Slashdot Mirror
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?"
The PS2 has a 256-bit pipeline, a specialized graphics CPU, and basically enough bandwidth to make your PC look like a gameboy. You could "cobble together" one of these as a Linux workstation for $500 ($300 PS2, $200 linux kit, including hdd, eth, Linux, X, GL and everything you need to program it, including the bare specialized hardware... and that's before any rumored price drop). The system would rival a SGI workstation for realtime graphics processing power. For $500. (Of course, you need to throw in some software, but you need to do that with the SGI's, too.) You could barely buy a GeForce3 for that. The PC solution would cost at least a grand, and wouldn't be nearly as powerful.
Sony is already making high end boxes using 8x of the CPUs in a PS2. Licensing the CPU technology. Just think of the PS2 + Linux as the "low end" graphics workstation, perfect for hobbiests, small businesses, etc.
It's not a toy by any means. Just because they market it to play games, doesn't mean there's not some serious technology in this box.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage