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Warp2063
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Post by Warp2063 »

It's probably even easier than the last time I tried it. At that point I ended up downloading a torrent that had PSX games converted to EBOOT format that I wanted to play. I then deleted all the ones that I didn't own legal copies for.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
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xDerekRx
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Post by xDerekRx »

Soo lemme get this straight. I just download the Eboot, put it on the mem card? thats it? no hacking no nothing? sweet. I always wanted to port my PSX collection to psp.
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Xranger60
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Post by Xranger60 »

As long as your PSP is already homebrew capable, simply use the application to process the ISO, drag the resulting eboot into the PSP/GAME folder on your PSP, and that's it!
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Warp2063
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Post by Warp2063 »

It must be a homebrew-capable PSP with a high enough firmware version. You might need a small utility on your PSP to allow your games to play on older versions of the POPS, as some games work better on older versions.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
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Post by Xranger60 »

Homebrew 3.03 OE-B or greater (December 2006) is capable of playing PSX games. And Warp is correct about the different versions, too. If you find the game runs better with a certain firmware version, popsloader is the app.
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xDerekRx
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Post by xDerekRx »

I have a PSP 2001, version 4.05. So might I have to downgrage?
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Warp2063
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Post by Warp2063 »

Is it the official 4.05, or is it a homebrew version? If it's the official one, [last I heard] you're going to have to downgrade, then install a custom firmware on there. Otherwise it should already be on your PSP.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
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Post by xDerekRx »

I havent home brewed my new 2000 model at all so its probably official for sure.

I also found a pandora battery at a garage sale, no idea what this does.
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Post by Warp2063 »

The Pandora battery, along with a properly formatted memory card, can help you install a custom firmware. I don't remember the process off the top of my head, and I know it's changed a lot since I did my 2001. I had to re-figure it out when I modded a friend's for him, and the process was pretty different by then.

I actually still have the Pandora battery and special memory stick that I made for installing a cfw on my 2001.
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Post by Xranger60 »

Speaking of PSP, I'm hoping to work on a project for it and wonder whether any of you with more technical knowledge may be able to help. First off, the chip I'm considering is here
http://www.actisys.com/Documents/IR8200 ... 041123.pdf
It's a full IRDA protocol handler. the PSP does have it's own IRDA port, but I don't feel like trying to implement the full IRDA stack from scratch to make it capable of using IRCOMM (Top level IRDA protocol). This chip simply connects to an IRDA transceiver and does all the rest of the work.

The PSP's headphone port was found about 4 years ago to be a serial port. It provides Tx, Rx, GND, and another wire that supplies 2.5V. So my plan is to wire this chip up thru the serial port, and that way I can use the Serial I/O functions of the PSP SDK to send and receive data over IRCOMM (Thanks to the chip). But the chip itself is presenting me with some interesting questions.

First off, I'm completely new to using microcontrollers. I see from the spec that the acceptable input voltage is 3-3.6v. Since the PSP only supplies 2.5v, will I need an external power supply for the chip?

Second, as can be seen in the spec, the manufacturer recommends wiring the chip up to a DB9 connector which will go thru a PC serial port to run their flashing program. But this seems dangerous to me... I've read that microcontrollers are usually considered "TTL" level devices, and as such, need a converter device to handle the voltage differences between TTL and Serial (such as Max3232). Is the company just overlooking this? Or is it really safe to wire it up like that?

One last one for this post- The microcontroller requires an oscillator, at a specific frequency. Can I just buy one that matches the required frequency? The spec presents a diagram, so I'm not sure if that means that something unique is required.

Thanks to anyone that can take a stab at this!!!
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Post by Warp2063 »

Well, while I'm not interested in participating in this project, I do have some experience with microcontrollers from my own projects. In my opinion, you're probably better off using the PSP's own IR port... unless you know what you're doing building hardware ahead of time, it's a real pain. (In my opinion, software is infinitely easier. I bet someone else out there has created your IRDA stack, and I bet you could either find it online or ask someone who has done it if you could see theirs.) I speak from experience, there... I spent a lot of time with my microcontroller projects, and I still have yet to design a circuit that's been proven to work (at least one that's more complicated than a microcontroller directly powering/lighting an LED). I've also had numerous difficulties with programming the chips, but I'm not sure that that's my fault.

Power - You're either going to need to provide an external power supply, or use some kind of device for stepping up voltage. I've looked at transformers, charge pumps, and various other things. You might find that a charge pump will do what you're looking for.

