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Portables (Games) Hardware Hacking Sony Entertainment Games

PC Keyboard Connected to PSP 165

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-you-can dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A hardware engineer has managed to successfully connect a full-sized PC keyboard to the Sony PSP handheld. It looks as if the hardware modification was done with several different xlink cable connectors modified to interlink with each other. Obviously, the software side of things is not complete, but this is still a very interesting modification." The real question is what killer apps will come out of all this PSP hacking. There has to be more than just MAME emulation.
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PC Keyboard Connected to PSP More

PC Keyboard Connected to PSP

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  • Mice (Score:2, Funny)

    by ph4te ( 901242 )
    Maybe we'll get mice next... then the FPS games will actually be playable!!
    • Oddly enough, this is why I wish the controller hardware on PSP and DS were swapped. The conventional gamepad of the PSP is more suitable for the fun, kiddy-games that Nintendo is stereotyped for, and the stylus is far better for FPS and strategy games that the more "adult" PSP is likely to get.
      • As a result it seems like the DS is getting all the "adult" strategy games. First AOE2, now Blizzard is polling who wants to see Starcraft on the DS.

  • Check out my masterpiece... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by A Dafa Disciple ( 876967 ) * on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:02PM (#13114032) Homepage
    Mirrored [maxconsole.net] just in case.

    We apologize for the somewhat poor quality pictures... the creator of this masterpiece says that soon he will let us know exactly how he created this hardware modification, of course the software side of things is not fully functional."

    So, basically what you're saying is that I can take anything with cables, connect it to a PSP adaptor with electrical tape, take low resolution pictures which show absolutely nothing definitive, declare that I've done a hack, and you will then declare it a masterpiece while posting it on the front page of your news section, thus somehow fooling someone (not to mention CmdrTaco) into thinking that this is material worthy of the /. community's attention.

    Tempting...

    --
    I'm not a troll; I'm just a skeptic.

  • Hacking the PSP a Game in Itself? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TPIRman ( 142895 ) * on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:03PM (#13114045)
    This story will probably garner a few comments along the lines of, "What's the point?" The interesting thing to me in this case is that the usual geek response of "Because it's there" applies, but there's also a bit of the gaming spirit at work.

    If Sony hadn't invested so much time and effort in DRM etc., the PSP would be a much easier hack. But because they installed all these roadblocks, the hobbyist community has had to work hard for each success.

    In a way, it's like a well-balanced game. It's challenging to make progress, but when you do, it's satisfying because of the work you put into getting tangible results. A game that hands you all the solutions is not much fun, but a game that offers well-balanced challenges can be a good time for a long while. Seems that Sony unintentionally created a pretty sweet "game" with the restrictions built into the PSP itself. Even if you're not in on the actual hacking, it has been fun to watch the hackers steadily proceed to the next level, and the next.

  • portability? (Score:3, Informative)

    by cashman73 ( 855518 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:03PM (#13114049) Journal
    The only real point to this is to show that it "can be done," which isn't a bad reason to play around with things. But as for any real "killer apps," the keyboard attachment sort of kills the PSP's original "killer app" of portability in the gaming arena,...

    • Re:portability? (Score:3, Informative)

      by superpulpsicle ( 533373 )
      It also shows that Sony charging you $70 for a keyboard is complete BS. There is nothing special about it. As I have always been able to plug a regular USB keyboard into the PS2 anyways.

    • ... the keyboard attachment sort of kills the PSP's original "killer app" of portability in the gaming arena,...

      A keyboard hack isn't really for people using the PSP, it's for people who want to develop for it. For example, how effective do you think it is to work on getting Linux to run on something when you don't have a keyboard for it?
    • surely it makes it a lot easier to program a PSP though ?

  • what? (Score:2, Funny)

    by dR.fuZZo ( 187666 )
    I have to moficate hardware to get this to work? Yowza.
  • There's been a lot more then just MAME emulation. So far there's emulators either running at full speed or are in development for the following [to my knowledge]: MAME NES Genesis SNES Neo-Geo PS1 N64 Nintendo DS
    • Seriously, if you can emulate all kinds of game machines on the PSP, a designated game machine itself, isn't that pretty much the killer ap right there? I suppose if somebody really busted butt it might be possible to turn the PC into a web-based internet phone, but why bother? Cell phones already have this covered and PSPs aren't exactly the cheapest gizomos on the market. I'm very happy with the emulation on the PSP, although I'd like the SNES to run faster. For me that's killer enough.
    • don't forget source ports of Doom, Doom 2, and ScummVM running at 100% more or less, as well as working VNC, FTP, and IRC apps. not bad for a few month old system.

      it seems i spend more time playing homebrews on it than i do on playing 'real' games.

