Is it possible to install games to an internal HDD via USB?

[SP193]

SP193, we all respect your knowledge and expertise with OPL, which is far greater than mine, along with 99.9% of other users. But nonetheless, sometimes other people can have opinions with merit.

Fair enough.

But I should say that the reason why I appeared to be so negative about making such a program to begin with was to educate anyone who intends to start on such a programming project, because:

1. Programming the Playstation 2 is not easy.
2. Such a project will involve programming with the IOP, which is badly documented as Sony wanted to keep people off it as much as possible.
3. There are no good debuggers available, so it's going to be hell if the developed system can't work.
4. The merits of creating such a project isn't too great.

So I did it to save others from realizing that they wasted 2-3 days of their lives creating something that may not be really too beneficial to anyone.

But if they didn't mind completing such a project despite all the costs, I don't have anything to say about their reasoning (Which was why I even offered to help out).

I didn't intend it to seem like I was hostile about accepting other peoples' ideas, and am genuinely sorry if it seemed that way.

I agree that USB transfer to the internal HDD would be handy.

My PS2 network card is some Chinese clone that connects to an IDE HDD only ... it doesn't have a LAN port. That rules out using HDL Dump.

So, my ONLY method of tranferring backups is physically removing the HDD - I need to unplug the PS2, then unscrew the network card from the PS2, then hook up the HDD to the PC using a fiddly IDE to USB connector with cables hanging everywhere, then use WinHIIP, then pack away all the fiddly components for the IDE to USB connector, then re-screw the network card back onto the PS2, then reconnect the cables to the PS2. This is a pain.

My other option, would be to look around for a genuine Sony PS2 network card. But that's easier said than done. I thought I had purchased one already ... the one that I have, which I purchased off Ebay, was advertised as "genuine Sony", and even has the "Sony" brand name engraved into the plastic, and "Made in Japan" printed on the back. But ... when I peeled off the yellow sticker covering what I thought would be the LAN port underneath, there was no port at all, just an empty cavity where the port should be.

Alright, so if you put it that way, installing games from a USB device is a better alternative than no alternatives at all.

Since it's come down to this, if nobody takes up this project in the near future, I'll try to integrate my HDLoader filesystem driver into uLaunchELF... if it gets completed at all. But then I'll need the cooperation of the uLE developers as I don't intend to waste time figuring out how their program works.

[tpb]

if nobody takes up this project in the near future, I'll try to integrate my HDLoader filesystem driver into uLaunchELF... if it gets completed at all. But then I'll need the cooperation of the uLE developers as I don't intend to waste time figuring out how their program works.

That would be awesome mate.

Whether it ends up happening or not, many thanks for considering it. And thanks for explaining the logistical difficulties involved in developing such a feature.

If it's too big a task, then that's OK. Whilst this would be a SUPER feature to have, we can all survive without it if necessary.

Cheers.

[spud42]

Since it's come down to this, if nobody takes up this project in the near future, I'll try to integrate my HDLoader filesystem driver into uLaunchELF... if it gets completed at all. But then I'll need the cooperation of the uLE developers as I don't intend to waste time figuring out how their program works.

good luck dlanor hasnt been here since april....... 10-04-2012 12:31 AM.

[amp2006]

good luck dude and nice idea .

also if you couldnt PM dlanor contact EP.

[Bat Rastard]

So I did it to save others from realizing that they wasted 2-3 days of their lives creating something that may not be really too beneficial to anyone.

You said it ... Sony's actual documentation is more demoralizing than their lack of documentation is infuriating ...

[dis astranagant]

Amen to that, after a taking a while to cool down I'm not sure I have THAT much dev time to throw at a dead platform and finally got around to hooking things up for a much larger than planned round of winhiip and canned air. Now I just have to figure out why it thinks my Armored Core Nexus discs are dupes and I'll have this behind me for a bit.

I was mostly indignant because it's rather odd that people have been hacking away at our favorite little black box for so long and no one's put their heads together to build a common library so everyone doesn't spend half of development trying to implement half of ulaunchelf (or other handy programs) in their project every time they want to make something. But that's probably a pipe dream at this point.

[SP193]

good luck dlanor hasnt been here since april....... 10-04-2012 12:31 AM.

good luck dude and nice idea .

also if you couldnt PM dlanor contact EP.

That's just too bad, if he can't be reached. Actually, dlanor hasn't been active here in about a year. Previously, he could be found logging in nearly every day.

EP seems to still be around, occasionally.

I was mostly indignant because it's rather odd that people have been hacking away at our favorite little black box for so long and no one's put their heads together to build a common library so everyone doesn't spend half of development trying to implement half of ulaunchelf (or other handy programs) in their project every time they want to make something. But that's probably a pipe dream at this point.

That is the odd (?) thing about the Playstation 2 community.

We have:

1. A not totally bug-free SDK.
2. A SDK which has nearly no documentation.
3. Some good homebrew software using their own heavily modified SDK.
4. Some of these homebrew software use modified parts of the SDK to get around bugs.
5. And... sometimes these bugfixes don't get committed into the main PS2SDK repository.

I believe that ever since the ps2dev.org SVN repository went down, the PS2 homebrew commuity started showing signs of great fragmentation.

Without a central repository, I can now find 2-3 versions of the PS2SDK, with the last revisions of each repository having different changes made by different developers from each other.

All of them, unfortunately, probably still contain the bugs that I've found recently.

Now you all know why I am sometimes hideously slow at making releases and why I sometimes suddenly go AWOL after announcing that some piece of software has hit a new milestone.

You said it ... Sony's actual documentation is more demoralizing than their lack of documentation is infuriating ...

And there is also a problem with the language the author(s) used when writing the documentation. It's sometimes difficult to understand what they were trying to explain. :/

After reading their documentation... you may suddenly not feel like coding whatever large masterpiece you dreamed of.

[Bat Rastard]

Exactly what happened to me. When I first installed FMBC and OPL, I got full of piss of vinegar with a rah-rah-rah can do attitude that the OP expressed. Then my eyes glazed over way too many times wearing myself (and my nerves) out on the documentation. Knew immediately I wasn't alone. Many poor souls long before me had the same idea, same attitude, same drive and determination only to have the wind blown out of their sails long before they strung together a single line of code. Makes you feel a lot a compassion for that those that actually did -- whether their pet project saw daylight or not. The PS2 homebrew scene is impressive. The fact that nobody involved is wearing orange jumpsuits (yet) is really impressive ...