MechaCon/UART commands
Overview
These commands can be sent to MechaCon via it's UART interface. They exist for manufacturing and servicing purposes. For wiring up a serial terminal to the MechaCon UART interface, see MechaCon UART test points. To enable the UART interface, the console must be put into testmode by pulling the TEST_MODE0 test point to ground. The interface operates at 57600 baud 8N1 and rather non-standard 3.5 V.
3.3 V signal levels work fine for communication, but care must be taken not to additionally connect an internal 3V3 voltage regulator, which is provided on some USB UART interfaces, to the console, since this will conflict with the console's own 3V5 voltage regulation and could damage the USB device and/or the console. On such interfaces, it should suffice to just connect Rx, Tx and GND. Even better would be to use a RS-232-to-TTL level shifter, which can take the 3V5 voltage as reference directly from the console itself.
Instead of working with raw MechaCon commands, it is recommended for users to use pre-made tools like PMAP. The purpose of this page is to provide documentation for the further development of PS2 tools.
Large differences exist between the SPC970-based MechaCon and the ARM-based "Dragon" MechaCon.