Linux PSP FAQ!

[DarkED]

Hey all. It's been a week or so since I've posted in this section, sorry about that, life has been a little busy

Anyways, I figured I'd post some of frequently asked questions I get from other users along with their answers. Most of these questions are PSP-centric but a few will be Linux basics. Even if you don't have any of these questions you could still check em' out and learn a bit

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Q. Is there anything special I need to do to make my PSP connect in Linux?
A. 99% of the time, no. Set it to USB mode and plug it in like you normally would. If your Linux kernel is anything recent (i.e. 2.4 and up) and your USB works your system should work fine with it. You may have to mount it manually on older distros, if so, the PSP memstick filesystem is the vfat derivative. If you're running a relatively new or up-to-date distro it'll likely mount the PSP automatically and place an icon for it on your desktop.

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Q. How do I work with .zip and .rar files in Linux?
A. It's a known fact that lots of homebrew comes in these formats. Zip is easy - your usual compression tool should be able to create and extract .zip files. I use Ubuntu derivatives so therefore I use Ark, use whatever is appropriate for your distro. For .rar files, you'll need an app called 'unrar.' This is a commandline application but it's very easy to use. Your distro will probably also have a GUI frontend in the repos somewhere.

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Q. What do I do when homebrew comes in a WinZip self-extractor (.exe) ?
A. Change the file extension from .exe to .zip - it will now open as a normal .zip file. NOTE that this ONLY works for WinZip self-extractors.

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Q. The PC-side PSP management application (example, Sei's PSP Tool) I want to use does NOT have a Linux version, what do I do?
A. See next question.

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Q. How do I work with homebrew that comes as a normal .exe installer?
A. You use Wine and hope for the best. Usually, if it comes in an installer, it's likely going to be a Windows PSP management application (such as Sei's PSP Tool.) In this case, it SHOULD run in Wine correctly. You may have some issues with USB, I'm not positive on how that'll work for you. If you have a specific app you'd like to use just feel free to ask me in this thread.

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Q. What is Wine?
A. Wine is a Windows to Linux compatibility layer, similar to Cygwin on Windows. It allows Windows executables (.exe) to run in Linux. Wine has been in development for quite a long time now and it has an amazingly high success rate, so chances are your app will run in it with little or no extra tweaking.

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Q. How do I convert videos / music to PSP's format in Linux?
A. FFmpeg is a set of codecs and utilities that can encode, decode and convert lots of various sound and video formats, including MPEG Layer-4 and DivX/XviD. You can find more info here:
FFmpeg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Q. Okay, but what about WMA/WMV/AVI/MOV?
A. Check out a package called 'win32codecs' for your respective distro. It'll get you sorted. Keep in mind that the legality of this package is questionable as it is basically direct ports of codecs included with Windows.

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Q. I have a DVD I'd like to rip and convert to PSP format. This DVD is encrypted, how do I read it in Linux?
A. Check out a selection of packages with the name 'libdvdcss' for your particular distro. Generally, you'll only need the 'libdvdcss2' package to decode DVD encryption. Keep in mind that the legality of these packages is questionable.

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Q. What is OGG/Vorbis?
A. OGG is a container format for music and video, it's similar to Windows' AVI. Vorbis is usually the codec for the sound and/or video contained within. OGG/Vorbis retains higher sound and video quality than MPEG2/3 and WMA/WMV, while running very similar bitrates to it's MPEG*/WM* cousins.

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Q. Can the PSP play OGG/Vorbis?
A. Unfortunately, no, it cannot. However, using FFmpeg you can convert OGG to whatever format you need for it to be PSP-compatible.

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Q. How do I work with EBOOTs (changing icons, sounds, name, etc) in Linux?
A. As far as working with normal (homebrew) EBOOTs goes, I couldn't say. For working with PSOne EBOOTs you can use the Linux version of Popstation.

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Q. I've downloaded such and such app and it's a Linux version, it came in an installer as a .run file. How do I install this?
A. Okay, it's easy. First you'll want to crack open a terminal and cd to the directory where the file is held. First you'll want to set the file as executable:

chmod +x name_of_file.run

Then, type this:

./name_of_file.run

The ./ operator tells Linux to execute the .run file. Also remember to use tab-autocomplete to help simplify typing out the names of these files, they tend to be quite long.

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Q. I've downloaded such and such app and it's a Linux version, it came in a tarball and it's got some .sh scripts. I have already extracted the tarball to a directory, now how do I run this?
A. See the above question, it works both ways. First, cd to the directory with the shell scrips, then:

chmod +x name_of_file.sh

Finally, we execute it:

./name_of_file.sh

And there you have it!

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Q. I found an app I want to use and it's Linux compatible but it needs to be compiled from source. What do I do?
A. Check the compiling instructions for your particular distro, it varies. Also, make sure you have the required compiler packages installed, the page with the source tarball will usually list the required packages. Your distro may also require a few additional packages to do a compile.

