forums.ps2dev.org

I've not programmed on PS2 before. I would, however be very interested in knowing how the PS2 works on a machine code level. I don't know how much of this Sony lets out (some data sheets would be awesome), but does anyone know if somewhere out there I can find out about the details of the architecture: what are the registers, the syntax of the assembly code, available assemblers, Is the I/O memory mapped and what are the addresses for what. what needs to be sent where to get picture and sound, etc.

Im most interested in the audio (any real video would be tough to do in assembly) and recieving data from the usb or whatever input ports. But if i can send bit patterns to the video output also, that would be very interesting.

thanks in advance for whatever the community knows.

- 010 010

If you grab the PS2 Linux Kit, Disc 2 has the full sony hardware manuals on it, complete with EE/VU/GS register lists, etc.

details like intel cpu registers or 8086 that we study in the books, and technical details of PS2 CPU and EE are no way similar , you can ask technical details from the companies that program ps2 games like ea ,ubi soft, sierra etc, and obviously they wont give you that! i think this will be confidential thing, and you may not find correct or official documentation on net unless you ask sony :) :P

Or he can get legal and correct documentation on the actual PS2 hardware as part of the consumer available PS2 linux kit.

offonoffoffonoff wrote: Im most interested in the audio (any real video would be tough to do in assembly) and recieving data from the usb or whatever input ports. But if i can send bit patterns to the video output also, that would be very interesting.

The SPU2 is very similar to the PS1's SPU (essentially two of them smacked together) and there is quite a bit of info on the PS1's SPU out there. Of course, in order to talk to the SPU2 from the EE you need to talk through the IOP. PS2SDK includes ps2snd which makes this whole process easy. IIRC the usb drives in PS2SDK now work as well.

Is there some specific reason you are talking about using assembly? ... The ps2dev toolchain does include a C compiler and a nice sdk after all ;)

As far as getting the linux kit goes, it is expensive. Also, I think it is silly to have to purchase technical details like that. anyone who can do anything with those documents is either trying to produce something that would make the PS2 a more versitile and useful device (that is helping sony out) or is not doing anything.

does anyone know if it would be illegal to distibute those documents? From the above reasoning, i can't imagine sony has any reason to try to protect such esoteric information (Its clear anyone can do quite a bit to a ps2 without knowing that, and if they are afraid of people making mod chips, then why would they sell that info to civilian linux kit folks?) So i would think it is not illegal for non-linux kit folks to get acess to the same information.

--> in short, if it isn't illegal, i'd like someone to hook me up. <--

And, as far as wanting to know the assembly details...

actually, i'm much more familiar with assembly than C, because that what they teach us (or me, atleast) in school. Assembly is faster than C in certain applications, and i feel comforted knowing exactly what the computer is doing. And, the thinking of the programmers who made the C compiler and libraries had certain ideas about how programming works, what things can be done and how they should be done. In most instances, i probably agree (or atleast, don't care enough to dissagree) with what they were thinking, but its nice to know i can circumvent that if my imagination desires.

Different methodologies lead to different results. creativity is all about process. (or so i think right now)

- 010 010

Yes, it IS illegal to spread those documents. They are copyrighted materials, so unless Sony decides to come out and say we can freely distribute them, we cannot. There is a lot of info you can learn from the samples here, the posts on these forums, and the people here know a lot of about what they are doing.

Also, you may find that much of the work of interpreting these documents has been done for you...
As far as mem-mapped register addresses, and the bitfields within each one go, this information can be gathered from various header files in ps2SDK (and notably gsKit), and the attatched code demonstrates how to use them. While probably not a comprehensive display of EVERY possible usage, it will definately be enough to at least get you off the ground, and upto the stage where you can then decide if it's worth forking out of the linux kit. (which is still worth it, IMHO besides the docs, you also get a hdd, vga cable, net adapter and usb keyb/mouse - which have replaced the dell ones on my desktop..)

Failing that, the forums and IRC are the place to discuss technical aspects of various approaches, so even without the PDFs - provided you are willing to learn - you shouldn't have a problem getting the info you are after.

So welcome, and goodluck!

if you live in the us sony says kits are not available... if you live in europe they are available..

guess where i live?

what about blackrhino?

tzoot