A PS2 where back-ups play with NO swapping... and NO mod-chip!
Z received the
PS2 debug machine which we posted about in our August 26, 2002 news located below. However, due to a miscommunication he received a DTH-T10000 (PS2 test machine) rather than the DTL-T10000 (PS2 development TOOL) which is commonly used at software houses... of course, we have no complaints! =]
Getting down to business, after unpacking it the DTH-T10000 looks nearly identical to a retail PS2 from what we could tell. It contained 10 screws on the bottom which had to be removed to open the console's cover up, and since it's a PAL unit being used on an NTSC TV at the moment the version information screen displays at 50hz rather than 60hz. Those of you who have access to a PAL PS2 may recognize this DTH-T10000 reads as a "SCPH30004" which is interesting... and the Browser/CD Player version is 1.20 while the PlayStation Driver is 1.10 (old, eh?). It's also worth noting that this DTH-T10000 machine contains NO DVD Player driver... and as a result will NOT play DVD movies.
After using the Master Disc Patcher v3.0 on a PS2 CD-R back-up and a PS2 DVD-R back-up, Z turned on the DTH-T10000 and proceeded to try them out (keeping in mind this machine isn't chipped) and much to his suprise... BOTH direct-booted like a champ with NO swapping discs nor mod-chip used! Until now, this wasn't possible... and if Z didn't witness it first-hand he may not have believed it either. So in summary, this PS2 DTL-T10000 test machine can boot-up and play both CD-R and DVD-R PS2 back-ups with NO mod-chip nor swap method necessary!
Now all of that sounds pretty attractive, but before everyone tries to buy a "PS2 test machine" you should also be aware of the negatives which we ran across while trying it out. The first was the fact that although the unit can play PS2 DVD titles and DVD-R back-ups flawlessly, it can NOT play standard DVD movies as a result of no drivers we assume. In addition, it was discovered that even after ruling out "bad hardware" by replacing it... the DTH-T10000 will NOT allow you to save a game to a standard 8MB PS2 memory card as the machine doesn't recognize the card is in the slot. Perhaps you need a 'specially-formatted' memory card to save a game with these test machines (similar to the Tekken 4 arcade machine), but at the moment we can't confirm that hypothesis and so it gets another strike in our books as a result
Where are we going with all of this? Well, as mentioned at the beginning of this report Z was so amazed that this test machine could direct-boot PS2 CD-R and DVD-R back-ups without a mod-chip nor swapping discs that he just had to "gut it" and see just what makes this gem different than a standard retail PS2! HERE is a low-resolution picture of this DTH-T10000's mainboard... much like the exterior, the interior of this debug machine appears similar to standard retail PS2 consoles!
Those of you whom are interested in mod-chip development may wish to view some unmarked high-resolution pictures of this SCPH-30004 debug PS2's mainboard, IC's, power supply board, and DVD drive board. You can download a ZIP file from HERE of them, and if you'd like any other specific high-resolution pictures for comparison to retail PS2 PCB's feel free to drop Z a line at
ngcountry@hotmail.com.
Many of you are familiar with the X-Box's ability to flash the BIOS chip and then run X-Box back-ups on the console without the assistance of a mod-chip or swapping discs. Similar to that (although we're told the PS2 BIOS chip isn't "flashable") we feel it would be possible using an IC flashed with the PS2 Debug BIOS installed via a clip (after disabling the existing BIOS chip) or using EXPERT soldering skills to replicate what Z has witnessed with this DTH-T10000 on other retail PS2 consoles.
If our hypothesis proved true, then the "big money" in FULL no-swap PS2 mod-chips would shift from manufacturing and selling the chips to selling some type of modification clip which would allow users to flash their own IC using the PS2 Debug BIOS, fit it in some kind of clip, and then fit the clip over the existing BIOS chip to override it on boot-up tricking the PS2 into direct-booting ALL REGION originals and PSX/PS2 CD-R/DVD-R back-ups! Of course, this is all hypothetical and DON'T expect any assistance nor support from mod-chip developers/resellers on this as they (obviously) wish to continue selling chips at $50.00+ a pop. ~_^
In conclusion, feel free to further-discuss this topic in our dedicated forum thread, and please do NOT ask for the PS2 Debug BIOS to experiment with as it's the sole property of $ONY. It was released quite some time ago, and if you're searching for it the best and only advice we can give you is to try asking around on IRC EFnet. More to come as it develops...
...
Z has been playing with some design changes over the past few days, and as soon as we are completely happy with the overall look and layout the changes will be implemented into our other Web site pages also!
What you are viewing right now is an attempt to segregate our sponsor banners into an area which is pleasing to them- without adversely affecting the rest of our News Page we hope
Lastly, this layout caters to visitors whom are using display resolutions of both 800x600 and 1024x768 as those are the two most popular based on our statistics courtesy of
http://www.webtrendslive.com. More to come soon!
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Z to acquire PS2 DTL-T10000 debug machine!
Z has recently been in contact with a colleague whom is sending him a DTL-T10000 this week! This is $ONY's official PS2 development and debug machine... and it retails for a hefty 2,000,000 Japanese Yen which is roughly
$16,650.93 USD!
The DTL-T10000 is considerably larger in size than a standard PS2 console. For those interested, you can view a front comparison and a back comparison of the two units side-by-side. The particular debug machine Z is receiving now has a 110v power supply, however it originally contained a 240v supply until it was converted.
For those of you who have wondered, the DTL-T10000 plays ALL region PSX/PS2 game originals with NO modifications, however no DVD movies nor memory cards can be used unfortunately. As for PSX/PS2 back-ups, the DTL-T10000 will play them ALL, again with NO modifications nor mod-chips, but the back-up discs MUST be patched as "Master Discs" using the Master Disc Patcher v3.0!
PLEASE NOTE: The Master Disc Patcher v3.0 will NOT patch PSX/PS2 game back-ups to work on a standard retail PS2 console... you MUST own a PS2 DTL-T10000 debug machine in order to use it to play your back-ups without any modifications such as a mod-chip or swapping technique.
Finally, those of you whom are interested in obtaining a PS2 DTL-T10000 development machine may wish to do some surfing on various PS2 Forums, search engines such as
http://www.google.com, and also E-Bay auctions as you never know what you may find! Happy hunting, and we'll bring you more information and pictures on this when ours arrives! ~_^
![[bye]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/adio.gif "adios")
