Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1999 20:11:00 -0500 From: Drew Baxter <netmonger@genesis.ispace.com> To: John Sconiers <jrs@enteract.com>, Jonathan Chen <jonc@pinnacle.co.nz> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Sony Playstations.. Message-ID: <4.1.19990104200836.00af3690@genesis.ispace.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9901041903450.22726-100000@adam.enteract.com > References: <Pine.SCO.3.96.990105133807.7236K-100000@kiwi.pinnacle.co.nz>
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At 07:06 PM 1/4/99 -0600, John Sconiers wrote: >> One of the nice new toys I got over Christmas was a Sony Playstation, >> and it's made me sit in front of the TV for a lot longer than I've >> ever been in a *LONG* time (don't watch that much TV ...). >> However, the game CD's for the playstation are all black on the >> underside! This doesn't look like a std CD-reader system at all, does >> anyone here know what sort of reader it is? > >Actually it is a standard reader...However they adjust it so that it looks >for the black stuff on the under side. You can get around this by buying >and installing a modchip and cdr all of your games (so I've heard). > >> And the graphics. The graphics are impressive (I love 'em on `Final >> Fantasy VII'). There doesn't seem to be any specs on the short manual >> that came with the system; anyone here know what sort of CPU they run >> on? > > >Don't quote me but I believe its a motorola... > >JOHN > Not quite.. the black underside is just to demonstrate that it is an AUTHENTIC Playstation CD. What Sony does is uses modified CD-Writers that write into normally unaddressable portions of the CD. The Playstation looks for these 'spare blocks' and determines if it is a real CD or not. the BLACK bottom is just so the consumer is aware that it is indeed a true Sony Authorized Playstation CD. The modchip modifies the ROM looking for this protection scheme. As it goes, there is no known way to EXACTLY duplicate the CDs (aside from the obvious), so what the modchip does is causes the ROM to ignore if the CD is legit or not, as well as it ignores the country code, so that you can play JAP games on a USA console, etc. The modchips are something around 15 dollars.. you can get them from www.modchip.com, if I recall. However Datel Electronics (UK) got nailed pretty hard for selling them if I remember right. --- Drew "Droobie" Baxter Network Admin/Professional Computer Nerd(TM) OneEX: The OneNetwork Exchange, Bangor Maine USA http://www.droo.orland.me.us PGP ID: 409A1F7D To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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