Hacking Nintendo's Wii HDD Loader

[Slowking]

To clear this whole thing up:

The USB-hardware in the Wii is 2.0 (members of team twiizers have said so, so we can be fairly certain about it

) but Nintendo only includet USB 1.1 drivers. If anybody of you were to write USB 2.0 drivers we would have 2.0 speed. But it's no easy task, since they have to be written as an IOS-module.

 

[turkish_punch]

I will support the claims with my, albeit makeshift, benchmark. Earlier today I did the CNET Speed Test on the wii it ran 1233.5 kbps and the computer it ran at 2635.7 kpbs.

~1233 kbps converts to ~154 KB\s

USB1.1 limit is 10.5Mbps is 10752kbps and that would be 1344KB\s. Keep in mind that 10.5Mbps is 'theoretical' and there are a wealth of other issues that could cause the increased or decreased speed. The most obvious issues would be the integrity of the test or the integrity of the browser,but I digress.

And yes writing a USB2.0 driver would be the solution ,but I think you would also need a kernel. Something out of my league and most homebrewers.

CNET Bandwidth Meter:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

edit: [To clear my first comment up,] the claim that the USB runs at or near USB1.1 speeds.

edit2: USB1.1 actually runs at 12Mbps or 12288kpbs or 1536KB\s and besides154 KB\s are well with in the theoretical limits, i feel like a dolt. Now i am curious why the wii ran so terribly on the Bandwidth test.

 

[turkish_punch]

isn't an HDD loader not too far away?

there's already plenty of homebrew that can use usb HDDs such as vmplayer

add WiiGator's new launcher code to that and to me seems like a logical step? maybe not as pretty a menu as this official one, but I would think the code isn't too far away.

this is, of course, wild speculation and I would love for someone to point out where I'm thinking wrong.

(is the problem that all the current homebrew usb apps run it at 1.1 speeds?)

I will have to look at vmplayer, thank you.

QUOTE(Screemer @ Oct 22 2008, 08:35 PM) right now the usb sppeds a way to slow for a hdd loader. the first thing what had to be done would be coding a working usb 2.0 driver. it seems like nintendo already did that, but i doubt it will be released with a update. there was a guy, with some experience in low level driver coding, here looking for help. but a couple of people, including well known sceners like markan, started to flame and kicked him out of the #wiidev irc channel. there point was, that there is no reason for a 2.0 driver except of piracy and they don't support piracy and don't wanna be related to piracy. i think he just dropped the idea of working for the community. thats pretty sad, because i think a good working usb 2.0 driver would be great for wiili and other projects too.

I will have to take your comments at face value because I don't want to insult anyone if your information on markan and others is incorrect. But there are an infinite amount of possibilities of wanting to use a HDD at USB 2.0 speeds and by the same regard, even more so, they wouldn't support DVDx or any homebrew that gives dvd access capabilities. Honestly, what would be the biggest reason for wanting DVD access? Oh, I don't know, maybe to run backup/pirated games? Even if it wasn't #1 on the community list it would have been top5, if not top2. If it wasn't for these videos I could think of a dozen reasons to want to have an external hdd attached to the wii. Storage, videos, pictures, music, etc.

Sorry if i am beating a dead horse and hijacking the thread ,but I sincerely support anyone willing or acting on USB2.0 / External HDD capability.

 

[Screemer]

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=108685&hl=