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Looking Closely at the Restrictions of Linux on the PS2
Hal-kun writes: "I wrote an interesting article about Sony's upcoming Linux distro for the PS2 and some intellectual property concerns I have with it. It's an intresting look at how Sony limits the ability to have full access to the system, yet being able to keep it under GPL."
in no time flat. Before the end of the year we will have full access to all the hardware on both systems and have full system specs. And nothing either side does will have any effect on it.
I look forward to ripping DVD's on the PS2 using the hardware decoder, then using a software DIVX to recompress the video so that it would fit on a CD-R. For personal use only. If I want to watch a movie that I bought on some other format or on another hardware platform, then that is my business and allowed under fair use. It would be nice to stream the videos to any screen in the house.
I had a lot of hopes for the indrema, but all to naught. Maybe a hacked Xbox, or hacked PS2 could be the indrema and be a great platform for developing Linux based gaming. Especially if the games where developed using a cross platform game library like SDL so that the games would be easy to cross port to any system.
-- Never make a general statement.
That's pretty clever, though I'm also fairly certain that this will only spur open source developers to develop a Linux that will run on the bare metal.
Hmm, I'm not so sure. It's possible, of course, but I think Sony's using a smart tactic to limit hackers: give them half of what they want.
By providing a Linux for the PS/2, even an (apparently) semi-crippled Linux, they have reduced the number of people who will work on or support serious efforts to hack the hardware. Lots of people will be happy to have *any* Linux on the PS/2 and go no further...
.. the I/Opener.. Ya know, the little tiny Internet browsing PC that was based on a flash-rom linux kernel.. It was a great toy when they first started playing with it, but that's about the limit. A toy.
I can understand why people want to hack about with proprietry hardware and do cool things with them, but what exactly is Sony's point in producing a Linux distribution? From my point of view, they're doing it to keep (in all reality) the minority of box-hackers happy and maybe to prove a point that the PS/2 really is versatile (maybe a plot to scaremonger Microsoft with it's XBOX and the ability to make it do other stuff).
So, in say 6-12 months time, you're going to have PS2's and XBOX's running Linux. Sure, they're powerful machines (the latter comes with faster bits and more I/O), but is there any serious application? The XBOX is fairly bulky, won't really be very space-saving in a rack, but sure, it's a cheap webserver.
It just seems to me that Sony are going to a lot of effort to prove a point - what that point is i'm not quite sure.
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story..."
I would love to know the answer to that question.
Can a company like sony really enforce any restrictions/license when all I do is use the box for my own personal use and nothing else??
The DMCA prohibits you from circumventing protections designed to prevent you from gaining unauthorized access to a copyrighted work, but not from circumventing protections that prevent you from making a copy of a copyrighted work. So their ability to enforce whatever restrictions they have built into the device depends upon which restrictions you're trying to get around. Of course, the question really is moot if you're only doing it for your personal use, since they'd never know about it. In effect, you can do whatever you want as long as you keep it to yourself.
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"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality;..."
Ok, sure - sooner or later, somebody WILL crack the protection layer and get raw hardware access. Everyone knows it, since I've seen about 80 posts so far saying how fast it will happen. So then what? Everyone's so firm that this will happen. That it MUST happen, for the greater good or something. But what will anyone do with it? Are there going to be any apps that make the PS2/Linux kit a must have? Will somebody develop some breakthrough game? Or will we see more of the consoles running apache that we see now with the Dreamcast? "Yeah, well I have a PS2 running apache! And all I have to do is boot from a dvd and keep all my served files under 8Mb so they fit on a memory card." Bah. Nobody will develop games for it. It'll be nothing more than a novelty that gets stuffed away in the closet when you realize that you can do way more on a PC that, for the same price, has far superior hardware. It's like watching a bunch of cats, scratching at a closed door, and as soon as somebody opens it, they sniff around and walk away.
do not read this line twice.
And this is different from North America how?
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Yes, but it's worth considering how involved the work-around is. For example, in the realm of books, the copy-protection work-around involves the rather tedious task of either manually retyping the entire book or using a scanner and OCR software. It's doable, but it's certainly not easy.
Likewise, if the PS2 work-around is inconvenient enough (such as the traditional mod-chip solution, which requires playing around with solder and several hundred dollars worth of easily broken Playstation internal hardware), it's going to reduce the number of people that use it. Compare this to the Dreamcast, where the copy protection was (as I understand it) completely defeatable on the software level -- you just had to download games cracked by other people, and you were set. The only requirements were having broadband and a CD burner (or a nearby friend with the same).
Anyway, I suspect one of the reasons behind Sony's goofy intermediate device driver system is to keep the Linux kit from turning into a easy, modchip-free copy protection breaker. Without their (admittedly annoying) protection system in place, I could see the PS2 Linux system being used as a giant bootloader to get the PS2 to read and execute a burned game. There would still be other software hurdles to overcome (such as any in-game copy protection checks and chopping things down to fit on a CD), but those're the same purely software hurdles that're already regularly tackled by cracking groups.
In short, even though I don't like the protection mechanisms Sony's introduced, I can understand why they did it.
this is very true, from what I have seen , japanese teens run rings around most any american teen in brainpower and knowlege. Hell they force the kids to learn programming, at least 1 language. you cannot graduate without at least a calculus level of math. Both of which would instantly flunk 98.7% of all jocks, and 62.7% of the rest of the turds that roam the school hallways.
the Japanese are far smarter than any american... and they are making their kids even smarter while we make our kids dumber.
Posting Anaon to keep from getting karma nailed... but everything I speak is true... american schools make kids stupid.
The more information comes out about PS2 Linux, the worse it looks. Why buy $300 worth of crap to make Linux run on an uber-proprietary system when you can buy a Dreamcast for $50 (if you can find one still) and have a platform that will boot Linux out of the box? You might have to avoid machines built after October 2000, (although there apparently is a further hack out to create a bootable disk for those machines) but I have one from 9/2000 and it booted the DC Linux disk right out of the box.
.SIG. Sony is the only company I can think of that is a signatory to both the RIAA and MPAA. That's reason enough to stay away from Sony products.
The exciting things will happen when someone builds a lightweight Linux booter that will address everything on the DC and allow you to run games designed for Linux. There is still some work to be done to make all the hardware work, but there are a lot of hands on this project so I suspect that it won't be long before the Yamaha audio, the Conexant controllerless modem and full video access (rather than framebuffer) are fully working under Linux.
SEGA is to be commended for releasing as much information as they have on the DC. Their attitude is also commendable: "we stopped making the machine in 2001, have your way with it." Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all demonstrated their lack of willingness to play ball with amateur developers. DC is the only game console which is actually FRIENDLY to amateur development.
One last thing...look at my
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