Play backups, imports, and homebrew for ALL models of PS2, via memory card

[Lazy Bastard]

http://www.memor32.com/
http://mementoteam.com/

With the Memento firmware on a Memor32 memory card, you can boot directly from the memory card slot, without a mod chip or swap disc. The only catch is that discs will have to be burned in a proprietary format, so anything you've already burned will not work with this system. However, homebrew stuff can still be run via USB, etc, and you can always use a bootloader ELF to load normal backup discs.

Looks like someone finally bypassed/cracked MagicGate...

[misfire]

I'd like to know how the Memento firmware actually works. I've heard that it is basically a hacked Sony DVD player upgrade. They somehow managed to break/circumvent Magic Gate to run their own code from memory card. The proprietary burning format supports this theory, as the game ISOs seem to be converted to video DVDs of sorts.

[Lazy Bastard]

Have you had the opportunity to take a look at one of the patched images? I suppose I could dump and patch myself, as the software's free...

Thanks to misfire for this link, heh (and the ones above, for that matter): http://www.iso420.org/ps2/momento_v12/index.htm

...a decent review, and the guy actually goes into some depth for newbies. It's kind of funny, though, that "Memento" is misspelled in the address, heh.

[misfire]

EEUG claims to be able to make SMS directly bootable from memory card, certainly by exploiting the same DVD player vulnerability.

There's no proof yet, but I believe him. Also, it appears he sold his findings to an unknown company...

[misfire]

No, I haven't tried the image patcher yet.

[Lazy Bastard]

Yeah, I'd begun to wonder if Vast was just a hoax...

[misfire]

Another thought: The special disc structure may originate from the fact that the PS2 is capable of reading burned DVD-R video discs without any modifications. (That's at least what I've heard. I've only got a chipped PS2 and can't test it.)

[Lazy Bastard]

Yes; I'd always wondered if there would be a way to exploit that (yes, PS2s can run burned DVDs). At the very least, you'd think someone would develop some code that runs as if it were a DVD, but initializes an ELF launcher, which in turn initializes and ELF, or something along those lines.

[misfire]

Right, there're some proprietary file systems for audio and video discs that take advantage of it. IIRC, CogSwapLoader used the audio CD format to run backups on unmodified consoles.

[scarface200729]

That'd be pretty cool, if i still had a ps2.

[Lazy Bastard]

But CogSwapLoader required another bootable disc to work, such as a cheat syste, disc, didn't it?

[misfire]

It was released shortly after the PS2 Independence Exploit...

Also interesting:

Since it runs from memory card, it uses magic gate encryption. Last time I checked the memento files it was based of scph-30003/4 V3 dvd player code, with memento patching in their code.

Source: http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=9646

[Lazy Bastard]

That's an interesting thread.

[misfire]

If I can get my hands on one of Sony's DVD player update ELFs (IIRC, there's one on my desktop PC), I would immediately start tampering with it...

On the other hand, making VAST actually happen, would be very time consuming. That's one downside of (PS2) hacking: There're just too many interesting projects out there...

[LiquidManZero]

One thing that I can't seem to find out, is if their method of simulating the MagicGate interface is faster or slower than Datel's GateCrasher (as seen in the ARMax memory cards).

Being bored, I found pictures of the internal organs on the thing, and looked up what exactly the parts are. Here's the information on the guts:

FTDI (Future Technology Devices Inc.) FT245R USB interface: http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/FT245R.htm

Actel ProASIC3 A3P250-VQG100 FPGA: http://www.actel.com/products/pa3/default.aspx

And... I've been unable to find out anything about the Samsung K9F5608U0D flash memory, but that's the least signifigant of the major components.