Slashdot Mirror
PlayStation 2 Linux Kit Reduced To $99
SyniK writes "After buying a PS2 Network Adapter 2 days ago and trying some unofficial media players, turns out I'll be getting a second adapter because the PlayStation 2 Linux kit is now $99 - half of its former price. The kits, which include an internal 40 GB hard drive, a Network Adapter, a monitor cable, a USB keyboard and Linux on 2 DVD-ROMs, are now 'slightly limited edition' as they will not be replenished in the future."
I paid full price for the PS2 Linux kit and even though I don't boot to Linux all that often, it's great to have a 40Gig network device I can boot when I want. I've got Mozilla, xmms, moria and a bunch of other stuff on it. It holds my music collection backup (sure, I could re-rip it, but there's a lot of tagging work in my collection) and if I feel so inclined I can use it as a great music player. xmms even has a joystick plug-in and my DVD remote can be used to play/pause, FF, etc.
As far as 'full support' goes, i'm not quite sure what you mean, or really how to answer what i think you mean. The graphics chips are about as fully supported as they can get, but the thing about PS2 Linux is that everything runs on top of Sony's run-time environment. That is to say, you can't program an actual game using Linux that runs on the PS2. You can program a game that runs on Linux, which runs on top of the RTE, which runs on the PS2. Other than that, though, it's pretty much open to whatever.
That said, i think i wish i'd waited for the price to drop. I haven't really done much of anything with my Linux kit. In fact, the part i love the most about it is the mouse and keyboard. Best mouse and keyboard ever. <3
Not sure what you are asking really. My guess is can you get just the linux software w/o the HD and network adapter. The HD is formated for use only with linux so it would be useless for use with FF XI. So the HD for FF XI and Linux are muttually exclusive...so you would either need two PS2s with a HD for each "game". Or you would have to constantly swap drives. Hope that helps. Cheers.
I doubt they will "unbundle" it. It's been out for a while and it seems like they have no intention of selling the individal components. They want to make sure whoever buys it can use Linux immediately (assuming they have a PS2 and memeory card).
Here's the link to the PS2 Linux FAQ discussing the HD and other games: PS2 Linux FAQ
IMHO, I think the HD will work for FFXI, but either PS2 Linux or FFXI at a time (requiring a format in between). Will we ever see FFXI without a harddrive? I dunno.
-Tom
Yes. (Reboot out of Linux and boot a normal game.) PS2 Linux FAQ - Can I Play PS2 Games under Linux?
It takes some memory card space and installs itself to the included harddrive. Other than that, it doesn't change the PS2 at all.
-Tom
You can't create CDs which run in an ordinary PS2, so I think that you can only run games on PS2s which also have the dev kit. But in terms of the code you are writing, I think it is comparable. You should be aware that is is very difficult to get the best out of the PS2 architecture. My feeling is that if you want to impress a would-be employer you should write a complete game using some simpler tools, for example SDL.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
> It's pretty cool, but the Ps2 only has 32MB ram
You mean 32 megs of main ram. It has 40 megs total, including VRAM, SPU, and IOP memory.
http://www.us.playstation.com/peripherals.aspx?id= SCPH-97047
"The hard disk drive formatted for Linux cannot be
used with HDD-compatible PlayStation 2 games. Basic understanding of the Linux operating system is strongly recommended for installation and use."
so that answeres that question you can still play non HDD games on it thu.