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Sony Announces Version 1.0 Of Linux for Playstation 2
ResearchBuzz writes: "Sony has announced the May 2002 release of Linux (for Playstation 2) Release 1.0." He quotes from the press release: "The company expects the kit to sell for about $199 USD when it is made available in May 2002 exclusively through its website, http://www.us.playstation.com."
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle
I was actually excited about this neat-o deal until I read this phrase. Doesn't it seem a bit silly to praise and promote a life filled with entertainment? Or am I being a joykill?
On the other hand, if entertainment is being redefined as Linux hacking, maybe there's a great deal more progress being made than I realized...
.sig last updated Jan. 14, 2000
I can't believe people on Slashdot, of all places, still don't understand the GPL at all. If I wanted to, I could make my own Linux distro and charge you $1 million for it, the GPL only requires I provide you with the source code.
It doesn't matter whether you decide to believe Sony is profiting on the hardware or the software, it obviously took them some effort (more than making yet another x86 distro) to port this, so quit whining and don't buy it if you don't want it.
Do we hate Sony today?
Last week, we hated Sony for its DRM copy-protection on Sony Memory sticks.
The week before that, we loved Sony because they were releasing a PS2 Linux kit in Japan.
The week before that, we hated Sony because they were a key proponent in creating the DMCA.
The week before that, we liked Sony because of the PS2.
The week before that, we hated Sony because they shutdown an AIBO hack site.
Do we like or hate Sony this week?
What can you do on a game console that you can't do on a formal PC?
You can code for fun. Coding on an PC has become boring. The machine ist not interesting, you have to take care to be "compatible" with all sorts of crap hardware, etc. Game consoles are interesting: powerful small processors, where coding in assembly pays, interesting graphics hardware where you can do cool effects with skill istead of brute force. It's fun.
That said, I doubt, Sony will ever release information about the interesting bits. The vector processors of the emotion engine are top secret, and so ist the graphics processor. That makes it kind of pointless.
Sure it does - the GPL means that if you choose to buy the product you will also have complete source code for the GPL'd portions of it - complete with Sony extensions.
Also note that your $199 buys you a hard drive and ethernet adaptor as well as the Sony extended PS2 supported versions of gcc and XFree86...
How come you find $199 for this a rip off, yet don't complain about RedHat or SuSE selling Linux without hard drives and network adaptors thrown in?
It's Linux whiners and cheapskates like you that put Loki out of business.
I am not flaming just trying to understand after having read most of the feedbacks on /.
Why being so excited about Sony putting up with Linux on PS2. Granted this will probably bring some visibility and increased credibility to the Linux OS (is it good and does it need that really?) The only positive thing is for Sony to get the eggs out of the golden goose, the same way as Red Hat does.
They are the people behing DRM, DMCA, MPAA, and all the ugly things that EFF and other great folks (some of them slashdot readers) are fighting against. Come on, the company is evil, so why are the replies so enthusiastic about this?
If some people just decide to turn to Linux because Sony supports it on their PS2, does the community really needs these people?
I want to understand.
PPA, the girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
"If anyone wanted to run Bleem! on the PS2, I'd have to shake them vigourously for a few minutes. The PS2 already runs legacy PSX games natively."
But there are currently no real advantages to playing PSX games on a PS2. If anything, using a PS2 is a disadvantage (as anybody who's ever tried to play Final Fantasy V on it can attest).
The "features" that the PS2 tries to add are faster disc access times (done in a half-assed manner that causes a/v sync problems in many games) and slightly better texture mapping that is either not noticable or makes things generally ugly.
Bleem! and the countless other PSX emulators for the PC, on the other hand, all improve the graphics considerably by not limiting themselves to PSX-quality resolution and polygon rendering. Sony handicapped the PS2 where PSX games are concerned because they and their third-party developers didn't want to see PSX games competing with PS2 games in terms of graphics. Think what would happen if the $19.95 MGS looked as good as the $49.95 MGS2. Consumers be damned. Personally I would have thought that game companies could just write better games that sell on more merits beyond just graphics, but what do I know?
(Not that Nintendo did much better with GBC and GBA backwards compatability, but that's another rant.)
By selling their Linux distro for the PS2 (with gcc, no less!), Sony is opening Pandora's Box. Any control they thought they had over the hardware is out the window, whether they "allow" it or not. The visual gap between PSX and PS2 games will close considerably (if not totally in many cases). And while the Brits can't even get mod chips in their PS2s, I'll be able to play Japanese SATURN games (mmm... Phantasy Star Collection...) on my PS2. Sony's only saving graces here are that the ability to do all this will run the consumers another $200 and won't be playable on a TV (well, until somebody writes a TV driver for the distro).
The "entertainment lifestyle" phrase is a very common one in Japanese marketing. It doesn't translate well into US marketing speak, so it feels a bit disengenous to non-Japanese.
Just one of those things people take for granted, since cultural identity has long been substituted by marketing techniques... not just in the US, but everywhere.
You may have missed it, but the kit includes two DVD's, one of which is all the sources.
I don't know about you, but I don't recall hearing about Windows shipping with a source CD.
The fact that Sony's charging for it is not the point of the GPL. The point is that even though they're charging for it, they still have to release the source. The GPL has never been against selling software.
While true, you missed the point. I prefer the BSD license to the GPL. I actually despise the GPL, and want people to realize what a piece of crap it is... So I point out it's shortcommings all the time. In this case and others, I tend to shatter all the popular myths surrounding it. It's an Open Source worm. Before the GPL got popular, you could use code from any open source project and have no worries about license conflicts. Now, you need to be very careful of the license because the GPL is a self-propagating virus that spreads itself like the plague.
People using the GPL are like all the people donating to the Red Cross, they think they're doing something good (Fighting Microsoft/Saving Lives) when in fact they are not doing anything of the sort. They are acutally being taken advantage of because of their ignorance.
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