Posted Jul 17th 2008 4:20PM by Caleb Kraft
Filed under: handhelds hacks, playstation hacks
[Codejunkie] has written up a great explanation as to why we mod. He's specifically talking about the Sony PSP, but many of the points he makes carry over to any modding. Though the "why" question may seem like a no brainer to most of us, we do hear it a lot. We strongly suggest you take a few moments to
read his article.
Who hasn't been asked this question? We all have different reasons to mod things. Some people do it to make improvements, some people do it just for the fun. He lists some of the more practical reasons and makes some insightful comparisons.
For example, he likens some modding to making personalizations to your car. Has anybody asked why you put a custom shifter knob on? No, because we are used to this, just as they are used to being locked out of their electronics. He also talks about products that are crippled from the factory. We've
covered this situation on Hack a Day before. Is it wrong for you to want your product to function to its built in potential?
He covers a few thoughts on homebrewing software for the PSP as well. There's no reasonable explanation for why you shouldn't have full control over something you own.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 10:50PM by Jimmie Rodgers
Filed under: handhelds hacks, playstation hacks, portable audio hacks
DSPmusic.org has just released the latest version of its homebrew PSP music sequencer
PSPSeq 3.0. With PSPSeq you can create songs with up to 16 independent audio tracks, use WAV audio clips of your own and then modify them with a number of settings, or even use some of the built in synthesizers to generate sounds. There are strong looping and recording features as well. If you are into homebrew music apps on the PSP, then this will give you a strong offering of features. We had a chance to catch up with the author, [Ethan Bordeaux], and ask a few questions. You can check out the short interview after the break.
Continue reading PSPSeq 3.0, PSP sequencer release and interview
Posted Jun 19th 2008 10:30PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: playstation hacks
The people at Near Future Laboratory are trying to
spoof the behavior of a Playstation 2 controller using just a microcontroller. They wrote some initial code using the
controller info found here, but decided the best way to figure out what was going on, was to probe the interface. They're using a
Logicport, which features 34 channels plus two clock channels. They only need six channels because the PS2 implements an SPI protocol plus an ACK line. The post is just a preliminary investigation, but will give you a little insight into how the Logicport works and why you might find it useful.
Posted Jun 14th 2008 4:10PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: playstation hacks
This is quickly becoming an unintentional "game controller Saturday". We haven't been covering the PSP much lately, so this is a treat. AcidMods forum member [Electro] put together a quick guide for
adding two missing shoulder buttons to the PSP. The L2 and R2 buttons are used while playing Playstation 1 games and are usually mapped to directions on the joystick. This mod jumps the joystick's contacts an relocates the buttons to the shoulders. The switches used in the post seem kind of bulky, but you're free to use anything that fits.
[via
Engadget]
Posted May 30th 2008 2:30PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: playstation hacks
Acimods contributor [Blizzrad] has just finished one of the cleanest mods we've seen in a while. With minimal modification to the outside of the PSP he was able to
add an external PS2 controller. This naturally took a lot of internal modification. The controller and PSP use a 25 pin SMT connector salvaged from a laptop. The controller's connector housing is from a set of component cables. Video after the break plus some wiring pictures.
Continue reading PSP external controller wiring
Posted Apr 10th 2008 11:48PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: playstation hacks
[Ben]'s been at it again. This time he's whipped up a PS3 laptop. He built this one just for
engadget... and there will be how-to's on it, oh yes, there will. For now, you can wet your appetite for console modding with
the picture gallery. It's pretty big, but It's actually thinner than the original console.
Posted Mar 7th 2008 10:10PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: playstation hacks, robots hacks
This is an older set of hacks, but I'm surprised we haven't covered them before. The playstation controller is an interesting alternative to normal robotic controls.
This PS1 controller to serial interface is based on a Motorola HC68 series micro-controller. This even
simpler version only needs some diodes to interface with a parallel port. Probably more interesting is
this how-to on using a wireless PS2 controller with a basic stamp II.
Posted Feb 9th 2008 11:20AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: home entertainment hacks, misc hacks, playstation hacks
[Joel] sent in
his efforts to build an inexpensive 360 degree head tracking display. He's using a Playstation six axis controller as the key to his helmet tracking system. The demo is short and to the point. He's using the usual
Glovepie driver to provide the software interface and what looks like off the shelf hardware on the helmet.
What really grabs my attention is the low cost of getting into VR now. Assuming that you own a computer, you can build your own VR setup for the cost of a Playstation controller and a cheap heads up display. (Remember
these?)
Posted Jan 15th 2008 11:15PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks, playstation hacks
[Shane] put together
this funky bluetooth headset hack so he could use his headset with both his PSP and his PS/2. It starts with a Cardo Bluetooth adapter. He added both a PSP headset style connector and a standard 2.5mm plug to a custom pigtail. Then he can use it with either a PSP headset remote or a modified USB PS/2 headset adapter.
Posted Jan 3rd 2008 9:42PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: playstation hacks, portable video hacks
[Robin] over at acidmods sent in
this interesting PSP mod. [PvP] added an internal hard drive (with the exception of a mini-usb cable sticking out the top) to his PSP. The advantage? Laptop hard drives are dirt cheap while sony memory sticks are still pretty pricy. More details should be along soon, but [Robin] assures me that this means up to 200GB of storage is possible for the PSP.
Posted Dec 6th 2007 10:02PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: playstation hacks
Just in time to keep your friends from sharing your toys, [l0rdnic0] brings you
this simple mod: replace your power switch with a reed switch. Of course, now you'll need a magnet every time you want to use your PSP. Of course, if my older brother did this, I'd build a big electromagnet and start firing it whenever he started playing games.
Posted Aug 23rd 2007 11:40PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, playstation hacks
[krazywhiteguy310] let me know about the
announcement of
Pandora's battery. It'll cost you a Sony PSP battery to pull off the hack, but once you're done, you can use it to jump start your bricked PSP to load up a memory imaged designed to unbrick the PSP. (I haven't tested it, so I'm taking this on faith) Excellent news if you've bricked your PSP.
Posted Jul 14th 2007 11:03PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: playstation hacks
[F00 f00] sent in his latest PSP mod. By combining a voltage amplifier, a PIC controller and a cell phone motor he ended up with force feedback enabled PSP. He's got the PIC set to enable the motor when it detects certain sound frequencies from the speaker via the amp.
The video is after the break.
Continue reading Force feedback PSP mod
Posted Jul 12th 2007 11:17PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, misc hacks, playstation hacks
[David] thought you guys might like
this - and I agree. It's an open gaming platform built around a PSP LCD. It's got all the basics, and it's expandable. They'd like to put together an order for a run of boards, so let em know if you want one. If you're lazy, here's the specs:
- MX21 ARM9 266MHz processor with 64MB SDRAM and 16 MB of FLASH
- TFT LCD from the PSP (our thanks to Nathan at Sparkfun for helping us out with that)
- stereo audio CODEC
- stereo speakers
- headphone jack
- microphone
- couple of joysticks
- loads of buttons
- battery pack
- SD/MMC slot
- expandable (can add GPS, bluetooth, accelerometers and gyros, etc...)
Most of the hardware is pretty decent, but the battery pack could use some help. Maybe a good surplus li-ion cell phone battery.
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