http://videogames.gigcities.com 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page i Hacking the PSP™ Cool Hacks, Mods, and Customizations for the Sony® PlayStation® Portable Auri Rahimzadeh 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page i Hacking the PSP™ Cool Hacks, Mods, and Customizations for the Sony® PlayStation® Portable Auri Rahimzadeh 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page ii Hacking the PSP™: Cool Hacks, Mods, and Customizations for the Sony® PlayStation® Portable Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN-13: 978-0-471-77887-5 ISBN-10: 0-471-77887-7 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/SR/RS/QV/IN No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rahimzadeh, Auri, 1975– Hacking the PSP : cool hacks, mods and customizations for the Sony PlayStation portable / Auri Rahimzadeh. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-471-77887-5 (paper/website) ISBN-10: 0-471-77887-7 (paper/website) 1. Computer games—Programming. 2. Sony video games. I. Title. QA76.76.C672R34 2005 794.8'1526—dc22 2005032052 Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. ExtremeTech and the ExtremeTech logo are trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings, Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. Sony and PlayStation Portable are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page iii About the Author Auri Rahimzadeh has been tinkering with computers ever since he was six years old and loves all technology. Auri collects computers and has been involved with many computer projects, including teaching computers alongside Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer. Auri has written hundreds of articles on various computer technologies; has contributed to many standards including HDTV, DVD, and interactive television; and is the author of Geek My Ride, a book on geeking out cars, another ExtremeTech title also published by Wiley. Auri has also contributed to computer education for students across the country and has promoted tech- nology awareness through the Indianapolis Computer Society, where he has served as president for three years. Currently, Auri is a software engineer and spends his free time programming, chatting at Starbucks, and going to Pacers games. 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page iv 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page v Credits Executive Editor Project Coordinator Chris Webb Ryan Steffen Development Editor Graphics and Production Specialists Howard A. Jones Carrie Foster Lauren Goddard Senior Development Editor Denny Hager Kevin Kent Jennifer Heleine Stephanie D. Jumper Copy Editor Barbara Moore Kathryn Duggan Lynsey Osborn Melanee Prendergast Editorial Manager Janet Seib Mary Beth Wakefield Alicia B. South Production Manager Quality Control Technicians Tim Tate Robert Springer Brian H. Walls Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Proofreading Richard Swadley Sossity R. Smith Vice President and Executive Publisher Indexing Joseph B. Wikert Johnna VanHoose Dinse Cover Design Anthony Bunyan 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page vi 01_778877 ffirs.qxp 12/5/05 9:29 PM Page vii Acknowledgments o my family—my Mom and Dad, Karen and Fred; my stepparents, Richard and Julie; and my awesome brothers and sister, Noah, Max, and Chloe. Without their support, this book Twould never have seen the light of day. Without my Mom and Dad, neither would I. A special thanks goes to my grandparents, Alvin and Irene Goodman and Rabbi and Devorah Rahimzadeh. Rabbi, even though you’re gone, you’re always in my heart. I’ve been lucky to have such caring, loving, inspiring grandparents. Thanks to Richard Doherty, a brilliant engineer, analyst, and friend, whose insight into the PSP’s inner workings is incredible and his willingness to help tech edit my book was very much appreciated. Many thanks again to my good friend Steve Wozniak, not only a brilliant technol- ogist but also the man who believed in me and put my technology career into perspective and who continues to help anyone with a passion for technology succeed with their dreams. Steve, you truly are an amazing human being. To my friends Josh Louden (for being enthusiastic about programming), Dirk Cosemans (for all his engineering assistance), Geoff Smith (for ideas), the rest of the Smith family (Mary, Doug, Brad, and Emily, for their support), the Millers (Laurie, Phil, and Bryon, for their support and a place to stay in California), Jerry Pournelle (for getting me ever more excited about writing books), Andy Marken of Marken Communications (man, you know communications), Peter Glaskowsky (man, you know graphics), and those of you I failed to mention here, you know who you are (and I’m sure you’ll let me know, too!). To Chris Webb, who got me hooked on writing books—thank you so very, very much. To Howard Jones, my development editor—thanks for all of your hard work and a job well done. And of course, to the incredibly dedicated and hardworking team at Wiley—thank you for all your effort and help in this adventure. To my friend William “Bill” Fulco—you will be missed. To my friend Anthony “Tony” Rose—the best attorney, ever (and friend). Sorry I forgot to mention you in my first book. To the hackers and committed software developers who work so hard to make the PSP an awesome device. And, of course, to my teachers. To quote a phrase: “If you can read this, thank your teacher.” For those of you looking to get into technology or write your own book, I offer you some advice, originally by Benjamin Franklin (or so all my research on the Internet says): “Never confuse motion with action.” As always—GO PACERS! (Think that’ll score me some tickets?) 02_778877 ftoc.qxp 12/5/05 9:11 PM Page viii Contents at a Glance Chapter 1:Introduction . 1 Chapter 2:Overview of the PSP . 7 Chapter 3:Quickies . 15 Chapter 4:Taking Apart Your PSP . 37 Chapter 5:Getting Online:Configuring Your PSP for Networking . 53 Chapter 6:The Web on Your PSP. 61 Chapter 7:Online Hacks. 91 Chapter 8:Offline Hacks . 101 Chapter 9:Game Hacks . 115 Chapter 10:Video Hacks . 127 Chapter 11:Audio Hacks . 149 Chapter 12:Image and Photo Hacks . 161 Chapter 13:Getting More Power. 177 Chapter 14:Taking Your PSP on the Road. 191 Chapter 15:Running Linux and Windows on the PSP . 213 Chapter 16:Reverting from a 2.0 PSP to a 1.5 PSP . 219 Chapter 17: Programming the PSP: Setting Up the Development Environment . 237 Chapter 18:Programming the PSP:Hello World . 249 Chapter 19:Running Homebrew Applications. 259 Chapter 20:Navigating the Unofficial PSP SDK . 265 Chapter 21:Alternative Development Languages . 271 Chapter 22:Distributing Your Applications . 275 Chapter 23:Synchronization and Utility Software . 277 Appendix A:Additional Resources . 287 Appendix B:PSP Maintenance and Frequently Asked Questions .