Updated the FAQ with Caetla stuff...

1 files changed, 123 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/FAQ-psx.txt b/FAQ-psx.txt
index 6ec6061..2602bd6 100644
--- a/FAQ-psx.txt
+++ b/FAQ-psx.txt
@@ -20,3 +20,126 @@ A: http://www.psxdev.ip3.com/
    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/6131/psxprog.html
    http://home.hiwaay.net/~jfrohwei/home.html
    http://www.flyonthenet.it/net/psx_faq.htm
+   http://badtaste.free.fr/
+   http://membres.lycos.fr/fennec
+
+
+Q: What hardware do I need to fully do PSX debugging?
+A: You first need an Action Replay, or GameShark, or GameHunter, or whatever.
+   Those things may have many different names. Just don't stick on the name.
+   Look at this picture, if it looks like that, then it's an Action Replay:
+   
+      http://membres.lycos.fr/fennec/mipsice/images/AR.jpg
+   
+   Well, I hope I don't say anything wrong, but everytime I saw something
+   like this, it was an Action Replay.
+   
+   We usually call this thing "PAR" for "Pro Action Replay".
+   
+   The next thing to buy, is a PC Comm Link. It's an ISA card you plug into
+   any computer equipped with a free ISA slot, and that you link to the PAR
+   with a shipped cable.
+   
+   To buy those two things, you can go to this website:
+   
+       http://www.lik-sang.com
+       
+   If you're lucky enough, this link will be still valid:
+   
+       http://www.lik-sang.com/catalog/product_info.php?category=0&products_id=234&
+   
+   There is actually two versions of PAR. One with 1M of EEPROM, and one with
+   2M. Don't buy those with 2M. I got one, and I crashed it when I wanted to
+   play with it. It is trash now. Well, give it a try if you want. I don't want
+   to trash any more PAR ;-)
+   
+   Ho, and, last thing: it's MegaBits, not MegaBytes. So 1M means actually
+   128KB of usable memory.
+
+
+Q: What's exactly a PAR?
+A: It's a small device you plug on the parallel port of your playstation. That
+   means you can't plug them on PSOne, or on playstations model 9xxx. I had to
+   buy a 5xxx playstation to be able to plug the PAR on it.
+   
+   When this device is plugged in, it loads the EEPROM into the memory of the
+   playstation. The EEPROM contains a small programm that affects the way the
+   playstation works. So, you'll see a menu with some options, and you will
+   be able to cheat into any game, or to see the movies on the cd, etc...
+   
+   The idea is that you can put into the EEPROM any program you may want. So
+   you will be able to put, say, a debugging thing as a program.
+
+
+Q: What software do I need to fully do PSX debugging?
+A: Here comes the funny part. You need two things. First, you need what's
+   called "CAETLA". Take care: there is a common mistake. Many people types
+   "CAELTA" instead of the right name.
+   
+   Don't expect to find the web site of Caetla any more. It is closed. The only
+   way to get it is to look for it into the internet. Just take a look on
+   the links I gave.
+   
+   Caetla is composed of two things. The bios replacement for your PAR, and
+   some tools. The tools are usually in japanese, but there is some hacked
+   translated versions that lays everywhere.
+   
+   Every tools from Caetla works the same. It takes the sames arguments. The
+   may one you may want to use is the -P switch. It allows you to select a
+   PC Comm Link. By default, all the tools look for a PC Comm Link on the port
+   0x320. If you want to specify a different port, just do it that way: if your
+   PC Comm Link is on the port 0x3?0, then add the switch -P?. My PC Comm Link
+   is on the port 0x330. So I usually type -P3.
+   
+   The only good purpose of the DOS versions of the Caetla tools, is to flash
+   the bios of your PAR, called CAEFLASH.
+   
+   This is not a difficult task. You first may want to test if the CAEFLASH
+   tool is able to do its work. Type the following command:
+   
+      CAEFLASH -T
+   
+   (add the -P option if necessary).
+   
+   It will say something like this: "Trying to talk to the PAR". If your
+   playstation is switched on, reset it. Otherwise, power it up.
+   
+   When the PSX powers up, the TV should get black, you may hear the CD
+   spinning, and nothing else should happen on the PSX side. On your computer
+   side, the CAEFLASH should say that it has "detected the PAR, press the
+   space bar to continue". Do so, and CAEFLASH will then try to detect the PAR
+   hardware. Say 'y' to the question if the hardware is correct, and the write
+   test will begin.
+   
+   After that, you may want to backup your old BIOS before flashing it. This is
+   the following command:
+   
+      CAEFLASH -B backup.rom
+      
+   "backup.rom" is the filename that will be written. You will have to repeat
+   exactly the same as above. Every time you use CAEFLASH, you will have to
+   repeat the same operations.
+   
+   Then, you can finally flash your PAR bios with the CAETLA bios. Just do
+   the following:
+   
+      CAEFLASH CAETLA35.BIN
+      
+   CAETLA35.BIN is the file I got that contains the Caetla 0.35 bios. You may
+   have a different filename. Note that the 0.35 is the last bios produced by
+   Caetla.
+   
+   When you did that, you will be able to toy with other tools. All the PSX
+   tools you may want to use are for the Caetla bios. So, you only need to find
+   a PSX debugger now. PSDEB is a good choice. As usual, look on the links I
+   gave, and you will be able to find many windows and linux tools that works
+   with the Caetla bios.
+
+
+Q: Help! When I flashed my PAR with the Caetla bios, it is now all in japanese!
+A: Don't panic and press the buttons L2 and Select simoultaneously, and answer
+   "Yes" (Remember: "Ok" is the 'O' button of your pad)
+
+
+Q: Help! When I flashed my PAR with the Caetla bios, it is now black and white!
+A: Don't panic and press the buttons L1 and Select simoultaneously ;-)