3 small tips on Sony PSP

Do you have and enjoy a PSP? Do you maintain it properly? These are not inexpensive devices, and you would not want them to burst accidentally, would you? Here are a few hints for keeping your PSP in superior working shape.

• Maintain the entire parts clear of dust. Just like a PC, dust may harm PSP parts and including the screen. In one case, I left my PSP in a dirty place when I went on holiday. When I got back, there was a one inch fracture on the display.
• Purchase a PSP case instead of a PSP sack. A case is strong and a pouch is cushy. This implies, if you by chance drop your PSP when it is in a case, it will endure the fall. Doing this actually ensures a longer lifetime for your PSP.
• ONLY purchase a memory stick duo that possesses enough storage for what you require. For instance, it is no use purchasing a two GB Memory stick duo, if you just use the PSP from time to time, and you put like five songs and ten images on it. This will save you cash and not make you feel like you squandered money.

How to make wireless network most secure for your older PSP versions?

If you have a PSP with the older version 1.01.52 firmware, your only option for wireless security at your disposal is only WEP, which is most easily cracked protocol for wireless encryption. WPA is a more secure solution for PSP.

However, WEP is better than nothing at all. If you use the older firmware, you should configure your network WEP with a password in order to access your network settings on your PSP (Settings>Network Settings, press the X button and choose Infrastructure mode, and again hit the X button). Choose the connection that you want to change and move forward until you reach the WLAN Settings pane.

Make sure your wireless network appears under the name SSID. If it does not, scroll to Scan, hit the X button, select your wireless network from the list that appears on the next page, and click the X button again. This will take you back to the Settings page wireless network.

Now, scroll down to where it reads 'None' for the encryption and then click X. Use the arrow up or down on the keyboard to change from 'None' to 'WEP' and then press the start button X. Now hit the right arrow keys to bring up a screen asking you to enter your WEP key. Hit the X button, and the PSP of the screen text entry will be displayed. When you are finished entering your password, scroll to the Enter key on-screen text entry and click the X button again.

If you already have newer firmware with WPA established in your current network, you need to disable it, in order to allow PSP with version 1.01.52 firmware to access your network. If you have a PSP with version 2.0 firmware, however, you can define the parameters WPA on your PSP to work with your network WPA enabled. It will be almost identical to the procedure to enable WEP, except you switch down to 'WPA-PSK' for the WLAN Security Configuration and enter your password WPA.

Network performance would be better without these security measures, so if you connecting to a wireless network in a thick walled room, just disable this security settings for maximum network performance.

PSP background color by month

Month	PSP background color
1. January	White/grey/silver
2. February	Light yellow/gold
3. March	Light green
4. April	Pink
5. May	Dark green
6. June	Blue/purple
7. July	Ocean blue/teal
8. August	Dark blue to light blue
9. September	Purple
10. October	Dark yellow/gold
11. November	Sepia/brown
12. December	Red

How to permanently change background color?

PSP background change on monthly basis, however you can make it stay with only one background color. This trick is only applicable with Version 2.0 firmware,
1. Go to Settings > Theme Settings, hit the X button, select Theme, hit the X button again
2. Select a color from the menu that is shown on the right. The colors will change when you select any options in the list. However if you choose Original, then the color will change each month. Then select the X button to make your selection and your PSP will permanently have one background color.

How to connect PSP to Linux?

Latest Linux distributions should be able to detect PSP automatically. You may want to examine the kernel messages with dmesg to see what device the PSP was recognized as:

 $ dmesg
 Linux version 2.6.8.1-5-686 (buildd@vernadsky) (gcc version 3.3.4 (Debian 1:
 3.3.4-9ubuntu5)) #1 Wed Aug 17 23:34:53 UTC 2005
 BIOS-provided physical RAM map:

 […] lots of output deleted […]

 scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
   Vendor: Sony      Model: PSP               Rev: 1.00
   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
 USB Mass Storage device found at 2
 usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
 USB Mass Storage support registered.
 SCSI device sda: 487936 512-byte hdwr sectors (250 MB)
 sda: Write Protect is off
 sda: Mode Sense: 00 6a 20 00
 sda: assuming drive cache: write through
  /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1

