PlayStation Classic

PlayStation Classic

Developer	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Type	Dedicated console
Release date	3 December 2018
Retail availability	2018 – present
Introductory price	US$99.99 €99.99 ¥9,980 £89.99 A$149.99
Media	Internal flash memory
System-on-chip used	MediaTek 8167a, Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A35
Memory	1 GB of DDR3 RAM
Storage	16 GB ECC Flash
Graphics	Power VR GE8300
Controller input	2 controller ports
Dimensions	149 mm × 33 mm × 105 mm (5.9 in × 1.3 in × 4.1 in)

Introduction

The PlayStation Classic is a dedicated video game console by Sony Interactive Entertainment that emulates games originally released on its 1994 PlayStation console. It was announced in September 2018 at the Tokyo Game Show, and released on December 3, 2018, the 24th anniversary of the release of the original. The console has been compared to competitor Nintendo's prior releases of the NES and Super NES Classic Edition mini consoles.

Specifications

The PlayStation Classic ships with two replica PlayStation Controllers (the original model, which are without analog sticks), an HDMI cable, and a USB Micro-A to standard USB-A cable. An AC adapter for the console is sold separately. The console weighs about 170 grams (0.37 lb) and is about 149 mm × 33 mm × 105 mm (5.9 in × 1.3 in × 4.1 in) in size, approximately 80% smaller in volume than the original PlayStation and 45% smaller in width and length. It includes ports for both controllers, HDMI output, and power via USB. The controller's cords measure approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long. It cannot use PlayStation memory cards. Internally, the console uses a MediaTek 8167a Quad A35 system on a chip with four central processing cores clocked at @ 1.3 GHz and a Power VR GE8300 graphics processing unit. It includes 16 GB of ECC flash storage and 1 GB of DDR3 memory.[7]

The Classic uses the ReARMed branch of the free and open source emulator PCSX to play its games.

Modification

Shortly after release it was confirmed that Sony used their public key to sign private packages, giving us gpghax, then lolhack payloads.

By using these methods we have gained root access to the console itself, and can modify the file system as well as the kernel using extensions and customized payloads with overmounting shell scripts to replace binaries until the next reboot.

USB Current Limiting

The two USB ports on the front of the PlayStation Classic are current-limited meaning they will only provide 5v @ 100mA. For mass storage devices and other devices, this is probably too low. 100mA is probably fine for stuff like mice, keyboards, game controllers but can cause instability or incompatibility if a device requires more draw.

This current limiting is handled by a switching current limiting chip on the motherboard. There is one for each USB port. This chip is a TPS2553D. Based on the datasheet we can see that the ILIM pin is used to control the value of the maximum allowed current draw. With two resistors in series totaling at about 226k ohms, we know that it will only provide 100mA. By reducing the resistance between this pin and ground we can increase the maximum allowed current draw.

It turns out if we give a resistance of zero, or directly short this pin to ground, we can effectively disable any current limiting for the port with a maximum of 1.5A allowed. The easiest way to do this is to short one side of the two resistors.

To disable the current limiting on port 1, short these two points:

To disable the current limiting on port 2, short these two points:

To prove that this works, disable the current limiting on port 1. Then turn on the machine and plug a phone or other device that charges via USB into port 2. You should notice that the device will not charge. Now, plug it into port 1 and you should see the device charging.

Compatible USB Drives

The following is an (incomplete) list of compatible drives and USB sticks for the PlayStation Classic.

Drive	Size	USB Ver.	Powered Hub?	Notes
Name	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Shintaro Rotating Pocket Disk USB flash drive 32 GB USB 2.0	32GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Lexar JumpDrive S75 128GB USB 3.0 LJDS75-128ABNL	128GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
Patriot SLATE 128GB (PSF128GLSS3USB)	128GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
Retract USB 3.0	0GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Fit (MUF-128BB/AM)	128GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
Micro SDXC UHS-I	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive - SDCZ430-128G-G46	128GB	3.1	N/A	N/A
Ultra Micro SD XC1	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ultra USB 3.0	0GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
Ultra USB Flash Drive (SDCZ48-128G-U46)	128GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
Cruzer Blade 128GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ50-128G-B35	128GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Samsung Portable SSD T5 USB 3.1	500GB	3.1	N/A	N/A
64 GB Ultra Fit CZ430 3.1 Mini Nano Flash	64GB	3.1	N/A	N/A
DataTraveler DTSE9 USB 2.0	0GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Blue Generic USB 2.0	0GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Blue Generic USB 2.0	0GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Cruzer Fit SDCZ33-064G-B35	64GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Cruzer Glide	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
SanDisk Ultra Fit 64 GB USB Flash Drive USB 3.0	64GB	3.0	N/A	N/A
TransMemory u363	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cruzer Blade	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Imation Nano Pro Flash Drive USB 2.0	0GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Cruzer Blade 128GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ50-128G-B35	128GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
Samsung Evo 256GB SD CARD (the red one) + Trascendent sd card reader	256GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Samsung Evo Plus 128GB MicroSD (red) + Kingston FCR-ML3C MobileLite Duo Reader	128GB	3.1	No	N/A
TOSHIBA HAYABUSA BLANCO	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
DataTraveler G2	0GB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Snow Usb 2.0	0GB	2.0	N/A	N/A
SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 128 GB SDCZ48-128G	128GB	3.0	Yes	N/A
Drive	Size	USB Ver.	External Power	Notes

Software

For more tech related information see Rockman. The base operating system shipped by Sony.

BIOS

The PlayStation Classic uses two bios:

Filename	Version	Region	Checksum (md5)	Description
romw.bin	4.5 05/25/00 J	region free	C53CA5908936D412331790F4426C6C33	The same BIOS is used for the PS1 emulator on PSP
romJP.bin	4.5 05/25/00 J	JP	476D68A94CCEC3B9C8303BBD1DAF2810	Very similar to romw.bin (it shares 80% of the code) but region locked