Download DSHobro 0.3

DSHobro 0.3, aka. DS Homebrew Browser.


Introduction:
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DSHobro is a homebrew that lets you surf the web on your DS. It is based on a PC application that parses web pages, and sends the result to the DS. Version 0.1 alpha was released long ago, in april 07, but was just a tiny demo of the possibilities offered by the PC/DS mechanism. DSHobro 0.2 now takes full advantage of this mechanism and allows you to really surf the web, actually read text and view images (text is clear enough to be read) and so on.
Some of the usual navigation possibilities are available such as the "back"/"forward"/"refresh"(...) buttons. Also, the server application supports multiple simultaneous connections, allowing several people to use DSHobro at the same time, with only one instance of the program.
You may also use DSHobro from a remote location: if you run the server on your own PC, you can surf the web with your DS from any wifi access point (if you know your PC's ip address).

The changes in DSHobro 0.3 are:

  * Automatic network configuration. You no longer need to enter your IP address & port, it will detect them and connect automatically!
  * Flash animations, Java and ActiveX are now allowed. It means your PC will download and start/play them, but your DS will still only receive an image of the animation, not the animation itself. It's still useful for menus or sites that are made 100% in Flash. There's one downside though: in flash videos, the sound is outputted on the PC! I can't prevent it. But why would you want to watch videos anyway... since you could only get 1 frame every 5 or 10 seconds.
  * Basic text input is implemented. Basic, because all you can do is: 1) write text with the virtual keyboard; the text is visible on the DS screen until you decide to send it to the PC by touching the ENTER key. 2) erase the whole text in a text field, by sending the keyword :erase to the PC. See, this is basic, but it still works and you should be able to post messages in forums with this.
  * The "Wifi Transfer" icons now show up every time there is a WiFi communication between your PC and your DS. When the icon blinks, it means you have just sent or received a new data block.
  * "Fatal errors" are no longer fatal. You should be able to resume your connection when an error occurs. I was unfortunately unable to produce any of these error myself, so I had to simulate them (generate an error). I can't promise the connection will be resumed in any case.



Usage:
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Step 1: run the "Server.exe" application on your PC. Tweak the settings if you need to, and click the "Start!" button.

Step 2: run "DSHobro03.nds" on your DS. Press A if your DS and your PC are on the same network (at home, for example), or press B if you are using your DS from a remote access point. In this last case, you will need to check the "Enable remote access" option during step 1, and enter the key that is given to you.

Step 3: surf!


Note: DSHobro does NOT require DLDI patching.


Controls:
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DSHobro was developped for both right-handed and left-handed persons. You may then use your DS with the hand of your choice.

* Bottom screen: preview ("miniature" version of the web page).
* Top screen: a portion of the web page, with 1:1 scale (zoom 100%).

* D-Pad, or A/B/X/Y for left-handed: horizontal and vertical scroll on the page.
* L/R: swap screens
* Select: display interface
* Start: refresh display

* Stylus: when the bottom screen shows the miniature version of the page, clicking with the stylus focuses the top screen on the zone that you clicked.
When the screens are swapped, a click with the stylus means a real click on the page (ie. clicking on a link, on a button...)


Interface:
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These features are similar to a regular web browser:
Back: go back (display previous page)
Forward: go forward (display next page)
Refresh: refreshes page
Text: opens the text bar and lets you write text with the virtual keyboard. If you enter :erase and send it to your PC, the text field you are currently writing text to will be cleared.
Home: goes to homepage, aka. www.google.com

Also, if you press Start, the PC won't actually redownload the web page, but only send the current page again to the DS. It may prove useful when you click somewhere on the page and it doesn't load a new page (ie. opening a frame, a menu, ajax...)


/!\ WHAT YOU CAN *NOT* DO WITH DSHOBRO 0.3 /!\
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DSHobro 0.3 is better than 0.2, but there are still a lot of things that it can't do.
These things are (among others):
- Write multi-line text
- Manage bookmarks
- Save settings to the cart
- many other things...


All of the above features are not available in v0.3
But it doesn't mean I won't be able to implement them in later versions!



http://costello.dev-fr.org