If however your PSP is not automatically detected, run the command modprobe usb-storage as the root user and run dmesg again, check its output. You should be able to identify the device, you can mount it with the following commands (if it was identified as sda, you want to use sda1, as the first partition):

 $ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -o uid=$USER
 $ ls -l /mnt/
 total 128
 -rwxr--r--    1 me root          5125 2005-09-04 12:35 index.html
 -rwxr--r--    1 me root          4060 2005-09-04 12:34 make_index.pl
 -r-xr--r--    1 me root             0 2005-01-30 22:28 memstick.ind
 drwxr--r--    4 me root         32768 2005-09-02 22:50 mp_root
 -r-xr--r--    1 me root             0 1979-12-31 23:00 mstk_pro.ind
 drwxr--r--    9 me root         32768 2005-04-08 23:55 psp

The sudo command will let you to run mount as root user, and the -o uid $USER tells Linux to mount it so that the currently logged-in user is the owner of the files on the stick.

How to quickly copy PSP files in Windows?

1. Let's assume your PSP memory card location is E:\PSP\SAVEDATA

2. Create a new folder in your hard drive for example C:\gamesaves\

3. Open Notepad, type the following

cd e:\PSP\SAVEDATA\
xcopy e: c:\gamesaves\ /S

Hit Return between each line.

4. Save the file as, 'copyPSP.bat', put the file wherever you want for example in your desktop, now whenever you want quickly copy all files in your memory card to C:\gamesaves\, just double click this file.

How to connect PSP to Mac OSX?

First of all, you need to have a PSP folder on your desktop for this procedures to work

1. Run the Terminal in /Applications/Utilities/ then type the following in command line,

 open /Volumes//PSP/SAVEDATA/

2. Replace with the actual name of the memory card as it is displayed as mounted on the desktop. Usually, it will be "Untitled." If the name has been changed to something like "My PSP Card," then you will need to add an \ before the space in the name. For example, if your Memory Stick were named "My PSP Card" you would type the following:

 open /Volumes/My\PSP\Card/PSP/SAVEDATA/

3. Press Return. Then the folder in the Finder would open, then drag all the files that you want to your Mac.

However, if you want this process to be GUI-free, just type the commands:

 cd /Volumes/Untitled/PSP/SAVEDATA/
 cp -R * ~/Desktop/PSP/

Hit Return after each line. The first cd command will change the directory of the mounted Memory Stick (In this case it called Untitled) to the SAVEDATA folder. The cp -R command will then copy all the files and folders within this folder into a folder called PSP on your desktop.

Things to remember when connecting PSP to your computer

Improper connection between PSP and PC may damage data inside the memory card.

• It is happen whenever you connect a PSP that is still in Sleep Mode to your PC using USB cable.
• Always dismounting the memory card before disconnecting your PSP from your PC
• Make sure PSP would not fall into Sleep Mode when it is still connected to the PC, you can avoid this by turning off the Auto Sleep feature inside the Power Settings menu. You can still conserve power by turning on the Backlight Auto-off setting, also under power settings into two minutes (the lowest setting)
  

You may consider buying an USB cord to supply power to the PSP.
Your saved games are all stored inside PSP>SAVEDATA subfolder inside the memory card. Copy it to your PC hard drive or burn it to a blank CD.

Always remember to dismount the memory card before disconnecting the PSP, in Mac you do this by dragging the Memory Card icon into the trash or in Windows by "Safely Remove Hardware". After PSP is dismounted, then press O button in your PSP to fully disconnect the PSP from the PC, then you may unplug the USB cable from the PC.

Copy and Delete files in your PSP

On the game menu, between Game Sharing and UMD/Memory Stick (if you have a UMD disk inserted), there is the Saved Data Utility. Highlight it and hit the X button.

You'll be shown the list of saved game files, along with the screenshots and all related informations. If you hit the triangle button you can Copy, Delete or just want to see the detailed information of the file. A dialog will tell you "You will be asked to change the Memory Stick 3 times. Press the X button to begin." Hit X to begin the copy process or O to go back to the previous menu

This way you can copy your saved games to let friends play it in their own PSP or you just want to make a backup in other memory card. So even you already have the 2 Gb memory card, you can still use the 32 Mb memory card included with your PSP to backup your important saved games. The file copying process between memory cards actually involves a few minutes of swapping out two memory card for a total of six times.

The Delete and Information options are quite straightforward.

