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@@ -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 ;-)