Will Homebrew programs work on any PSP ? Or only old ones?

Mel · Post by **Mel** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:03 am

Someone indicated that programs created using any sdk or tools other than those provided by Sony will not work on all PSP's... only older models or hacked models.

Is this true?

Thanks for any help.

J.F. · Post by **J.F.** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:34 am

You are joking, right? You think that non-Sony tools will work on plain PSPs?

Why do you think there are eLoaders and HomebrewENablers and custom firmware?

You need to read more threads before creating any more new ones. More lurky, less posty.

Mel · Post by **Mel** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:33 am

Come on J.F. Gee Whiz...

Since we are just considering the PSP for a project I admit we do not know much right now.

I'm not sure I understand your answer to my post.

It would seem logical that Sony would want as many app's to run on their device as possible... thus assuring broad and continued use. So, why would they prevent programs developed on any sdk from working on their device? Thus, I think the question is legit for a PSP newbie.

I'm sorry I don't know about eLoaders and HomebrewENablers at this time.

We have Googled and read some but learning is much quicker when you can chat with a knowledgeable person... thus the postings.

Certainly, if people read the web long enough they should never have to post a question... as all the questions are answered somewhere on the web in most instances.

It is confusing to have a forum (street corner) where people can chat about shared interest... then flame some one for attempting to use it.

Just how many hours of lurky does one have to do before one can posty and meet the minimum standards for posting?

Maybe a little test for new members to the forum would be helpful...

If you haven't read enough to answer these questions then you can't post now. Come back when you know more.

1 - What is a register? An SIO? A UART?
2 - What is the difference in an ALU and a CPU ?
3 - How many bits in a byte?
4 - What is the base of the natural log?
5 - What is floating point?
6 - What is the difference in a JK and Type D Flip Flop?
7 - What is the advantage of using DMA to transfer data?
8 - What is the difference in running a compiled program vs an one under an interpreter?
9 - What is the difference between BCD & Hex?
10 - What is 1 Xor'd with 1?
11 - What are the two common definitions of ASP ?
12 - What are the two common definitions of PSP ?

yea, maybe an entrance exam would weed out all the people that don't know it all like you do... then you wouldn't have to worry about posting cute little answers to amuse yourself.

Or maybe you would be kind enough to just help me out a little as I fumble around trying to get a handle on this PSP thing.

psiko_scweek · Post by **psiko_scweek** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:57 am

such hostility!

Alright, the PSP is a gaming console much like the Xbox or the Wii. Obviously because Sony just like every other console manufactuer does not want people to play unlicensed games, like emulators, or ISOs on their console they lock the console down so that it only plays digitaly signed programs.

But, PSP hackers have opened the world of the PSP up and developed a opensource free PSPSDK, available at this site, which allows people like me and you to develop games and programs for it.

Now, about the different versions. There are many different versions of the FW, or Operating System on the PSP. The two major types are going to be Official Sony FWs or Custom Firmwares. Sony firmwares cant normally use homebrew or any non-licensed software because of the reasons above, but there are exploits around this on several versions.

Now, a custom firmware is a firmware developed by several hacker groups. The major ones are the DAX OE firmwares, the M33 firmwares and the Team Wildcard firmwares. These firmwares, for the most part, allow for all the PSP Official functions, games and whatnot, but allow for homebrew as well.

There are two different model PSPs, the PSP Phat, and the PSP Slim or Lite. The PSP Phat can use all the PSP homebrew developed for it, because it supports the 1.5 kernel (the mostly used homebrew kernel), where as the PSP Slim/Lite does not support it, and thus cannot use some homebrew.

Any more?

Art · Post by **Art** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:10 am

Admin & mods have stated over and over that this is an advanced
PSP specific programming forum. just take a look around in here.
Anyone who can't answer most of those questions and a lot more
actually isn't supposed to post here at all if I'm not mistaken.
There are forums more suited to beginners:
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewforum.php?f=14
http://www.psp-programming.com/forums/

J.F. · Post by **J.F.** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:10 am

This is a developer site, and you're asking basic questions about RUNNING the software, much less programming it. You should do more research before asking questions that are already answered in many threads and look even more like a noob that you do already.

