Network Development Kit for PlayStation®2

Overview

NDK for PlayStation®2 enables you to add networking capabilities to your PlayStation®2 application, at minimum cost and effort. Whether it's for online gaming, or any other internet application for the PlayStation®2, such as a web browser or an e-mail client, all of this can be achieved through an intuitive API.

Components

Network Development Kit for PlayStation®2 consists of the NDK TCP/IP Stack, for building Internet connectivity into a PlayStation®2 game, plus the NDK Analyzer which allows PlayStation®2 Internet traffic to be examined on a development Windows PC across a LAN using the native DECI2 interface.

Click below for further details:

• NDK TCP/IP Stack

NDK TCP/IP Stack for PlayStation®2 provides a socket API on the Emotion Engine™ processor, that closely resembles the BSD socket API but with extensions so that multiple threads on the Emotion Engine™ can use the socket API. The TCP/IP stack and drivers run on the IOP processor so that it doesn't use up valuable Emotion Engine™ processing time. Sockets can be blocking or non-blocking, depending on how the application wants to use the multi-threaded support provided in the socket API. The basic API is best used where the socket access is done from one of more threads which are separate from the main game loop thread. However, due to SIFRPC blocking it is inefficient to use the basic API in a single-threaded Emotion Engine™ application. For this reason we also provide a fast socket API which uses a request-response queuing mechanism which avoids blocking in single-threaded EE applications.

Main features


• Small footprint.

The NDK uses only 361k of IOP memory when using the Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 Network Adaptor (Ethernet) and only 439k of IOP memory when using a USB Ethernet adapter. Only 39k of main Emotion Engine™ memory is used when the NDK libraries are linked into your project. (NOTE: results have been rounded up)


• Modular C code.
  
• Support for Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 Network Adaptor (Ethernet) / modem adapter.
  
• Support for a range of USB modems using Conexant and Lucent chip sets.
  
• Support for USB-Ethernet adapters
  
• Fast API version avoids blocking in single-thread Emotion Engine™ applications

Supported protocols


• TCP/IP - Transport Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
  
• UDP - User Datagram Protocol
  
• PPP - Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP is always built into the Stack irx file but will only be used when a modem driver is used)
  
• PPPoE - PPP over Ethernet
  
• ARP - Address Resolution Protocol (ARP will only be used when an Ethernet or DECI2 driver is loaded)
  
• ICMP - Internet Control Message Protocol
  
• DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
  
• CHAP - Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol
  
• PAP - Password Authentication Protocol

• NDK Analyzer

NDK Analyzer allows you to intercept and analyze all Internet traffic to and from PlayStation®2s on your LAN.

Hardware independence


The NDK Analyzer provides hardware independence as it enables you to use the NDK TCP/IP Stack without the need for a Sony Ethernet adapter/modem, a USB modem or a USB Ethernet adapter, since it uses the native DECI2 interface. It also enables you to view and capture the packets sent to and received from your TCP/IP application running on the Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 Development Tool DTL-10000 and save them to disk, as they are routed through ProDG Target Manager over the existing DECI2 protocol.

Packet Routing


The NDK Analyzer supports packet routing between the NDK TCP/IP Stack and any networked PC or Internet host (providing the LAN has an Internet connection) or between two Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 Development Tool DTL-10000s each running the NDK TCP/IP Stack.

Packet capture and analysis


Using the NDK Analyzer you can stop and start the capture of packets and you can examine an individual packet at byte level or at the "data only" level.

Bandwidth Simulation


Supports different data rates, for example, you can simulate different bandwidths in order to emulate the likely performance of an ethernet or modem connection. The NDK Analyzer produces statistics reporting the number of packets, number of Mbits per second and a graphical display of performance.

Error Simulation


Error simulation is also provided to enable you to test the integrity of your networked application by dropping packets.

• Supported Network Hardware

Network Adaptor (Ethernet/Modem)(for PlayStation®2) support


The NDK supports the Network Adaptor (Ethernet/Modem) (for PlayStation®2). This contains a V.90 analog modem, a 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet connector, and connectors for an optional internal Hard Disk Drive.

Supported USB-Ethernet adapters


The following table lists all of the USB-Ethernet adapters supported in the current release. Note: our driver will support devices containing either the ADMTek 8511 chip (Pegasus) or the ADMTek 986 chip (Pegasus II).

