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Apache Binaries Available for PS2 Linux
cant_get_a_good_nick writes: "From ApacheWeek, probably the best net resource for Apache, comes the announcement of a binary build of Apache 2.0.39 for PS2 Linux. You too can have a server farm for web serving, and GTA3. Be nice and don't kill this guy's downloads page."
Another bizarre, ridiculous and completely useless application of the technology.
Which is exactly why it's so cool.
Dave
I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
Does the distribution include mod_chip?
"Another bizarre, ridiculous and completely useless application of the technology."
Only if you have no imagination. At work, there's a rack-mount web server that's basically an appliance that somebody bought for used for $300. They say it originally cost over $2,000. The nice thing about this type of appliance is that it has few parts to go bad on it. However, it does suffer from lack of features. (It's basically just an HTTP server, no PHP support etc...)
Well, they got Apache running on a PS2. That means that PHP and all those other fun features of it will (presumably) work as well. I don't think it's too far away from burning a DVD, popping it in the PS2, turning it on, and boom you have a webserver running. The neat thing is that this $199 (new, and will always get cheaper) device should, in theory, stay up to date with Apache.
PS2's will eventually go the way of the Dreamcast, and will reach ridiculously low ($50) prices. Personally, I'd rather set one of those things up once and reboot once in a while rather than having to maintain a machine with failing hard-drives and so on. If the thing breaks, buy it with one of those 1 year warranties for $20 and have them swap out with a new one. Heh. I bet you can't get a web appliance with that kinda guarantee! Setup is a breeze!
I'm tempted to look into how to build a PC that boots off a flash card so I can remove all of the moving parts from it. That'd last forever, I bet. Actually, if anybody knows of a good place to find that info, fire a link to me. (I'll do a Google search later, but I'd much rather hear from somebody who's gone down that road.) In the mean time, I have finally found an interesting use for a PS2!
Cheers.
"Derp de derp."
It's kind of funny - Sony, known for its extremely successful Playstation, wants the PS2 to be more like a PC. Microsoft, known just about only in computers, wants the Xbox to be seen only as a gaming console (and/or "entertainment hub").
Sony distributes and supports Linux for its systems, while Microsoft is doing everything they can to stop (non-Microsoft-licensed, therefore not profiting MS directly) PC software from running on their gaming-console/entertainment-hub.
"Hobbyists" port and program software for the PS2, while "hackers" port and program software for the Xbox. (actually I'm pretty sure hackers are doing/have done more to the PS2 right now)
Sony's plan is probably to attack MS in the computer market, what with recent announcements of OS experience they've gained from the Linux project and the Vaio and the handheld Clie and the such. Microsoft's plan is to penetrate the entertainment market, a place where Sony, ironically (or coincidentally?), happens to have a strong foothold in (although I prefer Panasonic, myself, but my friend's Sony VVega is nothing to scoff at).
And through this all, Nintendo sits, GameCube in hand, planning on how to continue in the console gaming market. With the recent retirement of Nintendo mastermind and uber-zombie President Hiroshi Yamauchi, and the recent announcements of the company focusing more on software than hardware, it's anybody's guess as to what is going on at Nintendo of Japan headquarters.
(Don't even begin on the handheld gaming market - Nintendo owned that market for 10 years with a handheld that could only do spinach green and black sprites, and GBA will probably last at least another 5 on its own).