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How to use full 16MB RAM on DSi and DSi XL
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:48 am
by laser
Hi All,
I have a question....
I understand the DSi and DSi XL have 16MB of RAM compared to the DS lite which has 4MB RAM.
Is there a way to set the memory size when building so I can use this extra RAM?
Many thanks,
laser
Re: How to use full 16MB RAM on DSi and DSi XL
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:01 am
by WinterMute
Currently you can't run homebrew in DSi mode but, when you can, no build setting is necessary, I've set things up to be automatically hybrid.
Re: How to use full 16MB RAM on DSi and DSi XL
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:04 am
by laser
okay, thank you WinterMute. I'll keep an eye out for that release.
Many thanks,
laser
Re: How to use full 16MB RAM on DSi and DSi XL
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:55 am
by laser
Hi WinterMute,
I saw the DSlink release - many thanks. I needed to read it several times to understand. I thought is was a simple case of setting the memory size at the time of the build but obviously there is some hardware restricting access to the extra memory unless you are in this "DSi mode". Is there a write up somewhere explaining the "DSi mode"? I would like to understand the problem and try to help find a solution.
I have a DSi XL so probably can't use this hack to enter "DSi mode" anyway, but the DSlink program is great for testing non fatlib programs - one less reset needed now - many thanks
laser
Re: How to use full 16MB RAM on DSi and DSi XL
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:59 am
by WinterMute
It's fairly simple, if you're in DS mode there's only 4meg, you need to be in DSi mode to get 16meg. There's nothing you need to do, all homebrew compiled with recent devkitARM/libnds will have access to that 16meg via malloc. For devkitARM r32 I'll probably be adding a spec file that will allow you to use more than 4meg for code/data etc but, if I'm honest, I'd really prefer to find a method to stick with a hybrid approach where homebrew works on DS whether or not it uses DSi features.