Linux for the PlayStation 1 122
OberonX writes: "Blockman Trading has released the alpha version of Runix,
which is a working verion of Linux 2.4 kernel working with PS2. [ed. note: for the original Playstation, though they plan on porting to the PS2 also.] You can read
an article about it at zdnet and you can download the 26MB file here.
The final version is expected to be released by October while office software
for PS1 is due by the end of the year. Pretty neat stuff..."
Pretty Neat? (Score:1)
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
I mean what are you going to do, run a web server from your PS2?
jeez, quit putting ideas into peoples heads :)
Linux on all OSes (Score:1)
So Saddam was right, after all! (Score:3)
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:2)
A developer could create a CD with minimal Linux boot + enhanced Framebuffer or MicroWindows + minimal services for the Linux - and the game itself.
All you have to do is just put the cd in - wait for the game to load, and play...
Not bad, eh?
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
So It's actually a better deal after it runs linux...
Re:Office Productivity Software? (Score:1)
I used a cheap Taiwan USB keyb (costs less than 10$)
Dear Russia, (Score:3)
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
Because you can.
Re:Great. Just Great. (Score:1)
This is just what countries like Iraq have been waiting for: standardized, general-purpose computing on cheap, reasonably powerful hardware that isn't embargoed or considered a munition.
in which case they can buy them anyway, no?
(btw, don't know how far they'll get through those the thermonuclear babymunching calculations - the PS1 has 2Mb of RAM)
Hmm, my fake user agent string might be real! (Score:2)
Re:Sony has PS2 w/ Linux and AOL running. (Score:1)
I would love to remove it from my room when I am playing quiet games.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
The real story... (Score:3)
Wow. I wonder how they'd cope with the Halting Problem...
Gerv
OH YES! Emulator time! (Score:1)
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
--
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:2)
"MAME"
The idea of running MAME on the PS2 and playing Crazy Kong from the comfort of couch just puts me in a spin.
Sure you'll need the HD [ign.com] and Network [ign.com]adapters, which'll cost you. But system price is supposed to drop to $200 [theregister.co.uk] sometime in the fall, so it's not that bad. And I challenge you to find a PC for $500 that has similar graphics performance.
Besides, DOA2 [instantcool.com] still rocks the house!
:)
--
Re:PS1 Peripherals (Score:1)
My adaptor and a copy of Bleem is the only way I can play US PSX games without getting my UK PSX chipped.
I believe this could be very interesting.. (Score:5)
Linux on a PS2 (IMHO would rule...)
In our business we use MIPS based SGI equipment for doing image manipulation. I believe it wouldn't take much work to port those libraries to the PS2. We use a simple cluster of XMLRPC servers to handle image conversion requests and the data is transfered over simple NFS style filesystems.
The problem I have right now is that the image conversions have to happen on demand and in real time (well, there is a user waiting). Most of the images on the fastest PC's I can get my hands on happen in around 2 seconds. (I use Image magick, there are probably better things out there). On the Irix machine we have we can do the same conversion less than
I believe that the reason the SGI machine does so well is because of the internal bandwidth and system architecture, not so much the CPU speed. (Again, AFAIK).
Now, if I can use 13-14 playstation2's in a small cluster to get similar results (even close) would be MUCH MUCH MUCH more cost effective than a Origin class server.
Strangely enough those little machines are designed to maintain a fairly intense sustained level of io/cpu internaly without keeling over.
Just a thought... anyway. It might very well be the pro-c compilers for Irix give me the edge and with GCC I wouldn't see much of a performance gain over a normal ia32 system.
--------------------
Would you like a Python based alternative to PHP/ASP/JSP?
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
from what I remember it is motion compensation that trips up the chipset and has to be performed totaly in software. divx requires more complex calculations and so I wouldnt keep my fingers crossed for it to come to the ps2 anytime soon.
but it would be an interesting problem to try and solve.
You don't have kids do you? (Score:2)
Wake up - not everyone is in your special situation or playing by your rules. Sheesh.
