Stuff that fries your potatoes with olive oil of HAPPY.

[Spectere]

Woo!  Hacked my Xbox tonight.

I love being able to hack systems into accepting PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE games with no questions asked.  It just feels so...dirty.

Also, it's nice actually being able to use ZSNES on a console.  It looks incredible (double the resolution of the SNES with AdvMAME2x and hi-res mode 7) and runs even the most advanced games at a silky smooth 60fps.

Of course, it took quite a lot of fiddling and trial-and-error to get that far (I used the HDD hot swapping method) but uh, it worked like a charm and both the Xbox and my old computer are still a-okay.

(FYI, this is the type of things that happen when I get bored)

[Bobbias]

Wi9cked, I was thinking of doing an HDLoader type thing with my PS2, but it's practically impossible to find a simple method I can actually understand that allows me to have the option of either loading games off the drive, loading a snes emulator/rams, or loading game via my swap disk. Everything seems to be geared towards only really doing one of those things, and all the info I have seen has been pretty poorly written for the most part.

[Spectere]

That was one of the things that kept me from doing that to my PS2.  For one thing, most of the games that I play (IIDX, Pop'n) on it don't work properly with the HDLoader, plus what you mentioned.

If you want a good emulation console, your best bet would probably be to find a cheap Xbox that nobody wants.  They have the advantage of being easily hackable, having a processor that makes sense to mere mortals, and having x86 processors (so ZSNES can actually be used with all of its ass-kicking goodness).

[Bobbias]

well, if I have free money next summer, maybe. I really wish I knew enough about programming on the PS2, and how to make a SNES emulator, because I'm pretty sure the few SNES emulators that work on that thing are utter crap (I've never used any, but I'm pretty sure that's the case...)

It's be kinda cool to actually learn to program on a 128 bit CPU... But probably ridiculously hard.

[MortifiedocAlot]

Oh she is hot...also awesome design.

Her name is Vikki Blows, I still find that last name awesome.

Also how would modding my Wii be?

Also also why are you ass holes awake?

[Bobbias]

I'm up because I'm working security now, and my weekday shift is 9 PM to 2 AM.

[Spectere]

Programming the Emotion Engine isn't hard because it's a 128-bit processor.  C is C, really.  It also utilizes a fairly common MIPS core, similar to what you'd see in the PSone, PSP, and N64, albeit a few steps up (the EE is similar to a MIPS 5900).

The part that makes the PS2 so difficult to optimize for are the SPEs.  It's pretty much be the equivalent of taking an old Pentium -- a fairly weak processor -- and attaching a handful of smaller, very fast processors that can only do SSE, to it, then telling you that in order to maximize the power of the chip you'd have to be sure to keep all of the processors fully utilized.  It would be a nightmare.

Not only that, but the PS2 is all stream-based.  As I'm sure you noticed, the PS2 doesn't have a whole lot of RAM of any sorts.  As far as temporary storage goes, the PSP outclasses it by a fairly large margin.  The PS2's strength, however, is in data streaming.  Its architecture can push small amounts of data around at an incredible rate of speed.  It's pretty much the opposite of PC design -- it deals with small amounts of data very efficiently rather than loading everything in memory and processing it slowly.  Of course, that also requires a whole new approach when you're a programmer -- you have to keep the bus full at all times, otherwise you're not taking full advantage of the architecture.

So, really, the challenge of PS2 development isn't just the processor.  Oh no, you wish you could be that lucky.  The entire system is a set of intricate challenges.  That's why the late-release titles look so much better than the launch titles; it took forever for developers to learn the ropes (and from what I read, Sony's poor documentation didn't help matters).  It's not like in the NES/SNES days where the later games looked better because developers were jamming new chips in the cartridge.  No, in this case developers were finally learning how to deal with the system.

That said, the architecture is quite unique.  I suggest reading up on it, it's very interesting.

Also how would modding my Wii be?

If you have a copy of Twilight Princess, an SD card, and want to play homebrew or PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE Wii channels, about as easy as blinking your eyes.

If you want to play "backups," however, you'll still need a chip.

