n00bROM - Open Source Caetla Alternative

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LameGuy64
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n00bROM - Open Source Caetla Alternative

Post by LameGuy64 » October 3rd, 2020, 10:59 pm

This project's actually been out for quite sometime now, but haven't got around to write a post about it until now. Though the delay was probably a good thing as it's been polished up to its current pristine state since it was first released on Github and on my website.

This is effectively my own spin of a Caetla-like firmware for PAR/GS and Xplorer cartridges that I've started tinkering about sometime around August-September 2019, only more developer oriented as it lacks gaming oriented features such as a memory card manager, audio players and cheats which are likely not going to be implemented as it is beyond the scope of this project.

Anyhow, n00bROM sports the following features:
  • Automatic and manual video standard selection.
  • Chipless CD-R boot; nocash unlock (US/EU consoles only) and easy swap trick with working CD Audio (for JP consoles).
  • Quick boot capability.
  • Uses BIOS CD-ROM boot routine for maximum compatibility.
  • Upload PS-EXEs and binary files over serial using mcomms/liteload protocol, or high speed upload over parallel port with an Xplorer using the included xpsend tool (works with USB and PCIE parallel port adapters provided they support SPP under Linux, requires real parallel port under Windows).
  • Supports pcdrv file serving (Xplorer only).
  • TTY over serial or Xplorer redirection for stdin and stdout.
  • Exception screen for trapping software crashes visually.
  • EEPROM detection and work-in-progress cartridge identification.
  • Built-in flash utility for updating/replacing n00bROM easily.
  • Supports more EEPROMs than Caetla for self-flash operations.
  • Background options: Animated plasma and SMPTE bars.
  • Supports patch binaries for use with homebrew debug monitors.
  • Small ROM size; just under 32KB.
Image
Image
(screenshots are a bit old, I'll get around to updating them eventually)

n00bROM can be found in either my website or my Github repo, the latter of which includes the source code written entirely in MIPS assembly and is pretty much the largest piece of MIPS assembly I've ever written thus far. n00bROM source code is under the Mozilla Public License v2.
Please don't forget to include my name if you share my work around. Credit where it is due.

Dev. Console: SCPH-7000 with SCPH-7501 ROM, MM3, PAL color fix, Direct AV ports, DB-9 port for Serial I/O, and a Xplorer FX with Caetla 0.35.

DTL-H2000 PC: Dell Optiplex GX110, Windows 98SE & Windows XP, Pentium III 933MHz, 384MB SDRAM, ATI Radeon 7000 VE 64MB, Soundblaster Audigy, 40GB Seagate HDD, Hitachi Lite-on CD-RW Drive, ZIP 250 and 3.5" Floppy.

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Squaresoft74
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Post by Squaresoft74 » October 4th, 2020, 11:28 pm

Great work LameGuy64 ! :)
Is there any room for LPT upload speed improvement ?
Currently getting around 45kb/s, which is nice but sadly still far from what nocash kernel/no$psx offers.

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LameGuy64
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Post by LameGuy64 » October 5th, 2020, 11:41 am

Haven't really tested parallel port upload speeds very much, though I usually hit ~75KB/s on my workstation running Linux using a CH384 based PCIE serial + parallel port card. Perhaps inpout32's overhead is slowing things down a bit.
Please don't forget to include my name if you share my work around. Credit where it is due.

Dev. Console: SCPH-7000 with SCPH-7501 ROM, MM3, PAL color fix, Direct AV ports, DB-9 port for Serial I/O, and a Xplorer FX with Caetla 0.35.

DTL-H2000 PC: Dell Optiplex GX110, Windows 98SE & Windows XP, Pentium III 933MHz, 384MB SDRAM, ATI Radeon 7000 VE 64MB, Soundblaster Audigy, 40GB Seagate HDD, Hitachi Lite-on CD-RW Drive, ZIP 250 and 3.5" Floppy.

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Shadow
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Post by Shadow » October 12th, 2020, 12:57 pm

Greatest ROM ever made :mrgreen:
Development Console: SCPH-5502 with 8MB RAM, MM3 Modchip, PAL 60 Colour Modification (for NTSC), PSIO Switch Board, DB-9 breakout headers for both RGB and Serial output and an Xplorer with CAETLA 0.34.

PlayStation Development PC: Windows 98 SE, Pentium 3 at 400MHz, 128MB SDRAM, DTL-H2000, DTL-H2010, DTL-H201A, DTL-S2020 (with 4GB SCSI-2 HDD), 21" Sony G420, CD-R burner, 3.25" and 5.25" Floppy Diskette Drives, ZIP 100 Diskette Drive and an IBM Model M keyboard.

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