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Sony Annouces Linux PS2 Port for US
krismon writes "Sony has announced that it is gonna release the Linux port(old Slashdot article) for the Playstation 2 in the US, after selling out SUPER fast in japan." I saw this running, it's pretty impressive.
I can't swap the OS and just play games using the original PSOS. Besides, TVs don't have the nice resolution that a normal monitor has. Running X at 640x480 on a 50 inch TV does nothing for me.
While Sony is really earns its bread in the liscensing market rather than the hardware market, it is still important for them to put units in consumers' homes, because that is the only way to build a userbase for PS2 games.
What is the additional cost for releasing a linux-enabled PS2 machine? Not terribly much. It's the sort of thing linux enthusiasts might release on their own in a few months, given a chance. By putting in this marginal amount of effort, Sony gets both a more valuable commodity and some brownie points among linux enthusiasts.
I honestly can't see a single downside for them. The remarkable point is not that the PS2 is capable of this but rather that Sony actually had the foresight to act upon it. That's the hallmark of a nimble corporation and speaks loads for their future.
Of course, Sony is also in bed with the RIAA and the dvd cca, so anyone who buys a PS2 is going to hell in my book, but that's your choice.
Its a cool hack but does it have a point?
AFIK the thing does not have a net connection shiped with it so you can not get any networking. Is there a printer port? Can you plug in a cdrom drive or a fd0/L120 device?
Sure you can use a spread sheet with it but what do you do with it after its created. Where can you save, print, send it?
I would like to see something like this with a distro amied at newbies. With interactive lessons on how to use all of the apps so that it becomes a "learn linux on your PS2" thing that allows us to capture the newbies before they get hooked on windows.
But unless this can escape the gravity of a cool novilty or hack that will not happen.
Ascii artist &
... and even then, nobody will be able to agree on what distribution is best. :)
Er, right...because far more people have PlaySation 2 consoles than PC's, and none of them have VCR's so you couldn't dub that summer party video to tape.
I'm nitpicking, and yeah it's a cool hack just like NetBSD or Linux was for the Dreamcast. Sure, people got some emulators and mp3 players going on that console, but that's all. Lots of free-software games for the PS2? I'll remain skeptical...everything I've read indicates that the system is a bitch to program for anyway.
According to popular rumor, the "HomeStation" is Microsoft's 2nd generation XBox. This will provide television recording, internet surfing, games, kitchen sink, etc. How can the poor little PS2 and its successors keep up with that?
How?
By using Open Source software. Currently, the PS2 running Linux has far more applications than the HomeStation (since the HomeStation is still in Development). All Sony has to do is stay ahead of Microsoft.
If Microsoft runs a native windows type OS or something on their HomeStation and markets it as a computer, then we have anti-trust laws being broke even more than now. Microsoft can't get away with owning the hardware and the software.
Keeping
Some are of course questioning WHY?
With a keyboard, mouse, Hard Drive, and Ethernet/Modem adapter, SONY may have essentially created the next cheap home computer, and they'll be able to push this onto the market as such with the right marketing.
You see- back in the days of the Commodore 64 a computer didn't have to have a completely dedicated setup for people. It was fine to have a computer just plugged into the TV for occassional gaming, BBS, and type-work.
The Playstation 2 can perform all of the modern equvilants of these roles, and it doesn't even REALLY need Linux to do it, but why complain that it uses Linux?
While I honestly DOUBT that Linux is going to be a major part of the Sony Playstation's acceptance as a general purpose low-cost computing device, I honestly do think it's a "Good Thing" for Linux. Think of the number of budding coders that could print their first "Hello World" on this thing? And while Microsoft may own the PC market right now they don't own EVERY market, at least, not yet, and there is room for a whole new level of personal computers. A market that hasn't been filled since the last of the Amiga 500's began to die off.
Dreamcast could've had that market, but they ignored it. XBox could have that Market, but Microsoft won't play their cards right (I don't think). Nintendo doesn't want that market or they would've had it a long time ago.
