Slashdot Mirror
PC Keyboard Connected to PSP
An anonymous reader writes "A hardware engineer has managed to successfully connect a full-sized PC keyboard to the Sony PSP handheld. It looks as if the hardware modification was done with several different xlink cable connectors modified to interlink with each other. Obviously, the software side of things is not complete, but this is still a very interesting modification." The real question is what killer apps will come out of all this PSP hacking. There has to be more than just MAME emulation.
This story will probably garner a few comments along the lines of, "What's the point?" The interesting thing to me in this case is that the usual geek response of "Because it's there" applies, but there's also a bit of the gaming spirit at work.
If Sony hadn't invested so much time and effort in DRM etc., the PSP would be a much easier hack. But because they installed all these roadblocks, the hobbyist community has had to work hard for each success.
In a way, it's like a well-balanced game. It's challenging to make progress, but when you do, it's satisfying because of the work you put into getting tangible results. A game that hands you all the solutions is not much fun, but a game that offers well-balanced challenges can be a good time for a long while. Seems that Sony unintentionally created a pretty sweet "game" with the restrictions built into the PSP itself. Even if you're not in on the actual hacking, it has been fun to watch the hackers steadily proceed to the next level, and the next.
$1100 up for grabs for someone who makes a tcp/ip interface for the PSP. Wow.
Well actually, it's a USB device. So if you could somehow convince the PSP to be a USB *host* (ability to connect USB devices to it, not the other way around), that would be news.
Apparently though, he hasn't done that part. Just the cable-hacky stuff. Woo-hoo.
-- I have fans? Wow.
I've noticed a strain of anti-intellectualism on slashdot, and your post is a great example of it. Hard science and math nerds are treated like second class citizens by mere computer programmers. It is completely absurd. We're all nerds here. But note well -- this site is for news for nerds, not news for you.
After all, I am strangely colored.
Try this peripheral.