I got my DS a couple of months back. It is a cool looking black DS. The first thing I did with the DS was to try my hands on programming on the DS. Programming on the DS is very simple not like other handhelds like the PSP. There is a huge community support out there on the internet to help you get started with DS programming. Devkitpro is a free homebrew sdk provided by the community to start programming on the DS. Once you install this SDK, the environment on your machine is set to compile and execute programs directly onto the DS. You could download the DevkitPro SDK here:
Please download the latest version of the SDK. The installation process is very simple and it will guide you through the entire process. Once this SDK is setup, you could browse through the SDK examples on nds programming. There are tons of tutorials to choose from starting from 2D graphics programming, 3D programming, sound programming on the DS, etc. You will have access to all tutorials to start writing your first game on the DS.
But hold on! When you compile the program on your PC, a single file output is created with a .nds extension. What to do with this file? Well in order to run this on the DS, you will need to first buy a R4 memory card which can be used as a regular DS cartridge.
So where can I buy this R4 memory card? Well you will have to purchase this online and get it shipped to you. One of the places where you can buy this from is http://www.gadget-asia.com/. The best deal on this website is the R4 card with a 1GB micro SD card. Also it comes with free shipping to India!
Below is the direct link to buy this:
Once you have this memory card you should be able to transfer your programs onto the DS and check out the output. DevkitPro allows you to fully access the hardware of the DS. So this is the closest a homebrew programmer will get towards programming on a real console. I have programmed on the PS2 Linux kit provided by Sony but it is a real pain in the ass to program on that kit as very little support or documentation is available to program on the PS2. Though I managed to write some code on it but it is not worth the effort. I strongly recommend programming on the NDS as it is the closest you will get to real programming on the console. Of course you do have XBOX 360 programming by using XNA, I still have to try it out!
So go ahead and get you hands dirty on the NDS!