So, are you going to read some old threads, or perhaps you wish to start a thread on how to turn on the PSP. ;)

Mel · Post by **Mel** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:58 am

Thanks psiko_scweek. Good info for me.

Didn't mean to create a ruckus but I had to start somewhere.

For me it helps to bounce questions off people and I thank you for responding.

From the way I'm reading all this... It looks like any business that wishes to use the PSP as a platform for a a special application... intended for a broad demographic...

Would be forced to work with Sony and their development tools.... as users of the special applications would otherwise have difficulty...

They couldn't just buy a PSP off the shelf, pop the memory stick with the special app on it into the unit... and start... unless the app was developed using the Sony SDK.

So now we have to research the terms and conditions Sony places on 3rd party developers before we can decide to drop the PSP from consideration or proceed.

Would you guys agree with my assesment so far?

Thanks again for the help. Your simple response probably saved us many hours of digging around the net... and that is one of the great things about being able to bounce things off others on forums.

Best - Mel

jimparis · Post by **jimparis** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:34 am

Mel wrote:rom the way I'm reading all this... It looks like any business that wishes to use the PSP as a platform for a a special application... intended for a broad demographic...

Would be forced to work with Sony and their development tools....

Yes. That's how every console system has worked since the beginning of time, save a few like the gp2x.

They couldn't just buy a PSP off the shelf, pop the memory stick with the special app on it into the unit... and start... unless the app was developed using the Sony SDK.

Even apps developed with the Sony SDK will not run on an unmodified PSP. You need Sony to approve and sign your binaries.

So now we have to research the terms and conditions Sony places on 3rd party developers before we can decide to drop the PSP from consideration or proceed.

The terms and conditions themselves are confidential. Go talk to Sony if you are interested in that.

Mel · Post by **Mel** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:43 pm

Jim,

Thanks again for the info.

We have never _ever_ used a game device before so all of this is completely new to us... and very educational.

We were looking at the PSP as if it were a hand held computer... like the old Palm or HP iPaq windows hand helds.

In those cases the manufacturers encouraged everyone to create applications for the devices... as it encouraged more sales of the units.

Of course the PSP is just a hand help computer... as are such devices...

It just came as a suprise to us that the manufacturer would so agressively discourage 3rd party application development... why do they?

Do they get a share of the revenue of all 3rd party app's?

Thanks again for helping me get up to speed quickly on the game device world.

Mel

jsharrad · Post by **jsharrad** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:00 pm

Piracy. It wasn't long after the psp came out and we could run our own code on them that iso loaders for commercial games started popping up.

Smong · Post by **Smong** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:22 am

Art wrote:There are forums more suited to beginners:
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewforum.php?f=14

Isn't that this forum? Or did the thread get moved here from somewhere else?

Mel you don't have to argue with J.F. all the time you could just wait until a more helpful forum member posts a reply.

Art · Post by **Art** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:53 am

Oops, It was supposed to be a link to QJ:
http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-forum-11.html/
Where at least you'd get the answers to these questions by searching old threads.

Be3f · Post by **Be3f** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:04 am

I thought that this thread is about "will 1.50 kernel homebrew work on Slim?", but it's much more serious :-)

Mel wrote: We were looking at the PSP as if it were a hand held computer... like the old Palm or HP iPaq windows hand helds.

In those cases the manufacturers encouraged everyone to create applications for the devices... as it encouraged more sales of the units.

Of course the PSP is just a hand help computer... as are such devices...

It just came as a suprise to us that the manufacturer would so agressively discourage 3rd party application development... why do they?

Agree! I think that PSP could be more popular, if it had the offical homebrew support and Sony could earn some more money on adiitional applications such as a bookreader... But Sony's managers don't care about that - they do their buisness (manufact and sell consoles) well and don't want to change anything in their work... But maybe i'm wrong - they are professionals, their products are best in the industry... However, no one of the console gigants (nor SCE, nor Nintedo, nor MS) tried this way!

Smong · Post by **Smong** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 8:32 am

Sony has tried selling PDAs running Palm OS in the past, which anyone could make programs for.