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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.
Does this mean that it'll move the OS Wars (Linux vs Windows) to gaming consoles?
Then again, looking at the menu system for the Xbox, I can honestly say I'd prefer windows to what MS is doing on their console system....
Wonder if Sony's Linux port will have wacky interface options?
Beware the Whyte Wolf.
With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels...
That's it man! There is nothing more to this lame post.
>>>>>> Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive.
This will be a fun and cheap method for learning the MIPS architecture, I can only hope linux is also ported to the Gamecube so I can do the same for PPC ;-)
could you run all of those cool arcade emultors on this linux port? optimized versions?
It's also nice to see a company do this. While it would be fun to hack the Xbox, this will be a nice solution to those just getting their hands dirty with Linux (myself included...Mac OSX has whetted my appitite. Next stop, YellowDog).
Kudos Sony!
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Spam subject of the moment: Offshore account secrets -nashville disrupt
How hard would it be to port some emulators to this? I mean really, until FF 10 comes out classics may be the only good games you can find.
(On a side note I think that this is really damn cool. Not that it is on the PS2 but that someone managed to sell LInux)
Secondsun
I can pirate DVD's if it keeps my children off porn sitez.
There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
You forgot one thing:
Back in those days you could go to Toys R Us and get the practically complete guide to programming the Commodore 64, including the 6510 assembly language, and the schematic just for the hell of it. Now THAT was cool, unlike these crappy-ass computers of today.
I ain't buying a Linux powered PS2 until they give me the same thing.
Glückwünsche, haben Sie Slashdot ermordet, indem Sie zum korporativen Druck beugten und Subskriptionen einlei
Sony has answered our petitions to bring a Linux port to the PSX2. Many people who singed the petition, myself included, claimed that seeing Linux available on the PSX2 would prompt a purchase. I know I intend to, but in general, are we going to support Sony for supporting us? Are we going to encourage big companies to do what we ask by following through with our claims? Or is the general public going to just drop the ball and show Sony and other large tech corps that what we write in petitions is bullshit?
Why bother.
Thats actually a bad idea because it also had a pretty good probability of selling a large number of systems to people that never plan on buying software. Considering software licences is the only way sony makes money on this (they lose money on the hardware) they don't want to cause this necessarily.
"You can now flame me, I am full of love,"
While the PS2's CPU has only a mere 300MHz clock speed, it is not an Intel architechture CPU -- it is a MIPS Rx000 (sorry, can't remember which model straight off the top of my head) by SGI (originally). It can execute more instructions in parallell than an Intel CPU can, in fact, enough to be faster than the XBox's 733MHz CPU. That's the same reason an AMD AthlonXP 1800 at 1533MHz can beat a Pentium 4 2000 in all tests but Q3A (Q3A seems to be optimized for Intel over AMD). Performance matters, not numbers. The clock speed is really meaningless when comparing CPUs of different architectures. MIPS (millions of instructions per second) is a much more accurate measurement. So, DivX, DVD, or whatever wouldn't be a problem at all for the PS2, since it can handle HDTV resolution DVD decoding/scaling. It would be MUCH slower to send uncompressed video (24bits/pixel*1280columns*720rows*30fps=79MB/s) over a 100mbit/s network (12.5MB/s theoretical maximum without protocol overhead) than it would be for the PS2's CPU to decode it locally, since DivX video is usually around 500KB/s for transparent quality at 1440x720 (I know - I use DivX to compress my high-res 3D animations from Bryce et al when I'm low on hard drive space). Firewire is only 40MB/s, so this would still be insufficient for uncompressed consumer HDTV video.
A solution to the problem with music today
AFAIK, Sony has not yet contributed the linux kernel changes they made back to the community.
I'd love to run Linux on my PSX2, tough. But it's not worth it if i can't re-compile my kernel and learn from looking through the source. That's the big point in OpenSource: contribute back to the community, not just take the source and be fond of saved developing time.
I also think that Sony is legally forced to reveal the Source as the Linux Kernel is GPL.
What an exciting opportunity for Sun to achieve a large market for its StarOffice suite.
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.
The purpose, in my mind, wouldn't be because you couldn't just use videotape, but because a CD that runs on PS2 is cool. Novel.
With a little work, you could no doubt make a single CD that works on a PS2, or Windows and Mac. What the CD presents on each platform might be different.
[This is assumption on my part. I know when I put a PS1 disk in my Mac, I see files. Presumably true on Windows. Also presumably true of PS2 disks. Therefore, couldn't you just put an Autorun.inf file on that disk along with exe files that a PS2 would just ignore?]
It's also novel to make christmas cards on square business card CD's, which play on Mac or Windows, and give them to family. The point is that most family members don't get christmas cards on CD's. Let alone on oddball sized CD's. It's the novelty which makes it cool. This becomes one cool topic of conversation at a family get together. Extending this concept to also play on PS2 seems logical.
On Mac and Windows, the disk might launch one of KAI Power Show, or Macromedia Director player, or just a web page in the browser. On PS2 it would probably have to do something different.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Sony and TiVo have entered into a deal that will allow Sony to integrate (and even modify) TiVo's software and services into their entertainment products.
Anyone thought the work to port Linux onto US and European region PS2s could be in preparation to run Tivo Software on your PS2? Supposedly, FireWire is emerging as the defacto standard for sending digital video signals from digital tuners (terrestrial, cable or satelite) to other h/w (Your new TV set, or D-VHS, or in future DVD-RAM). PS2 is ready to take an MPEG feed, and the Hard Disk is on the way....
Any Thoughts? Andy.