In the PSP scene, plugins were used to direct many different kinds of processes in the background. For example, some could be used to take screenshots on demand, while others injected cheats behind your games. Thanks to the recent release of the Cobra USB source code, U$er has now found a way to make the loading of plugins possible on PS3 too. They do of course have to made for PS3 specifically, but the idea is still there. This PRX Loader allows you to boot any plugins that may come out in the next few days and weeks. See the full release notes below!

This is a small example that shows how to run tasks in the background. In fact its a small part of the cobra usb payload ported to 4.46 and 4.50. Of course the need for a dongle has been removed 

Features:

• run tasks in the background
• tasks are running all the time (vsh, ingame, etc.)

Features of Sample Plugin:

• remote peek/poke at any time
• full ram access via lv1 peek/poke

Requirements:

• 4.46 Firmware Cex or Dex with LV2 Syscall 10 (e.g. Rebug)
• 4.50 Firmware with LV2 Syscall 10 (untested, dunno if it exists at all)

how to:

1. if you're on rebug, run the toolbox and enable the "LV2 Memory Protection" patch
2. run the VSH Plugin Sample App
3. connect to your PS3 from PC using a telnet client (e.g. putty) on port 4546
4. enjoy 

Q&A
Q: What kind of other background tasks could be done?
A: ftp server, debug plugins, cheat plugins, fan utilities, etc.

Q: Do i have to run the sample app again after reboot?
A: Yes, the changes being made are non-permanent.

Q: How many plugins at once does the payload support?
A: one.

Q: May I use the source code in my project?
A: As long as its an open source project, yes.

special thanks go to:
cobra for opensourcing and flatz for 4.50 symbols and helping me fix a bug 

October 15th, 2013

For the ones who want to load more then one plugin:EP0001-PRXLOADER_00-0000000000000001.pkg

you can define the plugins to be loaded in /dev_hdd0/game/PRXLOADER/USRDIR/plugins.txt (one line per plugin).

supports up to 6 plugins.

This one should support 4.50 DEX too

October 16th, 2013

Changes:

• the remote peek/poke plugin now has a binary interface
• sample c# application is included that shows how to use the interface (dump lv1, lv2 and full ram)
• 4.50Cex is fixed
• 4.50Dex probably too

plugin_dev folder (for plugin developers):

• prx_loader.ppu.self is supposed to be loaded via tm (loads everything from /app_home)
• edit plugins.txt to load your plugin
• test_prx folder contains a simple prx example (have a look at cobra's netiso as well)