• DSLinuxHistory

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This is a rough and incomplete history of the project. You can help by adding events, chasing up relevent links and the like. DSLinux was created in April and May 2005 when PepsiMan modified the linux kernel to boot on the Nintendo DS. This thread shows what happened: thread

Early History (2005) 2.0.39

• April 2005
• * (Apr 28th) Pepsiman starts porting Linux 2.0.39-uc2 to the Nintendo DS based on the existing Nintendo GBA port.

• * (Apr 28th) First build that shows boot messages when run in an emulator: Forum post Screenshot

• * (Apr 29th) First build that shows boot messages when run on a DS: Forum post Screenshot

• May 2005

• * (May 2nd) First build with a timer interrupt Forum post Screenshot

• * (May 2nd) First attempt at implementing syscalls (Kernel panic) Forum post Screenshot

• * (May 3rd) Syscalls now working - Sash starts but crashes Forum post

• * (May 4th) Kernel correctly told how much memory the DS has - Sash works Forum post

• * (May 4th) Text games added Forum post Screenshot Another Screenshot

• * (May 7th) DTCM set up so that interrupts work with all boot methods. Forum post

Middle History (2005) 2.6.9

• May 2005
• * (May 22nd) The framebuffer is now working. Tux is displayed in the corner, wearing Mario’s cap.
• * (May 24th) Sash has been successfully started on the console.
• * (May 30th) The romfs corruption problem that was preventing sash from starting in the .nds version of dslinux has now been fixed. The problem was caused by the bootmem allocator using some of the memory occupied by the filesystem to store the bootmem map.
• * (May 30th) Pepsiman has written a basic driver for the DS buttons.
• June 2005
• * (June 2nd) Framebuffer driver updated with support for Both screens and better scrolling.
• * (June 10th) DS Button support has been updated for the X and Y buttons. (X and Y buttons can only be read on the ARM7)
• * (June 12th) The ARM7 is now sending touchscreen coordinates through the FIFO to the ARM9. The touchscreen keyboard and mouse are getting closer.
• * (June 19th) Pepsiman has added a touchscreen keyboard to DSLinux, The keyboard uses tiles to display the graphics.

• * (June 23rd) Pepsiman updated the keyboard - The Shift, Ctrl, Alt and AltGr keys are now sticky.

• * (June 23rd) The DSLinux screen blanker now turns off both displays and both backlights to save power when you’re not using it.

• * (June 27th) Pepsiman switched from uc-libc to uClibc & built busybox. BusyBox is a program that includes tiny versions of lots of useful unix utilities including vi.

• July 2005
• * (July 1st) DSLinux can now boot using the GBAMP, thanks to Darkfaders hacked replacement firmware.
• September 2005
• * (September 25th) Filesystem in SRAM - A JFFS2 filesystem using the SRAM for permanent storage will now be mounted on /sram.
• * (September 27th) Reading and writing to the CF in the GBAMP now works.
• * (September 28th) There’s a binary of dslinux with gbamp support on the nightly builds page.
• * (September 28th) Slow Booting is now fixed.
• * (September 30th) The poweroff command will now turn the DS off! As it says before you log in, you must run “halt” or “poweroff” before turning off the ds.

• * (September 30th) DynaStab has fixed the backspace key, perfect typing is no longer required.

• October 2005

• * (October 5th) With a little help from DynaStab, ncurses has been built for dslinux - It includes several demos including hanoi.

• * (October 22th) Support for the M3 and Supercard CF adapters has been added to DSLinux from the nightly builds page. Supercard version has not been tested yet.
• November 2005
• * (November 5th) Support for the Real Time Clock in the DS. The date command now shows the correct time and date. The date stamps on files you create or modify are no longer in the year 2000.
• * (November 9th) The Supercard CF build has been changed to a .ds.gba version. All the advantages of execute in place, and CF access too!
• * (November 13th) DSlinux can now backup your firmware to compact flash. Writing to the firmware is not implemented, and will not be implemented.

• * (November 16th) DSLinux now tells you which firmware you have on your DS at the end of the boot. If the warning appears, upgrade to FlashMe v5.

