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R4 Chip Installation

The R4 card (or R4 chip) is a hardware and software modification that allows you to run custom programs and applications on your Nintendo DS. Using the R4 card you will be able to play music, read PDF documents, watch movies and take advantage of many more applications. The biggest advantage of the R4 is that unlike other modifications, the R4 does not require you to have knowledge of hardware nor to open your console.

Things You'll Need

Nintendo DS (DS, DS Lite or DSi -- DSi XL is currently not supported)
R4 card
Micro SD card (size and model depend on the version of the R4 card)
PC or compatible computer
Internet connection

Instructions

- 1
  Connect the micro SD card to your computer. Download the latest version of the kernel from the R4 website (see References) into your computer. Unzip and copy the kernel files onto the micro SD card.
- 2
  Decide which applications you want on your DS. The R4 card already provides you with an MP3 player, but there are many other applications developed by fellow enthusiasts. You can get PDF readers, paint programs, notepads and a variety of other free applications. The best resource is the Nintendo DS Homebrew Hive page (see References).
- 3
  Create folders on the SD card to organize your applications and data. Put your data (such as MP3 files and PDFs) in the folders you have created. You can use programs like Windows Explorer to organize the folders on your micro SD card.
- 4
  Copy any ROMs (game back-ups) into the root directory of the micro SD card.
- 5
  Remove the micro SD card from the computer and insert it into the R4 card. Insert the R4 card into your Nintendo DS (in the same slot where you insert a game cartridge).

Nintendo DS