Just In Case – The Sony PSP 3000

Ok, so thanks to Uncle Sam paying me too much money for college tuition, I’ve been able to purchase some equipment I’ve been craving for some time.

One such gadget is the Sony PSP.

Now for those who are like me, of course we all know that the PSP-100x and early PSP-200x models have been hacked with custom firmware. This allows things such as (legal) backups of games to be played from your memory stick, as well as the multitudes of homebrew software. Most notably Emulators for older systems such as the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, GBA, etc.

The biggest problem, however, has been Sony’s quick adaptation to the homebrew community’s methods.

With each successive PSP model release, the firmware and motherboards have become more resilient to hacking, leading to later PSP-200x models and all the PSP-300x models being nearly “unhackable”.

This however, has changed. Note that with these later models, the hack is not “permanent”. If the system is ever powered off, the firmware will revert back to its original state before the mod. However, this is easily circumvented via the system’s Sleep mode.

For the steps, software, and hardware needed, as well as many tutorials on what to do, visit The PSP-Hacks.com Forums and read the Mega Thread.

Probably the most useful thing in my eyes is the ability to turn USB Battery Charging on.

In closing, I’d just like to say that it’s funny to play a Pokemon game on a Sony system.

Doors are Opening – Homebrew Apps for enV Touch and others!

So, after browsing through the latest posts on www.envtouch.org, I came across a thread mentioning that the various companies involved in applications for the enV Touch and other phones are leaning towards allowing developers to make BREW apps at no charge. As of right now, there are possibly still some fees involved, but nothing that can’t be handled I believe. See the thread here.

LG enV Touch – Verizon’s folly?

Today’s post contains two things: How to get FREE apps such as VZ Navigator, and some general news about the homebrew scene. For the homebrew news, use CTRL-F and search for DEV207.

Ok, so by now most people have at least heard of VZ Navigator, right?

VZ Navigator is a GPS service/program that runs on your Verizon cell phone, giving directions to anywhere you need to go.

Of course it has its faults: Not all areas can be accurately detected by any GPS system (some less than others). However, for a small town guy like me, it can be really handy in bigger cities when I go on a trip.

Well, about three weeks ago during a late night browsing session, I came across a possible flaw in Verizon’s financial fortress here. Normally VZ Navigator would cost a monthly subscripton of $9.99. However, by devoting a little computing power with BitPim, it was apparently possible to gain VZ Navigator for FREE.

Before I proceed further, I’m morally obliged to offer this disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do I endorse the act of piracy. It is both unlawful, and an insult to software programmers worldwide. In stealing any sort of software, be it VZ Navigator, a game, or even an OS, you are taking money away from good ole’ Tom the Intern who effectively pays his employer for the privilege of getting some experience on his resume. This information is offered exclusively for informational purposes. Personally, I tried this simply to see if it would actually work, and have since deleted the program from my phone. Also, it is highly possible to brick your phone if you do this wrong. I take no responsibility for damaged units.

First off, with your phone unplugged from your PC, download VZ Navigator. NOTE: This potentially works for any app, such as GPS Golf or MobileWiki.

Ok, so the next thing is to get BitPim (version 1.0.6 or later – Thanks Sir Thomas Fool!) to recognize your phone. When you first connect it and run BitPim, it’ll call it “Other CDMA Phone on Com ##”. What you must now do is go into your Edit -> Settings and change this to “VX10000 – Voyager”. This will not allow you to edit your contacts, however it WILL allow you to view the filesystem. Once you expand the filesystem, you should see a folder called “brew” (no quotes). With the VZ Navigator installed, right-click this folder and click “Backup entire tree”. “Backup directory” will NOT work. This will save the entire contents of the brew folder in a zip file to wherever you choose. Remember where this file is. This process may take around 15 to 30 minutes.

Once the folder is backed up, disconnect your phone, then go back in and cancel your subscription. This will remove the app from your phone. To check it is gone, try running it. It should play a video rather than run the application. You MUST do this within two hours of downloading the application.

Reconnect your phone, then open the filesystem in BitPim once more as explained above. Find your brew folder again, then right-click it and select Restore. Browse to the Zip file from earlier and select it. This will restore the contents of the zip file back to your phone.

Once this is done, Power-cycle your phone by powering it off then back on. Try to run VZ Navigator again. The application should run, and will likely ask to update again. This is normal, so allow it to update. Congratulations, you now have unlimited access to VZ Navigator without the need to pay Verizon ten dollars a month. Your mother would be so proud.

