Caetla

How do you get Caetla onto the Xplo(d/r)er? I've scoured the web but documentation is scarce.

Also, would anything be lost by moving to Caetla when compared to the default ROM?

 

From what i remember (did it a LONG time ago now), i think the update had to be burned on CD and runned on modded PS1.... but maybe that's not it at all

edit: from what i searched, you'll need comm link internal pc card or a modified parallel cable to inject ROM into cart. I had comm link so maybe it was the way i did it.

 

Since nobody can get a hold of/use COMM link cards today the easiest way would be a burned disc. If something went wrong when you were flashing with a COMM link you'd need to use a disc anyway. BIOS flashing is widely compatible between all PS AR/GS devices so you can probably use the Caetla/Xplorer ROM with whatever recovery program you can find. I do believe you need a particular version of Caetla for Xplorer since the parallel port registers and protocol are not the same as the standard COMM link's.

 

You don't need a COMM Link for the Xploder/Xplorer. Just use a 25pin parallel cable and connect it to the standard parallel port. Use X-Killer 0.56 to flash Caetla, it will automatically change the Language Setting to English and the Hardware Setting to Xploder.

Then you can use the standard caetla tools. But don't forget to set the correct port:

psexe.com
set path=%path%;c:caetla
set port=2

AR/CommsLink 0:300 1:310 2:320 3:330
AR/ExStand 4:LPT1 5:LPT2 6:LPT3
AR/FreeWing 7:LPT1 8:LPT2 9:LPT3
Xploder 10:LPT1 11:LPT2 12:LPT3
Xploder(jap)13:LPT1 14:LPT2 15:LPT3


X-Killer officially supports only Caetla 0.34 ROM. I'm pretty sure it will work with later versions too, but you may have to change the language and hardware settings manually. If you do not change the hardware setting to Xploder, you won't be able to establish a successful connection via parallel port.

 

I wonder if anything like this would work?

 

Nope.

 

OK, I have the cable and X-killer, and installed the giveio.sys driver as I was requested to do by X-killer, but how do I communicate with it under Windows XP? I just get a "timeout" in the ROM manager. That's the information that I can't find anywhere at all.

Sorry for all the questions, but please walk me through the process.

 

use Windows 98. Most of these transfer tools do not work properly under Win XP.

 

OK, I'll try that. Will a virtual machine be fine for this purpose?

 

yes, it should work fine with Virtual PC. But don't forget to activate the parallel port under the settings dialog.

 

Another one to try is the later version of Catflap. Worked quite well for me under Win2000/XP. I think its the later version that supports the xplorer.

It worked well for code upload but I could never get the PC server side working under XP/2000.

Ive attached 2.3.1 here, the version 1.18 on the hitmen site only does the AR/commscard, not the xplorer

Good Luck

 

If using XP and LPT; you'll need UserPort, http://hem.passagen.se/tomasf/UserPort/

 

The caetla installation program will install onto an xplorer card with just a parallel port. IIRC you have to boot into MSDOS to do it.

catflap is the best software to use under windows.

Documentation is hard to come by because it's so old & as you only end up installing once it's not something that is that easy to remember (i've done it twice, I trod on my original xplorer).

 

Well, I installed Windows 98 as a VM, and it didn't work, and then I installed it on my hard disk as an actual bootable OS, but no joy there either; it just gives me a "time out" error. What could be going on here?

 

Please help, I'm pretty desperate to get Caetla on my Xplorer.

 

I have just been given an Xplorer so I will flash with it Caetla and write up a guide with some pics and a pack with all the required files in.

Give a me a few days.

Dan

 

OK, thanks. Any updates?

 

Yeah,


Sorry been away for a few days. Ive made an ISO that contains everything you need, some demos, caetla 0.35 & 0.37 and some batch files that will flash them to a xplorer on LPT1 (0x378h).

Ill get it on megaupload or something as its currently around 8-9mb RAR'd.

My main PC's PSU blew up the other day and I was putting together an Xflash CD that will flash without a PC, directly on the PSX.

More to follow in a bit.

 

As promised. A Bootable caetla flashdisc witha few extras on it.

http://rapidshare.com/files/423016347/CAETLATOOLS.rar

The CD layout is as follows;

\testrom.bat - Checks if the flash on your xplorer cart is compatible (not really needed as its checked as part of the flashing process)
\flash035.bat - Flash Caetla 0.35 to to an xplorer on LPT1
\flash037.bat - Flash Caetla 0.37 to to an xplorer on LPT1

Once the cart has been flashed you can try the following ;-

\psxbasic.bat - sends PSXBASIC to the cart
\demo1.bat - sends a ZX spectrum emulator to the cart.
\demo2.bat - sends Hitmen mother preview to the cart.

Also the other folders :-

\blade - bladelib 1.2
\caetla - full caetla tools
\demo - a few demos and things
\psxbasic - psxbasic and some examples
\xkiller - xkiller software (only works with Caetla 0.34 - not supplied)
\xlink - the original xlink xplorer software (also supports code upload, but no pcdrv: fileserving)
\zips - archives to everything on the CD

to flash your xplorer you need to do the following:

1. Boot your PC from the CD
2. Make your your PC and PSX are connected with the DB25 cable
2. At the Z:\ run flash035 to flash 035 (I use this version, I do not know what advantages 0.37 offers).
3. Follow the instructions on screen, answering Y to a test write, but if anything appears about the flash not been supported do not continue.
4. reset the console. you should now have caetla flashed to your xplorer.

If you dont get any communication between the PC and xplorer cartridge check that everything is working by using the original xlink software to make sure.

Best of luck

 

I burnt the iso and ran it, but still nothing after "Checking connection with XT (Xplorer)". X-link just gives me a "time-out" error as well, like X-killer did on Windows 98/XP. This is infuriating.

My paralell port is set to "Printer" mode in the bios of my PC btw. That's the right option I assume? Please list EVERY SINGLE step for me to follow. Because I'm just having to do a lot of "guesswork" currently, which is probably the issue...

And how did you make that x-flsh disc for the PSX? That would bypass all of this nonsense...