• December 2005
• * (December 23rd) Stsp has been working on updating DSlinux to use the 2.6.14 kernel, as the 2.6.9 kernel does not have the generic wifi stack.
• * (December 30th) A bug in the uClinux 2.6.14 Kernel been discovered - This show-stopper throws the Kernel into a panic.

Current History (2006) 2.6.9

• January 2006
• * (January 27th) Sound Support - Pepsiman has created an ALSA driver for the DS sound hardware, with some help from Parrot. Only 8bit playback is working at the moment, and recording is not implemented yet. Stereo support is implemented, but has not been tested.
• * {January 28th} Bret has written a Wifi driver for DSLinux. It has been added to CVS and is enabled in all builds. Like the sound driver added recently, it still contains bugs, but it’s fun to try it out anyway.

• * {January 29th} The cause of the Kernel 2.6.14 Show-stopper bug has finally been discovered but a real solution is yet to be made. linux-arm-kernel mailing list archives.

• * {January 30th} The cause of the kernel hanging shortly after the first syscall has been found. The 2.6.14 kernel will be imported into CVS shortly, along with a more recent version of the uClinux userspace.
• February 2006
• * (February 1st) Stsp and Pepsiman have started porting to 2.6.14 using the SF CVS.
• * (February 8th) Framebuffer in userspace - Erik has implemented mmap() of the framebuffer, and modified lissa to perform 16bit writes.
• * (February 9th) Wifi has been updated and it’s much more stable now, thanks to Bret - Pepsiman was able to telnet to my linux computer and surf Slashdot.
• * (February 12th) LED flashing - The power LED now flashes when using wifi in DSLinux. Slow flashing = not associated/Fast flashing = associated.
• * (February 12th) Page Up and Page Down - I’ve changed the X and Y buttons to behave as Page Up and Page Down.
• * (February 17th) WEP support in the Wifi driver so that it can authenticate with APs that use Shared Key authentication. Only 64bit WEP is working.
• * (February 27th) Retawq for DSLinux - DSLinux has beaten Nintendo/Opera by releasing the first web browser for the DS.

Current History (2006) 2.6.14

• February 2006
• * The 2.6.14 kernel still waits for its CVS import. (Update 20th Feb - Stsp is planning to import 2.6.14 this weekend)
• * (February 22nd) 2.6.14 has finally been imported into CVS. Daily builds will continue to be made from 2.6.9 until 2.6.14 is stable.
• March 2006

• * (March 24st) Move to 2.6.14 completed - The move to the 2.6.14 version of the linux kernel has been completed, and is now included in the nightly builds.

• * (March 24st) Nano-X Window System - The Nano-X Window System is a tiny X11 server for small devices.
• * (March 24st) SSH Client - John Skogtvedt has ported the Dropbear SSH Client to DSLinux.
• April 2006
• * (April 9th) Userspace XIP - Bret has incorporated Greg Ungerer’s userspace XIP (eXecute In Place) changes into DSLinux.
• * (April 11th) Better shell - Stsp has switched the shell over to the busybox msh shell with command history and tab completion.
• * (April 11th) Nano-X update - Bret’s modified Nano-X is now in CVS, and will be in the next nightly build for some builds.
• * (April 17th) Memory allocator change - Default kernel users SLAB, SLOB allocates what you ask for and doesn’t waste memory.
• * (April 25th) GPF wrote instructions for using the VNC client from nanoX.
• * (April 26th) bsdgames package ported to DSLinux.
• * (April 26th) Bret has started the mouse driver - Allows Control over nanoX using the touchscreen
• * (April 26th) Amadeus has fixed a few problems with the sound driver - Stereo works too
• may 2006
• * (May 8th) Framebuffer console scroll bug fixed - Scrolling the screen SCROLL_PAN_REDRAW mode corrupted the bottom few lines.
• * (May 22nd) stsp ported mathomatic to DSLinux. This is a great tool that can help you with most math problems.
• * (May 23rd) The cvs repository has been moved from sourceforge to a small independent ISP in Berlin. This means we can now include cryptographic software in dslinux without restriction.
• * (May 24nd) Dropbear SSH Ported - Both the client and server are available, as well as a key converting tool for compatibility with openssh keys.
• June 2006
• * (June 1st) Amadeus has written a driver for the Supercard SD - Reading and writing should work.
• July 2006
• *(July 23rd) SSH data fault bug fixed in cvs.