presents

hello-world-nds

Hello world project for NDS, using devKitPro based on devkitPro Updater 1.6.0 (ARM v5)
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Table of Contents

1. About The Project
   • Built With
2. Getting Started
3. Usage
4. Roadmap
5. Contributing
6. License
7. Contact
8. Acknowledgments
9. Credits
• Institutions involved in the hello-world-nds project
• People involved in the hello-world-nds development

About The Project

This repository contains the source code for creating a .nds executable that you can run in real or emulated hardware of the Nintendo DS.

This project has been created as a way to test compilation environments.

It also features a workflow that builds and releases the binary on every commit.

To know more about my projects as a teacher for University Rovira i Virgili, you can check the GitHub page.

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Built With

This section lists any major languages, frameworks and libraries used to bootstrap the hello-world-nds platform:

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Getting Started

Install development environment

Windows

You can install it manually by moving the bmde folder (not included) into C:\URV\ and creating the corresponding environment variables.

Afterward, you can do the following to clone, compile and run the code:

git clone https://github.com/URV-teacher/bmde-linux
cd bmde-linux
make clean
make
make run

Multi-platform (Docker)

1. Install Docker in your system.
2. Clone the bmde repository: git clone https://github.com/URV-teacher/bmde-linux
3. Enter inside the input folder: cd bmde-linux/input and clone this repo: git clone https://github.com/URV-teacher/hello-world-nds

Compile software

Windows

1. Open a terminal in the root folder of the NDS project that you want to compile.
2. Execute make.
3. The .nds binary from the project should be in the root folder of the repository.

Multi-platform (Docker)

1. Go back to the root folder of the repository bmde: cd ..
2. Run docker compose up
3. The .nds binary from the hello-world-nds project will be on the output folder.

Run software

Windows

1. Download and install DeSmuME from official page. We target version 0.9.11-dev that you can download from here, but the binary also has been proved to work in later versions.
2. Run DeSmuME and open the .nds file.
3. You should see the "Hello world" message being displayed in the inferior screen of the NDS.

Multi-platform (Flatpak)

1. Download and install Flatpak flatpak install flathub org.desmume.DeSmuME
2. Run DeSmuMe Flatpak flatpak run org.desmume.DeSmuME
3. open the .nds file.
4. You should see the "Hello world" message being displayed in the inferior screen of the NDS.

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Usage

You can use this project as a basic compilation test tool for a NDS development environment.

This project was used to test the port of the bmde environment to Linux that is used in the subjects Computers, Computer Fundamentals and Operating System Structure in the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Workflow

There is also a GitHub workflow that is triggered on every push to master branch to compile the project and release it. You can download the .nds from there to try it directly without compilation.

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Roadmap

This project is completely functional! But there is space for improvements...

• Refine Docker for usage with the port of the bmde environment to Linux.

See the open issues for a full list of proposed features (and known issues).

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Contributing

This is an open-source project, so any contributions are greatly appreciated ❤.

If you have an issue or suggestion that would make hello-world-nds better, please open a new issue explaining your inquiry. We will try to satisfy your needs as soon as possible.

If you want to make a contribution to hello-world-nds by yourself, please open a new issue, so we can discuss the reach of your contribution. After that, fork the repo, implement your change and create a pull request from your fork to the master branch. We will merge your changes as soon as possible, so they are available in the next releases of hello-world-nds-asban.

So, for each change that you want to do to hello-world-nds-asban by yourself, you will need to:

1. Fork the repo.
2. Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature).
3. Add and commit your Changes (git add src; git commit -am 'Add some AmazingFeature').
4. Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature).
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you need.
6. Open a pull request from your fork to the develop branch.
7. Repeat steps 3 and 4 if further changes are required.

Do not forget to give the project a star ⭐ on GitHub!

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License

Distributed under the GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, Version 3. See LICENSE to obtain a copy of the therms of this license.

This software was developed by Aleix Mariné-Tena, substitute teacher at University Rovira i Virgili of subjects Computers and Computer Fundamentals.

hello-world-nds ultimately belongs to Aleix Mariné-Tena and has the control over the licensing and distribution therms.

Copyright 2025 - Present Aleix Mariné-Tena

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

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Contact

Aleix Mariné-Tena - [email protected] 📫

You can get more information of URV at https://urv.cat.

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Acknowledgments

Shout out to @WinterMute and his team that created devkitPro.

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Credits

Institutions involved in the hello-world-nds project

Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV): URV, The Universitat Rovira i Virgili is the university that provides southern Catalonia with a knowledge structure of international renown. Through teaching, research, knowledge transfer and culture it helps society to be more just and free.

Departament d'Enginyeria Informàtica i Matemàtiques (URV): The Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics (DEIM) is a department in the URV made up of professors and researchers specializing in different disciplines corresponding to areas of knowledge of Computer Science, Telematics and Mathematics.

People involved in the hello-world-nds development

• Aleix Mariné-Tena (URV): Substitute teacher of subject Computers and Fundamentals of Computers at URV.