DEV207
Now on to a different note.

miketr commented on an earlier post of mine, as well as on the forums at envtouch.org that he was interested in developing free apps for the env touch. I’ve since sent an e-mail along with a reply on the thread at envtouch.org so hopefully we can get into full swing. According to him, he has 20+ years of coding experience, as well as several years developing for phones.

That’s one!

Again, I ask, anyone who would like to develop homebrew for this phone, please comment here, as well as follow me on twitter. As an avid tech lover, I’d greatly enjoy any developing for this phone.

That’s all for now, later days!

Quick Game Review – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord

“I sentence you to trampling by behemoth!”

Gotta be one of the greatest lines ever.

Welcome to the dark side, friends, as I guide you through what it REALLY means to be a darklord. Hellbent on world destruction, you must step into the shoes of Mira, a half-demon, half-clavat, insanely satisfying overlord to take on the entire civilized world.

Now, according to civilized fiction, the good guy always wins in the end. And while noone knows what may be, you’re sure as hell going to try and get in their way. You are the princess of a floating fortress of evil, which plants itself in various places, challenging adventurers to try to make their way to the top. The prize for any that do is the dark crystal which holds your father’s soul.

Not that you really care… after all, in your opinion, your father’s a coward.

Gameplay wise, the game play is actually really entertaining. It’s not overly complex to the point of you have to devote a fresh mind to it; you can definitely relax playing this game. Yet, it’s not excessively mundane to the point of boredom. I’ve already spent hours on this game and I just got it yesterday. In each stage, you must add floors to your tower. These floors usually come with some sort of trap or other aid to your villains. Examples include an Evil Puppet Show which reduces the strength of adventurers caught by it, and a Poison Harp which fires poisonous arrows at them. Also, each room has a certain number of slots. These slots determine what monsters can populate the room. Some of the larger monsters can take up multiple slots.

Speaking of the monsters, Square-Enix definitely didn’t care to hide their easter eggs. With some downloadable content, from the very beginning, you can select from Palom and Kain from FFIV: The After Years (you can also put on costumes resembling Rydia and Porom from the same game). These come alongside other Final Fantasy classics such as Ahrimen, Cactuars, and Bombs.

The combat is also fairly simple. Adventurers and Monsters both come in 5 types. Generic characters deal the same amount of damage to any other character. Healers never attack; they only heal, whether it be themselves, other characters, or even the traps in your rooms. The other three types are Melee, Ranged, and Magic, and they work in a rock-paper-scissors fashion. Melee beats Ranged beats Magic beats Melee. This is where strategy plays a key part. Before starting each mission, you can see in the bottom right corner how many adventurers of each type will come through that stage. This allows you to plan accordingly.

Trust me, you may get away with flying by the seat of your pants early on, but it pays to plan in the later stages.

Overall, MLAAD is a fun, exciting, yet calm gaming experience. And for the price, it can’t be beat. Square-Enix definitely did themselves a favor with this one.

Sound: 4/5 – Another classic FF Soundtrack. The alert sound is a bit annoying though.
Graphics: 4/5 – While not on par with the likes of Lost Winds or Icarian (NyxQuest?), still worthy of a Wiiware title.
Gameplay: 4.5/5 – While not necessarily for the hardcore gamer, it is an involving but calm experience.
Story: 3.8/5 – Everyone enjoys a psychotic girl hellbent on world destruction, but it could’ve gotten a bit more time in the scripting department.
Length: 3.6/5 – Not long by any means, but more than good enough as a Wiiware title.

Twofer One- Epic (System) Fail, and some enV Touch Goodness.

So, for the past two days I’ve been messing with my first custom built PC as well as trying to get Kubuntu (a Linux Distro) installed and operable. In the interim of systems updating and OSes (re)installing, I’ve also been messing with my enV Touch from Verizon Wireless a bit more. In today’s twofer, I’ll be explaining both sides of this story.

So in my last post, In the Interim – Kubuntu Finally Installing, I explained the hassles I had to go through to install the latest release of Kubuntu Linux, ver. 9.04 A.K.A. “Jaunty Jackalope”.

Well, the troubles didn’t stop there. The next time I returned to my PC after installation, I sat down intending to configure my hardware. I knew full well that it would take time as well as a fresh and open mindstate to get used to the way Linux did things… and boy, how right I was.

