DSZip

From GameBrew
dsZip
Nds.png
General
Authorpierluig
TypeUtilities
Version0.01 Pre-alpha
LicenseGPL
Last Updated2007/08/11
Links
Download
Website
Source

dsZip is a handy utility to compress and decompress .nds files directly on the Nintendo DS.

This way it is possible to store many more homebrew applications (or whatever floats your boat) on a memory card than possible when using normal files, and decompress them only when you really want to use them.

User guide

When dsZip is running it displays a list of files and directories present in the current directory (the one it has been launched from). Only .gz files are currently listed, as those are the only one you can decompress for now. If it is a file, dsZip will try to decompress the file:

  • It will list the gzip'd file name, the output file name and then a progress indicator (for every compressed block that has been decompressed a . is printed).
  • Decompression is done when the message asking you to reboot your DS is printed on screen. Please wait for that message before resetting or power cycling your DS.

If it seems to be stuck it might be because you are decompressing a very large file. Just wait a bit. An uncompressed 128MB file can take up to 4-5 minutes. Just before the reboot message an exit code is printed. 0 is fine, everything else represents failure.

The gzip decompressor is tested with different compressed file sizes, up to 128 MB.

Note from developer:

This is pre-alpha quality code. It might work, or not. It might fail in silent and subtle ways. It might destroy your console, or it might eat your data. Use at your own risk.

Controls

Up/Down - Change the currently selected entry

A - Take action

B or "Activating the..." - Back to the parent folder

Compatibility

Tested on a DS Lite with a R4 adapter.

Known issues

  • Error reporting is minimal (hint: result = 0 means everything is fine).
  • No checks on the output file name apart from extension stripping (could overwrite something important).
  • Compression does not work yet.
  • Archives different from .gz are not supported (even if gzip can normally handle them).
  • No check is done for available space on the device.

External links

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