And if we non-Americans (Score:1)
Great. Just Great. (Score:1)
Not that I think this project should be stopped. The more Unix there is in the world, the better I like it!
Re:Call me back (Score:1)
Any other new hardware can be delt with buy writing new drivers (usually using a piggy back driver for source code). New complex systems are controlled by daemon processes
DISCLAIMER
I post this information in an attempt to give people a clearer understanding of the rational in linux If i'm unclear anywhere, try looking for other associated linux matterial. If you are looking for coding help I am not likly to be available. I make no effort to check for errors or omittions I am replying purely from memory if I am wrong just ignore.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
There are plenty of useful apps that can be written. I cant think of a good reason for linux on the PS/2. and talking about MAIM - why not re-code it for the PS/2 and distribute the damned thing? After the initial lawsuits are passed, and the PS/2 disk drive comes out, you might make all of $2 per disk.
And for my next trick, i shall port linux to my brain. (hmm.. that WOULD be useful.)
I guess, perhaps, its the same reason people climb mountains..
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:3)
Just off the top of my head, I would say there is a lot you can do. eg, many open source linux games can now be ported to the PS much more easily since all the neccesary linux libs etc will be available.
Also off the top of my head: With just linux, a framebuffer driver for the PS, an opendivx codec and a bit of work, it shouldn't be too hard to get a bootable linux based cd whose sole purpose is to play back the divx thats also recorded to the cd. In other words, an alternative to DVD that plays on any PS and is easily copied and distributed. This would be ideal for people wanting to send copies of their summer party video to their friends, none of whom own a pc, but all who have playstations.
When someone says that linux runs on the PS, don't automatically think that they are talking about a complete GNU/Linux system together with all the usual shells and servers etc. That will probably not be the case. I expect a bootable linux CD could be set up to go straight into a game from init. The user may not even know they were running linux at all.
This could be the start of lots of free-software games releases ported to the PS.
Re: Chipped PS (Score:2)
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
Of all the consoles out there, or due to be out in 2001, this would surely be the one that has the capability of making the most of the Linux/BSD/etc. OSs. It is made to accept off the shelf accessories (with the exception of the HD and Ethernet attachment.
Hell it is the first console trying to live in the space between Console and PC. It accepts USB keyboards and mice for God's sake!
Re:Proof that linux is pointless? (Score:1)
Proof that linux is pointless? (Score:2)
If there was ever a use for 'Gesture Recognition', PS is the platform for it.
To me, this is proof of what I have said ever since being introduced to Intel based Unix/Unix look-alikes : Linux for fun, BSD for work!
Re:while Runix is Slashdotted... (Score:1)
<soapbox>
i will help you there.
the point: a linux operating system can be ported to just about anything. here is one more platform developers have conquered.
</soapbox>
while Runix is Slashdotted... (Score:3)
I got to thinking about people who have neat ideas like this, Runix, NewOS, AtheOS, etc., and I wonder about how this helps the community (showing the different ways Linux is being used, etc) and thought about someone creating the all in one marketing site for Linux to show how many different configurations, installations you could create with it.
The site of course would be a non profit site sort of like a Source Forge, where developers could post their latest work, which could be referred to in trade shows, LinuxWorld Expo's etc., so Fortune 500's could see all of the neat things that could be done from this OS (Linux) and others like it.
On its own, its nothing more than a novelty (Runix) but when you have hundreds of different creations all in one place, I think it strenghtens the notion that Linux and others like it should be looked into more often, as opposed to dumping money buying, or leasing for that matter (*cough XP*) software when it's freely available.
Sorry I couldn't post on the gaming side of this story because I don't play them (well actually XBoard, Dopewars, and XBill I'll admit it) so forgive my gratuitous post
Re:why? (Score:1)
The graphics capability of a PSX (PS1) doing 320x240 is equivalent to a P100 doing 640x480 in software or at least that's the impression I got when I was doing PSX development back in 95/96.
Re:"Linux for pirates" cuz it only runs on chipped (Score:2)
It is FAIR USE for a legal customer to backup their cd's and use the backups to play.
Guess you never have kids in your house that destroy CD's.
