FACTS:

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.

We are happy to report that we now have a full stable fix for the qkin problem. This is an FPGA logic update which fixes a known hardware issue affecting many users. We are releasing this fix as a public beta. We will move towards a final release if no serious issues are found.

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

Hello everyone,

By popular demand, we recently feature-froze the OS development, and began preparing for release. While there are still quite a few additional features still in development which we had originally planned for 1.1.0, there had to come a point where we said "This is enough!" and put out what was done for the world to use.

Demand for this update has been high, but we think you'll find it was worth the wait. We've covered some of the most highly demanded feature requests, fixed a few of the most problematic bugs, and implemented some incredibly cool new functionality which opens even more doors towards making the DS-Xtreme the most feature rich and flexible product available on the market.

Probably the most noticeable change is our entirely new look and feel. While we were fond of our original skin, we felt that it was important to take our skinning engine a step further, and provide as much of a sleek, crisp, clean user experience as possible. The old skin isn't gone forever, however... we've kept it available for posterity's sake, and you can find it in the new skin selection options available in settings.

While you're there in settings, you may notice the new "Preset Directories" option available there. This is a feature which has been requested time and again on forums, and we felt we would be remiss in our duties if we hadn't implemented it. Enabling this option will restrict the searching for applications to the "Apps" directory only, the searching of music to the "Music" directory only, and the searching of SkinApps to the "SkinApps" directory. This will make search times substantially faster, further improving your experience with the DS-Xtreme.

Did I hear someone say "What are SkinApps?"

This brings us to my personal favorite new feature in 1.1.0, Skin-Engine Applications, or SkinApps. A SkinApp is a fully self contained application written using our skinning engine's functionality. Our hope is that this will pave the way for a whole series of DS-Xtreme powered homebrew games and applications, scripted in our expanding skinning/media engine. To help foster development in this area, and to give everyone some starting points to work from, we've included 3 sample SkinApps.... a calculator, an expansive sudoku engine (including the first DS-Xtreme on-screen-keyboard!), and a classic staple of gaming - a pong clone!

We still have quite a few things in development, and will be releasing updates at a slightly faster pace from here as we finish each item on the list. Keep those suggestions and ideas coming!

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