PS-IO - Playstation Development Tool

[MidnightMonkey]

I haven't seen talk of this on here, so I figured I'd post about it. I've been following this device for the past year and some change. Pretty nifty. Plugs into the Playstation expansion port (like Gameshark or PAR), accepts SD cards, and loads disc images/ homebrew code in particular formats. Works in a similar fashion to GDEMU or Rhea, but leaves the functionality of the disc drive intact. Here's the link for further reading (support>forums goes a lot more in depth):

http://ps-io.com

Preorders for batch 2 were open at midnight eastern Australian time today (8:00AM EST) and sold out in minutes. Luckily, I was sitting my fat ass at the computer spamming F5. When it comes in, I'll post a review.

 

[sparksterz]

I've got one. Works well for most games I've thrown at it. Just wish there was a way to make the loading time faster for games that don't assume a significant read delay!

 

[MidnightMonkey]

I'm figuring the load times will be better once they implement more streamlined code in a firmware update. I'm hoping they figure out a quick fix for the incompatible titles sooner rather than later, too. We'll see. I think what they've accomplished so far is pretty outstanding.

 

[sparksterz]

I'm figuring the load times will be better once they implement more streamlined code in a firmware update. I'm hoping they figure out a quick fix for the incompatible titles sooner rather than later, too. We'll see. I think what they've accomplished so far is pretty outstanding.

I believe on the psxdev forums they had mentioned they tried speeding it up with inconsistent results and figured it was more user friendly to not pursue it at the moment at feed data at 1x speeds without accounting for spin up time. I've compared load time versus a 5501 series from the disc drive, and the ps-io is mildly faster, but nothing that will wow your socks off.

 

[Vectorman0]

There was a thread a couple weeks back. http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?263991-PSIO

I didn't realize these were shipping. I paid in November, so it seems like my order is stuck in limbo. I look forward to getting it.

 

[Jon]

So, I guess people with a PSOne are SOL?

Jon

 

[sparksterz]

So, I guess people with a PSOne are SOL?

Jon

For the moment yes. I guess they did a PoC and it can be made to work, but it'd be a different design than the original PSX. They said given the current demand for the standard board that it's not a primary focus.

 

[sylvie]

i'm gonna camp on this fucking thing

 

[MidnightMonkey]

There was a thread a couple weeks back. http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?263991-PSIO

I didn't realize these were shipping. I paid in November, so it seems like my order is stuck in limbo. I look forward to getting it.

They're shipping right now. Check the forums for live updates. They're pretty fast at responding.

i'm gonna camp on this fucking thing

Just make sure on February 29th you're sitting in front of the computer. On the forums they said that they were releasing a batch of 200. U refreshed the store page at exactly midnight their time and the stock counter was at 16. Good luck!

 

[sylvie]

Just make sure on February 29th you're sitting in front of the computer. On the forums they said that they were releasing a batch of 200. U refreshed the store page at exactly midnight their time and the stock counter was at 16. Good luck!

i didnt look terribly hard but how much are they

 

[MidnightMonkey]

i didnt look terribly hard but how much are they

$150 AUD. Comes out to like $108 and some change.

 

[Jon]

For the moment yes. I guess they did a PoC and it can be made to work, but it'd be a different design than the original PSX. They said given the current demand for the standard board that it's not a primary focus.

I get they don't have to do it. There was that Dreamcast flash USB thing that came out last year. I'd kinda like to believe someone would be willing to attempt something similar.

It hooked to the system by removing the cd drive and plugging it into the ribbon cable slot.

Jon

 

[sparksterz]

I get they don't have to do it. There was that Dreamcast flash USB thing that came out last year. I'd kinda like to believe someone would be willing to attempt something similar.

It hooked to the system by removing the cd drive and plugging it into the ribbon cable slot.

Jon

I guess the nice thing about it is that you can still use the disc drive with this solution. Though I'm still not sure if doing so allows a multi disc game to operate as normal. It also only worked on the Dreamcast that way due to how the Dreamcast was designed. The later revisions simplified things which made it incompatible. At least the majority of Playstation's shared the commonality of this port. A lot more revisions to worry about...

 

[Jon]

I guess the nice thing about it is that you can still use the disc drive with this solution. Though I'm still not sure if doing so allows a multi disc game to operate as normal. It also only worked on the Dreamcast that way due to how the Dreamcast was designed. The later revisions simplified things which made it incompatible. At least the majority of Playstation's shared the commonality of this port. A lot more revisions to worry about...

The fat PS1s weren't exactly built like tanks. Too many had to be played upside-down because of laser eye, motor issues. The ability to use both at the same time is kinda moot, if you have this problem.

Of course, this was before you could buy replacement lens parts for a few dollars.

Jon

 

[100proof]

Good luck.

Let me know if > 32GB cards work and how it handles games that had the anti-mod lockout technology.

 

[MidnightMonkey]

Good luck.

Let me know if > 32GB cards work and how it handles games that had the anti-mod lockout technology.

I'll let you know about the SD card. The anti-piracy doesn't work because of how it interfaces with the main bus.

 

[xsq]

hm, this looks rather interesting... very cool there is such a thing.
My PSX is still going strong though and I can throw all the CDRs at it I want, I don't see the benefit right now.

 

[NeoSneth]

hm, this looks rather interesting... very cool there is such a thing.
My PSX is still going strong though and I can throw all the CDRs at it I want, I don't see the benefit right now.

not having to burn CDR's or keep spindles of CDR's

 

[100proof]

not having to burn CDR's or keep spindles of CDR's

Plus no wear and tear on your laser (easy to replace or not, it's just one less thing to worry about). Plus you can fit 60+ games on a 32GB card so no having to fumble between discs. It's the same reason you use Netflix/a media player instead of a Blu Ray player: convenience.

 

[xsq]

ok. I was wrong.

 

[Omerta]

Glad to see that technology like this is advancing. A similar PSOne device would be amazing with the LCD screen.