shipped, we made some changes to quality control in our supply chain. These changes we though would be actioned quickly and cost very little in terms of delays, as it turned out we were very wrong ! . The changes resulted in some major confusion with customs and the final assembly plant in China. Long story short, we ended up in a situation with 0 production for about 1 month. Yeah, for those of you who are in the industry and know what time of year and how recent our launch is .. that’s a very big OUCH. This panic month is now over and things are back on track.

Universal updater:

This is probably the most heated internal debate. The reason for delay: Perfectionism . The temporary win32 release posted below, was an internal compromise. Technically we could have released a universal updater that would have done the job for the 1.0.2 update. However it would have needed an update to do any further updates. Hence the debate. Release a half done incomplete universal updater, that would need to be updated the very next release, or delay. Now comes the interesting part of this post:

The Ds-Xtreme: What is it that makes this product so unique, and at the same time so complicated and difficult to fully grasp.

Well the answers lie in the same “Perfectionism” that was mentioned above. From concept we set some very tough to meet goals. The toughest of all was the integrated hardware design. From our very fist announcement we advertised a key feature that I think very few (if any) of our users have caught on to. I think the quote was “ Fully updatable hardware” to explain this I need to get into some technical insight of the DS-Xtreme design, so here goes.

What’s inside that tiny package. ?

The DS-Xtreme is made up of multiple levels of integrated systems. From a distant view it’s a piece of hardware running some software. Bring on the magnifying glass and it becomes a lot more. There are 3 main parts to the design each very much individually updatable and reconfigurable.

THE DS-Xtreme OS

The most obvious and the only part updated so far is our DS side operating system, this is by far the most complicated and advanced operating system put together for any such device to date. The heart of the OS is the skinning engine. No other device available can offer anything near what the DS-Xtreme OS offers currently. While we hopped this would be taken advantage of from day one, it seems we need to incentivise this avenue more in order to prove just what exactly can be done with this unique and highly advanced skinning engine. (more about this incentive later) While the OS is critical to the correct operation and seamless integration of the complete package, it is only part of the design.

THE onboard CPU

Running internally at 48Mhz , with exceptionally low power consumption there is a tiny CPU running our customized firmware. This little beast is currently in charge of USB and basic memory management.

THE FPGA

Field Programmable Gate Array. What is this ? Well this ingenious piece of hardware is the sole reason devices such as this as well as many other integrated electronics exist today. In a very basic nutshell this is a device that can be programmed to become almost any configuration of electronics or logic in hardware. It is extremely fast, and very flexible. Today you can have it to handle communication and encryption routines, tomorrow you can have it take care of memory management and complex audio decoding. Its limitations are very much based on the physical size of the internal fabric. An interesting side note: At time of launch we were only using a little over 50% of the available fabric, and that’s with very little optimization. We could have easily opted to go for half the cost of the FPGA and put a device half the size.

Now comes the original statement “ fully upgradeable “ .. One of the requirements was that we leave the door open to be able to completely reprogram each subsection, including the FPGA. Take a quick look at most designs out there, very few if any allow their FPGA to be updated, there are many reasons for this, most stemming from security of IP. We opted to go against the grain and take the route that best benefited our customers and not ourselves. The reason? Simple, we in this for the long haul, the Ds-Xtreme is still a baby, barely able to crawl, its has a lot yet to offer , and in the coming year or so, we hope to prove this. Yes right now its core features are amazing and ground breaking, but in six months when other devices hit the market, we want our customers who have paid good money for their device to feel that they have invested in us and our design , not just spent some hard earned cash on a disposable unit. Yes we will have multiple products, but NO we will not let our “older” designs die off in just a few months with lack of support or updates. We will strive to prove that contrary to today’s “norm” for consumer devices, there is still a way to roll out new hardware and keep old hardware updated and running with the latest features and benefits. We don’t believe it’s fair to doll up a device sell it as is, and then make a simple software change and bring out a new “updated” device. This obviously stands true for what is physically possible with the hardware present.

To wrap up the FPGA talk, picture this, the FPGA device sitting inside your DS Xtreme has enough “room” to fit a complete ARM9 core and can be clocked at over 300Mhz !. While we would never venture into such an extreme implementation ( simply cause there is no room left over for anything else J) it does go to show just how much power is locked inside that tiny package. Yes ! by simply plugging your DS-Xtreme into your PC and performing a complete update we could re-program your device into something completely different . With a click of a button its even possible to completely implement one of the most popular and state of the art cpu architectures out there today. (and run it at 10 times the speed your ds is running at ;-) ) So the doors are open. Our challenge is massive, but we believe in our concept and we will succeed to make each and every one of our customers proud to own our design and be part of our belief.

Together with our skilled and talented staff, and more importantly the skill and brilliant talent of the open source community, we all have a lot to look forward to. In an effort to spear head the development and support for the DS-Xtreme, we have allocated the first sample units to the many interested parties who have shown their talent in the development scene.

For the thousands of you who are currently having fun with the DS-Xtreme, how about some experimentation with the skinning engine? Yes I know a lot has to do with us dragging our feet in releasing the skin preview app. (again that damn perfectionism ! ) but its perfectly safe to mess with the skin in the default folder. Worst case you simply remove the folder and the internal backup copy will take effect ;-) Have fun, and we are looking forward to your comments in our forums.

DS-Xtreme V1.0.2 change log

+Support for "Direct" format textures in UI engine
+Recognition of id3v2 tags in mp3/ogg
+Now supports supercard save files
+Added a "getOSVersion" function, for use in the skin to report the true OS version.
*Corrected virtual eeprom bank mapping
*Fixed a problem with some MP3s crashing
*MBR and partition parsing now correctly handled, should fix some filesystem issues, especially for OSX users
*Some minor changes to libfat auto-integration, should fix problems with ndsmail, etc
-OS now powers off LCDs when suspended
-Minor optimizations in raw device access

Legend:
+Addition
*Bugfix
-Change

Download DS-Xtreme Beta Update Tool for Windows here.
Download Skin for v1.0.2 here. (just drag the skin folder to your DS-Xtreme after the update)