Program Linux on your PS2

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-825762.html

[Living-In-Clip]

Dumbest. Thing. Recently.

Why in the world would you want to do word processing (as mentioned in the article) on your PS2? It amazes me that people early on was making fun of the Xbox , because it was "just like a PC" - yet Sony is pushing the whole PC/ Game console thing more than anyone.

Let them have their Linux. I really doubt it\'ll sell worth a damn in the USA. There just isn\'t a pratical use for it, and unlike the Japanese, the US is picky.

Sweet..

I hope they add demos (or whole games) on the Playstation2 demo disc\'s you can buy in magazines.. Like they did with yaroze..

Linux for PS2=New yaroze.. I heard you could make DC quality games with this thing.. If so, impressive.

Seems cool. A nice toy, but not very useful to 99% of PS2 owners. Least it\'ll be much more robust and useful than the Dreamcast version of Linux.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
Dumbest. Thing. Recently.

Why in the world would you want to do word processing (as mentioned in the article) on your PS2? It amazes me that people early on was making fun of the Xbox , because it was "just like a PC" - yet Sony is pushing the whole PC/ Game console thing more than anyone.

Let them have their Linux. I really doubt it\'ll sell worth a damn in the USA. There just isn\'t a pratical use for it, and unlike the Japanese, the US is picky.

not everyone has a PC at home, yet most people have a TV. Try getting a PC with DVD, Broadband option, a professional developer kit and the option to play every single game out for it for $350. The PS2 has this price beaten in every aspect.

I\'ll be getting it just for the developing aspect.

It doesn\'t have to be used just for word processing.  I think the catch is that it\'s a $200 add-on to your PS2 that makes it almost exactly like a computer.  I really like the idea of custom programming.  That could be a lot of fun...

The Linux (for PlayStation 2) Release 1.0 kit includes:

Internal hard disk drive for PlayStation 2 (HDD) with 40 GB capacity
Network Adaptor (Ethernet) (for PlayStation 2) with 100 Base T Ethernet interface
Linux Kernel version 2.2.1 (with USB device support)
"Linux (for PlayStation 2)" Version 1.0 software distribution on two DVDs
gcc 2.95.2 and glibc 2.2.2 with VU assemblers
XFree86 3.3.6 with PlayStation 2 GS support
Computer monitor adaptor (for PlayStation 2) (with audio connectors)
USB Keyboard and mouse (for PlayStation 2)

Finally a VGA adapter, they better start selling them individually

Should be XFree 4.1.0

$300 for the whole kit.  Interesting.

This is mainly for hobbiest development of applications and games.  This isn\'t for a person wanting to use StarOffice on the PS2.  So I\'d have to say YOU are the dumbest thing recently.

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not everyone has a PC at home, yet most people have a TV. Try getting a PC with DVD, Broadband option, a professional developer kit and the option to play every single game out for it for $350. The PS2 has this price beaten in every aspect.
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Chances are if they can\'t afford a pc which is dirt cheap. Then it is doubtful they are going to pay for the linux kit. On top of that even if those unfortunate souls do. Do you honestly think they will hook up their broadband, or develop games? Chances are if you are even interested in these options then you already have a pc, and the issue is then mute about the $350 for a internet ready computer.

Btw where do you come up with $350.00 at. My ps2 here in the states cost me $300 alone. Add on the price of taxes and a memory card, and I have your $350.00 beat already. The kit is going to cost around $200.00. This will bring your total price close to $600.00 us dollars.You can buy a standalone pc for that price.

Here is an excerpt from  
http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/news/news.pl?y=2002&m=1&nid=30-126.db

"In addition to the "Linux (for PlayStation 2)" kit, users must have a standard North American PlayStation 2 (SCPH 30001, SCPH 30001R, SCPH 35001GT), a Memory Card (8M), and a VESA monitor. The graphics output requires a high-resolution computer display, with standard output set as XGA (1024 x 768 resolution); home televisions cannot be used as monitors. Computer displays supporting "sync on green" are mandatory."

So add on some more money for a vesa monitor.



The only persons that will find this add-on of any great usefulness is fledgling developers, and I am not sure of how much use it truly will be.

One more thought. If you are planning on buying this so you can get a hdd and broadband adaptor at a reduced price. Then I imagine your dreams will probably get dashed. I would imagine that this thing is going to format the hdd to a linux filesystem, and leave it unusable for games.

The Linux kit will sell for $299 U.S. so sayeth Sony:  yahoo news release

And if you think all Linux is good for is Star Office, you have a lot to learn, junior.

Originally posted by Capcom
One more thought. If you are planning on buying this so you can get a hdd and broadband adaptor at a reduced price. Then I imagine your dreams will probably get dashed. I would imagine that this thing is going to format the hdd to a linux filesystem, and leave it unusable for games.

What makes you think PS2 games will save in FAT/DOS/NTFS format?

The Japanese Linux kit had a utility disc that let you format the harddrive to be usable with games, if I remember correctly.  The disc isn\'t mentioned in the listing though so it might not be included with the US Linux kit.  Of course, the Japanese kit also included documentation of the EE, the GS, and the vector units, none of that is mentioned here either, but I highly doubt they could leave those out, as the kit would be pretty useless without them, so I doubt the list here mentions every little thing you get.

Anyway, I don\'t know why people are getting all "offended" by this.  This obviously isn\'t going to be a peripheral that developers develop games around or something like that.  It\'s for hobbiests, budding developers, and geeks that like this kind of stuff.  I for one think it\'s super-cool and am contemplating picking one up.

well, I personally think "let the PS2 do what it is supposed to do".
That said, I\'d never look to get any kind of hard drive or the other crap that $ony is trying to sell us.

However, the fact that I won\'t be buying doesn\'t mean we should start flaming the industry for giving us the option..
You will buy, I won\'t, does it really matter??

If you think about it, its an interesting concept. Whether it will sell or not, I don\'t know and frankly... I don\'t care!
I bought my PS2 to play games and watch DVDs, and thats the whole point.
If it can make me some coffee as well, I don\'t care.. I\'ll leave my coffee machine do that.

$300 are a lot of money.... You\'d have to provide your own monitor, so since you have a spare monitor to plug the ps2 on... the how come you don\'t have a PC.... And if you DO have a PC... why the heck mess with Linux on PS2???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, and by the way.... the first article says that Linux competes with Windows... Linux *IS* free and you can download it anywhere. So it does not compete with any M$ product!