Xaby of the Console Tribe dev team passed by the QJ Forums earlier to announce the release of the PSP Tribe Emulator installer v4.0 HardBird Edition. The latest build of this homebrew pack will carry updated versions of its emulator database, as well as some new releases. Details on its content are available in the full article.


Download: PSP Tribe Emulators installer 4.0 HardBird Edition
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forums

PSPUAE website admin and developer FOL has announced that the dev team has updated the PSPUAE to version 0.71. This latest release has a few bugfixes for the problems found in the previous version of the program as well as some new features that fans of the application will probably enjoy. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

Download: PSPUAE v0.71

You've waited patiently for the version 0.70 release of PSPUAE, and we can now say that it's arrived! The PSPUAE team has just released PSPUAE v0.70 for folks to try out, and it's got a lot of alterations and fixes that you guys should like.

Interested in knowing more? Head on over to the full article for additional info!

Download: PSPUAE v0.70

The PSPUAE Development Team has announced that they are currently testing the PlayStation Portable Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator or PSPUAE version 0.70. The developers have also given a target date for this application as well as a look at the different features of the homebrew. Head on over to the full article for more details.

Here's another nifty emulator collection for the Sony PlayStation Portable. This time, Console Tribe's PSP Emulators Installer version 3.0 Bidellum Edition supports most emulators available for both Sony PSP Phat and Slim. Check out what homebrew emulators for the PSP are included in Console Tribe's installer at the full article.


Download: PSP Emulators Installer v3.0 Bidellum Edition
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Homebrew Development Forums

Developing dedicated or multiplatform software through a virtually-emulated machine environment is not new in the coding world, but it's not exactly commonplace either. Coder MK2k (known for Sleep'n'Wake) decided it was high time to share such an experience with other homebrew developers.

So the developer created a custom, but variably open Gentoo Linux environment emulated through VMware coupled with pre-installed modules, Samba file sharing support, PSP toolchain, and PS2 toolchain. MK2k did this to provide an alternative to the Cygwin/PSP toolchain combo, which the coder had a bit of tiresome wrestling with.

What is this exactly, you ask? It's relatively simple in a sense. You run a localized version of a virtual machine emulator for your respective operating system, be it Mac OS X, other compatible flavors and kernels of Linux, or Microsoft Windows. VMware Player is compatible with all three. Virtual machine (VM) emulation then runs by setting up your host machine (the computer running the VM) to load up a virtual machine (the VM using your computer's hardware to run another "computer").

With the virtual machine set up, you can then do everything you would do to a newly assembled computer. Defining your hard drive setup (limited by how much space you actually have on your real hard disk) would provide you with a virtual hard drive, which can be further configured for partitions or operating system (OS) installation. Coders often use VM emulation to load OSes of a totally different kernel. Windows XP "VMing" Windows 95, Linux "VMing" Windows 98 or vice versa, for example.

MK2k provides a virtual hard drive for your use - much thanks to PSPUAE member FOL's hosting - which comes preloaded with Gentoo and tools to start you off. Of course, you are free to install your own Linux-compatible tools for your development preference, plus helper utilities for special testing or connectivity. The download runs a little under 1 GB in total, but the entire virtual hard drive has been divided further into files generally around the 100 MB range for short, dedicated download bursts.

A readme sits ready with the multiple file download list, and this is where you should start for more specific information on installation and running VMware Player. MK2k advises you to course through it while downloading the files, and if you're a particular about data integrity, you're even provided a checksum file reference to weed out defective archives.

Oh, and we suggest you also grab the Browser Appliance from VMware to browse the Internet from within the virtual machine emulation. It could help loads if you have more questions for MK2k or other devs who tried this contribution. Happy coding!

Visit: QJ.NET's PSP Development Forum

Visit the download site via the read link below. Also thanks to bobtentpeg for the tip!

 

Retro gamers, gather around. The PSPUAE Development Team has just released the newest version of the  Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator, now called PSPUAE v0.63 Birthday Edition.

We're sure a lot of you have been waiting for this release as the last update was January. Hopefully, they've worked out the kinks and bugs with the help of their beta testers.

Why a Birthday Edition? Well, it's been a year since PSPUAE started and the devs released the newest version to celebrate the fact. Dev team member FOL announced the release over at the team's official site and noted the memory increase. According to the dev, "there will be some big states uploaded that were made for this version. 1 of the largest being 10.5 Megs."