  • keyboard layout (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Now I can play all those First Person Shooters using WASD
  • That's "mofocation", the dawta' of necessity.

  • Great! (Score:5, Funny)

    by jetkust ( 596906 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:09PM (#13114116)
    Now all we need to do is figure out how to connect a Monitor, a Printer, and a scanner. Oh, and a mouse too. And then build a full sized case that it can go in with usb ports, audio and flash ports and such... Now THAT would be the killer app.
    • it will be interesting to see if the psp will support a usb hub...
    • You forgot 2 Xeon processors and a Terrabyte Raid array and a Gig-E interface.. That would be killer to see a data center mde from PSP's
    • Actually that would be kind of cool. Someone should make a kind of dock for the PSP that connects it into a larger case with more ports, connected to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Then when they get home, they drop their PSP into its dock and use it as if it were a full computer, and when they leave they just grab the PSP and go.

      It wouldn't work that well with a PSP, I suppose, because the machine is designed for gaming, but what if, say, your Zaurus could do that? Or some other system ... it could give

  • PSP Slashdot Mod (Score:4, Funny)

    by spaztech ( 899194 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:11PM (#13114132)
    I have created a PSP mod (no swapping needed) that will allow you to browse old posts on Slashdot.. on the FRONT PAGE!! Brilliant!!

    What? You can already do that? With any browser? Sheesh..

  • Editors non-sequitor comments (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rudeboy777 ( 214749 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:11PM (#13114138)
    Why would Taco even mention MAME emulation for a story about a keyboard hack? I appreciate the effort put forth to get this working, but there will be no "killer app" as a result of this. A full size keyboard sort of destroys the portability of the PSP, and I can already connect a full size keyboard to my PDA.
    • A full size keyboard sort of destroys the portability of the PSP

      not necessarily [techimo.com]

      and I can already connect a full size keyboard to my PDA

      And? I have a lcd on my wristwatch but that doesn't mean I don't need one on my PDA.

      but there will be no "killer app" as a result of this.

      With the wireless connectivity, the big screen and the power of the PSP there are lots of cool things you can do with it. IRC and surving suddenly become convenient, lots of games would profit too (especially those not design

  • In other news... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dmurray14 ( 899569 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:12PM (#13114145)
    $1100 up for grabs [tri-bit.com] for someone who makes a tcp/ip interface for the PSP. Wow.

  • No as portable (Score:1, Insightful)

    by neonenergy ( 888041 )
    Although a full sized keyboard would allow much more room for typing and stuff, id prefer the mini keyboard that someone has already hacked to work with the IR port on the psp. I cant access gaming stuff at work, so i leave it to you to find out more about it.

  • The real fun of PSP... (Score:4, Funny)

    by B11 ( 894359 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:13PM (#13114157)

    It seems people are having more fun hacking the poor thing than actually playing games on it.

    Only a matter of time before I can Linux on it.

  • Fantastic, but.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by almostmanda ( 774265 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:13PM (#13114162)
    Wasn't the PSP supposed to do all this neat shit to begin with? Why can't I browse the web with it, straight out of the box? I'm not a hobbyist or a hardcore gamer, but I was interested in this device until I found out how much Sony had crippled it. Call me in a year, when it's $100 cheaper and the hacking community has made it easy for me, the casual user, to enjoy the full potential of such a machine. Then, I'll pick one up.
    • Wasn't the PSP supposed to do all this neat shit to begin with? Why can't I browse the web with it, straight out of the box?

