Finally: another use for PSP's IR port. New homebrew from Fanjita and harleyg called "piKey" lets OE users the ability to use keyboards with the PSP. "Imagine being able to use your keyboard to control any PSP game or homebrew, and even the PSP's XMB menu and on-screen keyboard, automatically and without needing any changes to the other software. This is what piKey aims to give you."
An installer is included to make installation as easy as possible. The software is compatible with various infrared keyboards through the IR port, and serial I/O via the PSP's headphone socket. The download includes an user's manual to make things a bit easier.
The attractiveness of using a keyboard with the PSP seems limited to me: the device is a handheld, not a computer. However, it's certainly an interesting program. Download it at PSP Gen.
[Via PSP-Hacks]
The BBC has a truly fascinating read on the world of PSP homebrew. They managed to find Fanjita and Dark_Alex to get them to comment on homebrew, and how it relates to piracy. "My aim is to enable as many people as possible to run homebrew programs," said Fanjita, aka David Court. The 34 year old professional programmer believes that homebrew isn't illegal: "Everyone has the right to do what they want with their own hardware. Piracy does upset me, and because what we are doing opens the way to piracy it's harder to justify it morally. But our stance on piracy is clear, and we hope to be role models. Sony have never been in touch with me, so I am confident that what we are doing is legal."
Does homebrew confuse you? Many people will wholeheartedly say yes. Even after successfully downgrading, many people may not understand the varying and confusing directory structures that accompany various EBOOT files, and other technicalities. Thankfully, master programmers Fanjita and AlexRichter have released a program enthusiastically called the Install-o-tron that downloads and installs homebrew applications directly from your PSP, without a PC. It will even find homebrew that works specifically for your firmware version. Wow.
While you're waiting for our Tokyo Game Show coverage to start, here's a bit of absolutely fantastic news for you to chew on. A new version of Fanjita and Ditlew's eLoader has come out today, and it now supports 2.70 and 2.71. What's an eLoader you ask? It's the application you need in order to run homebrew on your PSP. With this new eLoader, an even larger audience of PSP fans can enjoy homebrew without having to downgrade.PSP owners are getting even more and more choices every day. People with older PSPs could emulate newer ones. People with newer PSPs could downgrade to older ones. For those that want to have fairly new firmware for new games, and also have the ability to run homebrew on one machine without too many confusing steps now have an alternative: simply running homebrew on PSPs, up to version 2.60. Ditlew and Fanjita have released a new eLoader called "Porter" that lets you run homebrew apps on your PSP. In order to use it, you'll have to download the appropriate files, and then run it on your system before using homebrew. While this may sound complicated, it's a lot better than the previous method, which involved having a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
Despite the name, there's no bitter taste in our mouths from hearing Fanjita performing yet another service for 2.01 PSP owners. His new eLoader (titled "Brown Ale", a beer-naming convention he says he'll adopt from now on) was actually released yesterday, but being the generous guy that he is, he put out an updated version of the program a mere day later. How's that for software support?
I think a little fanfare may be in order. Fanjita, the ubiquitous homebrewer most recently known for being at the center of the firmware 2.0 hacks, has released an eLoader for PSPs with version 2.01 to 2.5 firmware. Perhaps as a comment to the fact that this remedy is more a workaround versus an actual crack of the PSP software, the loader only works courtesy of the GTA exploit, which means that you’ll have to pick up a copy (or rent it, like I do) of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories to get a hefty serving of homebrew on your updated PSP. Version 2.6 PSPs are not supported at this time, although you can be sure that Fanjita’s working on making that a reality. In the meantime, why don’t you help him out by visiting his site and clicking on a few of his links.
The eLoader isn’t guaranteed to work for all homebrew applications, but for now this is as good as it gets.
[Thanks, Clay]
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