Stop making the assumption, copying = pirating dumbass.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
not if you're female, friend.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:2)
See, it's a game console, and there are a lot of really cool games out for it. It also plays DVDs.
So it becomes the "living room appliance" that everyone has been trying to achieve for the last 5 years. I don't understand why people are so against it....
Re:Pardon me... (Score:4)
1. M.A.M.E. -- run a bazillion and one arcade games with a nice controller from your couch
2. XMMS -- burn off a CD of a bootable kernel, audio drivers and XMMS with a CD full of MP3s and you've got an MP3 player hooked up to your home theater
3. Because it is there. Why the hell not port it? If you don't want to use it, it's quite simple -- don't. I know a lot of people who enjoy getting things ported just for the fun of it -- why not see the linux boot screen scrolling by on your television? Seems pretty cool to me.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:2)
External Hard Drive ~$250
External Floppy Drive ~$50
Mouse & Keyboard ~$35
You get the picture.
And those great graphics you talk about are designed for a TV. It'll make a nice DVD player, but I'd hate to write software using a TV as a display. I've heard rumors of LCD displays comming out, but at what resolution, and what cost?
If you can put a network card in it it might make a nice firewall computer, but Linksys already makes those cheap.
Linux on PS2 is interesting from a hobby aspect, and it shows how portable the Kernel is, but it doesn't appear very "usefull" to me.
Re:Call me back (Score:2)
I found at least one person who had tried writing a software MP3 player, first in C and then in assembly, but couldn't make it work because the CPU for the PSX runs at 33MHz and is much too slow to do the decoding in real time.
Therefore, the porting of emulators and such doesn't seem likely until you reach DC- and PS2-class hardware.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:2)
> External Hard Drive ~$250
> External Floppy Drive ~$50
> Mouse & Keyboard ~$35
Geek factor: priceless.
Re:What am I missing here? (Score:1)
This isn't about cost-effectiveness compared to a price of a new PC. This is about getting more use out of the stuff you spent hard earned $'s on a couple years ago....
Back in time . . . (Score:1)
Re:So, is it... (Score:4)
I downloaded the kernel -- it's for the PlayStation I only. The PS2 version should be available in a month.
Re:Useful? (Score:1)
Take a letter please Mrs. Jones... (Score:3)
Re:I believe this could be very interesting.. (Score:1)
It's been done... oh, hang on. that's PS/2 :)
Re:Mirrors? (Score:2)
I've been trying for a couple of days to get this file. I only have 300k so far. Has anyone managed to download the whole thing yet?
Tried getting it with 'wget' or any other download manager? That way you can resume part way through a broken download...
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Re:PS1 Peripherals (Score:2)
Office Productivity Software? (Score:5)
[right] [left] [left] [right] [up] [button 3] [right] [up] [up]...
Be quiet! I need to finish this report tonight!!!
And I thought typing on that half-keyboard mentioned here a few days ago was going to be hard!
Re:Pardon me... (Score:2)
Re:Take a letter please Mrs. Jones... (Score:2)
Contra! You know what I am talking about you dam cheater.
Re:I believe this could be very interesting.. (Score:2)
i seriously doubt the playstation can approach a high end gaming pc in price/performance, unless you have code specifically designed to take advantage of the ps2 gfx. so, you would have to benchmark the linux/ps2 against a good pc gaming platform.
if they are using 2.4 kernel, they pretty much have to be using xfree 4.x...if they aren't you can give it up anyway...anything pre xfree 4.x is worthless for serious graphics.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
Here's a mirror... (Score:1)
http://www.umsl.edu/~s976489/kernel-psx-2.4.0.t
Re:Sony has PS2 w/ Linux and AOL running. (Score:1)
And, by the way, the PS2s at E3 were running Unix. I was there when they shut them down on the last day. And it was really weird to see somebody turn off a PS2 with a 'shutdown' command ;)- -------------
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Re:Take a letter please Mrs. Jones... (Score:2)
Re:Practical Use (Score:2)
Office software? (Score:5)
I've often dreamed of being able to use a gamepad at work, but not for office productivity software.
