So, the R4 3DS i Gold + (or something) turned up last night, at around 6pm, and I spent the next two and a half hours faffing about to get the Homebrew Launcher installed onto my old 3DS.

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When I ordered the thing, I was expecting an experience much like Datel's wonderful "Games 'n' Music" cartridge for the original DS.
Pop the rom onto the cart, shove it in the DS, start!

Nope... It wasn't that easy.

The cart is pretty much only used as a hardware hack, and then everything from backups, saving restore data, installing all manner of random looking files, and more, all has to be done manually.
There was a HUGE amount of steps to go through before the device was "ready".

Unexpected thing of note. All the files I had to copy back and forth were done using the DS's own SD card, not the SD card in the R4.
You have to put the R4 into hack mode, and then follow the oodles of instructions to get the thing going.

For those interested, this is the guide I used. Note how many bloomin' steps there are..
*sigh*

Once the Homebrew Launcher was installed, however, I was able to remove the R4 cart and put it away for future reuse, and the 3DS can now boot the homebrew stuff on its own. Which is nice.
Just pop a homebrew rom on the 3DS's own SD card, and you can find it in the Homebrew Launcher.

Today I'll be faffing about with my framework some more, and seeing if I can get any sort of content running on the 3DS. Currently the test just crashes upon loading, which isn't a good sign!
Eeek!