Building A PS2 Ctrl -> PSP Connector
Difficulty Level: 2 of 5
1. IntroductionI don't actually like soldering stuff to embedded systems/very small PCBs. That's why I was developing this modification completely new. Yes, long ago F00f00 did the first PS2 controller -> PSP thing. But what he did was hardsoldering the PS2 buttons to the PSP's. That has pros and contras but as I said I don't like soldering to the PSP's board. So I decided to re-do the mod in a different way. After ~1month of development (and mostly waiting for stupid online shops to send hardware) it worked, even better than I thought when starting the project.
The result of my research is a little box with a PSP TV-Out plug. You simply connect it to the PSP, plug in the PS2 controller and the PSP TV cable and you're done.
It basically works by translating the PS2 controller's signal to a UART signal the PSP understands. Yes, it's possible to talk to the PSP using the TV out (also called SIO), that's what the headphone remote does as well. However, since the headphone remote thing can only control the Volup, Voldown, Play, Stop, etc buttons it was necessary to build my own driver plugin. The plugin works by injecting the button values read from the SIO directly into the syscon response.
Back to the hardware, to translate the signal a little microprocessor is needed. I'm using a 16MHz ATmega8. Smaller microcontrollers should work the same, as long as they have a hardware UART and SPI port (all the ATmegas have those afik, SPI is needed by ISP anyway). To get the software into the flash you have to have a programmer device (e.g. AVR ISP MK2).
2. Known ProblemsThere are two things not really working like they should. The first thing is the PSP plugin is not working after a suspend -> resume cycle. That means that you can't suspend (hold up the power switch for less than 3 sec) the psp, power it back up and go on using the controller. It needs a complete reboot cycle.
I'm not sure about thing #2. I got a PS2 controller from a friend of mine for testing. When pluging it in lopsided it won't be recognized by the hardware. The problem is not existing with my own controller. Maybe just the plug of his is bad, idk.
3. Part ListThis is what you need:
┬ Parts:
├— ATmega8
├— 16MHz crystal
├— 2 capacitors fitting to the crystal
├— 7805 or better LM1086 voltage regulator
├— 2 capacitors fitting the the v-reg
├— a little piece of board to solder the stuff to
├— conductors
├— 2 LEDs (different colors would be nice)
├— resistor(s) fitting to the LEDs
├— PSP Tv Out extention cable
├— PSP component TV cable
├— PS2 controller extention cable
├— a little box to fit everything in
├— a 9V battery
└— a 9V battery connector
┬ Tools:
├— soldering stuff
├— dremel
├— knife
├— AVR ISP programmer
└— PC
┬ Software:
├— AVR studio
└— PSP SDK
4. Building InformationAll in all the parts are around 30€, maybe less. The schematics are in the archive you can download at the bottom of the page. You first assemble the AVR code using AVR studio and flash it into the chip. Then you can solder everything to the board according to the schematics. Use the dremel to cut holes into the box for the PS2 connector and the TV out port. In the end the board should look like
this and the box like
this. Compile the plugin code using the PSP SDK, copy it over to the PSP, enable it and you're done. Connect everything and have fun.
5. CreditsTokoyDrift - Schematics, AVR code, PSP code (apart from SIO driver,
syscon debug handler, power callbacks)
Jean - SIO Driver based on TyRaNiD's
TyRaNiD - SIO Driver, Power Callbacks
Booster - SysCon debug handler
Blizzard - Doing this mod before (a little different though)
PSPSDK Makers - PSPSDK
Dark_AleX - Making the PSP scene big
ATMEL - Great Microcontrollers, AVR Studio
6. DemonstrationPSP With PS2 Controller - TV Out + Hardware7. LinksSource PackageeMail MeMy Youtube ChanelMy Blog
