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The first thing you should know about the Wii in order to understand the rest of this guide is that it has two processors. The main one, the [[Hardware/Broadway|Broadway]], is a PowerPC processor that does the job of running game code, and interfacing with all of the "legacy" hardware - basically everything the Gamecube has (with a few exceptions) are handled by the PowerPC. The Broadway is also called the PPC, because that is its architecture.

The first thing you should know about the Wii in order to understand the rest of this guide is that it has two processors. The main one, the [[Hardware/Broadway|Broadway]], is a PowerPC processor that does the job of running game code, and interfacing with all of the "legacy" hardware - basically everything the Gamecube has (with a few exceptions) are handled by the PowerPC. The Broadway is also called the PPC, because that is its architecture.

The other processor was kept quiet by Nintendo until [[Team Twiizers]] discovered it in their initial attempts at hacking into the Wii. It is physically located inside the [[Hollywood]], the Wii's graphics chip - so it was nicknamed the [[Starlet]]. It is an ARM processor that communicates with the "new" hardware, as well as the DVD drive. The program that handles communication between the PPC and the hardware is known by everyone as [[IOS]] - see below. The Starlet is also called the ARM, because that is its architecture.

The second processor is a [[Hardware/Macronix_DSP|Macronix 16-bit DSP]] That does side task jobs for boot, audio, memory card unlocking, gba decryption, etc.

 

The third processor was kept quiet by Nintendo until [[Team Twiizers]] discovered it in their initial attempts at hacking into the Wii. It is physically located inside the [[Hollywood]], the Wii's graphics chip - so it was nicknamed the [[Starlet]]. It is an ARM processor that communicates with the "new" hardware, as well as the DVD drive. The program that handles communication between the PPC and the hardware is known by everyone as [[IOS]] - see below. The Starlet is also called the ARM, because that is its architecture.

The reason for this dual-processor layout is security - before Wii Homebrew was possible, people still used Gamecube homebrew. However, Gamecube homebrew, because of this layout, could not access any of the Wii's hardware, as [[MIOS]] running on the ARM essentially locked down all of the Wii's hardware so it could not be used until a reboot occurred - it is thought to be impossible to break out of MIOS once it has started without also resetting the PPC, unless MIOS is patched.

The reason for this dual-processor layout is security - before Wii Homebrew was possible, people still used Gamecube homebrew. However, Gamecube homebrew, because of this layout, could not access any of the Wii's hardware, as [[MIOS]] running on the ARM essentially locked down all of the Wii's hardware so it could not be used until a reboot occurred - it is thought to be impossible to break out of MIOS once it has started without also resetting the PPC, unless MIOS is patched.