iDeaS Emulator by Lino by Chris October 27, 2008 

iDeaS is one hell of an emulator and is currently being refined in an ongoing very-active project.

The latest version was published September 15/2008 and is available in 18 languages. It functions on Windows 9x, NT, 2K, XP, Vista, and Linux.

iDeaS supports plug-ins - WiFi, Audio to name a couple - can run at 640x480 or whatever scaling parameters you set within the .ini, it supports cheat codes and the microphone is even partially emulated.

And yes, it supports audio.

As expected, not all DS games work 100%. A partial compatibility list is available at the iDeaS Forum and you learn more at the emulator's home page at www.ideasemu.org.

You can split this emulator into two windows of all things. Totally cool and huge props to its creators.

Controls
D-Up: Up arrow
D-Down: Down arrow
D-Left: Left arrow
D-Right: Right arrow
B button: Z
A button: X
Start: Return
Select: Shift
L button: A
R button: S
X button: Q
Y button: W

Touchscreen: mouse

CS 10-8

DeSmuME by YopYop156 by Chris October 27, 2008 

There are several DS emulators available with DeSmuME being one of the best. Sound isn't supported and hardly any games work but the emulator does function quite well and is fun to use.

ROMs can be dragged and dropped into the emulator and the mouse provides reasonable touch entry.

Controls
Z = A
X = B
A = Y
S = X
Q = L
W = R
ENTER= START
SPACE= SELECT
MOUSE= TOUCHSCREEN

To avoid a lot of frustration, your best bet is find a game that is 'fully playable' by visiting the compatibility chart at www.desmume and then locating and obtaining the ROM (which is illegal unless you own it, and that's probably still illegal, so don't do it).

DeSuME was written by YopYop156 in C plus plus (my parser is eating plus signs for some reason) and the source code is available at www.desume.com. Unfortunately, due to (the inevitable) legal concerns, the project is on pause but will likely be reactivated by someone in the future after Nintendo has squeezes out every last penny from the DS. Until then, we need to watch out for hungry lawyers.

CS 10-2008