Bruce Tomlin

WinHIIP is the PC loader program. Stick the drive in a USB case to hook it up to the PC. Don't even bother ripping on the console, it's slow and more likely to fail anyhow. Also, WinHIIP can apply patch files when you rip.

It's not an "if". And the 80 gig model only had the EE CPU removed. It still had the GS graphics chip from the PS2. *Bump* Yay I bumped a post, now i'm going to a special place What do you mean it's not an "if" so far, I have read nothing to confirm BC being put back in, and untill I read some more Sony oriented stuff, instead of just rumors and speculation, I'm going to assume it's not in there, or won't be I mean. You misunderstood my reply. It's not an "if", Sony will NEVER put BC back in. The "software emulation" still required the GS chip on the board, and they're not putting that back. And it's not a "bump" if you're making a proper reply to another comment. Which you did.

What he said. It may be that the installed stuff necessary to use it as a memory card is locked to one console, so you'll need the utility disk to re-install it. Yes, that sounds stupid, but so is locking a subscription-only MMORPG to one console, and PS2 FFXI is that way. It's also possible that you've only tried games that aren't compatible with using the HD as a memory card. Someone was going to just garbage a PS2 HD? Geez, that's so sad. Anyhow, if you decide to go the Free McBoot / HD Loader route, just sell it on ebay/ctcw and get a decent sized drive.

Also typical of over 20 years ago. You can't judge hardware from 1984 by 2009 standards. The lightweight switched power supply wall-warts that I've learned to love so much have only been around for 10 years or so. Back in 1984, switched power supplies were something relatively new, and not small enough to put in wall-warts. How to feed power to a 7805 was something quite well understood then, so it's not like they were just being cheap. This was something completely normal. Try the wall-warts for everything else from that era and you'll find the same behavior. They were nothing but a heavy transformer, a bridge rectifier, maybe a big capacitor, and (sometimes) a fuse.

It's not an "if". And the 80 gig model only had the EE CPU removed. It still had the GS graphics chip from the PS2.

Just go ahead and scan it and let us figure out how readable it is. Geez. It doesn't matter if an OCR can read it or not. There are some of us out here who would happily type it in by hand if we had to... except we can't do that until we get the scans. Even a photograph with a good digital camera would be better than nothing.

I've found two copies of the PC version, and two copies of the hint book, but still haven't yet run across the Mac version. Sigh. At this point it would probably be easier for me to run the PC version in Parallels on an Intel machine anyhow.

Besides, it's the GS chip that's really needed for emulation. Emulating CPUs is a lot more straightforward than emulating graphics chips. That's why the 2600 required a 386 for its first emulators. And in case you haven't heard yet, not only does it not have PS2 BC, but they removed the Linux "Other OS" support too.

Gurumin is good, but the hardest level is basically impossible using the PSP's controls. (It was originally a PC game.) Also, Popolocrois is a good standard JRPG. I think I read somewhere that it was two PS1 games merged together.

You can actually put any IDE drive in there for HD Loader, it just won't work for installing FFXI or game saves. (Note that WD drives may not fit without a lot of work.) And don't pay more than $15 for a network adapter, I bought one for under 10 bucks last month at a Game Crazy. Go find out what Free McBoot and WinHIIP are, and save the genuine Sony drives that still work for people who want to use them for FFXI or other genuine PS2 stuff.

"Atari" is similar to "check" in chess, except that you don't have to respond to it. It happens so often that it is never even mentioned unless you're playing against a total beginner. Also, "Tengen" (with a hard "g" sound) refers to the middle point on the board.

Looks like a cart dumper rig for an EPROM programmer. But I'm not sure why anyone would rig up a socket cart for mask ROMs unless they had access to a bunch of bare chips. That means it was made by/for someone who had access to extra chips from production runs. And since back in those days, the chips were made in Silicon Valley, that's far from impossible.