Re:I believe this could be very interesting.. (Score:1)
Re:Pretty Neat? (Score:2)
Because it can be done. Because you're talking about putting a general-purpose OS on a fairly powerful (okay, by '96 standards, but still...) $99 box. Because there's a great deal of satisfaction in cracking a closed system (though demosceners have been doing it for a while now). In two words: hack value.
Do you need any further explanation?
/Brian
Re:PS1 Peripherals (Score:2)
Think of it this way: the PSone is the last of the stand-alone game consoles; everything else is bleeding into PC territory.
Actually, here's a diversionary thought for you...
Are we witnessing a convergence in system design? I think so. The video game console sort of split off from the personal computer tree right at the beginning, while the dumb terminal was absorbing PC traits and eventually developing into things like the X terminal and then things like the iOpener and WebTV. Now we're seeing something that started with the Dreamcast where the video game console of old is merging with the descendants of the terminal. I don't actually know if this is a good thing, though -- seems to me there should be a point of principle about opening closed systems as quickly as humanly possible, as most of these are at least nominally closed systems...
/Brian
Re:I believe this could be very interesting.. (Score:2)
httpd & nic? (Score:2)
memachine is neat and useful (Score:2)
Re:Duh? (Score:1)
Re:Duh? (Score:1)
Re:Pardon me... (Score:1)
The hardware is, alas, insufficient (Score:1)
I'd like to begin with the fact that I'm full or respect towards the guys that had written this port of Linux. Great job, guys.
However, I must also say that the hardware in the PS/1 is simply not enough. If it only had some kind of a network interface, I'd be the first to get it. However without a network interface it becomes quite useless. I can cope with the absence of a hard drive or good input, as long as I can burn the system on a CD and telnet in.
What I would have been glad to find is a box similar to the PS/1, plus a network interface. There can be countless areas where it could be applied - from mp3 playing to firewalling.
Call me back (Score:4)
So, is it... (Score:1)
Re:Sony has PS2 w/ Linux and AOL running. (Score:1)
Interesting about the Unix, are you implying a paid for Unix instead of a GPL *nix like Linux?
The AOL folks (man and woman to be specific) said the AOL client they were showing was for Linux. It is possible the Linux client was ported to run on a "real" Unix, but I have to wonder why.
What did you see that let you know it was Unix and not Linux or *BSD?
One other tidbit I did pick up at the show was related to whether or not they would be coming out with a 802.11b supporting device for the PS2. The Sony rep (not AOL) I asked said he didn't know, but thought he had seen them testing one. If Sony did release a WiFi adapter, that could be really useful if your stereo/TV/console is in a different room from your hub.
Morgan
Sony has PS2 w/ Linux and AOL running. (Score:5)
Just a brief note here, but at E3 (the Electronics Entertainment Expo) the Sony area had two AOL employees demonstrating AOL on the PS2 running linux. Additionally, there was an ethernet card adapter "thingie" (for lack of a better term) stuck on the back. From what I could tell, it was a production unit rather than a one-off. The demo personnel said there would be an ethernet adapter for PS2 out "soon". Unfortunately, the folks working that corner of the booth were from AOL (despite their PS2 shirts) and were not 100% familiar with Sony's plans.
Morgan
I love their homepage slogan! (Score:1)
Re:Open Source or SonySource (tm) (Score:2)
First, a correction: the GPL does not require that you distribute source to a GPL program that you modify--only that if you distribute it in binary form then you must also distribute it in source form. This seems to be a pretty common misunderstanding, but if you come from out of nowhere and ask Sony (or anyone else) to fork over the source for some GPL'd software XYZ, and they say "screw you," well, tough luck--they're completely within their rights.
Second, Sony is including the source to all GPL components of their distribution. They even say as much (in Japanese) on their license terms page [playstation.com].
--
BACKNEXTFINISHCANCEL
That was an awesome code (Score:1)
ps/ps2 platform saves linux gaming? (Score:3)
Why would I want to run Linux on my PSn? (Score:1)
Okay, so maybe I have a really geeky sense of adventure, but still... This kind of thing really is for people (like me) that like to turn on every experimental option when compiling their own kernel "just because".
