[DC81]

I am also new to this, but from my understanding, purchase a slot-1 cartridge (R4DS or Cyclo Evolution, both do the same thing), buy a micro-sd card (at least 1GB, $10 at newegg.com), then with the purchase of the slot -1 cartridge it also comes with a usb memory stick for use with the Micro SD card. Drag the files onto the memory card, then plug it into the cartridge and run it as you would a normal game. No custom firmware needed.

I believe the only time you would want to flash your ds is if you intend to use a slot-2 cartridge without a pass-key.

Someone correct me if this is incorrect.

Hope this helps.