Codingstyle Interviews PS2 Linux Developers

Linux Freak writes "May 22 marks the official release of Sony's PS2 Linux kit in North America and Europe! To give you something to do while waiting for your package to arrive in the mail, Codingstyle has conducted an interview with several people in the PS2 development community, including two people from Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. (SCEA) and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Ltd. (SCEE), as well as official kit and PS2DEV hobbyists."

Comments

It's Wednesday

[rossz]

So today, Sony is not evil. Tomorrow they will be evil again.

Re:It's Wednesday

[GeorgeH]

I know this is Slashdot, but can't we just once get a movie/music/video game story where someone doesn't post this? Can't we once get the idea that not everything in life is black and white, that video games can be fun and hacking on the consoles is really geeky even if Sony supports the DMCA or whatever "our" gripe with them is.

Maybe I'm just naturally wary of people who force issues into "them" and "us" statements... but if that were true what would I be doing here on /.?

Here's a mirror

[Mr. Spock]

I've put up a mirror on playstation2-linux.com. You may also want to check out the official site which is, of course, http://playstation2-linux.com

Re:Interesting

[Slynkie]

Seems like that's not exactly true, there are legal (NON-hardware) workarounds to do raw PS2 development...

At least, that's what this FAQ seems to indicate.

not to be an asshole but...

[DanThe1Man]

Could someone explain the point of this exersise, except for the hack value. I don't want to be flamebait or a troll, but why would someone want linux on a low resulation TV monitor? You could use a regular monitor, but if you have a regular monitor, you probably already have a computer to partion and put linux on.

Re:not to be an asshole but...

[inkfox]

Could someone explain the point of this exersise, except for the hack value.

I make video games for a living. I'm a lead programmer, and I make hiring decisions.

If you wrote a decent PS2 Linux game on your own, I'd hire you in a heartbeat, even if you had no industry experience.

How's that?

Re:not to be an asshole but...

[inkfox]

What would be the advantage of writing PS2 Linux game vs. a DirectX or OpenGL PC game as far as your hiring decision is concerned?

The benefits would be your having experience with the quirks of the hardware, and experience programming within a limited environment. Most applicants who have only had PC experience assume infinite resources and scads of pre-written libraries. Console code needs to be fairly lean, generally needs to bang on the hardware directly to get the best results, and generally doesn't rely on heaps of pre-written libraries.

Looking at your code, I can also determine whether you really understand the implications of the code you're writing. It's one thing when code is meant to be general-purpose, relying on the OS to translate everything into the most efficient formats. It's another when I can assume you should have had every opportunity to pick the right data formats and algorithms that work most efficiently on the given hardware.

On top of all that, the fact that you were interested enough to get a kit such as this one and make a game on your own speaks volumes about your dedication to game programming, and it takes dedicated people to make good games.

Interesting interview...

[b0r0din]

"How much do you program on the PS2 kit?"

Interviewee #1: Umm, not much.
Interviewee #2: Umm, not much. My dog ate my development notes.
Interviewee #3: I'd program more, but umm, not much. See I met this real non-plastic girl and we [censored- see alt.furries.erotica]
Interviewee #4: I program a lot except on the PS2. Can I talk about how uninteresting my job at [insert acronym] is?
Interviewee #5: I was just explaining how the RISC chip architecture worked when you interrupted me. Oh yes, what was the question? Oh yeah...umm, not much.
Interviewee #6: I'm too busy trying to get to the next level of GTA3 to actually code on it. Is that what that beta thingy I received in the mail was for?
Interviewee #7: (aptly named Sporkhead): Cool! My PS2 says 'Hello, World'!

Sony notification email

[lucaschan.com]

Heh, for those of you that didn't sign up to recieve email notification when the Linux PS2 kit was released, you're definitely missing out.

Sony mis-configured the mailing list so that when people replied their messages went to everyone else that signed up for notification.

There is currently some very dodgy porn being sent out to everyone via email, including some poor guy who's trying to buy the Linux kit for his son.

Definitely made my morning. Thanks Sony. =)

The most important bit of information....

[Cryptnotic]

...on that page actually wasn't part of the article. It was a comment by "mrbrown".

One of the most surprising features about the kit is how the Linux kernel is loaded into RAM and executed: the kernel ELF file (a common executable format that's also used on the PS2) is stored to the memory card, and the PS2/Linux bootloader loads it into RAM and executes it. However Sony allows you to place _any_ ELF executable on the memory card to be loaded. This means that any native PS2 program, even those written by PS2DEV enthusiasts, can be loaded without a swap trick or modchip. This is how the NetBSD and eCos teams were able to port their respective operating systems to the PS2.

Because of this, the number of uses for the kit are actually limitless as long as the boot CD doesn't put the PS2 into some "limited" mode. But that doesn't seem to be the case.