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PS2 Linux Kit Shipping in May
subharmonic writes: "Sony announced through an e-mail that the Linux PS2 kits were available for pre-order. The kits should be shipped May 22nd. There's a FAQ and a order site."
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Does a 1.2Ghz PC have one of THESE for you to play with? :)
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
Sony is screwing itself with this risky legal move!
Although the legality of archiving copy-protected computer programs under the backup clause of copyright law was established in the 1988 Vault v. Quaid legal dispute, "general purpose" computing devices are permitted lots of special treatment vs. game consoles.
Regular issue, game console software (N64, Dreamcast, PSX, PS2, Gameboy) is freely rentable at Blockbuster and other rental stores.
And Sony dislikes this.
Although ENTERTAINMENT software is rentable under fair use doctrine of cpyright law, and Wintel game titles are freely rentable at some brave stores, pc software straddles the legal line. Utilities are rarely rented.
Sony hates the chips that allow PS2 to run archived backup copies from CDR and DVD-RAM. Some of these chips are NEO, NEO4, and Messiah. Some solutions require no soldering at all, some require as many as 25 wires. But Sony wants US Customs to strongarm all importer-resellers and private citizens.
NEO4 plays any region DVD and BOOTs copies including PAL ackups. But most people go for as few a wire solution as possible access backups their valuable game media. Many PS@ backup solutions use a cheap Boot OS such as a GameShark CD or a competitor of GameShark. So a person usually needs to buy a chip, a boot cd, and a PS2.
And they use DMCA to do it. But the moment they try to restrict Blockbuster by claiming that the PS2 is now functionally a "GENERAL PURPOSE COMPUTING DEVICE" complete with keyboard and Linux-OS they will legally screw themselves.
Why?
Because once it runs a general purpose OS, it is no longer treated as a game conole by law and the free sale of archiving software and archiving hardware is 100% legal. US Citizens have legal rights to make backups of their own general purpose software (within reason)
So to bottle up Blockbuster, Sony's stupid little gambit will open floodgates to allow people to widely have access to software and hardware backup tools.
I thinks Sony made a huge mistake in their greedy miscalculated rush.
Sony does pay consultants to log into Remarq (supernews) directly to delete PS2 binaries direclty (or parts, or insert spoffed parts). Other pay-fee usenet servers are mostly immune but post-deletion wars are rampant the last 60 days. But PS2 backups can be found usually all over the place.
I do not own a PS2 by the way. I only believe in emulations and emulating hardware to run my legally purchased software, including PSX (PS-1).
sigh....
People never mod anonymous tipsters regularly anymore so few may read this opinion, but slashdot used to work well and moderators used to read level 0, but so many angry and upset people seem to lash out with trolling to make being anon a sad task.
-anon
The hardware abstraction layer was put in place to preserve and slightly extend the PS2 copy protection scheme. It wouldn't exactly be a trivial matter to remove that protection, but it is possible. Sony knows this.
A few of the SCEA dev support people chat on the forums on playstation2-linux.com. Bret Mogilefsky, also known as mogul, posted to this thread, saying: