uClinux on the PSP

Cpasjuste · Post by **Cpasjuste** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:49 pm

No problems, i could make it. I need to familiarise with uclinux on the psp first and set the environement on my computer of course. I take a look on this right now.

There is no ethernet driver for now ?

chrismulhearn wrote:If anyone is really looking to help the project and doesn't know what exactly they should do, I have a good idea. Get a "live CD" development environment going: A bootable linux system iso that takes all the hassle out of installing the toolchain/kernel/userland libraries/etc.

So the xiptech toolchain, uClibC, SDL, (any other libraries we start throwing in), and the kernel would all be on the ISO already compiled etc.

I'm not sure how those "live cd" linux things work, where do you write your non-transient storage? I guess /bin /etc all that could be on the ISO, but /usr/local and /home/ could be actual partitions... Or even just filesystem images that are files on your regular OS's drive.

For example, for a windows user with C: as their primary IDE master, we would mount /dev/hda1 /mnt
mount -o loop /mnt/usrlocal.img /usr/local
mount -o loop /mnt/home.img /home

This way you could read/write /usr/local/ and /home (and thats where all your psp linux development would happen) and if you were a windows user who didn't want to do any drive partitioning, you wouldnt have to!

Just a thought, let me know if anyone is interested, it could help get rid of some of the initial learning curve.

Cpasjuste · Post by **Cpasjuste** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:02 pm

Xiptech website is down, can you provide a link for the toolchain :)

Edit: its ok i got it.
Well, alexp is right, people that want to work on this should already have a linux set up .. but i'll do it because its fun.

Edit 2 :

Did you tried the Xiptech's toolchain builder recently ? because it's all fuc***. There was some problem with the downloads since it use some old version of ulibc etc, so i downloaded them manually, but it wont compile, giving a lot of errors.

chrismulhearn · Post by **chrismulhearn** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 1:57 pm

Heh, in the same email you state

1. That people who want to work on this should know how to set it up.

2. That you are having trouble w/ the f'ed up xiptech toolchain installer.

Thanks for proving my point that a livecd development environment would be an asset.

-Chris

Cpasjuste · Post by **Cpasjuste** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 10:52 pm

Hehe ... this don't answer my question.

The problem is that the Xiptech toolchain is a big piece of crap and that it was made there is 17 years ago ... i would have to rewrite the building script from A to Z to work.

7oby · Post by **7oby** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:56 pm

I started some work on a live CD and would like to have some feedback.

Actually I did not follow the idea of a live CD, but instead used coLinux, which is a Linux kernel that can run in parallel with Windows.

Advantages
. no need to reboot Windows
. fairly fast
. persistent storage in a Windows file containing an ext3 filesystem
. easy data exchange between systems

Requirements
. Windows 2000/XP
. litte more than 1GB of HD Space
. 256MB of free Ram

Installation
. Download and Install coLinux 0.7.1 pre-release of its website here - just the coLinux-0.7.1-SOMEDATE.exe. In case the installer asks do install TAP-Win32 Adapter. Installer will also ask for initial system: If possible select none (= will be overriden by subsequent installation files) otherwise choose something you prefer.
. Open this page (valid until 2007/08/07). Next to "Zugangscode" enter "psplive". Click button "GMX MediaCenter starten". Download kernel_and_config.zip (2,7MB) and Debian-3.0r2.ext3-mit-backports.zip (290MB). Unzip both archives to the install directory of coLinux (e.g. C:\Programs\coLinux).
. Change cobd0= path in file example.conf in case you did not install to C:\Programs\coLinux

Usage
. execute "C:\Programs\coLinux\colinux-daemon.exe @example.conf"
. wait for system to boot and login. Username/Password : psp/psp
. cd /usr/local/src/linux-2.4.19
. mv linux.srec linux.srec.old
. make clean
. make
. verify that linux.srec has been built successfully.

Other Information
. Linux Distribution used is Debian Sarge 3.1 with backports enabled
. root password : root
. xiptech toolchain put to /opt/toolchain
. share your internet connection (=ICS) with the installed TAP-Win32 Adapter and you are able to access internet from inside Linux
. SSH Server is running such that files can be exchanged or logged into the machine. Use ifconfig in Linux to find your DHCP IP. In my case it's 192.168.0.40 and connect to machine.
. use dselect or aptitude to install more packages (= Debian package management)

ToDo
. install samba for easy file exchange with Windows
. install x11vnc to have graphical interface with Windows
. install Windowmanager and IDE e.g. Eclipse
. agree on location for Xiptech toolchain
. install libraries such as SDL and other include, libs of toolchain. In fact currently only the binary tools /opt/toolchain/bin have been symlinked to /usr/local/bin

The same could be done using any other distribution you are more familiar with. Currently I am running very low on time and I would be glad if other guys jump in and configure the ToDo stuff.

regards,
7oby

7oby · Post by **7oby** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 5:55 am

clicked wrong button - can't delete post. Thanx for this inconvencience.

