As odd as it might sound, I never paid attention to the Playstation 2 homebrew scene because I own a Playstation 2 Linux kit. The Linux kit hides the hardware behind a software layer while the PS2Dev project was an attempt to run code natively on the hardware. So the two projects didn’t really have a lot in common. Of course ignoring that part of the scene means I missed out on this serial port mod. The Playstation’s Emotion Engine core has a serial debugging interface and by wiring up a MAX3323EEPE you can watch the processor as it is running. That’s an interesting hidden feature and I hope Sony is a little more supportive of the developer community when the Playstation 3 comes out than they have been lately with the PSP scene.
[thanks fbz via Pixel]
I hope that when the Playstation 3 comes out, people remember that Sony was the same company that put rootkits on unsuspecting user’s computers. Apparantly, protecting their intellectual property is more important than keeping your computer secure.
Send a message to Sony that their behavior is NOT acceptable.
I fear that when the PS3 is released, people are going to say “mmm, donuts…” and flock in droves.
wow. this is actually quite old!
I really never looked into the ps2 scene myself. I think I might just do this little hack because college is getting boring and I need something to keep me entertained. :)
I didn’t get the use of this hack (I can see the PS2’s boot messages…wonderful) until down at the bottom where he says that he has written an interface library that is going into the next release of the homebrew PS2 library. So there might just be some use from this yet.
I also like his idea of using this as a serial terminal under PS2 Linux (not that I was ever able to get a hold of one of the damn kits).
But on the flip side, I have to ask, doesn’t PS2 Linux support serial over USB devices?
Please remember that Sony Music and Sony Computer Entertainment are too seperate divisions managed by entirely different groups.
Sure, they are trying to prevent CD-Piracy by messing with your computer, which COULD damage your PC. What’s the risk of the PS3 damaging anything in your home? No more than an XBOX360 scratching cd’s I mean.. as if that would ever happen…
Regarding the article, it’s good to make sure everyone’s up to speed with PS2 dev – but I wouldn’t count on Sony ever supporting homebrew while ever it can be exploited for piracy.
Then again, Yaroze was quite the success for PS1 wasn’t it?
does anyone know where to get the linux kits for the ps2?
I will be frightened to bring the PS3 into my house. It will probably install cameras eveywhere in my house and search for any warez on my computers when I connect it to a network.
Wow, this is old! What’s next, a hackaday post about the ps2-independence exploit? …
For those of you that don’t know why this is good and what is going on with the PS2… Almost all I/O on the PS2 (USB, ethernet, firewire, controllers, even filesystem access) has to go through a secondary processor, dubbed the IOP. This can be a major PITA when trying to debug, as there are problems that can arise and situations that can be encountered when communication with/via the IOP isn’t possible.
The beauty of the ee-sio cable is that it connects directly to the EE (the PS2’s main core), which means it’s always available, and it’s easy to access.
Along with the basic printing debug messages over sio (which has been in ps2sdk for a long time now…) it’s possible dump memory, send files, set breakpoints, and all sorts of other nifty things.
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Just wondering if anyone can please tell me how to make full advantage of this hack.
i would like to be-able to tell my ps2 to get an .ISO or a different format game and run it without having to bog down my computers possessor.
if you can direct me where to go to find example code to complete this task that would be helpful.