GUIDE The many unusual types of TEST ps2.

If that was the case, a 3rd party secrman module would work with it, no ?

How about testing loading a secrman from another console on it ?

I think I remember someone mention he tried that on a tool and the mechacon actively refused to complete the commands related to file decryption.

By the way, the DTL-H10000S supposedly will be identical to the DTL-H10000 besides the fact that it will have the retail top cover instead of the "TEST" top cover. It's so the unit can be used on trade shows (for publicity pictures). It's desirable that units used on trade shows reflect the brand identity, which the usual development hardware does not need to.

 

That's because a TOOL has a MECHACON (CXP102064-751R) that we know doesn't support MG file decryption. This DTL-H10000 has got a CXP102064-003R (unlike the CXP101064-602R), which isn't used in any other console.
Yes, tests can be done. But no tests were made yet because we're busy with other stuff at the moment. I feel that it's quite likely that this chip doesn't support file decryption either.

Regarding the DTL-H10000S, I made that statement to clarify against what I originally wrote. I originally wrote that it had a different set of IDs, which turned out to be just a result of a corrupted EEPROM.

 

Just to mention, people has already found odd dev PS1 consoles with weird mechacon revisions, oddball BIOS versions and weird chipset combinations.

It's very likely that such happened with PS2 dev hardware too.

 

I also realized... that this (DTL-H10000 with CXP102064-003R) MECHACON model was listed in the SCE ELECT service tool.

BTW, I forgot to mention that the DTL-H30000 has ROM v1.50, instead of the usual v1.10 and v1.20 that the US and European units have respectively.

 

That aligns with the USA version GH-010, I suppose.
"150AC20001228"

Edit: My SCPH-30000 is newer than this(GH-016), I don't have any Japanese GH-010 units atm so I don't know if all D type units for Japan had 1.60 (like mine) or if 1.50 exists.

There's no B or C chassis units in Japan. When they started selling expansion bay units in Japan, it was already D type units.

 

Hello!
I'm trying to understand whether or not the TEST units have real debugging capabilities, or they are just called "Debugging Stations".
AFAIK the TOOL has a real, fully-featured debugger, while the TEST units are just region-unlocked PS2.
So, if I wanted to get one, would I be able to load games from HDD? I recall reading somewhere that CEX binaries are not supported on DEX consoles, but I may be wrong.
Thanks,
~Jack

 

TEST consoles are meant for test playing of prototype games in CD-R/DVD-R media so there's no need of producing final discs to run test builds of software.
Hence why they're called "DebuggingStation" (sort of a joke with "PlayStation" product name).

It has really nothing to do with actual debugging of program code.

 

Thanks!
I guess FMCB/OPL won't run on a TEST, then?

 

Actually there's no technical reason for it to not work on a TEST.

It's just that most TEST units have the "Magic Gate" boot feature disabled so they can't boot encrypted PS2 discs(Utility discs), can't boot from the harddrive or from memory cards (FMCB).

So you have to load OPL from a disc.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

 

Hey,
I'd like to pick up PCSX2 support of various things mentioned in this thread again.
The emulator does in fact HLE many of the boot related functions.
There's no reason not to try and support different methods though.
It's possible to add required changes that enable debugging capabilities on PCSX2.
As long as these changes block it running games, they can be optional, maybe with a #define or an .ini setting.

Everyone would benefit from a more true-to-hardware solution, I believe.
I'm especially interested in advancing DECI2 possibilities on retail hardware and, for comparisons, on PCSX2.

 

The DEX units don't have DECI2 capabilities, only TOOL units do.
Since PCSX2 is an emulator, you could probably modify it to support a configurable IOP RAM size setting. Or maybe just make it emulate a TOOL unit's IOP RAM size.
Either way, games will play nicely with DECI2, once you give them 8MB of RAM.

The PSX unit itself has 8MB of IOP RAM, and the RAM size reported by the IOP kernel isn't even updated to 2MB after I switch its operating mode from PSX to PS2 mode. So SONY probably didn't care about whether it's 2 or 8MB available, as long as there's at least 2MB available.

You only have to emulate the CPU debugging features, SIF2, PIF and the MRP board. The DECI2 capabilities should work, if the user provides a ROM image that supports DECI2 (i.e. from a TOOL unit).
Or maybe in the future, if and when FPS2BIOS ever gets picked up again, a custom ROM with DECI2 can be created.
All EE kernels do support DECI2, except that there's nothing for them to talk to on the CEX units (no IOP DECI2 manager).