      One of the things it seems most people don't know or think about is that gaming companies make all their money selling games. Although in the case of the PSP, Sony sells games and PSP movies. If I recall, they were selling the PSP for $250 at loss. Every time Sony sells a PSP they're losing money. Every time someone buys a PSP to hack it into a portable mp3 player or running SNE

      • You fail to understand retail. If they are supposedly selling at a loss, the money is already gone. The number of people purchasing the system amortizes this loss quite nicely. Watch this:

        ($250) -- Sony's cost to produce
        $150 -- Sony sells to retailer
        _______________
        ($100)

        The money is already gone, see? And anyways, The more kits they sell at the retail level, the more kits are bought by the retailers, reducing the net cost. And eventually, it will beat out the marginal cost of producing more PSPs, t

        • Step One: Sell game systems at a loss to as many retailers as possible.

          Step Two: ???

          Step 3: PROFITS!!!

          By the way, nothing you said actually refuted my points. If people aren't buying games/PSP movies, Sony is losing money on the PSP. Oh, and the purchase of just one game is not a big chunk of money to Sony, nor does it make a huge impact on their losses. Keep in mind that games are sold to retailers for less than the retailers price them, much as you pointed out the PSP was.

    • Re:Fantastic, but.. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by radish ( 98371 )
      I don't see it as crippled. It's advertised and sold as a device for playing games, watching movies and listening to music. I can do all those things on mine, whether it be watching DVD rips, listening to mp3s, or playing (paid for) games. All this is from built in, Sony approved functionality. In addition, with a suitable proxy and a copy of Wipeout I can browse the web via wifi, although I'm not sure why I'd want to given the lack of keyboard.

      Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that no, it's not easy to lo
  • on how he's hosting the page on his PSP.

    Feel free to mention what the melting plastic smells like.
  • That sounds like a pretty killer app to me! If it could support even half the arcade platforms of MAME, I would buy one of these in a heartbeat. Until then the PSP is too expensive as a mediocre movie player with a bunch of pretty, but uncompelling games.
  • Y'know, maybe if something other than low quality games and movies everyone already owns on DVD was released for the PSP, everyone wouldn't be so doggone in a hurry to hack the thing.

  • APRIL FOOLS??? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ferrellcat ( 691126 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @12:28PM (#13114293)
    Hell, I know it's a slow news day, and heck, it's JULY, not APRIL, but WTF??? A guy PHYSICALLY connects a USB keyboard to a device that has a USB connector??? AMAZING!!! I know I'l probably be modded down for this, but this has to be the most fucking retarded "news" story I have EVER seen on slashdot! This would have been news if he had coded a driver or app to actually CAPTURE the keystrokes, but getting a news story for simply connecting it to a keyboard? COME ON! In fact...I'm going to copy this amazing feat right now... 1. connect USB-A to USB-MiniB cable to PSP 2. connect USB-A to USB-A adapter to cable. 3. connect USB keyboard to adapter. OMFG!!! I did it too!!! CAN I BE FAMOUS??? Coming soon to Slashdot: I connect a Hello Kitty USB vibrator to my PSP!
    • "but this has to be the most fucking retarded "news" story I have EVER seen on slashdot!"

      If this is the stupidest thing you have ever seen on slashdot then you must not have been here very long.

    • Hello Kitty USB vibrator (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Where can I obtain one of these devices? The old serial interface is just not very responsive. A USB interface should improve performance to more satisfying levels.
      Thank you in advance for your assistance.
    • I don't know much about the PSP and only a little more about USB, but I believe that the PSP is a USB device only. Since it is not a USB host it doesn't supply power to the USB port. So, to get a keyboard connected and powered up you would have to at least do a little to get the power working. Sure, it isn't much but it is more than an adapter.
    • you should patent that idea. can you imagine the games you could sell with that? a lot of women with smiles on their faces as they are "playing" with their psp.

      good luck!
  • mirrored here [mirrordot.org]
  • Want something cool on your PSP? Try ScummVM. It's awesome. The games look like they were made for the little beast, and the interface works great.
  • If you can find a killer app for a portable device connected to a non-portable keyboard, consider me Miles Davis.

  • The DS (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yes, I'm going to talk about the DS in a PSP thread. No I am not trolling.

