With the release of Custom Firmware Enabler v1.0 earlier, homebrew coder m0skit0 has decided to release a mod that will enable ChickHEN to load much smoother. Now this is handy for all the PSP owners with TA-088v3 motherboards who haven't tried the ChickHEN homebrew enabler from Team Typhoon yet.

Download: ChickHEN Mod

Here's some good news for the PSP community, homebrew coders Xenogears and Becus25 has released Custom Firmware Enabler. This program will enable the functions of M33 CFW using ChickHen except for Recovery and Pops. It also works with TA-088v3 motherboards, but sadly it doesn't support the PSP 3000 yet.

Download: Custom Firmware Enabler v1.0

Here's a great homebrew tool update for you courtesy of homebrew developer jas0nuk. PSPident is a homebrew app that identifies the model of your PSP and displays the version number of your PSP's motherboard. This tool is very handy for the new PSP owners as well as to those who want to know the specifics of their PSP's if it's hackable or pandora proof.

Download: PSPident v0.4

It's been a while since the last version of prxutility - that homebrew  plugin known for being everything you need for system info, and then some. With roughly around four months of no updates, you can expect huge changes in this release. The biggest of which is 5.0-M33 compatibility.

Download: prxutility v5.0
Visit: QJ.NET PSP development forums

A couple of stores in Spain already had the PSP-3000 units available over the weekend, apparently. Now, with the new PSP model in the hands of consumers, the race to crack its inner workings has already started. What do we know about it so far? Time for an unboxing in the full article!

What better way to start the week than to hear some words from Dark AleX himself, yes? Today, DAX explains to us why the new PSP TA-088 v3 motherboards can't be hacked just yet. Mostly, it involves some IPL checking and mysterious code that Sony's put into the security system. See Dark AleX's explanation in the full article, complete with a step-by-step flowchart!

A new PSP motherboard for the PSP-2000 has been discovered in the wild! Not much is known about the upgraded mobo just yet, but apparently, unlike the old TA-088 v3, this new TA-090 works with Dark AleX's Pandora's Battery! Open up that can of worms and see the snapshots in the full article.

A post on the Dark AleX blog from webmaster Alek addressed the problems with running Despertar del Cementerio, Pandora, and Time Machine on certain PlayStation Portable Slim and Lite with TA-088 motherboards. For more on this, check out the full article

Gaming piracy is a serious problem that seems impossible to eradicate. But is there hope for game developers? According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, there is, thanks to the TPM encryption chips that are being built into some of the latest motherboards. More in the full article.

 

Codes02 has released the General IdStorage Repair and 1.50 ipl Enabler, a new application which will help you with your TA-082 PSPs. In fact, it should be able to repair the idstorage on TA-082 units PSP, provided you have the technical know-how to use this app properly.

Since even I don't even know everything there is to know about this app, and to avoid any confusion, here's some verbatim information straight from Codes02 on the new app. Just remember that newcomers to hacks and homebrew better wait for more info to come along before trying this and that we won't be responsible for any bricks you may incur, alright?

From Codes02:

This is a program I have created and generally modified for my own use as new developments in the idstorage on ta082 motherboards were revealed. With the recent revelations by SilverSpring, the fact that only the 0x5 key must be corrupt to boot the 1.50 ipl, and due to random confirmations of this by numerous other forum members, it now seems we have reached the end of the path of idstorage modification for the purpose of fixing ta082 mobo's.

This program is for kernels with module loading already patched and that support normal eboots (these usually are bundled one in the same).

SE and OE firmwares as well as HEN revisions should certainly function.

It features functions to repair the idstorage (except for key 5, with it modifies and restores so that it is seen as corrupt) from every idstorage fixer program i could think of. If you have done custom modifications to your idstorage and shuffled the keys yourself, don't use this. In fact, if it tells you you utilized a program you did not, i recommend you exit immediately and perhaps notify me in some way (don't scream) and i may decide to fix it.

In any case, if run from a non idStorage Fixed psp (such as one running 2.71 or 2.80) it will detect this and do a simple 0x5 key corruption in the same way done on the hardware downgraders. The second byte of 0x5 is changed to 0x68 from 0x6b.

Download: General IdStorage Repair and 1.50 ipl Enabler