Actually, the other two were just because they were cheap (10 bucks) and I had parts to try fixing them with. I want to jukebox at least two of them (still playing FFXI on my original HD, but the other HD that I bought used is nearly dead), just like I have a pair of jukeboxed original Xboxes. Until the second HD died, I only used my old one (as a portable unit) and the 30001 (staying at home). Also, PS3 BC be damned, PS2 emulation is starting to become feasible. (for most things, but not HD emulation)

My neighborhood (Anderson Mill, amld.org) has a community center. I'm not sure how good the rates are, though. It's a bit confusing to read the chart, but it looks like resident/non-profit rate for a 40-person room is $20/hr (78 person room for $25/hr) plus $15/hr facility attendant fee for the first three hours, then $10+$15/hr. Deposit is $500, 15 minute enter and leave time free, minimum 3 hours on weekends. Also you can add a small room to the big room for $20/$10 extra, and all three for $35/$10 extra. The small rooms may be no good because they have a dais or a conference table which are specifically (as in losing your deposit) not to be moved. I'm not sure if the "commercial" rate (twice the non-resident rate, and four times the resident/non-profit rate for the first 3 hours) would apply to a resident or non-profit renter for a reason like people setting up tables to sell their "collectibles", or for charging admission to cover the cost of the room. http://andersonmill-limited.org/Forms.html Doing the math, it looks like the 78 person room for 8 hours would be 25*3 + 10*5 + 15*8 = $245. Adding one of the smaller rooms would be 20*3 + 10*5 or $110 more. (total $355)

Backward compatible with what? I'm sure it's completely backward-compatible... with all existing PS3 games. IMHO, Sony is never going to put PS2 compatibility back, not even just the GS chip, not even as an extra cost "super-elite" option, no matter how much we want it. They're in too deep with the Cell and Blu-Ray BS to ever admit that the PS2 is anything more than a budget legacy system. The only reason it still has PS1 compatibility is for the same reason the PS2 had it: the chipset made for a great I/O subsystem. Meanwhile, I'll keep my Fat PS2s running as long as I can. There's my original 39001 (has overheating problems), a 30001 that needed a "white gear" adjustment, and two others that I recently fixed the optical drives in. (one white gear 39001, and a 30001 fixed with a spare from a broken PS2 I've had for years)

That makes it easy to auto-detect the extra memory. I get the same situation when I use an ICE on a CV.

FYI, I'd be happy just to hear if there's a game with a good built-in controller test. I don't care how I do it, just as long as I can quickly tell that all the buttons are working.

I've seen almost every part fail, but the main problem is the buttons. Oxidation on the flex circuit seems to be the main problem. Back in the '90s when I was finding lots of 5200 stuff, the only controllers I found that didn't need repair had a V8 flex circuit with carbonized contacts. The most effective way I found to fix them was to stick foil onto the rubber button pad dots. Back in the day I had to use double-sided tape, but they now sell foil tape at Wal-Mart. Use a hole punch to make circles, then just peel and stick them onto the dots. (The foil tape is also good for EPROM window covers.) The other main problem I had was wire breakage. There are fifteen wires in there, and any one of them going bad is going to make something not work.

Yes please. So does this mean you're back in Austin now?

I've got a few PS2 controllers I'm going to rebuild, putting good wires with good controllers. But first, I'd like to find a homebrew controller test program. I tried looking around last week but never found anything. Has anyone run across one before? I'm just looking for something you can run which will let you check all the buttons on a controller real quick, and that I can load onto a Free McBoot memory card. I already have one for the Xbox.

[citation needed] Just because an interface is "serial" doesn't make it USB. Even the original NES controller was a serial interface, and it pre-dates USB by a long time. http://mc.pp.se/dc/maplebus.html http://int03.co.uk/crema/hardware/gamecube/gc-control.html http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/attachment...mp;d=1231761218 (Word file) I know that XBox was the first to use USB because the practice of every console manufacturer rolling their own new interface in every generation pissed me off so much.

Whether it takes two months or two days is irrelevant as long as we don't have the sound data.

False. Only the XBox and XBox 360 have used USB for their controllers, and I think the PS3 as well.

I've been disassembling it, and it doesn't use anything from the ROM. (and to use the ROM, the usage of RAM would have to be changed) So whether the sound data uses the ROM's format or not, the ROM driver can't be used. Maybe there's driver code in these listings that need to be scanned. So as before, until they are scanned and made available, nothing will happen. (notice I said nothing about OCR, since anyone can do that) The ball is now squarely in the court of whoever has the listings. If you want this to happen, you know what to do.

I've seen enough of the Coleco standard sound format that I should be able to tell how useful it is when I see it. (I even made my own driver for it when I ported my RPG code to Genesis.) If someone posts the scans somewhere, I'll do what I can to get it OCRed. Has anyone disassembled Joust yet or should I try to make a re-assemblable version?