    The reason the PSP is getting quick ports of things like emulators is because they can unthrottle the cpu from 222mhz to 300mhz, and run everythign in the cpu, and not worry about optimization. In reality, little is actually known about psp homebrew. Doom, Doom II, Quake etc have been ported, but hell, Quake needs a 100mhz cpu, with an OS running (albeit MSDOS 5.0) theres already the pocketquake project, which makes it a breeze. It's
  • nice small PSP and than add a full size keyboard, hmm. It probably will drain the battery in no time so you have to stay connected to a powersupply all the time too. I see a great future for this hack (and for battery pack sellers).
  • Errr it's got a USB port, so it's not exactly hard to plug a keyboard in is it?
    Now whether it uses it properly is entirely another matter.
    Am I missing something here?

  • Technical reson this is probably not real (Score:4, Informative)

    by GoRK ( 10018 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @01:02PM (#13114706) Homepage Journal
    The PSP's USB port is a slave port. It could not by default supply power to an attached keyboard. It has been surmised that the port CAN be used as a master to talk to an attached device or peripheral; to prevent any damage to a computer or the like attached when this is done, the port is likely unable to supply power. The screw terminals on either side of the USB port are reported to supply power to an attached peripheral (or the peripheral can use its own internal power supply)

    This configuration as shown relies on the PSP's USB port being able to supply 5V to the keyboard, which is highly unlikely according to people who know a lot more about it than I do. If the guy wanted to make a better 'fake, he should have run some dummy wires over to the screw terminals or mentioned something about supplying power to the keyboard or talked about USB master vs slave.. The absense of him addressing any of these problems makes the thing smell very much like a crappy hoax.

    The only reason people do this stupid stuff is because idiotic editors REPORT IT.
    • There's clearly some mast capability, probabu much as you say (Hadn't thought about the screwholes supplying the 5vDC) http://www.gameseek.co.uk/productdetail/PSPfhyaqc e 6he5x223r/ [gameseek.co.uk]
      http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/e3-sony-psp-keyboa rd-016141.php [gizmodo.com]

      The top one was the first thing I thought of when I read the story... "Why would someone bother with this when a more appropriate-sized keyboard has already been announced?"
    • The USB on the go standard allows device ports to become somewhat limited masters. If the PSP has an on the go capable chip (most likely) then it would be possible to drive a keyboard, but some SW work would be required.
      • USB on the Go does not provide provision for power, thus it would not be able to drive a standard usb keyboard. It also doesn't really provide provision for 'becoming a master' either -- it only can communicate with another usb-on-the-go device. Moreover, there exists no keyboard that is USB-To-Go compatible.

        Are you that desperate to justify this for some reason?

        Yes, that little USB port on the PSP can be used to connect peripherals, but no you can't just plug anything USB into it and expect it to work.
        • I have designed equipment with USB so I have a fair idea how it works at both the hardware and software level. However, I have not opened up a USB keyboard, so it would be interesting to know what is typically in there. The guy that hooked this lot up may not be as clueless as some people make him out to be. I think there is a real possibility to make this work.
    • Actually my guess is that it isn't a hoax, per se, but the guy who did it doesn't know any of that, and thus doesn't know why his keyboard isn't working. He thinks it's because the software to capture the keystrokes isn't written ... when in reality it's because the keyboard has no power source.

      Heh.


  • Hey, there's much more than emulators, check out: PSPKick [pspkick.com] It's a drum machine for the PSP!

  • Or... (Score:2)

    by radish ( 98371 )
    He could just wait a couple of months and buy a keyboard DESIGNED for the psp...

    Linky [gameseek.co.uk]
  • well folks as of now the link is /.ed

  • Amazing! (Score:4, Funny)

    by glindsey ( 73730 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @01:48PM (#13115181)
    Look, I duct-taped an oscilloscope to a poodle! Of course there's a lot to be done on the software side, but in the meantime it's a very interesting canine modification!
  • Considering that there are all of 4 wires to contend with, the hardware side of the problem is practically a non-issue. The real problem is making a keyboard driver.
  • Wake me up when someone converts a PSP keyboard to work on a PC. Preferably via the PS/2 port.

    (All I want is a tiny, cheap keyboard for a wearable computer. Is that too much to ask for?)
  • Well, considering that a casio calculator watch is now probably more powerful than the first boxes to run Linux, why don't we just hook up a keyboard interface to it, and run Linux on one of them?

    Do these people ask themselves "what would anyone, or myself, ever possibly use this for?" ..

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