Linux and Windows on the PSP
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 13th 2005 1:30PM
posted Aug 13th 2005 1:30PM
Yes, it looks like one man was able to do what many could not (well, kind of): get Linux (and Windows) on the PSP. Ok, so it's not exactly what the crew at the PSPLinux project were aiming for since it's x86 emulated, but a PSP hacker by the name of Matan phoned in to let us know he ported Bochs (an open-source x86 emulator) to the PSP (which runs on MIPS R4000 CPUs) and successfully tested, booted, and ran Linux and Win95. This isn't really going to halt the PSPLinux project since they're shooting for native (not emulated) support though, so keep on truckin' everybody, we're almost to the promised land.
[Thanks, Matt]
sweet, always dreamed of playing solitaire and minesweeper on the PSP
Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?
i wanna know how to do this
i can't imagine how laggy that would get
"Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?"
Does Win95 have Wi-Fi Support?
BSOD anyone?
-"Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?"
-"Does Win95 have Wi-Fi Support?"
-Does the PSP have Win95 support?
er... um...
Can you play Doom on it?
www.itplaysdoom.com
:P
Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi, being that you almost always have to have windows 98SE when running anything wireless.
Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi, being that you almost always have to have windows 98SE when running anything wireless.
Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi, being that you almost always have to have windows 98SE when running anything wireless.
the mouse function for win95 sucks and it takes like 15 min to boot but im looking forward to playing dos games on here!
the question is...does it interact with the wipeout browser?
Win 95 does have 802.11b support, however, I doubt that the PSP running bochs does.
Old!
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000847042958/
8. I've been playing doom on my psp for weeks.
I hope everyone enjoys your 2.0 firmware. Sony is doing you a great service by offering you a partially operating browser in exchange for crippling a myriad of other functionality.
This guy must really hate his PSP is he went through all the trouble of installing Microshit Wincrap on it.
Oh man. Windows 95... shivers.
O
M
F
G
These guys never cease to amaze me. If this works as good as it looks, I might just buy a PSP. Hackers rule.
programmers rule, it's not really hacking if you're programming..
Its about time. There has been a port of Linux running on the Nintendo DS for quite a while now. And it doesn't require the system's NDA-covered SDK. Kudos to the DS coders who are actually figuring out the hardware on their own.
This is awesome, but windows 95? What was he thinking with that? I had a windows 95 computer. It sucked. From the day it was born.
This is pretty freekin' sweet. I wonder - is there a way to DOWNGRADE a PSP running firmware 2.0 to a pervious version? If someone buys a PSP with 2.0 - or accidentally installes 2.0 - is it possible to revert to an eariler version so you can run these hacks? I don't have a PSP, I'm just curious.
nope. once you upgrade you're screwed. all attempts to downgrade the firmware have been unsucessful.
boynamedsue,
It's probably because Win95 would work on the device. Remember, the processor and ram and all that isn't completely comparable to today's desktops. Win95 worked on 486's with 16 meg of ram. Granted, quite crappily compared to XP, but it ran.
how do u know if your buying one with the 2.0? and whats wrong with it?
whoops, my comment above was for Rex.
well at the moment you cant accidently install 2.0 since you have to download it from a japanese site and trasnfer to the memory stick and such
i have a Jp PSP 2.0 with WinPSP, a portal made to look like windowsXP, and i love it, it has links, a Txt reader, scientific calc, stop watch, a bunch of links to commonly accessed sites, as well as a plethora of games, such as minesweeper, checkers, hangman, lots of em
love it
bite me 1.5 users, have fun with your ol nintendo games :)
o on another note, i find it funny a bunch of people buy the Sony PSP so they can play NINTENDO GAMES, haha, just thought that was funny
sorry, just jealous, i never got emultors to work on mine, but im very satisfied with 2.0
Very Cool Stuff. Thanks for the infil, Engadget.
You can not currently downgrade. However Team Xecuter has stated that they have successfully downgraded with some hardware that they were working on.
Oh boy... Now this is a reason to get PSP
nameless (#23), google it how to tell, you can tell what firmware version a psp has by its serial number on the box, , , A for 1.5, B for 1.51, C for 1.52, and I assume C for 2.00 WHEN IT COMES! It hasnt even been released or manufactured with 2.0, but it will soon be on store shelves with 2.0.
