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PS2 As PC

Posted by timothy on from the speculative-semi-fiction dept.

Dark Paladin writes: "What if Sony and AOL stopped whining about Microsoft's dominance on the desktop/entry into the console market, and actually did something about it? Here's an article from The Gamer's Press about how the Playstation 2 could be used as a killer Linux box, and what might happen to the PC world if it happened." It's the same sort of speculation that leads people to wonder why the X-Box shouldn't be the basis of a fine GNU/Linux machine. (Strangely, it places Linus in Holland as well.)

5 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Consider the limitations by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 5

    X is not a memory hog. X looks like a memory hog because the system accounting charges the RAM on the video card against the X process. X applications use shared memory to store (and sometimes leak) bitmapped images, and this memory is also charged against the X server. On my very fully featured X server, X takes up about 5 MB of system memory, plus it gets charged the 32 MB or RAM on my video card, possibly twice. If I turn off a lot of the extensions, X uses even less than 5MB. This is perfectly acceptable and the reason people were able to run X on 8MB 486s in 1993.

  2. I know what I'd do... by waldoj · · Score: 5

    The first thing that I'd do is install Bleem.

    -Waldo

  3. Appliance Computing by jhoffoss · · Score: 5
    ...is what will become prevalent in the homes of the general public. We (/.ing geeks) will of course be some of the early ones to try these types of units out, finding ways to exploit/engineer/just-plain-play with them. After that though, these cheaper units will no doubt have a much easier time finding their way into the homes of the general public.

    That is, only if they're aimed and geared properly for that market. I tend to believe most parents would have an easier time forking over $300 for a PS2/XBox over a PC, especially if that PS2 came with a module to allow basic internet/WWW interactivity (including e-mail) and basic functions like word-processing. For the success in this market, however, it is imperitive (in my mind) that these are extremely simple and intuitive with an attractive "movie-like" interface, or non-techies will be just as lost as with PCs.

    I tend to forget this like most others, I assume, but there are PCs in the homes of something along the lines of 5-10% of the world's population, if not less.
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    Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
  4. This actually is the killer app... by dsginter · · Score: 5

    What happens when chipsets like the nForce only cost a few bucks (this will eventually happen)?

    This will empower things like Tivo and DVD players and even TVs with great gaming abilities. The Microsft tax will NOT be useful for these devices. So why isn't there a REAL movement for putting Linux into these things? The world WILL need it sooner or later.

    I'd like to see it sooner.

    Imagine an open console spec for all manufacturers to use as they please...

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    More
  5. Insider knowledge by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5

    Actually, not really. I know of one company that's developing medical software that uses the PS1 as the platform. TV screens are cheaper than monitors. PS1s are cheaper than PCs. And once the software is in the CD tray, the thing never has to be opened again.

    Replacing or upgrading the software just requires a reburn and a few stamps for postage. Of course, these are just clients to a much larger machine somewhere nearer to the IT department.

    How they input patient information with that crappy gamepad, I'll never know. ;-)

    Dancin Santa