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Q. I have more questions!
A. Feel free to ask me in this thread. I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. Alternatively, you can fire up your IRC client and go to irc.freenode.net and join the channel for your particular distro. People there may also be able to help.

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I'll keep adding to the list as is required

[Chris3d]

Thanks for that man...if I EVER get my Linux box up and running stable the way I want it, I plan to start using it more. Meaning Beryl running stable, and all of the dev software installed correctly. LOL, I know this would be alot easier with a computer running a faster processor, and an Nvidia graphics card.

I'm currently running:
P4 1.8Ghz
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 SE
DVD-ROM/CD-RW

it's totally capable of running any distro of Linux, but I have no reason to run Linux without beryl and the proper dev s/w. I can compile anything on my mac...with eyecandy to an extent.

[DarkED]

LOL, I know this would be alot easier with a computer running a faster processor, and an Nvidia graphics card.

I'm currently running:
P4 1.8Ghz
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 SE
DVD-ROM/CD-RW

Your processor is more than sufficient, as is your video chipset. The only thing holding you back is the poor quality of ATi's Linux drivers. If you had an nVidia you'd already be up and running

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way a 'nVidia zealot.' I have both nVidia and ATi cards in my systems, the ATi drivers being of poor quality is just a fact in the Linux world. Ask anyone in the Linux community and they will tell you that ATi's drivers leave a lot to be desired.

[free2rap622]

Yea, if you had that nvidia you'de be strait, you should just get one.

[Chibibaka]

hmmm how do i go installing USBhostFS on linux? downloaded the linux version and all it gave me was a 68kb file lol

[free2rap622]

Well I don't have linux. But if you just google it, you might find something. Ill post a link to where you might be able to get it.
Sorry I wasn't able to find it. Google it though, you might find it.

[Chris3d]

Well I don't have linux. But if you just google it, you might find something. Ill post a link to where you might be able to get it.
Sorry I wasn't able to find it. Google it though, you might find it.

Why are you even posting in the Linux section...sorry to sound rude.

[DarkED]

hmmm how do i go installing USBhostFS on linux? downloaded the linux version and all it gave me was a 68kb file lol

Uh... yeah... that's how USBHostFS comes in Windows too. What kind of file is it?

[Chibibaka]

nvm got it running. was the same as the .run or .sh with out the .run or .sh lol

[Canada2113]

Ubuntu gives me a message saying something along the lines of "I/O Error while transferring data from...." when i try to move stuff on to my psp...
To be honest linux is being a pain in my ass. My soundcard doesnt work, psp doesnt work, standby doesnt work, took a week to get a cd burner that works... one thing after another.

[DarkED]

Sorry it's been such a pain but look at the bright side: nobody forced you to use it and it was free

And as far as your PSP goes it sounds like you've got a corrupted memstick. This probably happened because you were not unmounting the PSP before pulling the USB plug out of your computer or PSP.

You MUST unmount ALL external memory storage devices in Linux before unplugging them. Actually, you're supposed to do it in Windows as well using that 'Safely Remove Hardware' dialog.

[Canada2113]

I usually exit the usb mode on the psp before i unplug it so i can test the files i just put on, maybe i didt or something. It works fine on my family's xp box. I'll reboot myself into xp and see what happens.
I like Ubuntu, but everyone says that it "just works" and bashes windows becasue it has a few problems. I dont get along with elitist people too much i guess. People just have to understand that every OS has its ups and downs, nothing is perfect. Anywho, enough of that, thanks for the help DarkEd.

Edit: In Xp now, psp is working fine with usb. Maybe a reboot will help ubuntu get all situated. Ill be back after i reboot into ubuntu again. At least now i have a reason to do a few things in xp that i have been putting off.

[DarkED]

I usually exit the usb mode on the psp before i unplug it so i can test the files i just put on

That is not unmounting it. It's the same as pulling the plug.

To unmount it you can either right click on the PSP icon (either on your desktop or in /media) and hit eject/unmount, or you can do it manually:

Open a terminal and type this:

sudo mount

This will give you a list of all items that are currently mounted, including your PSP. Look for the PSP in the list (go by the size of your memstick) and note the device node, it's assigned to your PSP and looks something like /dev/sda. Now, type this:

sudo umount /dev/sda5 <-- assuming your PSP is /dev/sda5 of course.

Now it's unmounted. Then you can go back to using it.

[Canada2113]

Yeah, i get what you mean. It mounts right on the desktop along with my hdd's, so i could just right-click the icon to unmount, right? The way i did it before worked with windows, but i guess that doesnt guarantee it works elsewhere. I'll just have to train myself to unmount it now. Thanks a bunch DarkEd.

[DarkED]

The way i did it before worked with windows, but i guess that doesnt guarantee it works elsewhere. I'll just have to train myself to unmount it now. Thanks a bunch DarkEd.

Yeah, Windows seems to be a little better about not screwing all your data when you dont do a clean unmount And yeah, I know it's a pain to unmount it manually but you get used to it and it's really no big deal.