PS2 Linux Beta kit extras...

[unclejun]

I've thought I should put some life in the Official PS2 Linux Kit section so I'll talk about the Beta Linux Kit

Not only does it come on 1 DVD (sparing the user those annoying Disc1/Disc2 swap during the install) and use the regular PS2 partition scheme so it can be installed along PS2 HDD compatible games, it also offers some added functionality when used on a devkit unit (DTL-T10000):

[deba5er]

So the question is, have you tried it with your T10K, and if so, does the dmesg command (or top command) show full use of the memory?

It sure would be nice to have 128MB in my regular PS2 (compared to the GB's we need for our x86 PCs) ;-)

[SP193]

Wow. =3

Does it have support for the iLink? I doubt so, but since it has support for the T10K (Which I don't remember that the regular PS2 LINUX has), who knows?

What's the AIF? I saw it mentioned in the DEV9 driver, but nobody mentioned what that was on the Internet. Not even at the Assemblergames forums where most of the owners of TEST and DEBUG units have gathered.

[deba5er]

@SP193

Maybe that's the designation for the prototype interface noted by unclejun here - DTL-T10000 /H 2nd HDD Function!!! [Archive] - The ASSEMblergames.com - Home of the obscure

?

[unclejun]

Yes, the 128MB are fully recognized.

SP193, the PCMCIA port is located on a sub-board in the devkit, and there is an IDE port on that same board.
If you want to see what it looks like, get the disassembly guide at Sony Playstation2 TOOL disassembly guide VII - The ASSEMblergames.com - Home of the obscure

I didn't see anything about iLink support in the 2.2.1 kernel sources.
The 2.4.17 kernel from the PSBBN support ILink iirc.

Here's the ouput of dmesg:

Loading R5900 MMU routines.
CPU revision is: 00002e14
Primary instruction cache 16kb, linesize 64 bytes
Primary data cache 8kb, linesize 64 bytes
  Branch Prediction  : on
  Double Issue       : on
Linux version 2.2.1 (root@betalinux) (gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #1 Sat May 31 18:12:46 CEST 2008
AIF: controller revision 3, use HDD, use RTC
no initrd found
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 392.40 BogoMIPS
Estimated CPU clock:  294.240 MHz
Memory: 128056k/131064k available (1220k kernel code, 1720k data)
Checking for 'wait' instruction...  unavailable.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PlayStation 2 SIF BIOS: 0200
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
Starting kswapd v 1.5 
ee_powctrl: start DTL-T10000 Power Control.
ee_powctrl: registered character major 246
PlayStation 2 device support: GIF, VIF, GS, VU, IPU, SPR
Graphics Synthesizer revision: 00005508
Console: switching to colour PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer 80x28
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Real Time Clock Driver v1.09
rtc: Digital UNIX epoch (1952) detected
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usb_mouse
usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0x1f801600, IRQ 42
usb-ohci.c: GrowLocalMem 64K bytes
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
RAM disk driver initialized:  1 RAM disks of 10240K size
loop: registered device at major 7
PlayStation 2 IDE DMA driver
hdb: IBM-DPTA-353000, ATA DISK drive
hdb: AIF tune: unit1, mode=12
hdc: Maxtor 4D040H2, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0xb8000060-0xb8000067,0xb800007c on irq 40
ide1 at 0xb4000040-0xb4000047,0xb400005c on irq 41
hdb: IBM-DPTA-353000, 28613MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=58135/16/63
hdc: Maxtor 4D040H2, 38146MB w/2048kB Cache, CHS=4863/255/63, (U)DMA
LVM version 0.8i  by Heinz Mauelshagen  (02/10/1999)
lvm -- Driver successfully initialized
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
Partition check:
 hdb: [PTBL] [3647/255/63] hdb1 hdb2 < hdb5 hdb6 hdb7 hdb8 hdb9 >
 hdc: hdc1 hdc2
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 48k freed
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 3
keybdev.c: Adding keyboard: input0
input0: USB HIDBP keyboard
PlayStation 2 Sound driver
PlayStation 2 Memory Card file system
VFS: Disk change detected on device ps2mc(245,0)

[SP193]

Yes, the 128MB are fully recognized.

