How can I use uLE, ps2client and host:?

[barf]

uLE and ps2client works fine using uLE’s PS2Net, but I miss host:

[ps2dragon]

I moved your thread here, since it's uLE specific. Are you saying the host feature isn't working anymore, or you never had it working? I personally use RadHostClient 1.8a (latest) with uLE and it works fine. Also what version of uLE are you using and was this just after a recent change with your setup?

[E P]

uLE and ps2client works fine using uLE’s PS2Net, but I miss host:

Hum, I just did a check and host: works fine but only after I loaded PS2Net. Somehow going directly to host: in the file manager causes the network to tank how strange. I'll do some more investigating and see what I can find.

Edit:
Scratch that, all you need to do is load the hdd drivers prior to browsing to host:. Apparently part of the network initialization is botched. This looks similar to an issue I've seen before.

[dlanor]

@barf:
PS2Net has nothing to do with the "host:" device and should only be needed when you want to use either the FTP server or the fsclient program to access PS2 files from a PC-side client.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you 'miss' the "host:" device.
Please clarify!

If you meant that you do not see the "host:/" device entry in the device list of the FileBrowser, then you must be mistaken. Unlike some other devices (vmc or extra USB partitions) the "host:/" device is not optional. It is always present in the root of the normal FileBrowser, even if the hardware interface is missing (like on a fat PS2 without a network adaptor).

The only case where you can see a FileBrowser root list without "host:/" present is when you are making a specialized browsing, such as when selecting elf files for uLE launch button shortcuts, or when selecting startup configuration files (language, font, alternate drivers etc). Selecting those files over network is not permitted as the network host machines may not be available when uLE needs to load those files.


@E P:
Please describe the test circumstances more closely.

Here is what works for me:

1: Boot PS2 into uLE (via Dev1 or FMCB or SwapMagic, depending on which console I use)
2: On PC launch PS2ClientLoader (shows red tray icon)
3: On PS2, start FileBrowser and use it to open "host:/" (times out but shows no files)
4: On PC, observe how PS2ClientLoader's tray icon turns green
5: On PS2, back out from empty "host:/" and reopen it again (shows PC share listing)
6: Proceed to use PC shares from FileBrowser as needed

NB: Some variations in the order of these operations will also work fine.


For some cases I have seen failure of the network initialization to work properly, apparently because the router I use has 'memorized' that the IP address used for this PS2 was recently in use for another ethernet port (on another of my PS2 consoles). But after some fiddling and reinitialization this problem normally goes away (probably has a caching timeout as well). In any case, I do not see this as a real problem of uLE or even of the PS2, but rather as a problem of inappropriate IP caching in the router, though it is likely that a more thorough initialization of the ethernet port usage could eliminate the problem entirely by forcing the other party (here the router) to renew all IP info. But I'm not sure how to do this...

Possibly it is this kind of problem that you have as well.
But for my cases using PS2Net didn't change anything...

It was when I started SMS (with network auto-started), that the router refreshed its IP associations, and so recognized the PS2 again. But this may have been coincidental, based on some timeout rather than the actions of SMS (very hard to tell).

Edit: (after your edit above E P)
I don't see how the HDD drivers could be involved in this, as the standard host: usage method I listed above works identically on all my consoles, including both the 77004 and the 90004, which don't even have the HDD interface chip at all. And my testing was done with uLE v4.40b...

Best regards: dlanor

[E P]

Edit: (after your edit above E P)
I don't see how the HDD drivers could be involved in this, as the standard host: usage method I listed above works identically on all my consoles, including both the 77004 and the 90004, which don't even have the HDD interface chip at all. And my testing was done with uLE v4.40b...

Whoops, sorry about that we are discussing v4.40d. I found a workaround though. In main.c I added setupPowerOff() call prior to loading network drivers. It worked in my brief test with ps2link.

void	load_ps2host(void)
{
	int ret;

	setupPowerOff(); //resolves the stall out when opening host: from LaunchELF's FileBrowser
	load_ps2ip();
	if	(!have_ps2host)
	{	SifExecModuleBuffer(&ps2host_irx, size_ps2host_irx, 0, NULL, &ret);
		have_ps2host = 1;
	}
}

[dlanor]

@E P:
Ok, then I see.

I was not even aware of your new uLE release when I wrote that reply, but I've downloaded it now and will test it first (also for byte-by-byte WinHex comparison etc). I assume that this then will give me the stall you described, and that I can then add the change you described in your latest post here to fix that problem.

I suggest we call the version with that change ONLY by the name v4.40e, and consider that the base for the next version to come. Whether to also make a second beta release of that v4.40e I'll leave up to you, but it might stem a flood of additional complaints on this...

Best regards: dlanor

[barf]

What I was trying to do:

• Launch uLE 4.40
• Start the PS2Net service
• fsclient -h 10.0.0.21 dir host:

Is empty, so there is no reason to run the following, in which would be my reason to try this in the first place:

• ps2client -h 10.0.0.21 execee host:test.elf

[dlanor]

What I was trying to do:

• Launch uLE 4.40
• Start the PS2Net service
• fsclient -h 10.0.0.21 dir host:

Is empty,

Are you aware that this means that you are using the PC client in order to make the NetFS server in the PS2 contact a ps2client instance on the PC to read the contents of the fileshare root directory defined by the "elflist.txt" of ps2client ?

This will always produce an empty listing if you did not already, previous to this fsclient command, first open the HOST server in uLE (by browsing to "host:/" and then launch ps2client on the PC in resident mode (either via PS2ClientLoader or with the "-listen" argument of ps2client itself).

I think you have not fully grasped the fact that you are here attempting to close a communication circle that involves two different PS2-side servers (both part of uLE) and two different PC-side clients (separate programs).

When you do it the way I described, with the host: server opened by previous uLE browsing and with a resident ps2client instance running on the PC, then the fsclient command in your example is able to list the "host:" directory properly (as defined for that ps2client instance).

so there is no reason to run the following:

• ps2client -h 10.0.0.21 execee host:test.elf

I don't quite see what that has to do with uLE. Aren't you confusing uLE functionality with that of PS2Link here ?

While the NetFS server and the HOST server functionality of uLE is related to the servers in PS2Link, they are not identical, and uLE is not even intended to implement the remote debugging features of PS2Link which is what you seem to be wanting to use here.

For those purposes you should stick to using PS2Link, as the servers of uLE will not do such jobs.

That said, you could of course run that "test.elf" just by first running ps2client.exe in "-listen" mode and then using the uLE FileBrowser to launch the elf via "host:/", though this again assumes that it had been opened earlier, so the server is ready for the ps2client connection.

Summary:
I think you have misunderstood the purpose of these two servers in uLE and are trying to use them for some remote debugging purpose, for which PS2Link is a more appropriate tool.

Best regards: dlanor