Boss is coming! How to quit PSP instantly?

So you're in a busy project, feeling so bored and tired and you pull out your PSP and start up a quick game, just to relax for 5 minutes. Then the boss walks in. How can quit the game, save your game and save your job at the same time?

The power button on the right bottom corner of PSP can be pressed quickly to turn off without ruining the game you are currently playing. The quick push of the power button up and then back down to the locked position can become rather habitual when the phone rings or some other emergencies.

Do remember that make sure, PSP is not writing anything to the Memory Stick Duo while you quickly turn off the device. It is indicated by the flashing orange light at the bottom left of PSP. If there is no light you are safe.

If you want to play your PSP in your cubicle safely, make sure you have the bottom drawer of your desk open and filled with cotton or clothes to cushion the shock subjected to your PSP when you need to toss it real quickly.

When the boss approach, quickly and calmly turn it into power save mode and drop it to the bottom drawer. While you are playing always, keep part of your hearing and other senses to detect movement and noises outside your cubilce. Practice for a couple of time, it would be quite easy.

Full Technical Specifications of the PSP

Here are the fairly official technical specifications of Sony’s flagship handheld:

· Size: 170 mm (6.7 in) in length, 74 mm (2.9 in) in width, and 23 mm (0.9 in) in depth, weighs 280g / .62 lbs (Source:Wikipedia)

· Processor: 32-bit MIPS “R4000” 4KE or 24KE, dual-core. Primary core is for standard system functions, including hardware-based data decryption. Second core, called the “Virtual Mobile Engine,” is for graphics processing, including native H.264 decoding.

o Speed: 1-333 MHz (although Sony has made mention to a cap of 222 MHz to conserve battery life) Programmers can get around the 222 MHz barrier in code.

o Runs on 0.8 to 1.2 volts

o Designed using a 90-nanometer process

· Graphics: Runs at 166 MHz, reconfigurable to handle particular processing tasks.

o 2 megabytes video memory

o Supports a maximum of 33 million polygons/second, although the effective polygon performance is likely much lower (many critics don’t like the “max” polygons rating because it excludes the use of effects like lighting, fog, and so forth)

o 664 million pixels/second maximum fill rate

o 512-bit interface

o Supports 16-bit and 32-bit color modes (32,768 colors and 16.77 million colors)

· Audio: Supports Stereo sound, Dolby Headphone sound. Supports playback of WAV, ATRAC and MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) audio in Firmware 1.0 and 1.5, and adds AAC (MPEG-4) audio in Firmware 2.0.

· Display: 4.3” (diagonal) 480 × 272 Widescreen display, 16:9 aspect ratio, just like widescreen DVDs and HDTV

· RAM: 32MB of RAM. 4MB of DRAM; half (2MB) is connected to the main core, and the other 2MB is for media processing functions.

• Storage:The PSP has the following storage capabilities:
• Sony Memory Stick Duo slot takes only Memory Stick Duo media

o UMD discs support up to 1.8GBeach and basically any type of data. Official formats include UMD-Game, UMD-Video, and UMD-Music. This appears to be based on Sony’s MiniDisc format.

o USB 2.0 port supports data transfers up to 480 megabits/second. ■ Supports sharing of files on inserted Memory Stick with a USB-capable computer.

· Power: Includes 1800 mAh Lithium Ion (LIon) battery, provides 4–6 hours of battery life (Sony offers an official 220 mAh battery as well, and third parties such as Datel have batteries providing 3600 mAh).

• A/C charger included with package yields 2000 mAh
• Capable of charging using power provided via a computer’s USB 2.0 port
• Networking: Built-in 802.11b (11 megabits/second max throughput) wireless supports both ad hoc (computer-to-computer) and infrastructure (device-to-access point) modes.
• IrDA (Infrared Data Association) line-of-sight communications
• IR Remote (SIRCS compliant), although no “official” remote control software was available at the time this book went to press
• Potential to use USB port for other networking devices, should they ever beReleased

· Navigation system: Uses Sony’s XMB, or Cross Media Bar, interface, used in some Sony TVs and their PSX product. (I call this the “PSP Navigator” in this book.)

• Region coding: Supports region coding of games, music, movies, and photos on UMD discs, similar to how DVDs do the same thing to prevent media use in other regions of the world

• the world