PS1CardLink (WIP)

[Shendo]

Another new project

This one is fairly simple but I think it's a very useful one.
As you may or may not know I made a MemcardRex application for management of Memory Card images.

A while back I added support for DexDrive and MemCARDuino (Arduino based Memory Card reader).
Both of those use serial port so I got an idea since PS1 has a serial port too.

So I made an application called PS1CardLink which basically turns PS1 into a serial Memory Card reader.


Everything is finished so I'm looking for beta testers to catch bugs which I might have missed.
Compatibility with the cards should be high since real PS1 is used but you never know...
All brands of cards are welcome for testing.

If someone is interested I'll send them a PM with the beta software.

Edit: It's released. Get it from my blog.

[alex.d93]

Cool project!
Can I be a beta tester?

[Spipis]

Nice! Very promising!
And these days i was looking to buy a Card Reader!
Count me also for beta tester!

[Shendo]

PM sent. Have fun.

[Shendo]

I updated interface a bit and did more tests. Seems to work fine so far.

[PsxFan107]

May I beta test?

[Shendo]

Sure. I've sent you a PM.

[Orion_]

does your tool will be open source ?
or is it possible to add a plugin ?
because I will make a tool to read memory card from the PS3 USB adaptator, and I would be glad If I could use an already made tool to avoid the memory card parsing process and windows UI.

[Shendo]

You mean MemcardRex. I have no plans of open sourcing it but I'll be willing to make a plugin interface.
Currently it has a plugin support but only for save editors. I can easily add a new API for hardware communication.
But the requirement is that it needs to be written in .net languages (C# or VB.NET).

[Orion_]

ahwwww...
why using C# and heavy .net stuff :/
my code will be in C, so I guess it won't be possible.
I will make a basic program then people will be able to load the mem card binary to standard memcard editor like yours or psxmemedit.

[Shendo]

It just suits me better on a project like this where I'm freely able to
design GUI with WinForms and not some 3rd party widgets or Win32 API.
That's just one advantage but there are many more.

Not all is lost however. I'm still able to use unmanaged dlls in my application.
If you make a dll with exported functions I can incorporate it in MemcarRex.
It won't be a plugin however, it will be hardcoded.

[Shendo]

Release is near . I've sent the latest build to testers, please report any bugs.

[danhans42]

Could I please try the beta? I have a GT2 save I could really do with backing up and don't want to have to set up my desktop just to plug in an xplorer. Cheers

[Shendo]

PM sent, have fun.

With that I'm closing the beta program. It will be available to general public soon.

[Shendo]

Just to let everyone know it's released. You can grab it here.

[yogi]

Thank you very much! Been watching your blog on n off looking for the release, but missed this thread till now
Yogi

[provato]

Thanks so much for PS1CardLink!!! I want to use it, but I don't know what cable I need to connect my ps1's serial port to my pc's serial port! Where can I find such a cable?

[Shendo]

You can use a cheap CH340 USB TTL module and connect TX, RX and GND lines on the PS1 side.
That's the setup I'm using and it's been working fine with various software I used inluding PS1CardLink.

You can also buy premade cables from here if you don't want to waste your time making a cable.

[provato]

Ok, thanks Shendo, I think I'll pass for now because I don't even have a link cable, and pre-made are not exactly cheap.
I guess I'll stick to good old ulaunchelf in ps2 for now if I want to backup my ps1 saves.

You're making great apps btw. I use memcardrex all the time, and I like padtest, although you should check the "twin ps to PC converter" windows drivers interface, for buttons, vibration and calibration checking I'll post some pics tomorrow to show you what I mean.

[tlrmcknz]

You can use a cheap CH340 USB TTL module and connect TX, RX and GND lines on the PS1 side.

Is your CH340 using 5V and you dropped the voltage on tx?