Quote:
Originally Posted by Merick  Hmmm... emulate Linux? Shouldn't it be possible to just recompile it to run natively on the psp hardware? Would probably be faster, maybe someone could even find a way add support for usb devices like a mouse or keyboard
Dammit, if I weren't so stupid when it comes to actually programming something I'd try to do it myself. |
Sadly, this is all most impossible because of two reasons dealling with the processor:
- The PSP uses a MIPS style proccessor. Although this is the smaller of the problems, the kernel code still needs to be tweaked sometimes, and so do any apps that you want to run. You'd have to download the scorce and recompile everything that you wanted to run. Not to mention that the MIPS CPU has a reduced instrution set, meaning that some operations are not supported or take longer to complete.
- More importiantly, the PSP does not have a MMU (Memory Management Unit). This chip handles what processes are running in memory, pages, swaps, and locates them and whatnots. Because the PSP lacks this, it has to be compensated for in the kernel (Hard, but there are versions of Linux that don't need an MMU, though they are slowed down because of it) or emulated.
In the end, it is a lot easier to port individual apps then to port whole operating systems. A good example of this is the Links2 browser. It is a Linux browser that has been complied for the PSP (with changes, of course). But the code is still mostly the same.