Sony. Linux. It bothers me, but I can see it happening.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
I am going to wait for the Linux Hack of the XBox. A 766 Proccessor, 8 GB HDD and NVIDIA video, for $299, can't be beat this side of an E-Machine.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power - Benito Mussoli
Why do both MS and Sony want to control the broadband bridgehead into the living room? Because they can then become the toll-booth onto the distribution of electronic services. It may surprise people but Sony has acquired themselves a bank and MS own a controlling stake in a cheque clearing-house. Much like phone companies have to subsidise handsets and stick customers with the long-term contracts, everyone is gunning for a slice of the electronic services that businesses are switching over ... you don't buy airline tickets, you bid for a seat, insurance, superannuation, identity, membership of professional societies, job contracts, even social contacts (rolodex on steroids) ... all these are basically electronic goods that people will be willing to acquire.
The problems is making someone else fork out the capital for infrastructure, the smart people identify the bottlenecks and position themselves where the traffic concentration makes it worthwhile to extract their tax/toll/vig.
Nothing changed from highway robbery days except who gets to collect the loot.
LL
That's simply not true. Sony ported Linux to the PS/2 so that they could import it into certain countries that heavely tax pure game/entertainment devices but not computers.
...an Amiga CD32.
Think about it...
VK3TST
-- "People aren't stupid. Usually." -- jd
[insert-platform-name-here] doesnt have much memory and its unexpandable anyway
Famous last words! (Where's the hacker spirit?!)
I'm not the type to go off on a diatribe about how 'bad slashdot has gotten' and how it's 'sold out', but I'm starting to feel like while reading the site, I have to dodge commercials for Sony products. One day I'm reading about a 'call to arms' against the SSSCA and the record industry that's pushing it, the next day I'm passing over "news stories" that scream hooray Sony! Sony being one of the largest parts of the RIAA, and representing a very large amount of political contributions. Feh.
Are you sure that's the reason?
I thought it was so that Sony could claim the PS2 is a 'real' computer to get around the European Union's import tax on game consoles?
I could be wrong though...
MIPS asm is hardly more obfuscated than C (I'll admit that's a slight exaggeration). For example, to load an integer into a register you just li register value
But you have to worry about manual register allocation and a hard-coded register allocation can stifle reuse and maintainability. Tuning your C compiler is far better in the long term.
why would Sony make gcc their standard compiler on the $10000 PS2 SDK's if it was entirely useless
Because it does a reasonably good job and because it's free. There does appear to be a good market in third party PS2 compilers though (Codeplay et al.)
But it's not worth it if i can't re-compile my kernel and learn from looking through the source.
/proc/kmem tricks.
If you did recompile your kernel, how would you boot into it? You can't just burn a new CD yourself because of the PS2 copy protection system. If they haven't designed their bootloader to let you do this then you'd have to resort to
My understanding is that they only have to offer the source to anyone they give a binary to, i.e. anyone who buys a PS2 Linux kit. However, they then can't stop someone who did buy a kit posting the source on the web.
Did they not get around that by including YABasic on the demo CD that comes with the PS2?
codegolf.com - smaller *is* better.
I may be missing exactly what you are trying to get at, but the original poster is right. The Xbox is intended to eventually interface with whatever options MS will provide through .NET. The Xbox is already a PC (the components and MS Windows) and probably can already use a keyboard. "The Plan" is to have all your needs met through .NET. No need to have a separate PC -- just use the Xbox and read/write e-mail on Hotmail; write documents in Word.NET; get your news through MSN. The goal is to replace AOL and have those cutesy little buttons for every task you might want to accomplish on your screen.
Would that work for you and I? No. But would it work for a good 80% of the users out there? Sure. Our problems will begin when MS has 80% penetration and begins to stifle other avenues of communication.
Remember, the PC is still a complicated piece of junk for most people. Some OSs are simpler to use, but can be broken easily. Others are more robust, but require a serious learning curve. MS wants to get rid of the complexity and give the user everything s/he uses -- and to make lots of money from it.