Post by **ooPo** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:02 am

We've had issues in the past with someone going through and deleting all their posts late one night because he got angry or something. It was rather annoying.

Usually if you edit it with a 'delete me please' someone gets around to deleting it for you.

cloudhunter · Post by **cloudhunter** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:43 am

Rather than using a VNC server, use an windows X server, like mingw. For ideas, I suggest you look at "andlinux". It originally was built for GP2X dev, but has since evolved.

An windows manager isn't really important if you are using a windows x server.

Rather than using samba, it is often faster and with less overhead to use "cofs", a filesystem driver built into colinux.

Cloudy

Cpasjuste · Post by **Cpasjuste** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:03 am

Does someone of you tried the Xiptech toolchain ... ?

chrismulhearn · Post by **chrismulhearn** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:17 am

Lots of people have used the Xiptech toolchain, including myself.

It is failing because it can't find some files, right? Some files that it tries to put in some dl/ directory? Just find the files yourself and stick it in the dl/ directory.

-Chris

white rabbit · Post by **white rabbit** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:54 pm

Right, I'm moving jobs (after just getting the house move finished (with lots of DIY still left to do)) so I'm back for a short while, no doubt before I dissapear again for a few months as has become my habit.

I was looking for my uLinux thread and saw this on the front page so had a look.

Well done Chris! I came up against a brick wall and stopped.

I will be getting a copy and trying to get it onto my PSP later (though I have a fair chunk of stuff to do with the PSP and SDK to get back up to speed 1st).

As I'm pretty lazy, can somebody tell me before I go looking:
Is the IR port running in the port?
Can I log into a shell on uLinux on the PSP?

If I can do both, I'll get myself one of those jazzy folding keyboards with the IR thing on the top and get working on code writing on uLinux on the PSP for the PSP whilst commutting on the train.
If I can get this far then I can us the Fiance's 3G mobile card and WiFi to hook into the 'net too :)
I will be able to develop PSP Homebrew on the train and access the web on the PSP :) Oh the joy... wow, sometimes my geek level can worry me!

daisuke0kun · Post by **daisuke0kun** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:51 am

You can indeed use the snazzy IR port with a Palm 3169WW keyboard and you can use the shell within the PSP, but unfortunately there's not been a wireless driver yet, so sshing in would be pretty tricky. Check out Chris' webpage on this, it's pretty handy and details what's working and what's not.

To Chris - Good work man! I've kept up with the details of this project for a while, but I thought it was beyond me to help out, simply because I didn't have any of the hardware needed. The keyboard development was a breakthrough though, and now that I finally have enough money to grab one (there's never enough money for a poor student :( ) I figured I should register and say congrats. Hope to see more of you around - helping out will be awesome!

daisuke0kun · Post by **daisuke0kun** » Wed May 30, 2007 2:09 pm

Hrm... I was going to try your Debian Sarge toolchain environment, 7oby, but the download link is not valid anymore. Would you mind reuploading it for me and perhaps others that would like to use it? (if not, that's okay too :P)

Edit: The reason I ask is I'm getting an error creating the toolchain (go figure, right?), when "Configuring in mipsel-linux/libiberty". The make runs (pretty much) fine up until the point when it checks if the C compiler can create executables. Much to my dismay, it can't. I've tried with gcc-3.4 and gcc-3.3, in case that was the issue, make clean'ed a billion times, and it doesn't budge. It's probably some stupid mistake on my part somewhere along the line. My point in mentioning all this is if someone can help me out, that'd be excellent, but if not I'm just gonna create a quick Debian system in Qemu and start over from there (who knows, maybe I'll have better luck.) If 7oby doesn't reupload his image, well then I'll just have to contribute mine (though it's a pity to redo work when otherwise unnecessary.)

7oby · Post by **7oby** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:45 am

daisuke0kun wrote:Hrm... I was going to try your Debian Sarge toolchain environment, 7oby, but the download link is not valid anymore.

Done and link above updated.

Sorry for the inconvenience. The server is pretty fast, but only allows me to serve for 30 days.

