PS3 Asm Development

[Scribe]

Hi guys,

I'm new to PPCs in general and fully expect to have to read the lovely nice and big power architecture guide.

However, after this stage I'm a bit unsure how to go about ps3 development. I wish to:

A. Compile ASM code to run on the ps3 without a prior OS (ie no linux)
B. Boot to my own code via otheros.bld
C. Access the hypervisor via my ASM code

I expect C will come naturally by that stage however could somebody point me in the correct direction for A and B? Also is the system simulator useful to use in debugging ASM?

Another question is can you use the cell SDK and handle the code in ASM/C/C++ without out it needing a linux os to run. I have had experience with embeded C on 8-bit atmel chips so would like to know what the ps3's CELL has to offer in this area.

Many thanks for any help.

[J.F.]

A - Look at the otheros demo. Specifically the start.S file.
B - Look at the otheros demo. Make a stand-alone program like it, but make a loader instead of a demo.
C - Look at the otheros demo. Specifically the hv.S file. It calls the hypervisor. Look at the hypervisor wiki page.

You can use the VMX extension in the PPE via compiler intrinsics, or via assembly. The SPEs have a considerable amount of overhead that needs to be handled. You'd probably need a lib to make use of them when not in linux.

[ps2devman]

Don't forget Marcus (Mc) went one step forward from his otheros demo.
He called it mcload 1.0 (a loader!)

http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8627

http://mc.pp.se/ps3/mcload_1.0.zip
http://mc.pp.se/ps3/mcload.xhtml
(save locally and rename .xhtml into .html so you can read the description, if you have trouble with .xhtml)

[J.F.]

Nifty! Hadn't gotten that far back in the old threads yet. :)

[Scribe]

Thanks a lot guys, I'll look into this.