On 01 Feb 2002 03:45:22 -0600 Douglas Adams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Judging from the demographics of this group, I doubt that too many of > you have playstation 2's. But I do, and I stay on top of my game. Sony > is releasing a linux kit for the ps2 that includes a vga adapter, a usb > keyboard and mouse, an internal 40 gig drive with an ethernet card > (japanese have to use the external one shown in screenshots, if you have > access to an american ps2, open up the expansion slot, that's a hard > drive bay my friend), and specialized linux distro for the ps2. Back in late Nov/early Dec. I was really thinking about getting a Sega Dreamcast - strictly for the fun and challenge of getting the Linux and NetBSD ports to work. I didnt end up getting one, since the local Circuit City and Toys R'Us were out - but of course you could still get one thru eBay, and Amazon reports they still have some. The Dreamcast/Linux site had screenshots of it working PrBoom/SDL running fullscreen, and an Xserver with MAME running (alongside an xterm or two and top) Some good links: http://www.m17n.org/linux-sh/dreamcast/ (with pics) http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7466555948.html http://www.fivemouse.com/dclinux.html The Dreamcast has a 200MHz Hitachi SuperH (SH4) RISC CPU, 16Mb RAM. Youcan't hook up a disk to it, but can boot from a CD-R (that's how you get it on there), and it does have a serial port - so you mount an NFS directory over CSLIP or PPP. There's also an ethernet board for the Dreamcast, but it's hard to find, and expensive ($100-$130). Dreamcasts do have readily available keyboards and mice, since it did have a few web browsers available for it. There are also readily avalable VGA adapters. There is at least one Dreamcast Linux distribution, but more challenging is the Linux-from-scratch method of building cross compilers, linkers, C libs, and putting one together yourself. There were scattered reports that some (allegedly newer) Dreamcasts had firmware revisions that prevented them from booting CD-R's as an anti-piracy measure -- thus Linux and NetBSD wouldnt work on those. Other reports said that those dreamcasts were never shipped to the U.S. It'd be fun, but so would have getting a free Digital UDB/Multia (166MHz DEC Alpha 21066) back when they were throwing them out, and whipping that into shape. I hear they made nice space heaters :) Ah, well. Playstation2 Linux is also interesting, but it's partially closed-source. >From what I've read, it also uses an old kernel. Playstation's CPU is a MIPS R5900 running at 300MHz. -- Mark Orr [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================ BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change your subscription information. ================================================