The majority of custom configuration from a GUI standpoint had to be done through a file called xorg.conf, which controlled the GUI used by all three main flavors of Ubuntu, X Window. Sure, there were some options similar to Windows in that you could change your wallpaper, etc. However, the support for other things, like setting your screen resolution, or setting up dual monitors, left a lot (repeat: a LOT) to be desired.

Not only that, but even the latest “stable” release, 9.04, was crashing consistently. It was appalling how, even when I was simply trying to change my wallpaper or download Mozilla Firefox, the system would have some sort of error and the program or setting I was in would just crash. I must’ve locked up KDE and had to cold-restart my system at least seven times in two hours. It was ridiculous. Needless to say, my PC now has Windows XP back on it, and I’m configuring my stuff over the next few days.

As for the enV Touch, I come to you today with a trick that I discovered through research on the net (yay Google!). Since the phone connects to the USB port, it is actually possible to use it to connect your PC or Laptop to the internet via what is called “Tethering”. This effectively causes your PC to use the phone as a dial-up modem (although I assure you the speeds are beyond dial-up).

Before I move further, there are three things I must make very clear. First off, this trick requires accessing your Program Menu on your phone and changing some settings. If you aren’t careful, this CAN mess your phone up. I take no responsibility for you bricking, semi-bricking, or in any other way damaging your enV Touch. Secondly, the use of Tethering on a Verizon phone without paying them for Modem usage is a direct violation of your Terms of Service agreement with Verizon Wireless, subject to penalties up to discontinued service and mainly more (charges for Modem use are approximately $15 a month). This is provided on an informational basis only. And lastly, unless you are on a Nationwide Connect plan, or some other plan which provides unlimited data usage, you may see a very large data charge on your cell bill, as Verizon will bill you at $1.99 USD per Megabyte transferred. So you see, it’s beneficial to be paying that extra $10 a month if you use this trick.

Ok, so now that my bases are covered, let’s begin. First off, the Laptop or PC in question needs to have the LG Modem Drivers for the enV Touch installed. These are found here.

Next, on your phone, you need to dial ##PROGRAM11000 (##776472611000) and enter 000000 for the service code. Next you want to go to Data -> MIP Setting -> NAI Setting -> MIP DUN NAI.

You should see something similar to 5555555555@dun.vzw3g.com (where the 5555555555 is your cell number). You want to remove the dun part of this, so it should then look like 5555555555@vzw3g.com . Press OK to save these settings, then exit out of your program menu. Your phone may power itself off at this point. If it does, simply turn it back on.

Now that that is set, go ahead and connect your phone to your PC. Now on your phone, you’ll want to go to USB Auto Detection in your settings. Change this to Modem Mode. Save and exit. Back on your PC, you now need to create a new dial-up connection in your Network settings. The fields to fill in for this are as follows:

Phone Number: #777
Username: 5555555555@vzw3g.com (where the fives are your phone number)
Password: verizon

Make sure you set your phone as the default modem for this connection. It should show as LGE CDMA USB Modem ## (COM#). Now, any time your phone is plugged into your laptop or pc, you have the option of internet access! Isn’t it sweet? Hurray for phone hacks!

Anyways, I’m going to meet an old friend from school for lunch. Later days!

In the Interim – Kubuntu finally installing.

So after three days of tweaking with this new desktop PC, I’ve finally decided to take the plunge. It’s using a single, free OS in Kubuntu. That’s right, no dual-booting with Windows. My desktop is going to be a purely Linux system.

Getting it to install was a hassle though. I pretty much had to unplug everything from the back of the PC except the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power. I couldn’t even have my ATI Radeon card enabled; I had to use the onboard Intel chip for the monitor.

I won’t get much of a chance to play with it today, due to leaving for my girlfriend’s house soon. I’ll definitely be blogging my progress with this system though. Stay tuned!

.ASF = Bad Burn

So, I’ve been trying to burn the music video of Scream by Michael Jackson ft. Janet Jackson. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been the most fun experience.

Nero = Fail
Windows DVD Maker = Fail
ImgBrn = Successful (NOT!)
AVS Video Converter 6 = Success (NOT!)

Surprisingly, it was Windows DVD Maker that told me what was wrong. Apparently my video file, a .ASF extension, isn’t indexed. After some googling, turns out that non-indexed video files can’t be read by DVD players. Sad panda 8-(

So I went back and am getting a brand new copy of the video file (this time in MPG format). Hopefully this will work and let me stop making coasters out of my DVDs.

