PSP may officially support homebrew in the future

Posted by multippt

Homebrew has pretty much unlocked the PSP and enabled it to be utilized beyond what Sony has ever done. In fact, it is not too surprising that Sony themselves actually got inspired by some things homebrew managed to do, say the RSS feature in firmware 2.60. This time, word has come from the top “wise men” (i.e. the heads) of Sony, that they may allow for homebrew in the future. Quoted from Jack Tretton (top of the top Sony management): “I think it is something that is in the works; We will certainly see some of the stuff that has been done via homebrew, and it’s incredibly creative. I think we’d like to try and tap into that a little bit more.”.

Sony, normally seen as a large antagonist to the homebrew scene, isn’t all that anti-homebrew after all. While they have been releasing patch after patch to stop homebrew in its tracks, they did it to protect the consumer’s precious gadget. Dave Karraker (Senior director of corporate communications with Sony) stated that there is one big problem to overcome before they can enable homebrew - figuring out how to support the new content yet not putting the PSP at risk. After all, “some hacker wants to brick your baby for fun”.

Via IGN, QJ

Good Bye DAX; Dark_Alex leaves the scene

Posted by signup

Recently, Dark_Alex aka DAX has now left the homebrew scene. Other’s think it was a rumor, and others are sad, angry, and worried.
You can visit Dax’s site here, containing his good-bye message. http://dark-alex.org/

His last message were:

Bye, scene.

I’ve decided to cease OE development, and leave PSP scene.
The reasons are various.
One of them is the time it consumes, which i’m losing from other things.
The other is related to my security. I didn’t like Sony menaces to PS3 hackers.
I think it is better to leave now rather than end paying the consequences.

He decidido cesar el desarrollo de OE, y abandonar la scene de la PSP.
Las razones son varias.
Una de ellas es el tiempo que me consume, que estoy perdiendo de otras cosas.
La otra esta relacionada con mi seguridad. No me gustaron las amenazas de Sony a los hackers de la PS3.
Creo que es mejor retirarse ahora que estoy a tiempo, que acabar pagando las consecuencias.

Dark_AleX

Shot at 2007-07-02

PSP downgrader for firmware 3.50 released

Posted by multippt

Fanjita and co (the Noobz team) in just a short space of a few days since their latest discovery of the Illuminati exploit have released their downgrader. This downgrader allows you to downgrade from the official firmware, 3.50, to lower firmwares like 1.50.

Why downgrade you may ask? Older firmwares have greater support for homebrew. This downgrader is tailored for firmware 3.50, so if you want to downgrade your PSP which is at a firmware lower than 3.50 (and higher than 2.80), you will need to update your PSP to that version. The downgrader will automatically detect the correct motherboard type to downgrade the PSP appropriately.

Note that if you downgrade a TA-082 (or tA-086) PSP with this downgrader, you may not be able to update to the latest version, since firmwares past 3.11 (3.30 onwards) will have checks that prevent downgraded PSP using new motherboards from updating (the problem is some corrupted registry values). However, you can use new custom firmwares (like the OE series).

To use the downgrader, you will need:
-A PSP, with official firmware 3.50. The language settings should also be set to “English”.
-A legal copy of Lumines, either the Europe or US version.

The instructions for using the downgrader is provided in the “readme” text file.

As with any downgrader, there is a risk that you may accidentally render your PSP unusable, so always read the readme.

In addition to the downgrader, they have released a port of HEN (Homebrew ENabler), which allows the execution of homebrew on 3.50.

You can get the downgrader from Noobz.

New PSP exploit (Illuminati) - Homebrew for all firmwares

Posted by multippt

Noobz has made major progress on PSP homebrew, especially the part on bringing homebrew to newer firmwares. The exploit, nicknamed the “Illuminati exploit”, is able to run on all firmwares, including the latest official firmware (3.50). This exploit is similar to the GTA exploit, except it uses the (official) Lumines game.

