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Looking Closely at the Restrictions of Linux on the PS2

Posted by timothy on from the gpl-trumps-doesn't-it dept.

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."

1 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Informative article. by bigginal · · Score: 3, Troll

    This article shows what Sony has done to limit access to the system, but it doesn't say exactly how Sony has stayed within the GPL, or how it is only staying within the GPL through "shifty" means.

    Quick summary? Sure: There are so many limitations to the "Runtime Environment" that I don't know why anyone would want to have one. Basically every hardware interface is disabled, and you're not going to get much hard disk space using that whopping 8MB memory card (so you're limited in how many external programs you can run).

    This thing sounds so crappy that I'd doubt that there's even a compiler on the system!
    -bigginal