Thanks Craigslist! – Desktop Upgrade and a Choice

So, I was browsing my local Craigslist Sunday afternoon, and I came across someone offering Free Computer parts. After investigating the posting and calling the guy who posted it, turns out he had just bought a new PC and wanted to get rid of the remnants of his old ones. This included two partially-cannibalized towers and two monitors, all chords and cables included.

Now, the specs on these parts may not excite most people, but this definitely tweaked my geek for two reasons:

My Desktop wasn’t anything spectacular, and I figured I could at least use the hard drives to get some more space.

It’d help me self-educate myself on the hardware aspect of PCs. (Experience beforehand = None)

So, I agreed to drive out and pick the stuff up yesterday around noon. After a nice conversation with his wife, I came home and pulled out the screwdrivers and needlenose pliers.

Surprisingly, hardly anything was missing from the two towers (reference to LotR not intentional). One tower was missing a harddrive, but the other had two, so I could have honestly had three towers running if I felt like it. But what was the use if I wanted to learn more about the guts of computers, eh?

So I began taking them apart, piece by piece. I located the part numbers of the drives, RAM Chips, etc. and began doing some statistics work, comparing the parts I’d gained to the parts in my already-running desktop. Turns out, I had enough parts to significantly upgrade my desktop PC! One tower was a modified Compaq Presario that was distributed with Windows XP at Wal-mart only a few years ago. This tower offered front audio jacks (hurray for my headset!), a front USB port (yay for portable storage!), and more drive bays than any other tower at my disposal. It also housed a motherboard with a 2.7 GHz Processor (an upgrade from my 1.3 GHz in my desktop). I was also able to acquire a second 512mb RAM chip to go with the one I already had, upgrading my RAM from 733 MB to a full Gig. After figuring out the best desktop I could build, it came to my attention I could actually build a SECOND PC from the parts I had left.

This excited me even more, because I had two options for the second PC:

Give it to my Girlfriend so she’d have her own computer (as opposed to sharing one with a very virus-ignorant father)

-OR-

If she didn’t really want it, I could use it to begin tinkering with some Linux Distro of choice.

Needless to say, my inner timmy wanted to toy with the Linux, but it didn’t really matter to me which one of the two happened. However, it wasn’t meant to be.

Unfortunately, both of the power supplies that the man from craigslist supplied me with were…retarded at best. I even managed to electrocute myself on one where the connector for the power chord was loose (who knew there’d be a live wire in there?). This left me with just the power supply from my desktop. Oh the horror.

So, all in all, I’ve only got one Desktop PC for the moment. However, for being made from all free parts (even the ones from my original system), I think it’s pretty nifty.

Processor: Celeron 2.7 GHz
HDD: 70 GB (One 30gb, One 40gb, Master and Slave Respectively. **See Note Below.)
CD Drives: 2x CD-RW (Sony, Philips. M and S Respectively due to age/abilities)
RAM: 1024MB SDRAM (2x 512)
Audio, Gaming, Dial-up Modem: Conexant Combo Card (Includes Audio with Mic, Game Port, and a sub-card for the modem)
Other Media: Front 9-in-1 Card Reader + USB Port
Rear USB Ports: 4
Video: Radeon 128mb PCI (** See below for a note on this), Onboard Graphics.


The dual-hard drive situation is actually sort of funny, and another perk of picking up two towers. The Compaq tower I decided to use actually was only supposed to hold one hard drive. This took me aback at first, as EVERY PC I’d ever seen could have at least supported a second hard drive. Even the IDE cable only plugged into one drive, whereas most would have one connector for the master and another for the slave. Luckily, the HP Pavilion tower came with a dual-drive IDE cable. After a bit of searching, I actually found a plate that I could…ahem…”forcibly remove” so that the second hard drive would fit into the bay. Add a couple screws and voila, two hard drives!

The graphics card, however, was a bit of a bummer. In my original desktop, I actually had two copies of the same Graphics card, a Radeon 128mb to be precise. The difference? One was PCI, while the other was AGP. Unfortunately, the Compaq tower had no slots for AGP cards, leaving me to take the PCI for my own use while leaving the AGP for the other tower.

