Since Rob King is still currently polishing his PSP Ableton Live Controller that allows you to control Ableton Live - a loop-based software music sequencer for Macintosh and Windows - wirelessly, he is releasing a "while waiting" application to keep us busy. PSP to MIDI, is a nifty little program that turns your PSP into a wireless MIDI controller and/or a wireless mouse (available only in Windows). Even if King placed it under the  "just to get something out there" category, this application is still worth a try.

Installation:
    1. Copy the psp2midi directory to your luaplayer Applications directory (usually/PSP/GAME/luaplayer/Applications)
    2. Edit the first line of INDEX.LUA in the directory you just copied to be the IP Address of your destination computer
    3. Copy psp2midi.py to a directory on your computer

Running psp2midi:
    1. From the command line go to the directory you copied psp2midi.py to and run "python psp2midi.py" (without the quotes)
    2. On your PSP run luaplayer and in luaplayer run psp2midi
    3. Choose the internet connection that your computer is connected to.
   
Using psp2midi:

psp2midi has three different modes (2 in non-windows operating systems):  Note mode, Chord mode, and Mouse mode.  When you start psp2midi it will be in chord mode.  Pressing select and the left or right trigger buttons at the same time allows you to cycle between modes (note: in this version there is not yet an indication of which mode you are in, sorry!). 

A complete how-to for the chord and mouse mode is provided in the Read Me text file that comes with the download.

Much thanks to Jonas Lindgren for sending us the tip for this application.

Download: [PSP to MIDI]

PSPRadio">Raf, the brains behind the PSPRadio, has again marvelled us with an update for his homebrew application - Links2 browser port to the PSP.  It has been updated to Links 2.1-pre23 PSP r1231, and as you already know, this latest version is now based on links2.1- pre23, as mentioned in our earlier reports about this app.

This browser has been tagged by many PSP users as one of the best because it has much more support than the Sony's PSP browser in higher firmwares. As always, you can download the standalone EBOOT if you wish to launch the Links2 browser from your PSPs XMB, or the PSPRadio plugin if you wish to launch it from Raf's PSPRadio application. The source code was also released along with the usual package. For now, Raf filled us in on what is new with this release.

NEW FEATURES

Using a new mouse cursor (Edited off of the freely available theme http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=13524)
Implemented h/w double buffering to go along the s/w double buffering (more like triple buffering). This solves the flickering of danzeff.
Slowed down the mouse pointer a bit. Also made this a configuration item (mouse_speed_factor).
Renamed config item psp_bb_to_fb_factor to screen_zoom_factor
Added support for 16bpp to danzeff
Modified links to use 16bpp; this saves a lot of memory.

BUG FIXES

Cleaned up the call to the input handler. This resolved some timing issues that were causing the graphic glitches (menu screens not clearing up correctly).

It also wouldn't hurt if you guys will share what you think about the app, so as the good developer can hone his craft and perfect this fine application. So don't hesitate to think out loud through your comments.

Download: [Links 2.1 Browser r1231 Stand Alone]
Download: [Links 2.1 Browser r1231 PSPRadio Plugin]
Download: [Links 2.1 Browser r1231 Source Code]

LTE Studios has has rolled out the latest update of 3D Engine SDK. Developed by SiberianSTAR and Ky@, this homebrew application features:

• 3D Engine
• Mixed 2D + 3D
• Powerful and customizable 2D GUI
• Character animation system
• Particle effects
• Billboards
• Dynamic Lights
• Powerful 2D with alpha, blend, etc..
• Six image formats supported
• Eight mesh formats supported
• Fonts support
• Collision and physics integrated
• Powerful terrain system

The latest version, LTE 3D Engine SDK v1.1, changelog includes:

• Fixed buffer overflow which was making PSP crash
• Improved the engine virtual mouse and keyboard
• Added three new style for the fps camera
• Added the audio driver for audio playing

Installing:
It's always good to read the readme file before installing this or any other application, you must read it especially when you're running under win32 and are planning to use this one. To use the LTE 3D Engine you must have Toolchains installed.