Crystal Oscillator - Yes. You need to purchase an oscillator of that frequency as well as the 20 picoFarad capacitors and hook it up as shown in that circuit diagram. The capacitors are there to keep the current from flowing to/from(depending) ground too quickly.

Direct connection to DB9 port - Actually, you can do this with lots of microcontrollers - it's pretty common. The ones I use are no longer programmable via that method, though. I saw lots of different methods for hooking things up, everywhere from simply connecting the chip to the correct pins to building a whole circuit. I saw several different circuits, ranging from using zener diodes to resistors to regular diodes to capacitors... before hooking it straight into the serial port, I'd look for pictures/circuit diagrams of what other people have done for hooking it up, just to be on the safe side.


So, as I said before, I personally think that it would be far easier to use your PSP's existing hardware. Designing hardware is, in my opinion, quite difficult. I mean, I can figure out what should connect to what, but I'm never sure about voltages, current, feedback, crosstalk, or any of that other stuff, as I've never been trained in it. Software, on the other hand, either works or it doesn't. You don't end up with many, if any, "it should work if" states. (This is a generalization. You could end up with a lot of what if states, but only really if your code is designed poorly.) As long as I have an existing diagram of what I need to do, I can build it... but if I have to design the hardware myself... well... I haven't been successful yet.
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Post by Warp2063 »

Here's an interesting project someone did - they made it so you could connect an Atari/Genesis/PC-Engine/etc. controller to the PSP via the PSP's infrared port. There's lots of source code available - by reviewing it, I'd bet you could figure out how to use the PSP's IR port yourself.

Link to links about the device they built to connect the controller via IRDA
http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/serendipity/in ... -v2.1.html

PSPHUGO source - PC-Engine emulator with support for communicating with that device. (Here lies PSP IR source code!)
http://dl.qj.net/Source-Code/pg/12/fid/27526/catid/203


The only advantage that I can think of to doing it the way that you proposed would be that maybe you could use it on PSP-2000 and later models... but I don't know if they kept that serial interface you were talking about.
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Post by Xranger60 »

Hey Warp, thanks for all the helpful info and links. I share your apprehension regarding building hardware. I've got no experience doing so, and my knowledge is extremely limited. Since I've posted I've stumbled into another piece of info regarding the IRDA handler chip... to obtain the programming software for it, I'd need to purchase the test kit. I could have said chip for $12, but the evaluation kit is much, much, much, more pricey.

There is one perk to buying the evaluation hardware... it comes with a serial to IRDA adapter, with transceiver, and chip pre-built. It's basically what I was trying to accomplish in the first place. The problem with using a pre-built piece of hardware is- how am i going to power it? The adapter connects via standard serial connection, and since the PSP has a wire dedicated to voltage output, I guess I'd have to open the IRDA adapter up to wire the V+ from PSP? I'm not completely sure on what would be necessary there. Otherwise, I like the idea of it being pre-built.

Those links you sent are pretty cool... only problem with the infrared controller thing is that the project uses raw IR data to accomplish the communicating. I wish I could use raw IR. I have to use IRCOMM, which actually isn't too widely available, IRDA association is even charging for the protocol specs nowadays.

You were right about the protocol stack being available elsewhere though. I've found a free implementation- but it needs more work and can only be operated as a secondary (slave) device. Moving into the paid area, I found a (relatively) inexpensive stack that comes with examples, the stack source code, and an IRDA book. Since the stack looks fully featured, light, and probably easy to implement, I might go that route and buy it. The book might even be a nice read and informative.

The reason I'm attempting to achieve this through hardware is that if I can get the serial to IRDA solution in place through hardware, I can then use the PSP's built-in IRDA port for an IRDA keyboard... giving me the capability of typing with a keyboard and still communicating with another device. At this point I guess I'm simply scouting for how feasible/how much time it'll take, and gathering the info. I suppose I could also implement the IRCOMM stack, use the PSP's internal IRDA port, and then maybe find a pure serial keyboard that could hook up to the PSP's serial port and allow me to do the same thing, with a lot less complication. Maybe I'll do that, too.
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Post by Warp2063 »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjjVblKwly4

There's an Xbox 360 chatpad connected to the PSP's serial port.

http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php? ... cae49d9f5f

More info.


What are you trying to control via the IR port, again?
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
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Post by Warp2063 »

xDerekRx wrote:Warp it would be cool if you could a Saturn emulator to work on PSP for us :)
I didn't make it, and it's not much, but here.
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