IM back! · Post by **IM back!** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:32 am

thanks for all the work put into this so far!

damned · Post by **damned** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:11 am

Would it be easier to solve irq:s and stuff like that with known hardware? I mean, if anyone could make implementation agains usb-port (that might be easier to develop against usb-cable hooked laptop that sends static stream). Then we would easily have acess to some permanent storage and wi-fi (usbfs, other non-native sticks and non native usb wifi). It should be more easier to reverse engineer psp hardware against known hardware, i think?

-- Dmd

mEo · Post by **mEo** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:28 pm

What is the status with this project?
I have been trying to compile the binaries, fixed up several wrong urls, but am still having trouble.
I'd love to do some coding for this, but I just need a working environment. Is there a better toolchain somewhere?

Also, why isn't it possible to distribute the compiled linux files? If all you need is hosting, I don't mind hosting a couple of files.

7oby · Post by **7oby** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:24 pm

mEo wrote:What is the status with this project?

For this project to really take off drivers for utilizing the memory stick and W-Lan are very desirable: The memory stick for persistent storage - right now all modifcations you do while running linux vanish upon reboot. You have to put everything you need up front into the corresponding ram disk. The W-lan driver would make it easier to connect to the device (e.g. ssh).

mEo wrote:I have been trying to compile the binaries, fixed up several wrong urls, but am still having trouble.
I'd love to do some coding for this, but I just need a working environment. Is there a better toolchain somewhere?

All information required to get the toolchain is spread over this thread.

A working environment with a working toolchain out of the box is available here:
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?p=53318#53318

mEo · Post by **mEo** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:19 am

I'll have a look at that windows livecd, when i am next on a windows system though, currently I use linux.
Not keeping any changes sounds expected, similar to the Palm Linux project. That actually resets the entire device, so restoring backups after using it, essential :P

Well, if i can get the coLinux there working, i'll give developing a go. thanks for that

chrismulhearn · Post by **chrismulhearn** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:36 pm

What URLs were wrong?

And what do you mean, why isn't it possible to distribute binaries?

"Pre-built kernel. Copy to root directory of your psp's memory stick."

"Source code + binaries for firmware 1.5"

Kinda makes you sound a little crazy, doesnt it.

M.Jackson · Post by **M.Jackson** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:35 pm

Hi everyone. I am just a beginner in psp programming, still I found this idea of porting a linux to psp was so fascinating that lately I started porting one on my own as well. Instead of using the port from xiptech, I decided to start from the 2.6 kernel which unfortunately does not support the nommu variant for mips (why not xiptech? perhaps I got too much time to kill...just kidding :) Now I found myself stuck at a point where the system is flooded by irq IP2 (cp0.cause & cp0.status = 0x400) after interrupts are enabled (at some point along start_kernel). The irq requests are so overwhelming that it totally exhausts the cpu whereby the normal execution flow is virtually stopped. Not even installing an empty irq handler that consumes very little cpu time would make a difference at all.

IP2 is supposed to be related to UARTx (is that right?) and I am using UART3 to receive system output (using simple read/write routines that Chris provided). Does this have anything to do with the IP2 surge? Is there anything I missed in the handling of these interrupts?

Thanks!

hlide · Post by **hlide** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:20 pm

M.Jackson wrote:IP2 is supposed to be related to UARTx (is that right?) and I am using UART3 to receive system output (using simple read/write routines that Chris provided). Does this have anything to do with the IP2 surge? Is there anything I missed in the handling of these interrupts?

Thanks!

PSP is not a standard MIPS. It has its own IRQs which probably use IP2 as a cascade IRQ. You need to mask them with MTIE instruction.

Possible hierarchical tree of IRQs (number before IRQ is a intr number in PSP kernel)

