I mode cable/software

Post by **danhans42** » August 13th, 2013, 12:51 am

I have just acquired a nice cheap little item, which comes with the I mode cable. This allowed selected Japanese I mode enabled mobile phones to link to the playstation.

Anyone know anything about them from a software development perspective? I assume they just connect rx and tx between the ps1 pad/MC port and the mobile tx/rx. I will have a closer look when I get a minute.

IMG_20130812_145026.jpg

Post by **Shendo** » August 13th, 2013, 12:32 pm

PSX uses modified SPI protocol (250 Khz clock) with the added ACK line for interfacing with peripherals.
This adapter could be either pass through or it implements a SPI to TTL converter.

Each peripheral can be accessed with a different ID in the first byte:
0x01 - Standard digital controller,
0x81 - Memory Card.

I'm guessing this adapter has an ID of it's own too.
Use an I mode compatible software and see if it detects adapter but complains
about the missing phone (then it's not just pass through).

Post by **danhans42** » August 13th, 2013, 8:41 pm

Cheers Shendo,

I know of the PS using modified SPI protocol for mmemory cards and controllers, I was thinking that the playstation perhaps used the MOSI/MISO lines as TTL. I don't think there is actual physical space in the cable for any hardware. If there isn't any hardware in the cable that could be quite cool air might open up the possibility for an additional serial port that can be used.

I'll post more on it later this week when I'm back home. The titles I have are in Japanese mind you

Post by **danhans42** » August 14th, 2013, 4:58 am

Bit more from Martin Korths (noca$h), psx specs document..

SIO Ports vs JOY PortsSIO uses I/O Addresses 1F801050h..1F80105Fh, which seem to be organized similar to the Controller/Memory Card registers at 1F801040h..1F80104Fh, though not identical, and with an additional register at 1F80105Ch, which has no corresponding port at 1F80104Ch.SIO_BAUD is <effectively> same as for JOY_BAUD, but, <internally> they are a bit different: JOY_BAUD is multiplied by Factor, and does then ellapse "2" times per bit. SIO_BAUD is NOT multiplied, and, instead, ellapses "2*Factor" times per bit. Unlike for the Controller/Memory Card ports, the data is transferred without CLK signal, instead, it's using RS232 format, ie. the transfer starts with a start bit, and is then transferred at a specific baudrate (which must be configured identically at the receiver side). For RS232, data is usually 8bit, and may optionally end with a parity bit, and one or two stop bits.

Post by **Shendo** » August 16th, 2013, 1:28 am

Yup. Martin's awesome document was really helpful when I was making siolib for Tail's' PSXSDK.

Anyway, for now you will need to see how software responds.
After that i think the only viable option is to use logic analyzer and see what kind of data is transferred.

There is also a possibility of "bombarding" the adapter with every value from 0 - 255 and see what kind of response
it will give. It's trial and error and it's time consuming but it might yield some results.

Post by **danhans42** » August 16th, 2013, 4:27 am

Inside of the cable...

Post by **danhans42** » August 16th, 2013, 10:27 am

looks like the game I have has anti-mod protection.. bollocks.

I will have to open my never used SCPH-1002 and disk swap as I havent as yet figured out how to write what the hell I like to the memory card/joypad SIO port.

Post by **Shendo** » August 16th, 2013, 12:56 pm

Yeah. BIOS routines don't allow writing custom data to pads.
And padlib while it patches the BIOS for analog control it still doesn't allow programmer to send custom data.

Luckily Tails implemented direct port access in his PSXSDK for sending whatever you desire to pad and Memory Cards.
You can use QuerryPad routine for this.

Post by **nocash** » August 10th, 2023, 11:04 am

I've got one of those I-Mode cables, and I am disassembling the "Hamster Club-i" executable.
And I've found this official document, which contains a few info snippets:
http://lorezan.free.fr/ps1/iMODE.pdf Software Development Seminar: iMode System

Is there any more detailed official documentation? According to the above doc, there should be a library called "libimode" - does anybody have that library? Especially, having the "libimode.h" header file would make it easier to disassemble the executable.

Maybe that stuff can be found in some SDKs or CDROMs, dated from 2000 or newer (the I-Mode games are from 2000-2002).

Post by **nocash** » August 16th, 2023, 11:18 am

Here's the pinout for the I-mode connector and chipset...

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