SP193, the PCMCIA port is located on a sub-board in the devkit, and there is an IDE port on that same board.
If you want to see what it looks like, get the disassembly guide at Sony Playstation2 TOOL disassembly guide VII - The ASSEMblergames.com - Home of the obscure

I didn't see anything about iLink support in the 2.2.1 kernel sources.
The 2.4.17 kernel from the PSBBN support ILink iirc.

Here's the ouput of dmesg:

Loading R5900 MMU routines.
CPU revision is: 00002e14
Primary instruction cache 16kb, linesize 64 bytes
Primary data cache 8kb, linesize 64 bytes
  Branch Prediction  : on
  Double Issue       : on
Linux version 2.2.1 (root@betalinux) (gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #1 Sat May 31 18:12:46 CEST 2008
AIF: controller revision 3, use HDD, use RTC
no initrd found
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 392.40 BogoMIPS
Estimated CPU clock:  294.240 MHz
Memory: 128056k/131064k available (1220k kernel code, 1720k data)
Checking for 'wait' instruction...  unavailable.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PlayStation 2 SIF BIOS: 0200
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
Starting kswapd v 1.5 
ee_powctrl: start DTL-T10000 Power Control.
ee_powctrl: registered character major 246
PlayStation 2 device support: GIF, VIF, GS, VU, IPU, SPR
Graphics Synthesizer revision: 00005508
Console: switching to colour PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer 80x28
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Real Time Clock Driver v1.09
rtc: Digital UNIX epoch (1952) detected
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usb_mouse
usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0x1f801600, IRQ 42
usb-ohci.c: GrowLocalMem 64K bytes
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
RAM disk driver initialized:  1 RAM disks of 10240K size
loop: registered device at major 7
PlayStation 2 IDE DMA driver
hdb: IBM-DPTA-353000, ATA DISK drive
hdb: AIF tune: unit1, mode=12
hdc: Maxtor 4D040H2, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0xb8000060-0xb8000067,0xb800007c on irq 40
ide1 at 0xb4000040-0xb4000047,0xb400005c on irq 41
hdb: IBM-DPTA-353000, 28613MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=58135/16/63
hdc: Maxtor 4D040H2, 38146MB w/2048kB Cache, CHS=4863/255/63, (U)DMA
LVM version 0.8i  by Heinz Mauelshagen  (02/10/1999)
lvm -- Driver successfully initialized
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
Partition check:
 hdb: [PTBL] [3647/255/63] hdb1 hdb2 < hdb5 hdb6 hdb7 hdb8 hdb9 >
 hdc: hdc1 hdc2
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 48k freed
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 3
keybdev.c: Adding keyboard: input0
input0: USB HIDBP keyboard
PlayStation 2 Sound driver
PlayStation 2 Memory Card file system
VFS: Disk change detected on device ps2mc(245,0)

Interesting. Was the source for that BBNAV kernel ever released? Do you know whether there was DMA support implemented? A DMESG log might give a hint as to whether DMA support for the iLink does exist.

The reason why I need official information on the iLink hardware and can't determine whether there is a DMA channel for the iLink is because the registers for the DMA module for the LSI iLink controller is seperate from the rest of the node core's registers. D:

And seriously, controlling the iLink without DMA support is suicide for the IOP.

About the Linux DMESG log you posted:

So your T10K has 128MB of usable RAM and 2 HDD units of different models.

I see that the IBM-DPTA-353000 is a 30GB disk... so can I assume that it came with the TOOL and has SCE-customized firmware too? I don't think that there were any retail HDD units that weren't 40GB in size.

[unclejun]

The lastest kernel used by the BBNAV is available at Sony Global - Source Code Distribution Service

Sorry, I can't really help you with your iLink request, have you tried asking SilverBull?
It's related to your PS2ESDL iLink plugin, right?
How fast is it, using an iLink hdd compared to an usb hdd?

Snsystem had an iLink testing tool called ProView:

ProView 2.0 and greater uses a new SN i.LINK driver. This SN version saves 260KB of IOP RAM compared with ProView v1.1 - total memory usage of ProView 2.0 is now merely 156KB. The new driver increases the download speed from PC to PlayStation®2 to 3.8MB/s!

Source: SNSYS.COM - ProView for PlayStation®2

One of their unreleased utility claimed to have a 10MB/s transfer speed between a PC and a PS2:

Wonder what happened to that...