~~
Maybe... (Score:1)
Re:Who the hell cares? (Score:1)
Hahahahahahah.... man that's a good one.
-- juju
I can see it now. (Score:1)
Just watch some wanker give me DDoS attack right in the middle of $GAME_NAME_HERE. :)
Re:Office Productivity Software? (Score:1)
Re:Mirrors? (Score:1)
Tried getting it with 'wget' or any other download manager? That way you can resume part way through a broken download...
I am using wget!
Mirrors? (Score:3)
Re:Inside the PS1 and PS2 (Score:3)
Now we need to get to work... (Score:5)
Related news... (Score:4)
The aim, according to Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs, is to "transform [the] Apple G4 and G4 Cube into a full-featured, high-priced gaming console".
This is a joke. Don't find it funny? move on.
~
Practical Use (Score:1)
There is a device (DexDrive, IIRC) that hooks up to a serial port on a computer that allows PS1 saved games to be up/downloaded to the HD. I saw it priced at 10 bucks at Electronics Boutique. A creative person might use this as a "floppy" to store the .rc file for a brute-force crypto crack, and the output of same.
The same device could be used to store a scene description file and the corresponding animated .GIF output of a rendering engine (like POV-Ray).
And that's jut off the top of my head without even thinking about it.
Re:Practical Use (Score:1)
Re:Yawn..... (Score:1)
Re:Good news for PS2 also (Score:2)
Even if it does run (and it probably will), why not wait for a PS2-specific distro? Anything written for PSOne will be unable to take advantage of the PS2's forthcoming HD and net access anyway.
GTRacer
- I didn't come here to play. I came to win!
RS-232 (Score:1)
Uhhh, Playstation 1? (Score:1)
So which one is it? PS2 or PS1?
Emulators are the killer app (Score:1)
Correct URL (Score:1)
Makes me wonder if the slashdot editors asked for permission to link directly. Hotlinking 26 MB. is quite a lot if you are paying for your bandwidth pr. megabyte.
You are "welcom [runix.ru]".
Re:So, is it... (Score:1)
or 0 or 1 ?
Damn I just confused myself more.
Re:Proof that linux is pointless? (Score:1)
First of I have nothing against BSD, heck anything I wright*, is being released under the BSD licence. The only reason I have RedHat GNU/Linux rather than FreeBSD is because I live in a small town and the only way to get FreeBSD is to drive two hours away and buy a $110CAN Book and I'm 13 and have no credit card to buy it online.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way... The fact that someone ported Linux to the PS1/Dreamcast/PS2 does not make it so you can not do work on it. Until I got my Macintosh I did all my work in KOffice using XFce as my Window Manager. I found it quite easy to use and powerful for the price of $0. I'm sure I could do just the same on FreeBSD or any UNIX. I really don't see why anyone makes a big deal about which UNIX they run. When someone asks me what I run I Anwser "My Mac for working and gaming and UNIX for Programming."
Arguing over which UNIX is better is pointless because until you get to the source level they look, feel and behave about the same. Most GNU/Linux programs will Compile on BSD/Tru64/AIX/HP-UX/QNX/BeOS or anything that has a POSIX layer, thus making the argument that "My UNIX is better than your UNIX!" worse. I don't see why UNIX people can't get along: vi vs emacs, KDE vs GNOME, GUI vs CLI, BSD vs GNU/Linux...
The funny thing is the only thing UNIX people will agree on is that UNIX is the best.
*All I've got written right now is a dice roller in Perl, I AM only 13...
--Volrath50
Re:Proof that linux is pointless? (Score:1)
--Volrath50
Re:Proof that linux is pointless? (Score:2)
--Volrath50
Re:Take a letter please Mrs. Jones... (Score:1)
Thank god its not Windows (Score:5)
"It appears that you're searching for ancient treasure! Would you like me to:
What am I missing here? (Score:3)
Inside the PS1 and PS2 (Score:3)