Run the Makefile contained in the same directory of this file, and include files and libraries will be installed in your computer.
You can find documented examples in this archive that will explain you the basic of this engine here. To run examples you have to extract the media.zip in your ms0:/ folder. Compile the example doing 'make' or 'make kxploit'.

Download: [LTE 3D Engine SDK v1.1]

Remember PSPUAE? In case you don't, PSPUAE is short for PSP Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator. It's a program created by our man Fcorbier that emulates (you guessed it!) the Amiga 500 video game machine. PSPUAE debuted in June 2005 much to the delight of retrogamers who also love their PSPs. Since then, it has been updated several times. And just when we thought we've heard the last of it, Hungry Horace from pspuae.com announced the PSPUAE 0.51b. It's good to know that Ric and FOL have kept the emulator alive!

The new version features:

• 4 channel sound mode
• Savestates re-introduced
• Kickstart Rom Selector
• Firmware 1.5 compatibility
  

PSP Key Controls

Top Left Trigger= Left Mouse Button
Top Right Trigger = Right Mouse Button
D-PAD = Joystick
Analog Pad = Mouse
Square = Activate Keyboard
Cross = Left Mouse Button
Circle = Right Mouse Button
Triangle = Hi-Res Mouse Movement (Lets you move mouse more precise)
Home = Exit (As normal)
Select = Options Menu (Tweak Settings)
Start = Screenshot (Takes a screenshot)

Download: [PSPUAE 0.51b]

Raf, creator of PSPRadio has released another update for his amazing Links2 browser port to the PSP. This latest version of Raf's port of Links2 (an open source browser for Linux) to the PSP i still based on links2.1-pre22, but has a whole host of new features  bundled with it. This version (r1214) is available as a standalone EBOOT or packaged as a PSPRadio plugin. Here's the changelog:

Uses links-2.1pre22 PSP r1214 ( 2006-07-08 )

• Updates to pspgu driver:
• Default resolution is now 960x544 (Its scaled down to the PSP's 480x272)
• Links scaling is now disabled (as it used too much memory, and was one of the main culprits of memory errors)
• Font size changed from 12 to 24, so it is readable without zoom (at 960x544)
• Zoom (along with new virtual resolution of 960x544 implemented using a kind of double buffering)
• New button mappings:
• UP/DOWN = scroll up/scroll down (former R+UP/DOWN)
• R+UP/DOWN = page up/page down
• L (held) = zoom (while L is held). Use analog stick to move around.
• L+CROSS = toggles zoom lock. (Once locked, the analog will control the mouse. Use L+analog to move zoom window).

This is the browser of choice for most PSP users as it has much more support than the Sony's PSP browser that was included with firmware 2.0 and above, so if you've just downgraded from 2.5/2.6, I suggest you get this to compensate for the loss of the later firmware's web browser. Download the standalone EBOOT if you wish to launch the Links2 browser from your PSPs XMB or the PSPRadio plugin if you wish to launch it from Raf's PSPRadio application.

Download: [Latest version of PSPRadio for Firmware 1.5]
Download: [Links2 r1214 PSPRadio Plugin]
Download: [Links2 r1214 Standalone]

Deniska is taking a break from his porting projects to create an application that will be of help to those people who get lost easily or those who'll find themselves in a foreign territory this summer. Codename MapThis is a work in progress that will serve as a portable map viewer for the PSP.

The turnout of this project is currently very buggy but deniska says the final product will allow users to scroll through a 3100x2500 map that covers more or less a 52 square mile area with city level details. A zoom-out will also be squeezed into the current project. Serving as a travel guide, MapThis will also include an access area's attraction info, including the name, address, and phone number; currently, deniska has managed to put in restaurants into the app.

Mapping to GPS coordinates will also be one feature of MapThis, allowing the possibility of external GPS feed. Deniska says that one map with all the attraction data will take only take about 1MB of space on MS. MapThis will also come with "a linux/cygwin script to generate map tiles and data from public sources for given address. The script can be wrapped in to a cgi wrapper and therefore turned in to a web service."

Since the project is still currently being developed, deniska will be needing some help. As he would want to "create a USB driver, so it can be plugged in w/o soldering", if anyone is willing to lend him a USB-based GPS mouse for his experiments or if anyone wants to work on the GPS communication part, just contact deniska.