The T10k ususally comes with 2 internal HDD, one is connected to the Single Board Computer, it has a Linux 5.2 or 6.2 installed and it controls the T10k PS2 side.
The 2nd HDD is connnected to the MIF-2 board, it's mostly a copy of the 1st HDD (the binaries and drivers are usually older as they can't be updated), except it's useless as you can't access it from the Linux running on the 1st HDD.
When devkit comes with the DVD emu board installed, the 2nd HDD is connected to that board instead, leaving the AIF IDE connector free.

[SP193]

The lastest kernel used by the BBNAV is available at Sony Global - Source Code Distribution Service

Sorry, I can't really help you with your iLink request, have you tried asking SilverBull?
It's related to your PS2ESDL iLink plugin, right?
How fast is it, using an iLink hdd compared to an usb hdd?

Yes, I'm asking for information, so that I can (hopefully) complete my iLink drivers. Not only for PS2ESDL, but for the general community too.

I've asked Silverbull before, and I think that our conversation got cut off... but I think that it's also because he's very busy.

One thing I remember about that conversation was something like this: he remarked that my driver was too fast, so his code won't be of use to me.

Of course, that was a long time ago, and I don't quite remember.

I got about 4MB/s with my iLink drivers, about 4x faster than the OHCI USB hardware of the PS2.

Of course, the IOP had it's lifeforce totally sucked out of it by the iLink, and the reset button doesn't work during data transfers. XD
So far, most games still run... even when the IOP gets zombie'fied by the iLink.

I didn't opt for Sony's multithreaded approach, since it will mean that the iLink will run very slowly.
I had attempted what Sony did before, and all I can say is that their method has better stability and doesn't suck the lifeforce out of the IOP lol (I can still reset the console properly, and the rest of the threads won't be starved of CPU time).

But it really gives super-poor performance....

Thanks for the link.

Snsystem had an iLink testing tool called ProView:

Source: SNSYS.COM - ProView for PlayStation®2

One of their unreleased utility claimed to have a 10MB/s transfer speed between a PC and a PS2:

Wonder what happened to that...

That's... IMPOSSIBLE with the IOP.

At least, it's not possible unless the PS2 has the DMA module for the iLink hardware and it is working, and was enabled in that driver!

EDIT: OR..! They simply used the EE. (That would be "cheating" )

The T10k ususally comes with 2 internal HDD, one is connected to the Single Board Computer, it has a Linux 5.2 or 6.2 installed and it controls the T10k PS2 side.
The 2nd HDD is connnected to the MIF-2 board, it's mostly a copy of the 1st HDD (the binaries and drivers are usually older as they can't be updated), except it's useless as you can't access it from the Linux running on the 1st HDD.
When devkit comes with the DVD emu board installed, the 2nd HDD is connected to that board instead, leaving the AIF IDE connector free.

It's a pity that the 2nd HDD unit can't be used from Linux.

That reminds me: Is the fastest HDD DMA transfer mode for the T10K also UDMA mode 4? Somehow, I have this feeling that it might be possible for it to actually go faster...

[SilverBull]

I never tried using the 1394 controller in DMA mode. It is still PIO only, even in the latest Kermit release, and I never really bothered about updating it or even researching whether that would be possible. All I remember is that I actually tried to dump memory-mapped registers of the 1394 controller, and it always failed at DMA-related ones.

1394 is among the oldest parts of the code, as it was the first transport Kermit supported. I didn't know much about PS2 programming back then, and writing an IOP module was completely out of reach. I'm not too sad about the current state, though, as it allowed for some neat tricks that would be impossible when using an IOP module. After all, Kermit can single-step over IOP resets (try that on a T10k; you'll be surprised just how horribly an EE kernel can die), and it is also the only software (at least the only one I know of) that can communicate with code running in native PS1 mode.

[unclejun]

It's a pity that the 2nd HDD unit can't be used from Linux.

That reminds me: Is the fastest HDD DMA transfer mode for the T10K also UDMA mode 4? Somehow, I have this feeling that it might be possible for it to actually go faster...

The SBC wich the 1st HDD is connected to is a x86 PC on an half-size PCI board (with either a Pentium 233 or a Celeron 533 iirc), so to wich HDD does your question relate to: the AIF or PCMCIA HDD?