262w ago - First of all, readers of our Forums know (with the assistance of our Members) we have recently been doing
research into the PS3 RCO file format.
Note that it is different than that on a PSP, however, contains similarities as well. We have received a few questions as to "why" we want to examine the files... it's for a few reasons. First off- We are all curious! Secondly, the RCO files, in support with other files, enable/disable "links" to PS3 XMB options.
In related news,
we have now accessed the PS3 Flash's FileSystem, and among other things (to be posted in Part 2 or 3 of this article) it contains a folder called "ps1emu".
What is it for? We found out! Inside the ps1emu folder, upon the insertion of a PS2 disc, a file is copied there by the name of "ps1_rom.bin". Oddly enough, it is actually the custom made PS2's BIOS for the PS3! Why it's in the PS1 folder is unknown to us just yet, however, we can confirm it is the PS2 BIOS. An excerpt from ps1_rom.bin is attached below in the screenshot.
Finally, in regards to our
PS3 Flash work thus far: Successful changes have been made to some areas, however, they are not useful just yet. Before we can change large areas of code we need to recalculate the PS3 Flash's ECC. Work is ongoing on that, with more to come, including more goodies from the flash!
No
Are you Depressed?...
...
No, depends what you mean. We are using a combo of a PS3 Dev unit, as well as pulling the NAND flashes off the PS3, and dumping them in an external programmer.
A few months seem to be a lot of time, but remember that the exploitable PSP FW (1.5) had more than enough features, so adding features wasn't a neccesity in the first place. When I read about the missing BR playability I'm pretty sure once the firmware get cracked the development will expode
correct me if i am wrong.
sorry for (possible) stupid question. however, if it takes long time to force debug firmware to work on retail machines, then it is not clear if it is worth all manpower spent.
i assume, that replacement of initial bootloader with a custom one would be easier, then modification of the integer firmware. if you can force ps3 to boot from your bootloader, then it may be better to port something like coreboot to ps3.
please, correct me if i'm wrong.