Again, google it and look at them images..
*I've heard some say this trick does not work anymore... but I would try anyway, its your best bet.. and also I doubt many 1.50s are left, if any.
That is the awesomest thing I've seen this week! If he could get WinXP, MAN! that would rock! I've been debating whether or not I want a PSP, but if it can run a usable OSlike Win98se + then I would seriously consider it.
I use my iBook at school to take notes, but a PSP, with the keyboard accesory would be even nicer for me. Small, versatile, and still with Wi-fi. Heck yeah!
I guess I'm not that excited about this, why would I want to run Windows 95 on a 233 processor?......
I'd rather see a headline for an awesome original GAME thats good, or possibly a nice chat program.
I'd be happy if this thing was running OS X, then, maybe I'd like it and ACTUALLY want to buy one...
Timm, you would actually want to be in the market for a LAPTOP in that case, and not a HANDHELD GAME SYSTEM.
as someone pointed out. a 333mhz processor thats usually clocked down from that isn't going to be running any desktop OS's in a convenient way anytime soon. in 2020 when the PSP 3 comes out then you can marvel at the homebrew guys that have that old school OSX running on it, and then buy one.
Daniel, I would suggest getting a Pocket PC if you want to do that. A Dell Axim is currently a good deal for one with built-in Wifi, and keyboards are available for them. Even wireless (bluetooth and IR) keyboards.
Well the processor's underclocked, it's really a 333 mhz, and before you sneer that's perfectly servicable on Linux, unlike Windoze.
I'd love to get Linux on it. MMMM. But right now I'll settle for my firmware 1.5 and all my favourite old Genesis and SNES games. Yum.
"...Team Xecuter has stated that they have successfully downgraded with some hardware that they were working on."
Perhaps using hardware to flash the ROM -BLANK- and then apply 1.5 ? Is that even possible ? Just a thought. Even if you could do it that way you'd heavily risk turning your PSP into a 'brick'...
Not a bad hack. Not bad at all. I think 'Matan' deserves some accolades. It will be interesting to see Windows or Linux running with all the ticks to itself though...no emulation.
Kepp'em commin' hackers...
wow! My god, It can this.
>Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi,
>being that you almost always have to have windows
>98SE when running anything wireless.
not really, I seem to remember that Bochs can be setup to read in ports, hardware and other stuff from the host, and shove it into the guest OS as if it is a peice of hardware for it...
inotherwords, just get the PSP to feed the wireless to bochs, and get bochs to feed it through and claim it is an ethernet connection.
Tomorrow Ken Kutagari will anounce that PSP firmware version 2.5 will run Apple OSX 10.4 'Tiger.'
#14.
the previous thread is just a PSP billboard under the control of a win2k
I hope you all realize that is is utter useless waste of time, right?
It's cool that you can do this, but what can you do with it?
Why are you goobers so excited about this? It's a game machine. It's supposed to have awesome, PS2-quality games to play on the go. Yet you're all like "Holy sh*t! I'll buy a PSP for that!" when you see a 10 year old crappy operating system running on it...
No offense, but you Windows fans are pretty lame.
He installed Windows on it?
So...did it crash? :D
the funny part about you guys talking about osx and all...with this x86 emulation, and if the psps proc supports sse2, you could therorticaly get osx x86 tiger running on it. but with a giant ms, amount other huge obsticles.
rodents, hackers rule.
Definition of hacker is "a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities".
So when locknroll said "hackers rule" he was right. Programmers are just programmers, some of them are hackers but the majority are not. Programmers don't rule...
hackers don't rule. Thanks to hackers (or crackers), there is piracy. And even if there are good hackers, that do things like these, they don't rule. They did nothing but edit code. Programmers do the code. You said, most programmers aren't hackers. And most videogame designers are programmers on one or another way. I say game designers/programmers rule, and since most of them aren't hackers (read: code editors), hacker's don't rule.
hackers schackers... who cares? this is cool
Just another one of the growing reasons why I'm getting one.
Maybe he could get OSX for x86 to run on it... Then I would be interested.
One word: WHY?
I can see a bunch of dumb@asses running around with a PSP because they couldn't afford a real PocketPC. Tell me something. Do you have to bring a stupid keyboard with you to use this? What about a mouse?
#46
'Thanks to hackers (or crackers), there is piracy.'
