X-server for PS2

PineGreen writes: "Alllinuxdevices.com has a story today about Metrolink porting their Micro-X server to Playstation2. Sony still refuses to sell their Linux kit outside Japan, and the Blockman Trading version works on PSOne only. Now, when will I have an excuse to buy a PS2?"

Comments

Standard Configuration is Console's Advantage

[ehack]

Consoles are very standardised. This means you slap in a CD and *it just works*. They all behave the same too, no performance surprises. Now imagine a postscript RIP and print server that *just works* with cheap USB printers. Imagine a fileserver that *just works*, doing RAID on firewire disks. imagine all these one-function CDs that can be made !
The Linux PS2 is not a great computer, but you can be sure you will have *zilch* install problems. I took 3 days of typing strange hex numbers to install my latest server with redhat (ultra 66 problems). And another 2 hours to get X up. I would gladly hav bought a PS2 in it place, just for the time savings.

Re:Why?

[GMC-jimmy]

Not everything has to `make sense`.

Sometimes it`s just out of fun.

Another thing on my wish-list is a Linux based PDA.

Re:68K wars

[DGolden]

yeah, I've done m68k, PPC, x86 (and er... 6502) asm coding, and with x86 you spend a fair amount of time wasting instructions fighting with register starving and stack operations.

People who learn x86 asm first do this automatically and think it's normal. Then there's a cognitive dissonance effect whereby they have spent so much time learning the messy intricacies of the x86 architecture, that when someone disses it, to agree with them that it sucks would be to devalue the investment of time and effort they spent learning it, so they defend it in spite of the evidence. A similar effect happens with most things people take time+effort to learn. The trick is to be aware of it and catch yourself at it.

Programming the m68k and PPC in macro assembler is reasonably painless and not that hard.

Programming the x86 is a bit of a pain in the arse compared to them, and feels much more like 6502 programming....

All in all, the x86 is pretty much the suckiest mainstream architecture still around today. It's funny, that - both the most common CPU (x86) and Operating system ( windos ) suck. My theory is that this is because most people are stupid.

Sony's Linux Comes with XFree 3.3.6

[Caballero]

There seems to be some real confusion here. The Sony PS2 Linux comes with XFree 3.3.6 running on their hardware.

Metrolink is selling their Micro-X product. That's based on XFree 4.0 and runs in a much smaller footprint. You don't need it, but with the memory limits of the PS2 it's not a bad idea.

I've got a Japanese PS2 running Linux, so if people have questions, maybe I should do a more complete piece on Slashdot. I did a presentation for my local users group not long ago that could be adapted.

Re:PS2 for...what?

[GMC-jimmy]

When I was in highschool, we took an old `76 Pinto, and modified it to hold a V-8, and worked it into a... well, sort of a hotrod.. which is where I first learn to work on my own car.

The rest of the students and I had a blast watching that old car take the 1/4 mile in just over 12 seconds.

Now think of all the fun and education I would`ve missed out on, if we had just stuck with using that car for what it was `made for`.


Be different.
Have fun.
Enjoy life.

Re:Why?

[VFVTHUNTER]

As a simple example, consider LAN parties. Instead of having to lug around a minitower, you can simply bring your small PS2, running linux and all versions of Quake. Plus, it's got tons of graphics computing power. And Sony even sells really nice backpacks to hold the box. So load your computer into your backpack, put your LCD in one hand, and off you go.

And when everyone is bored from getting fragged, you can play GT3 ;-)

For the home entertainment enthusiasts, having Linux on the PS2 means they can browse the web from their TV without having to A) get up and go to their computer or B) have a computer in their home entertainment center.

Re:Why?

[PineGreen]

Yep, you are absolutelly right, I could put together a cheap x-terminal out of an old 486, or even simpler buy an old Tektronix, and I can get new pentium machine for the price of PS2+linux kit. But, the only useful things I do with computer at home is write a latex document every now and then, check my email and surf a bit. I could do all this with a 486 as well, couldn't I? Why do I want to have a kinky gnome desktop when it really isn't that much more *useful* than twm? Because it's fun. Admittedly, we all use good machines because they are fun. And I think hacking a PS2 would be fun. You could write incredible demos using its powerful graphics or try to run N64 emulator on it. (Remember what people did with commodore 64 - today you can stretch hardware to that extend, simply because dirty trick wouldn't work your neighbour's machine; PS2 would be a chance to do some real messing on a chip level again...)