• 3Com 3C460B
• BAFO BF-310 / NetLINE PN796 / SOHO-USBNET/100
• Belkin F5D5050
• Belkin F5U122-PC
• Billionton USBE-100B2 / Cadmus 10-100N2
• Buffalo LUA-TX
• Buffalo LUA2-TX
• Cadmus 10-100
• Cadmus USBEL-100N
• Corega FEther USB-TX
• Corega USB100
• D-Link DSB650
• D-Link DSB-650TX
• D-Link DSB650TX-B
• D-Link DU-E100 / Hawking (UF100) USB 10/100M
• D-Link DU-E100 HW:B1
• EdiMax EU-4201 / Jinco UE-110 / Kouwell 588A / NetLINE PN796
• LinkSys USB100TX
• LinkSys USB100TX-B
• SMC EZNET-USB 2102 USB
• SOHOware NUB100

Supported USB modems


The following table lists all of the USB modems supported in the current release:

Lucent chip set

• Actiontec Call Waiting
• Compaq 56K USB Fax Modem
• Swann Smart USB 56K V.90 Modem / USB Pocket 56K NetSurfer
• MultiTech MultiMobile USB MT5634MU
• MultiTech MultiModem USB MT5634ZBA-USB
• Zoom FaxModem 56K USB Model 2985L / 2987

Conexant Smart SCM chip set

• Aiwa PV-PS200 (Japan)
• Cadmus/Billionton PS2 Modem USB56R-PS2
• I-0 Data P2Gate DFML-560/P2 (Japan)

Via SN Systems wrapper for Sony modem driver

• Omron Fax/Data Modem ME5614USB (Japan)

• What the NDK includes

NDK for PlayStation®2 includes the following components:

• DECI2 driver (sndrv000.irx)
• USB-Ethernet (not PPPoE) driver (sndrv001.irx)
• Lucent chip set USB modem driver (sndrv002.irx)
• Conexant chip set USB modem driver (sndrv003.irx)
• Wrapper driver for SCE Ethernet (not PPPoE) driver (sndrv100.irx)
• Wrapper driver for SCE modem driver (sndrv101.irx)
• PPPoE support (sndrv200.irx)
• USB-Ethernet (PPPoE variant) driver (sndrv201.irx)
• Wrapper driver for SCE Ethernet (PPPoE variant) driver (sndrv202.irx)
• Fast API IOP component (snstfdbg.irx) - includes run-time debug logging
• Fast API IOP component (snstfrel.irx) - no run-time debug logging
• TCP/IP Stack debug version (snstkdbg.irx) - includes run-time debug logging
• TCP/IP Stack release version (snstkrel.irx) - no run-time debug logging
• EE socket API, EE modem API and EE device API supplied as C header files and object module.

You will also need the following libraries and drivers which are supplied as part of the Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 tools.

• USBD library (usbd.irx) - low-level USB functions used by all USB drivers.
• HDD/Ethernet/modem adapter low-level library (dev9.irx)
• Ethernet driver (smap.irx) - for Sony network adaptor (Ethernet/modem)
• Modem driver (spduart.irx) - for Sony network adaptor (Ethernet/modem)

Because SN Systems provides a wrapper driver for the SCE Modem interface, we can also support third-party modem drivers written for use with SCE's Inet stack. In theory it should be possible to use any modem driver written for use with Inet. However, we have only tested the following driver:

• Omron modem driver (ommodem.irx) - for use with SCE Inet, available from the Sony Computer Entertainment developer web site.

• How to build with the NDK

• Integrate with your application using SN Systems' or SCE's PlayStation®2 or third-party software development tools.
• Two variants of the TCP/IP Stack irx file are provided: one with debug tracing/logging for use during game development, another for release in games. Note that only one variant (full) is provided for the drivers.
• Code written to use our socket / modem / Ethernet APIs is designed to be portable to other consoles.

  The following block diagram shows the design of the TCP/IP Stack and socket / modem APIs:

  

System requirements

Minimum Hardware:

• Microsoft Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional
• 16MB of RAM
  
• 300MB of hard disk space
  
• Network card (required for NDK analyzer)

Recommended Hardware:

• Pentium II (or equivalent) or higher processor
  
• Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional (Note: Windows ME is not supported by the WinPcap packet capture DLL, so you will not be able to use NDK Analyzer under this operating system)
  
• 64MB (128MB for Windows NT, 2000 and XP) of RAM
  
• 8MB of video memory
  
• At least 300MB of hard disk space
  
• CD-ROM drive
  
• Network card (required for NDK analyzer)
  

Note: The Win32 PC must not be configured as a router, as this will interfere with NDK analysis, and may overburden the LAN.

Additional Requirements:

• SN Systems' ProDG development tools or SCE's PlayStation®2 software development tools. No additional hardware (i.e. modems, USB Ethernet adapters) is needed as the NDK uses the DECI2 link to send data to the network.
  
• Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation®2 Development Tool DTL-T10000 or DTL-T15000.
  
• SN Systems' or SCE's PlayStation®2 software development tools.

Prices

NOTE: If the SN TCP/IP Stack is used in a PlayStation 2 title, then a one-off payment for the run-time license is applicable upon release of the title.

Please contact contact@snsys.com for further information.