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PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: November 26th, 2013, 9:30 am
by Shendo
Another new project :dance

This one is fairly simple but I think it's a very useful one.
As you may or may not know I made a MemcardRex application for management of Memory Card images.

A while back I added support for DexDrive and MemCARDuino (Arduino based Memory Card reader).
Both of those use serial port so I got an idea since PS1 has a serial port too.

So I made an application called PS1CardLink which basically turns PS1 into a serial Memory Card reader.
Image Image

Everything is finished so I'm looking for beta testers to catch bugs which I might have missed.
Compatibility with the cards should be high since real PS1 is used but you never know...
All brands of cards are welcome for testing.

If someone is interested I'll send them a PM with the beta software.

Edit: It's released. Get it from my blog.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: November 26th, 2013, 12:24 pm
by alex.d93
Cool project!
Can I be a beta tester? :)

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: November 26th, 2013, 6:12 pm
by Spipis
Nice! Very promising!
And these days i was looking to buy a Card Reader!
Count me also for beta tester!

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: November 26th, 2013, 10:51 pm
by Shendo
PM sent. Have fun.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 6th, 2013, 1:02 am
by Shendo
I updated interface a bit and did more tests. Seems to work fine so far.

Image

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 7:01 pm
by PsxFan107
May I beta test?

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 21st, 2013, 12:07 am
by Shendo
Sure. I've sent you a PM.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 21st, 2013, 1:27 am
by Orion_
does your tool will be open source ?
or is it possible to add a plugin ?
because I will make a tool to read memory card from the PS3 USB adaptator, and I would be glad If I could use an already made tool to avoid the memory card parsing process and windows UI.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 21st, 2013, 2:18 am
by Shendo
You mean MemcardRex. I have no plans of open sourcing it but I'll be willing to make a plugin interface.
Currently it has a plugin support but only for save editors. I can easily add a new API for hardware communication.
But the requirement is that it needs to be written in .net languages (C# or VB.NET).

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 21st, 2013, 7:28 am
by Orion_
ahwwww...
why using C# and heavy .net stuff :/
my code will be in C, so I guess it won't be possible.
I will make a basic program then people will be able to load the mem card binary to standard memcard editor like yours or psxmemedit.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: December 21st, 2013, 9:06 am
by Shendo
It just suits me better on a project like this where I'm freely able to
design GUI with WinForms and not some 3rd party widgets or Win32 API.
That's just one advantage but there are many more.

Not all is lost however. I'm still able to use unmanaged dlls in my application.
If you make a dll with exported functions I can incorporate it in MemcarRex.
It won't be a plugin however, it will be hardcoded.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: January 23rd, 2014, 5:30 am
by Shendo
Release is near :). I've sent the latest build to testers, please report any bugs.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: January 23rd, 2014, 5:48 am
by danhans42
Could I please try the beta? I have a GT2 save I could really do with backing up and don't want to have to set up my desktop just to plug in an xplorer. Cheers

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: January 23rd, 2014, 6:38 pm
by Shendo
PM sent, have fun.

With that I'm closing the beta program. It will be available to general public soon.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: January 31st, 2014, 4:56 am
by Shendo
Just to let everyone know it's released. You can grab it here.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: January 31st, 2014, 11:37 am
by yogi
Thank you very much! Been watching your blog on n off looking for the release, but missed this thread till now :)
Yogi

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: May 7th, 2014, 5:23 am
by provato
Thanks so much for PS1CardLink!!! I want to use it, but I don't know what cable I need to connect my ps1's serial port to my pc's serial port! Where can I find such a cable?

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: May 7th, 2014, 9:15 am
by Shendo
You can use a cheap CH340 USB TTL module and connect TX, RX and GND lines on the PS1 side.
That's the setup I'm using and it's been working fine with various software I used inluding PS1CardLink.

You can also buy premade cables from here if you don't want to waste your time making a cable.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: May 7th, 2014, 10:05 am
by provato
Ok, thanks Shendo, I think I'll pass for now because I don't even have a link cable, and pre-made are not exactly cheap.
I guess I'll stick to good old ulaunchelf in ps2 for now if I want to backup my ps1 saves.

You're making great apps btw. I use memcardrex all the time, and I like padtest, although you should check the "twin ps to PC converter" windows drivers interface, for buttons, vibration and calibration checking ;) I'll post some pics tomorrow to show you what I mean.

Re: PS1CardLink (WIP)

Posted: May 8th, 2014, 5:11 am
by tlrmcknz
Shendo wrote:You can use a cheap CH340 USB TTL module and connect TX, RX and GND lines on the PS1 side.
Is your CH340 using 5V and you dropped the voltage on tx?