Here are the instructions (taken from the guide in Noobz)
-You will need a copy of Lumines (known to work with the US and Europe versions)
-Download the exploit which is packaged in a ZIP file, and extract the contents inside the “MS_ROOT” folder (meaning, excluding the folder) into the root of the memory stick.
-Start the Lumines game, and press START when the game tells you to “press start”
-The screen will go blank, and the exploit will start after a few seconds. The exploit is currently a “Hello World” application, so don’t expect it to do much yet.

The exploit may allow for the creation of downgraders and HEN. Though, it would only be possible once the Noobz team allows for Kernel access through the exploit (currently the exploit allows for user-mode homebrew, since its in the early stages).

*The Lumines game can be bought at a low price. At the moment, the Lumines game is not patched, but it WILL get patched soon if Sony does something (just like GTA: LCS).

Rumor: PSP recall in the Netherlands, possible attempt to reduce homebrew?

Posted by multippt

There are rumors ongoing that Sony has recalled all of it’s current PSPs from retailers in the Netherland in order to replace it with new, “unflashable” units. This might have been in response to the growing popularity of custom firmwares.

Of course, this piece of information is not comfirmed yet, and if these new units were to be “unflashable”, it probably could render the PSP un-updatable even with the official PSP firmware updates. Poor game sales was seen as a possible reason as to why Sony attempted this move.

Due to the nationwide recall, the PSP would be out of stock for a period of time in the Netherlands. It’s not known if Sony would do the same for other retailers in other countries.

Via MaxConsole

3.40 OE-A and 3.30 OE-A’ custom firmwares

Posted by multippt

Dark_Alex has recently released an update to his series of custom firmwares. First off, we would start on the 3.30 OE-A’ custom firmware. This is a relatively minor update to the 3.30 OE-A custom firmware. The changes are as followed (from 3.30 OE-A):
-Some security patches [related to RAM usage]
-Reimplemented autoboot

Now for the custom firmware of interest - 3.40 OE-A. Just after a few days of the official 3.40’s release, Dark_Alex managed create 3.40 OE-A, which has the features of his custom firmwares, plus the features of 3.40. Here are some features in this custom firmware (changes from 3.30 OE-A):
-Features from 3.40
-Improvements in flasher. It would generate the flash 1 directories [so chances are, you won't lose your settings], and checks the generated DATA.DXAR file [to check if you are using the right file].
-Some security patches [same as 3.30 OE-A']
-Reimplemented autoboot [same as 3.30 OE-A']

Via Dark_Alex.org

*This news is actually quite old :P. It should have been made on 20th Apr *sign*

PSP custom firmware 3.30 OE-A released

Posted by multippt

Dark_Alex has recently added 3.30 OE-A (Open Edition revision A) to his list of custom firmwares. Quite an achievement considering that he didn’t give up even after bricking one of his PSPs.

Firmware 3.30 OE-A basically has the features of 3.30, plus the good old goodness of homebrew in one.

Here is a list of some of the new features (changes over from previous custom firmwares):
-Homebrew support for either 1.50 or 3.30 kernal
-Region spoofing
-Some patches in the firmware
-Increased stability and some bug fixes
-Direct launching of PSOne games
-Direct launching of demos and homebrew
-Direct launching of ISOs and CSOs
-Ability to regulate the speed of the PSP’s processor

Though, there are some minor problems with the popsloader, due to changes in the firmware by Sony.

Note that to install this, your PSP must be running either the 1.50, 2.71 SE, 3.02 OE, 3.03 OE, 3.10 OE. If your PSP is running some other firmware, please downgrade to the appropriate firmware (usually 1.50). At the moment, the following firmwares cannot be downgraded: official 3.10-3.30 (since there isn’t a downgrader yet), so please don’t upgrade to those versions if you want to use this custom firmware.

This firmware is not the official PSP firmware, thus install this firmware at your own risk (fortunately, the risks are quite low). Remember to read the readme, so that you would be doing the right thing and won’t end up damaging anything.

You can download this firmware from Dark_Alex’s site.