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The console homebrew scene is rather big, and Sony and Microsoft can do nothing about it.

Isn't this incredible. A few years ago they wouldn't have touched Linux with a ten foot pole and now they're embracing Free Software.

A few years ago (3 to 4) Sony was releasing an official distribution of Linux for the PlayStation2.

It's not that this isn't good news, it's just not incredible.

Yes, we can.

Linux has been available on the PS2 for quite a while now.

The PS2 Linux kit lets an aspiring developer get to grips with the most popular console in the world. The coding experience gained on this kit is in many cases identical to that which you would gain using the T10k pro dev kit. There's some fascinating hardware in there, including the two Vector Units that give the PS2 its power. These are custom parallel vector processors with dual pipelines and can perform four floating-point multiply-adds plus an integer op per cycle.

There's nowhere you can get your hands on this kind of vector hardware outside of your local supercomputing facility. There's no compiler for these either, so it's asm all the way - a real challenge.

The kit is available worldwide, online only:

US
Europe, Africa, Middle East
Japan
Australia
New Zealand

I don't believe I claimed that. I was responding to the claim "The PS2 does not run any form of Linux.", which had somehow got a +3 informative (!) rating ... What is interesting is that the Linux kit supports all the major devices on the PS2 - including the vector units (see http://www.ps2linux.com/dmesg.html :-) There's essentially no reason why you couldn't run a game under PS2 linux...

A Linux Kit is available for the PS2 in Japan. Sony has canvased users recently to find whether there would be demand for a similar kit in Europe and North America.

• The Linux Kit is designed exclusively for the Japanese model of "PS2", SCPH-10000,SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000. Since these models are for domestic use in Japan, the Linux Kit is only available in Japan.
  
  
• At this point, there is no plan to release the Linux Kit for non-Japanese model of "PS2".
  
  
• Overseas delivery is not available.

That article is dated October 24th, 2001, so the question is whether that pre- or postdates the disclaimer on the PS2 Linux Kit website stating that

• The Linux Kit is designed exclusively for the Japanese model of "PS2", SCPH-10000,SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000. Since these models are for domestic use in Japan, the Linux Kit is only available in Japan.
  
• At this point, there is no plan to release the Linux Kit for non-Japanese model of "PS2".
  
• Overseas delivery is not available.

I for one hope this if for real, because for me, like for timothy, this would be the straw that breaks the camel's back and convinces me to purchase a PS2.

After reading this article it dawned on me that this isn't a beta of the US version of linux for the PS2. It is just a english site on the Japan version.

The X11 screen shot on that site is exactly the same as on the Japan site. Furthermore the kit showing is also right off the Japaneese site. Check out this dmesg on the site. Look familiar?!?. Ya I though so.

From my understanding the US version will have an internal harddrive/network card to fit in that big hole in the back of the PS2. Now I am a little dissapointed. This casts no forshadow to release of the US version and we still have to wait. Why this even made Slashdot I am not sure, but dont be fooled with this trickery.

After reading this article it dawned on me that this isn't a beta of the US version of linux for the PS2. It is just a english site on the Japan version.

The X11 screen shot on that site is exactly the same as on the Japan site. Furthermore the kit showing is also right off the Japaneese site. Check out this dmesg on the site. Look familiar?!?. Ya I though so.

From my understanding the US version will have an internal harddrive/network card to fit in that big hole in the back of the PS2. Now I am a little dissapointed. This casts no forshadow to release of the US version and we still have to wait. Why this even made Slashdot I am not sure, but dont be fooled with this trickery.

After reading this article it dawned on me that this isn't a beta of the US version of linux for the PS2. It is just a english site on the Japan version.

The X11 screen shot on that site is exactly the same as on the Japan site. Furthermore the kit showing is also right off the Japaneese site. Check out this dmesg on the site. Look familiar?!?. Ya I though so.

From my understanding the US version will have an internal harddrive/network card to fit in that big hole in the back of the PS2. Now I am a little dissapointed. This casts no forshadow to release of the US version and we still have to wait. Why this even made Slashdot I am not sure, but dont be fooled with this trickery.

The only problem with PS2 Linux is that it's only available on the Japanese Model, and sadly they have no plans to make it available on the American or European versions of the PS2. See PS2 Linux.Com for the sad news.

On a happier note I've noticed that a Russian Company called Runix has ported the Linux Kernel to PS One. The port doesn't come with installation instructions or anything, but you can get the code.... I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it once I got it though. I don't even have a PSOne.. oh well.

They aren't keeping the software from everyone. Is it so much to ask you to do a little readi... oh wait, this is /. nevermind.