Code: Select all

|
+- IP2 CASCADE IRQ
|  |
|  +- 0 UART_ALL   
|  |  |
|  |  +- 32 UART1   
|  |  +- 33 UART2   
|  |  +- 34 UART3   
|  |  +- 35 UART4   
|  |  +- 36 UART5
|  |  +- 37 UART6   
|  |  +- 38             
|  |  +- 39
|  |
|  +- 1 SPI_ALL
|  |  |
|  |  +- 40 SPI1   
|  |  +- 41 SPI2   
|  |  +- 42 SPI3   
|  |  +- 43 SPI4   
|  |  +- 44 SPI5   
|  |  +- 45 SPI6   
|  |  +- 46             
|  |  +- 47             
|  |
|  +- 2 TIM_PERI_ALL   
|  |  |
|  |  +- 48 TIM1_PERI   
|  |  +- 49 TIM2_PERI   
|  |  +- 50 TIM3_PERI   
|  |  +- 51 TIM4_PERI   
|  |  +- 52             
|  |  +- 53             
|  |  +- 54             
|  |  +- 55             
|  |
|  +- 3 USB_ALL
|  |  |
|  |  +- 56         USB_TS    USB Resume
|  |  +- 57         USBCON_TS    USB Ready
|  |  +- 58         USBDIS_TS    USB Connect
|  |  +- 59         USBREADY_TS    USB Disconnect
|  |  +- 60         SMS1_CON    Memstick Insertion &#40;MSCM1&#41;
|  |  +- 61         SMS1_DISCON    Memstick Removal &#40;MSCM2&#41;
|  |  +- 62         SMS2_CON    WLAN
|  |  +- 63         SMS2_DISCON    WLAN
|  |
|  +- 4 GPIO
|  +- 5 ATA
|  +- 6 SPOCK
|  +- 7 SMS1
|  +- 8 SMS2
|  +- 9 MG   
|  +- 10 AUDIO1   
|  +- 11 AUDIO2   
|  +- 12 IIC
|  +- 13 KEY   
|  +- 14 SIRCS
|  +- 15 TIM0_SYS
|  +- 16 TIM1_SYS
|  +- 17 TIM2_SYS
|  +- 18 TIM3_SYS
|  +- 19 COUNT
|  +- 20 EMC_SM
|  +- 21 DMAC128
|  +- 22 DMAC_SC1
|  +- 23 DMAC_SC2
|  +- 24 KIRK
|  +- 25 AW
|  +- 26 USB_MAIN   
|  +- 27             
|  +- 28             
|  +- 29             
|  +- 30 VSYNC
|  +- 31 SYS_REG
|
+- IP0 64 SOFT1   
|
+- IP1 65 SOFT2
|
+- IP7 66 CPUTIMER

M.Jackson · Post by **M.Jackson** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:07 pm

Problem solved! I just made 0xbc300008 = 0 and it worked! Great thanks!

btw, what is a MTIE instruction? I googled it but nothing useful came out...

Thanks again!

hlide · Post by **hlide** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:03 pm

M.Jackson wrote:Problem solved! I just made 0xbc300008 = 0 and it worked! Great thanks!

btw, what is a MTIE instruction? I googled it but nothing useful came out...

Thanks again!

hummm you're right i thought it was E (like enable) but it is C (controller) : MTIC and MFIC

Move To Interrupt Controler : mtic rt, r0 -> set a 32-bit interrupt mask. Kind of selective CLI/STI on interrupts
Move From Interrupt Controler : mfic rt, r0 -> get a 32-bit interrupt mask.

just google MTIC or MFIC for their usage

M.Jackson · Post by **M.Jackson** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:41 pm

hey! I finally got the 2.6 kernel (2.6.22-uc1) up and running on my psp with a simple serial driver, a framebuffer driver and busybox 1.7 working quite nicely at the moment.

To make this work, not only the kernel but also the toolchain (which I downloaded from xiptech and which seemed to be customized for 2.4 kernel and non-mmuless systems) and busybox need to be patched (which really gave me headaches in the past few weeks). Though at this stage all the changes I made still look primitive (a bit messy maybe), I am looking for a place where I can share my code once they take a better shape. Thanks to everyone and this forum where I gained lots of help :)

M.Jackson · Post by **M.Jackson** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:03 am

Now I am still using the serial port (uart3) wired to my pc as the sole input channel to type commands to the console, which is kind of inconvenient as I can not carry my pc around as what I can do with the psp. I was thinking it would be fantastic if I can utilize the joy pad on psp to sort of emulate a keyboard or something. But I could not find any related information about the joy pad, not even from the mighty book of yet-another-psp-doc (or maybe I just overlooked it).

Does anyone know anything about it? like how can I read status or get interrupt notification from a joypad button?

Thanks!

jimparis · Post by **jimparis** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:08 am

See booster's recently-released "psp ipl sdk". It should have code to init the syscon chip and read buttons without using sony libraries.

M.Jackson · Post by **M.Jackson** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:46 pm

wow, this ipl package is like the most stunningly remarkably ingenious thing i have ever seen. it's got everything nicely packed together, just so beautiful...man how come i just noticed this?

J.F. · Post by **J.F.** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:26 am

M.Jackson wrote:wow, this ipl package is like the most stunningly remarkably ingenious thing i have ever seen. it's got everything nicely packed together, just so beautiful...man how come i just noticed this?

Because it only came out the day before? ;)

stmonkeydoom · Post by **stmonkeydoom** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:35 am

The files on Mr. Mulhearn site seem to be missing. No boot loader, no prebuilt Kernel, none of them. Is there any other site I can get them at?

forums.ps2dev.org

uClinux on the PSP

Re: Something simple to do

another way round

Files gone?