[OmegaOmni]

Programming the Emotion Engine isn't hard because it's a 128-bit processor.  C is C, really.  It also utilizes a fairly common MIPS core, similar to what you'd see in the PSone, PSP, and N64, albeit a few steps up (the EE is similar to a MIPS 5900).

The part that makes the PS2 so difficult to optimize for are the SPEs.  It's pretty much be the equivalent of taking an old Pentium -- a fairly weak processor -- and attaching a handful of smaller, very fast processors that can only do SSE, to it, then telling you that in order to maximize the power of the chip you'd have to be sure to keep all of the processors fully utilized.  It would be a nightmare.

Not only that, but the PS2 is all stream-based.  As I'm sure you noticed, the PS2 doesn't have a whole lot of RAM of any sorts.  As far as temporary storage goes, the PSP outclasses it by a fairly large margin.  The PS2's strength, however, is in data streaming.  Its architecture can push small amounts of data around at an incredible rate of speed.  It's pretty much the opposite of PC design -- it deals with small amounts of data very efficiently rather than loading everything in memory and processing it slowly.  Of course, that also requires a whole new approach when you're a programmer -- you have to keep the bus full at all times, otherwise you're not taking full advantage of the architecture.

So, really, the challenge of PS2 development isn't just the processor.  Oh no, you wish you could be that lucky.  The entire system is a set of intricate challenges.  That's why the late-release titles look so much better than the launch titles; it took forever for developers to learn the ropes (and from what I read, Sony's poor documentation didn't help matters).  It's not like in the NES/SNES days where the later games looked better because developers were jamming new chips in the cartridge.  No, in this case developers were finally learning how to deal with the system.

So that explains why Summoner looks like shit (graphic wise) to FFXII.

Also I didn't know this stuff about my PS2....thanks for the  info Spec.

[Bobbias]

I should point out that6 the SNES also has to make a LOT of use of the DMA. A LOT.

lol.

But yeah, I didn't really realize that it was that different. I can understand that though, actually. They are using the 128 bit processor because it's capable of handling larger chunks of data at once, making it more efficient for streaming. If you can handle a 128 bit chunk of data just as quickly as a 32 bit computer can handle 32 bits, you can have a lot faster throughput when it comes to data manipulation using the same number of cycles.

Any idea on how the graphics display mechanism works in the PS2? Because I know that dealing with graphics in the SNES is a nightmare. (other than music, it's probably one of the most agonizing things for a new programmer to grasp. SNES music is still in HEAVY development and very early stages when it comes to homebrew sound systems.)

[vladgd]

start workan tuesday

the dude said i should be getting about 30 hours a week, so it shouldn't be too bad.

assuming i start later, 4pm-10pm for 5 days, assuming that's when ill work, not too shabby.  don't start too early, don't work too late.  and that's assuming i don't open, which id probably start around 10 or 11, and even that's not bad.

anyway, the faster i get the initial training done with, the better, i want this shit to be routine boring stuff rather than "ohh no what am i doing WFSEGEHE"

-laid back manager
-about an 8 minute drive from my place
-kickass parking
-i know people there
-from what they tell me, its a pretty easy jerb

SHOULD BE OKIEDOKIE. 

[Bobbias]

And what are you doing again?

[OmegaOmni]

Don't work to hard now Vlad

[TimJing]

I found a copy of Animal Farm in my band room, so I took it. It was in the music library room, a little room in one of the corners of the band room. It looks like it hasn't been used for quite a while, so it won't be missed. I liked that book, and I read it last in, like, 7th grade, so I might reread it in the near future

[annon]

Turning around potential insults without saying anything.

So today in the lecture hall of Polisci before class started, I'd started up my Eee and was screwing around in the terminal to kill time.

Jackass behind me: (in a condescending tone) "Hey, nice computer."
Me: (stares back at him with a plain look)
Jackass: (same tone) "How much memory you got on that thing?"
Me: (gives him a "you can do better than that" face and turn back around)
Jackass: "Wha-"
Jackass's friend: (laughing) "Dude, you just got dissed hard."

[TimJing]

My swamping pictures came out really good.