You don't know how wrong that comment was. Piracy has always been around, my little sister could do it. Shes doesnt know a thing about computers or technology, but she could copy a CD and give it to a friend.
I don't see the point of pointing an OS like Windows on a PSP. There is absolutely no reason. But putting on a nice small, stable, fast, customised Linux installation could be good.
As this OS is run on emulation, am I correct to assume you can shut down the OS and return to the goodness of having a PSP?
For you folks that "don't see the point", maybe this isn't for you. Leave it at that.
There are people willing to explore stuff, this is one of those things.
I don't climb mountains either, but props to the climbers willing to share their experiences with us mundanes in the flatlands.
"You don't see" is right.
b, no offence, but what the hell are you talking about? a hacker is someone who takes an existing system and expands it or explores it in a new way. anyone can pirate something, it doesn't take any brains to do so, just a copy of kazaa or limewire. hell, you don't even need that, just give a hard drive full of mp3s to a friend. i agree, crackers suck, they do malicious things like damage peoples data and stupid ddos attacks. i further agree that website vandalism is stupid. but real hackers in the original mit sense of the word, are responsible for a lot of the innovation in the computing world. take a look at hack-a-day, or make magazine, or 2600, that's what i mean when i talk about a hacker. don't get me wrong, programming is great, i'm a computer science major myself. and don't think i'm trying to tell you that game programming doesn't require a lot of skill or creativity or that i don't appreciate all the time that goes into creating games. but hackers are always exploring the world around them, not trying to break things, but trying to expand and understand how they work. and for the record i would say sure, many hackers have programming experience, but someone who uses a coffee pot to boil water say, is in my opinion just as much a hacker. he's taking something that exists and using it in a non-conventional way. oh and the psp, pretty cool but i'll echo a previous comment, what are you going to do with it.
Pete
for the couple of posters who said the PSP ran at 222mhz? WRONG. Games run at that because the dev kit game developers use downgrade the cpu VIA SOFTWARE.
Almost all emulators for the psp now have full 333mhz support.
And there is more!
The PSP has a whole new processor called the Media Engine, which is also another MIPS 4000 capable of running up to 333mhz as well. This is a whole new processor different from the main cpu, but unfortunately current psp programmers(not game developers of course) can't find a way to use it.
one person said 233, otherwise 333mhz has been stated several times in the replies.
Pointless & Useless. The only purpose it serves is bragging rights.
does Win95 fit on the 32mb memory stick?
If you load windows95 can I still play psp games?
is that a pic of win 95 or is it the real thing? what if i take a screen shot of win xp desktop and save it in to my psp and say i got winxp on my psp
if you dont even have a psp, then why do some of you even care?
52. Posted Aug 14, 2005, 7:42 AM ET by Brad
I can see a bunch of dumb@asses running around with a PSP because they couldn't afford a real PocketPC. Tell me something. Do you have to bring a stupid keyboard with you to use this? What about a mouse?
Seeing as the PSP costs almost as much as a Pocket PC, I doubt people will have bought it because they couldn't by a Pocket PC. Windows also has virtual keyboard, so you don't need an attachment. And the cursor is controlled with the d-pad.
WHY??? WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS??
not even the analog stick? shame, ill stick with WinPSP Portal, but i if this isnt even Win95, just an emulator, than whats the point? o well, wake me up when they get Linux running on 2.0
good night
"Seeing as the PSP costs almost as much as a Pocket PC, I doubt people will have bought it because they couldn't by a Pocket PC. Windows also has virtual keyboard, so you don't need an attachment. And the cursor is controlled with the d-pad."
I good PPC with nice big screen and all the goodies will cost around $400. The PSP cost $250. As to the virtual keyboard, are you kidding me? How the hell are you going to type with the virtual keyboard on the PSP? Move the cursor around with the d-pad and type with the buttons??? Do you live in the stone ages or something? People want touch input with a stylus they don't want this poorman's POS PSPPC.
#67 pissed off at something? need some comfort?
lay off the bashing, there are actually people out there who are excited by this. i'll bet you're pissed off cause you spent 500 dollars on a pocketpc and you found out that a device that cost half of what yours did can run a fuller os and is more media friendly. am i right? if not then you're just being a jackass cause it makes you feel good.
anyone get divx to play on psp yet?
