I think I like Oscar’s Nintendo DS more than he does. He got Karts for christmas and I was blown away by how easy it was to set up with my wireless router so that I could play against other people on the web. Obviously I always come last.
But one of the hinges on the DS broke recently. Looks like a design flaw to me (considering the new DS Lite has a much meatier hinge). Glue would not work. I spent hours searching for replacement parts. Finally, I found a guy on eBay in Pennsylvania who sold replacement cases and would ship to Ireland. $24 plus shipping and a week or so later, I had the case. Then I discovered I needed a special screwdriver to open it. This time Lik-Sang came to the rescue and for a few Euro I got the screwdriver in the post less than a week later.
Last night we took apart the old one, moved all the bits over to the new case and were shocked to find that it worked! Fiddley as f**k but a damn sight cheaper than buying a new one.
But it got me thinking about the DS. It has two ARM CPUs and the main one has about the same welly as a Palm Tungsten T. It has two screens, one of which is touch senstitive and it has Wi-Fi. Would it not strike Nintendo to offer a web-browser as a plug-in cartridge? Or an MP3 player or a multitude of things other than games which would make use of all its features? I know it is outside of their comfort zone and they don’t want to make the mistakes that Nokia made with the N-Gage. But still, it is a PDA in all but software. I fell asleep with that thought in my mind.
Anyway, I start checking blogs this morning and what do I find? Opera are releasing a browser for the DS!! Fan-bloody-tastic. Obviously, I ‘ll be keeping that cartridge for myself and not letting Oscar anywhere near it. I can’t wait to browse the web at a wireless hot-spot in an airport using a kids toy.
And Nintendo are going to release a digital TV receiver for it too. Not so awesome for us as we are now about 8 years behind on getting digital terrestrial tv in Ireland but would be tres cool for Freeview viewers in the UK.
PSP my bum.
[tags]Nintendo DS, DS Parts, DS Karts, Opera, Wi-Fi, PSP, Lik-Sang[/tags]
March 7, 2006 at 2:49 am
How difficult was it to take this DS unit apart? I have the same broken hinge on my son’s unit. I see the screws and it looks as if the motherboard and buttons probably would be easy enough, but I don’t see a way to get the screen out of the top piece. Could you be so kind as to give me some advice with that.
I really appreciate any thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Jeff
March 7, 2006 at 7:55 am
It nearly drove me insane trying to take it apart. The Lik Sang site showed a fully disassembled DS in an article but did not explain the how.
The critical thing is that there are 4 screws hidden under the tiny little square rubber pads that surround the screen.
So you have to prise these off and then undo the four screws and then gently work your way around the edge of the upper casing prising apart the two halves (they are held together by the usual plastic clips you get on things like TV remotes).
Once it is off, you can get all the bits out pretty easily (the screen is lightly glued to the case and can be easily prised off).
The most complex bit is getting the cable which joins the two halves out through the hinge. You just have to be careful. All of the flat cables can be disconnected from the PCBs by sliding out the white tabs on the connectors.
If you need any other tips, please post more comments, I’m happy to help.