Open Edition Firmware

Open Edition firmwares (OE) refers to the set of custom firmwares created by Dark_Alex. To date, there has been 5 releases, with 3.40 OE-A being the last firmware release. Dark_Alex continued development of custom firmwares under Team March 33.

Development

Coming off the Proof Of Concept firmware, and 2.71 SE, Dark_Alex released the first OE firmware on December 21, 2006. Released as 3.02 OE-A, it contained all of the features of 3.02, and 1.50, as well as the basis of all of the custom firmwares to come. Within the custom firmware release, it included the ability to activate both the WMA, and Flash Players via recovery, and to share, and play PSX games due to the DRM being cracked. Further firmwares included improvements, "No-UMD" modes, and more software-related hacks, and unlocks.

Features

Most features of the OE firmwares came from the previous SE and POC firmware. Over time, more features are added in for testing, and ended up being permanent.

Recovery Menu

The recovery menu allowed users to change the various settings within the firmware, that helped to improve the experience of the user. A full explanation of all these features are explained in the readme and changelog files released with the firmwares. Some main features were the ability to overclock your PSP, enable the WMA and Flash players w/o an internet connection, have access to the flash0, and flash1 drives, the ability to fake your region, among other things.

ISO Play

Since 2.71 SE, the "NO-UMD" feature was implemented, and it became a full fledged feature. The "NO-UMD" feature allowed users to launch game image files directly from the memory stick, or from the computer via USB using usbhost. Like PSX games, ISOs were allowed to be shared, and play without problem.

PSX Game Play

Ever since the DRM cracking on 3.02 OE, virtually any PSX game can be played as long it is converted properly. Also, other plugins such as CWCHEAT allowed more functionality (in this case, cheating) throughout games.

Homebrew

The most important aspect of the OE firmware was the ability to launch unsigned code on the PSP. Homebrew can be ran from the memory stick, or the computer over USB or WiFi.

Releases

For a guide of how to install custom firmwares safely visit: Installing Custom Firmware

3.02 OE

3.02 0E-A

21 December 2006 Download: [1]

The same features as Sony's 3.02 were available except for the Location Free Player. (Which was removed for space for the 1.50 kernel) In Addition, any PSX game was able to be played due to the DRM being cracked which protected the copyright, and prevented illegal distribution of the games.

3.02 OE-B

25 December 2006 Download: [2]

3.02 OE-B was released, and it allowed users to rip, and compile their own PSX games to work with the PSP.

3.03 OE

3.03 OE-A

4 January 2007 Download: [3]

It was a replica of the 3.02 OE firmware, and it still allowed play of PSX games, no matter where obtained.

3.03 OE-A'/A2

6 January 2007 Download: [4]

It allowed users to overclock their PSP to run faster while playing UMDs, and games.

3.03 OE-B

10 January 2007 Download: [5]

This allowed H.264/MPEG-4 AVC|MP4-AVC videos to be played in full-screen format.

3.03 OE-C

15 January 2007 Download: [6]

Being a major release, a full install was required. It added the ability to use the WiFi while overclocked at 333MHz, allowed the PSP to be overclocked in the XMB, some other features, as well as faster coldboot times. In addition, the max bitrate for MP4-AVC files has been increased to 16Mbit/s.

3.10 OE

3.10 OE-A

4 February 2007 Download: [7]

This with Sony's 3.10 features, allowed users to use the 4th brightness level without the need of the AC adaptor. Also, users were able to launch static ELF files with the new 3.10 kernel.

3.10 OE-A'/A2

6 February 2007 Download: [8]

The update just patched a simple bug with the execution of PSP games. This being a minor update, it was required by those not having problems launching games.

3.30 and 3.10 Open Edition Mix for UP

3.30 OE

15-20 April 2007 Download: [9]

This offered all the features of the past Sony, and OE firmwares. However, the Location Free Player was still removed. A simple patch for the firmware was released. This fixed a bug that randomly wrote to the RAM of the PSP. In addition, the autboot feature was added back in.

3.40 OE

3.40 OE-A

20 April 2007 Download: [10]

The last OE release! The bug where data was randomly written to the RAM of the PSP was fully fixed. The autoboot feature was thrown back in. Also, improvements in the flasher was made. This checked the firmware files, and the SHA1 hash check of the 'DATA.DXAR' file before creation, and flashing so that it will lead to less PSP users bricking their PSPs due to corrupted or incorrect files being used during install.