Coding homebrew on 2.5

[Endeavour]

Hi guys,

I posted this elsewhere but didn't get the answer I was looking for, I think my question was misunderstood.

I'm trying to understand how to dev homebrew on 2.5 firmware. I know how to code C/C++. I know how to install all the tools and devkit etc etc. I know OGL and SDL. That's not my problem. I've read through all the tutorials I can find but none are any help - they're all "welcome to your first C prog" type tuts. Here's what I need to know:

Assuming I have coded my first piece of homebrew and I have my eboot file sitting on my harddrive, ready to be tested.

Because I have firmware 2.5, does this mean I have to enable USB mode, copy the eboot, exit USB mode, boot GTA, go to the save game, use the eloader, select my eboot and then see what happens?

I see a couple of major problems with this. First, that's going to take 5+ minutes every time I want to test a code change. Second, there's no apparent way to debug the code. Every tutorial and forum post I've found completely skips over this, or assumes you use (cough) LUA.

If I'm right and there's no other way to code and test homebrew (and there's no way to debug), then I'll give up on this right now because there's no sensible way to code anything under those restrictions. If I'm wrong and there's a super-smart way to deploy and test code please tell me!

Thanks.

[zx-81]

Originally Posted by Endeavour

....
Assuming I have coded my first piece of homebrew and I have my eboot file sitting on my harddrive, ready to be tested.

Because I have firmware 2.5, does this mean I have to enable USB mode, copy the eboot, exit USB mode, boot GTA, go to the save game, use the eloader, select my eboot and then see what happens?

It is exactly what i do for my homebrew developpement, because like you, i've got a 2.5 FW.

Sometimes i prefer to use PSP-ftpd to go faster (i don't have to exit the loader and GTA, i've only to run psp-ftpd).

Originally Posted by Endeavour

....
I see a couple of major problems with this. First, that's going to take 5+ minutes every time I want to test a code change. Second, there's no apparent way to debug the code. Every tutorial and forum post I've found completely skips over this, or assumes you use (cough) LUA.

If I'm right and there's no other way to code and test homebrew (and there's no way to debug), then I'll give up on this right now because there's no sensible way to code anything under those restrictions. If I'm wrong and there's a super-smart way to deploy and test code please tell me!

Thanks.

For debug i use the screen of the PSP to display traces ... and also (as many others homebrew developpers) i use a debug file (redirect stdout or stderr to a log file etc ...).

Hope that help.

[Samstag]

If you're serious about developing for the PSP you might consider getting a 1.5 from Ebay and selling your 2.5. Then you can use PSPLink and cut your cycles down to 5-10 seconds per compile and you get remote GDB access.

[tommydanger]

hrm yes that's bad
Furthermore the gta eloader doesn't support usb mode, only the tiff eloader does afaik.
some time ago I loaded my homebrew through the tiff eloader then went back to the eloader, enabled usb mode, copied a new version of my homebrew to the psp, tried to start it again, but nothing happend, unfortunately.
don't know if the latest eloader already supports that

as Samstag said, get a 1.5 PSP and youre fine, PSPLINK,easy access through the game menu,..
also a 2.0 PSP would do the job

[Endeavour]

ok, thanks guys, that's the info I needed. I'm not going through all that hassle just to code for the PSP, and selling just to get a 1.5 firmware version isn't worth it.

Looks like I won't bother. Thanks.

[XSonic]

If you REALLY wanna code for the PSP, won't it be worth the wait to see if it works? By the way, it doesn't take five minutes, maybe 2-3 minutes.

[zx-81]

The (only?) advantage to develop on 2.5 is that you're sure that it will work on all FW up to 2.6.

[Endeavour]

By the way, it doesn't take five minutes, maybe 2-3 minutes.

2-3 minutes per build is unacceptable for coding. It interrupts your concentration and your flow. Sure, sometimes you can go 30, 40 mins of coding without a single build for the easy stuff, but for the fiddly little changes you might need to repeatedly build and test every minute or 2.

3 minutes per build, 10 builds, you've just wasted half an hour for no reason. I'll stick to PC and PocketPC coding, thanks.

[slicer4ever]

yea unfortuantly that is codeing for c/c++ but with lua they developed the holeist thing for 2.1+ that is: luaplayerwindows so if you do wanna code for the psp i surgest lua at least for 2.1+ but untill someone can develop the same thing for c/c++ you ganna have to stick to loading up gta all the time

[Hardrive]

There is a PSP Homebrew emulator for the PC, but I don't know how well it works:
PSPE