Here are the changes made to PSPUAE v0.63 and who did what on the team:

• Removed alot of un-needed code, to gain usable memory (GnoStiC and cmf)
• Optimized code to gain speed (GnoStiC)
• Added alot of defines to gain speed (FOL and GnoStiC)
• Added define to allow 10.5MB of memory, not limited to 6MB anymore (FOL and cmf)
• Changed the delay and latency on sound to gain speed (FOL)
• Changed PSPUAE cpu cycle unit to 1, gave stable speed increase (FOL)
• Removed 0 from Auto Frame Skip, pointless as it slows emu down when hitting 0 (FOL)
• Removed Interpol code as it was broken since 0.60, removing this gave speed increase (GnoStiC)
• Fixed memory selection, now only valid amiga memory configs are selectable (cmf)
• Fixed Crash, where if no Backdrop was present PSPUAE would crash PSP (FOL and cmf)
• Fixed Interrupts setting in sound, as it was still produing sound (FOL and GnoStiC)
• Added AutoZoom check to PSPUAE reset command, so each reset will turn off AutoZoom. This stops the crash with certain configs, when AutoZoom was on. Simply Press and hold L & R Trigger and SELECT after reset to turn it back on (FOL)
• Removed support for E / X-Loader and Tiff exploits as it was causing crash in Custom Firmware's. A seperate E / X-loader tiff version is released seperately (FOL)

Before you go ahead and download the emulator, let us remind you to browse through the Readme that comes with the file. After which, enjoy!

Download: PSPUAE v0.63 Birthday Edition

 

PSPUAE is a port of the UAE Amiga emulator for the PSP (we recently reported on the PSPUAE v0.63 progress updates). And PSPUAE needs beta testers. If you're interested, then read what Hungry Horace had to say.

Apparently the old beta testers weren't submitting bug reports - especially during the pre-Christmas rush for PSPUAE v0.62. So some of the beta testers were dropped. Hungry Horace apologized and explained that reports are important. "Sorry guys, but if we were happy to not get feedback, we'd make the betas public," Hungry Horace explained, "however, we prefer to keep betas private to ensure a more quality piece of work for each of our users with each release, and less chances of obvious / repeated feedback."

Those who want to be beta testers must apply openly for one of the six or so positions:

If you could inform us publicly (PM's regarding the matter will be ignored) via www.pspuae.com of why you think you should be in the running for one of the 6 or so beta-tester status rights, we will take your offer into consideration.

Before you apply, please consider if you'll be right for the job. "Maybe your level of Amiga understanding is particuarly high," Hungry Horace explained, "perhaps you are running PSPUAE via HEN and realise that we require testers with as many different homebrew-enabled PSPs as possible, or perhaps you have previous experience beta-testing other emulators..."

Over at the official PSPUAE site, PSPUAE site admin FOL gives a progress update of the now-in-development PSPUAE v0.63.

The report says that they've been thinking of ways to utilise the Media Engine (2nd CPU of the PSP). However they add that running sound from the ME, might be dumped as it doesn't seem to yield any benefits.

They're also thinking about moving other functions to the ME. They hope that this will lift the load on the Main CPU, and he hopes that it will increase speed that way. They're thinking of running half of the Screen Rendering on the main CPU and the other half on the ME CPU.

They emphasize that since they're concentrating on optimizing the speed of PSPUAE, it will involve a lot of coding and that we shouldn't expect a release for at least a month or two. They ask users to be patient so just sit down and relax for now. We'll update you guys once we get more info from the team.

Well, if you've run out of games to play this Christmas, you're in luck! You can try out a new version of the Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator on your PSP. The PSPUAE Dev Team decided to hand out a Christmas Edition of their nifty Amiga emulator, making it the PSPUAE v0.62 Christmas Edition.

While they definitely won't be putting actual ROMs here, this new version has some goodies for users. They've put in some Christmas game demos for you to try out. These are Cannon Fodder, Lemmings, and Bullfrog's Psycho Santa, which all have their own basic control scheme.

If you want to install this on your PSP, please check the READ-FIRST file that's in the download to get directions on how to install the application on your specific firmware so you don't do something unseemly to your handheld. It will also have the instructions of general usage of the emulator. Afterwards, you can check the README-XMAS PACK file for more information on this specific version and the controls for the included demos.

Before we go, here's the list of changes in v0.62. Enjoy the download, and may Psycho Santa never go anywhere near your house anytime soon.

V0.62 Changes:

• You can now save the amiga mouse pointer position and restore it with a key-combo.
• 24 mousestates slots, can be renamed with the Amiga keyboard for better assignment.
• New option: 'Auto Mouse Speed,' for setting the speed of the mouse while restoring.
• New option: 'CPU to Chipset Ratio."
• New option: 'Disable Key Combos."
• New option: 'Toggle X & O" (You can now swap X and O for the menu).
• Must be set faster for screens with higher resolution.
• You can toggle the mousespeed with a key-combo.
• Cd32 buttons can now assigned to key-combos.
• joy1 up/down/left/right can now assigned to key-combos.
• Preset Amiga Configurations added.
• Quick config combos (See ReadMe).
• Splash Screen added.
• Dual mouse support.
• Fixed combos for L+Cross, R+Cross, etc etc.
• SaveStates save a config file in the Config folder.
• Savestates are now much smaller, due to memory compression being added.

Download: [PSPUAE v0.62 Christmas Edition]