So, after getting shocked by the bum power supplies and redecorating my room a bit, I’ve got the new and improved Desktop up and running. There’s just one problem:

Bad Sectors. (*cue the Psycho music*)

So…with a grunt and a sigh, I popped in my DBAN cd and went to fix dinner. At the time of this writing, DBAN is running a quick erase on both hard drives. The 30Gb is sitting at 16% while the 40Gb is just under 13%. Too bad for my second monitor. Looks like you can’t play until later on today.

So now, I turn it over to you, the reader. I’m actually going to install TWO operating systems onto this new desktop. One OS will be Windows XP Pro. The second one, I’ve decided, will be some sort of Linux Distribution. However, my knowledge of Linux is little at best, and I’m not sure which once I should install. Incase you couldn’t guess, I enjoy games. I’m also a web nut, and like my torrents. However, I’m not so technically inclined to want a text-based distro. I like my bells and whistles too. Not to mention my girlfriend and other friends might end up on the thing as well, so I don’t want it to be TOO easy to mess up.

I’ve currently got an ISO of Xubuntu. I’ve also considered Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and OpenSuSE. The Distro I choose MUST be completely free.

My question to you is: Which one should I choose? Of course I’ll continue to do my own research, but I’d like your input. You’ve got until probably 1:00 PM Central Time to throw your 2 cents in until I make my choice. Feel free to leave a comment on this post, or Hit me Up on Twitter with an @ reply or a direct message! If you use Twitter, please follow me! I like to use the trending topics, and I even tweet when I post here! So what have you got to lose?

Wow…1166 words. Think I’ll stop here. Remember, tell me something! I want to know! Later days.

EDIT: P.S. If anyone has a link to a tutorial for installing Windows XP Pro and a Linux Distro in a dual-boot system, drop it on me please!

Day 3 with the enV Touch – Possible hack?

So, once again I found myself exploring my phone’s features whilst bored (this time while at work… I think the company actually lost money today just from paying two of us to stay there from 4-11). I found some interesting things.

Let me just start by saying this: in no way, shape, form, or fashion do I endorse piracy. I’m with the crowd that, if you appreciate good software, then you should be willing to pay the person that designed it.

However, homebrew will always exist as long as there are new devices and the internet to go with them. Using a tip from The enV Touch Community I took a glance at my phone’s programming menu. This is done by dialing ##PROGRAM11000 (##776472611000) and using all zeroes as the service code.

Once inside, I cannot stress this enough: BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT YOU CHANGE IN THIS MENU! You can easily make it to where your phone will become semi-bricked or even fully bricked. I take no responsibility for you messing things up within this menu. General piece of advice: if you don’t know what something means, leave it alone!

In the service menu, option 6 is Media Center Settings. In the IP/URL field, there are two web addresses. These are apps.myvzw.com and apps2.myvzw.com. It is my belief that, if someone were to set up a website which offered homebrew apps built for the enV Touch, that these addresses could be changed and we would be able to download free apps for this phone developed by its users.

If anyone decides to undertake the task of figuring things out past this, or if you’re just generally interested in the homebrew scene for this phone, please comment here or Follow and @ me on Twitter so that I may follow the progress and keep the public posted. I’m even willing to be a beta tester, and could maybe help out a little bit on design. Also, I’d highly encourage anyone with the enV Touch to sign up at www.envtouch.org and keep a check on those forums as well.

I’d still like to see BitPim support for the enV Touch as well.

Well, that’s pretty much it for this post. I’ll close out with a list of Apps I’d like to see for the enV Touch:

Twitter

Upload Videos to Youtube

Upload Pics to Myspace, Photobucket, etc.

Perhaps an FLV player for sites other than Youtube (ie Hulu)

Save pics from Websites to phone memory or SD card

Guess that’s it for now. Later days!

Mobile Web 2.0 – Lots to be Desired

So right now I’m posting from my enV Touch’s full HTML browser. I’m sitting at a family reunion that hasn’t really started yet. This place is damn near empty and really boring. Thank god for mobile web! Not that I can do a lot. This browser leaves a lot to be desired. While it supports enogh Javascript and Flassh to stream video from YouTube and to post to Twitter, we still can’t get free TV via Hulu nor can we download ringtones instantly via PhoneZoo.

Speaking of Twitter, using it’s mobile website isn’t the greatest thing in the world. You can’t reply to people unless you can spell their username. It’s quite annoying, trust me.

Hopefully we’ll get some apps for this thing soon.

Well, people are showing up at this here reunion. Guess I’ll stop there. Later!