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Portables (Games) Programming IT Technology

PSP Programming Tutorials 41

Posted by Zonk from the new-year's-project dept.
A Reader writes "Since its inception, the PSP Homebrew Community has been hacking away at their little jem of a portable console. Its valiant efforts in the fight for open hardware have not been well received by Sony. Regardless, Yeldarb, a homebrew programmer, has released a PSP Programming Tutorial Series. It covers everything from setting up the development environment to writing your first program to sprucing up your programs with a little graphics programming. The tutorial series is a must read for anyone interested in joining the PSP hacking community."
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PSP Programming Tutorials More

PSP Programming Tutorials

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  • Fascinating. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KDR_11k ( 778916 ) on Sunday January 01, 2006 @05:01PM (#14375544)
    It's interesting how we get all those stories about PSP hacking, PSP homebrew, etc, etc yet I don't recall a single story about the DS homebrew scene (which is a bit larger as the device has weaker DRM systems and accepts readily available homebrew material like flash cartridges without complaining) and not nearly as much about GBA homebrew. Are people more interested in the PSP because it's harder to use for homebrew, because there's something important about the PSP that the DS doesn't provide or are they just more interested because the PSP is getting few games lately?
    • Maybe it's because the DS and GBA have "weaker DRM systems". With all of Sony's fuss about (very badly) protecting IP, homebrew is a way to stick it to the Man.

      Or maybe not, but dammit, it's the PSP, which can play movies and games and run a Web browser on a small widescreen-kinda thingy. It can't be that bad. ;)

    • Re:Fascinating. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MBCook ( 132727 )
      I think it is simple accessibility. People have found out how to run homebrew stuff off the PSP's memory stick. You don't need a vulnerable game (like some of the early XBox stuff, and some GC stuff) or a special device (like a wiring interface currently used for the DS). It runs off a memory stick that comes with the machine. All you need is a rather common USB cable and you are all set.

      Compare that to the DS where you need (last time I checked) either a flash cart (do they sell those yet? That costs much

      • "Basically, the PSP is easier to get your own code into right now."

        Sort of. Yes you don't need to purchase anything (they do have devices for the DS that are sold now btw) - but you may have to do some goofy futzing or setup files in a special way to get your homebrew to work. Plus if your bios gets updated, you can no longer use your homebrew.
    • I believe the PSP has better controls, a larger and better lcd, and a faster CPU.

      The DS, on the other hand, has DS!

    • It all comes down to memory (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Rolman ( 120909 ) on Sunday January 01, 2006 @07:00PM (#14375988)
      The DS has only 4MB of RAM, hardly enough for complex homebrew applications, compared to the 32MB found in the PSP. You could also have 1GB+ of storage space in your PSP with readily available parts. Basically you just need to keep throwing money at it and it doesn't require hardware mods. Can't say the same for the DS, most of the time you need to mod it or buy hard-to-get equipment to hack it.

      Furthermore, most of the libraries needed to run the PSP are already included in the firmware stored in that big NVRAM, so they're readily available to applications, even homebrew. The DS has a very simple firmware and all the libraries need to be extracted or reverse-engineered from the cartridges that contain them, and so far there aren't many games that use Wi-Fi, for example.

      That's not to say the DS doesn't have its own advantages, though. The cartridges' memory is directly addressable from the CPU, so it has a very good potential for expansion. The touchscreen, mic and Wi-Fi/Ni-Fi features make it better than the PSP in things like Internet browsing, VoIP and chatting.

      It's just that the DS architecture doesn't lend itself to hacking that easily. I hope the Play-Yan gets released in the US and someone hacks it so to make the SD Card accessible to homebrew applications. A non-mod firmware hack would help, too.

      • Furthermore, most of the libraries needed to run the PSP are already included in the firmware stored in that big NVRAM

        Including the ability to run unsigned binaries on PSP firmware 2.50 or newer? In PSP terms, the Nintendo DS firmware is still at 2.00 and has a very stable downgrader to 1.50 [gcdev.com], and games will never upgrade your firmware.

    • Re:Fascinating. (Score:3, Informative)

      by British ( 51765 )
      One look at psp-hacks.com, and there are UMD loaders, and other "exploits" for post 1.5 firmware. The exploits posted are just concepts, but nothing concrete.

      Almost everything on psp-hacks.com consists of incredibly complicated, sometimes poorly documented, and sometimes confusing instructions. Oh, and it might brick your PSP.

      The state of PSP hacking is very very immature IMO. With the risk of "bricking" a PSP, I dare not put my foot in such things, and just stick to emulators.
  • Jem of the year? Hahahaha. Good one. Next article, please.

  • Sony (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Threni ( 635302 )
    I doubt Sony are all that bothered about people describing how to setup a MAKE file, or how to increment an integer by one...

  • A little light.... (Score:3, Informative)

    by ReKleSS ( 749007 ) <rekless@fastmail.COUGARfm minus cat> on Sunday January 01, 2006 @07:08PM (#14376016)

    It's nice to see this information collected like this, instead of making prospective developers trawl through the ps2dev [ps2dev.org] forums (where the toolchain development takes place, but it's not really saying much. Framebuffer graphics techniques and libpng aren't PSP specific, and if you can't do that stuff already you're probably going to have trouble getting much further. Take the pspdev FAQ [pspdev.org] and just look through the samples, that should be more than enough to get you started. And you'll be able to draw stuff the fast way, using the GU, instead of just writing directly to VRAM.

    Also, Shine's lua player [luaplayer.org] is an easier way to get into psp dev... but please, please don't go and write another shell.


    -ReK

  • GP2X, anyone? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by vga_init ( 589198 ) on Sunday January 01, 2006 @09:42PM (#14376510) Journal
    Yes, the PSP is a beautiful machine, but it's worthless to me as a homebrew enthusiast. Sure, people are proving it's possible to create homebrew software, but is this even the best platform to be targeting?

    I just got my GP2X a couple weeks ago, and the machine is beautiful. For just under $200, you have a very powerful console (sans hardware 3D, sadly...but the 2D hardware is great ;) running on a fully open platform--linux kernel, GNU operating system, SDL libs, and everything. The development scene is vibrant, and some homebrew projects were completed before the device was even released to the public. It's the best development toy I've ever owned, and it's basically grab-and-go.

    Sure, you can waste time hacking away at the PSP, but think of all that energy you could otherwise be spending on software development. Now, if what you like best is circumventing DRM, then I salute you, but I for one don't want the hassle.

    Have doubts? Take a look at the wiki [gp2x.org].

  • Wow, and only two years after the first DS coding tutorials came out. Pre-emptive strike to those who point out that the system's only a year and a half old: I know. We had tutorials, largely correct, as well as a toolchain and nearly-functional binaries, almost six months before the hardware actually came to market.

    The PSP homebrew scene? Meh.
  • The PSP is a pretty cool gizmo. but it would be better if you could, without hacking, make your own content for it. when u look at it compared to the DS it has ready connectivity to a computer with no aditional items needed, it can do soo much with media, and its a pretty decent pwered handheld device with internet and i kick ass screen :P i think it beats a DS any day :P

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