Useless much? (And PocketPC's are actually quite a bit more media friendly than PSP in response to an above post.)
My congrats to the developer though. It's very impressive, but hardly practical. Still, the majority of developers do this kind of thing for the experience, not to please the masses. Anyway, well done again! =)
i was wondering if its possible to use the emulator so that windows is installed on a miniature harddisk (which is available for the psp) and through the harddisk load windows onto the memory stick, when its booted up. so the memory stick act as the ram. that case you can actually install all the software on the portable harddrive and when ever the application is called upon it is loaded onto the memory stick and used from there, and then dumped when the program is closed. i'm not sure if that will work because i'm not sure if the portable harddrive is writable from the psp because i realize windows does require swapping sometimes. but if it does work then we have a miniature laptop on our hands with 40gig harddisks and 1 gig of ram(assuming if you have a 1 gig memory stick)
i was wondering if its possible to use the emulator so that windows is installed on a miniature harddisk (which is available for the psp) and through the harddisk load windows onto the memory stick, when its booted up. so the memory stick act as the ram. that case you can actually install all the software on the portable harddrive and when ever the application is called upon it is loaded onto the memory stick and used from there, and then dumped when the program is closed. i'm not sure if that will work because i'm not sure if the portable harddrive is writable from the psp because i realize windows does require swapping sometimes. but if it does work then we have a miniature laptop on our hands with 40gig harddisks and 1 gig of ram(assuming if you have a 1 gig memory stick)
"i'll bet you're pissed off cause you spent 500 dollars on a pocketpc and you found out that a device that cost half of what yours did can run a fuller os and is more media friendly. am i right?"
Keep fantasizing dumb@ass...
Thats brilliant, how can i get that?
Wow! That's awesome. I wonder if that guy could get Newton 1.0 software running on PSP. That would be great! Talk about a total waste of time!
Who'd want to play minesweeper or solitare on a PSP when you could watch porn, play badass games, browse the web, listen to MP3's, look at color photos, etc. etc. etc.!
Why not port NATIVE NT to this thing? I seem to remember that it ran on MIPS chips?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT
whad do u do if u get a blue screen?
is it possible to let me know how to do this and can you use windows xp on the psp
Personally Having Windows 95 would rock for me, because I'd be able to play Championship Manager '94 again - ON THE MOVE.
I'd have like NO social life, stood in a nightclub with my Vodka Coke in one hand and my Champ Manager in the other.
*drools*
PLease tell me how do you get Win95 running on the PsP thats quite amazing i think
thanks
English Geezer - gbc23@hotmail.com
PSP Rules
I think psp can run WinXP but you would need like a 10 gig memory card i bet that the wifi would work and the screen would be perfect and and a great video processor it would be awsome!
HELL YA!
Lame, you can just remotely control XP from another PC on a wireless network using TightVNC, and since the desktop is doing the processing, no worries about this 333MHz badboy. Its really easy to do this, heres a link: http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/195/62/
does this work with firmware 2.5?!? if it does instead of copying 1_5 to psp/game, i copy 2_5?
o yea and can u take ure psp say 5 miles away and still be using windows xp? or somehow play roms 5 miles away?
Hello, exist any Pockt PC or PalmOS emulator for our PSP ????
Hello, exist any Pockt PC or PalmOS emulator for our PSP ????
yeah it sounds great and all but how much memory do u need probably a gigabyte I bet.Its to good to be true!
You can downgrade your psp firmware v2.0 to v1.5. You just have to find the link with Google or whatever. Be careful though...as it can brick your psp..
Oh, by the way, no I dont think anything works with v2.5 or anything above v1.5 (so v1.51 or v1.52) because now they have made it impossible to run homebrew on your psp..
sweet, always dreamed of playing solitaire and minesweeper on the PSP
Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?
i wanna know how to do this
i can't imagine how laggy that would get
"Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?"
Does Win95 have Wi-Fi Support?
BSOD anyone?
-"Does it interface with the PSP's 802.11B?"
-"Does Win95 have Wi-Fi Support?"
-Does the PSP have Win95 support?
er... um...
Can you play Doom on it?
www.itplaysdoom.com
:P
Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi, being that you almost always have to have windows 98SE when running anything wireless.
Pretty sure it would not interact w/ the wifi, being that you almost always have to have windows 98SE when running anything wireless.