[Gllug] Sync on Green VDU for sony linux

[Sarah Ewen]

> On behalf of SCE(E), can you give a brief overview of what Sony
> are planning on doing with Linux on the PS2? Are we likely to see
> a modern kernel any time soon, for example?

I can try... tbh I'm not sure whether the SCEE hat is on or off for this one.

(Sorry for the length. It just happened).

Your first question sounds as if you're wondering whether it will be used
internally/in future product releases?

I can only speak about what I know about..outside of R'n'D, the Linux kit is
unlikely to provide the base for anything released on the PlayStation 2 platform.
That said, it's no secret that there were Linux based versions of the BroadBand
Navigator software that were released in Japan. This was work taken forward from
the work done for the Linux kit.

The plan with Linux for PlayStation 2 was/is pretty much 
- create it
- offer support via web
- encourage people to try writing games & graphics demos and hence
  learn about developing on the PlayStation 2 platform
- see what crazy things the Linux folk get up to

The plan for software updates is to release them via playstation2-linux.com
There have been updates to the ethernet driver, XFree86, interesting packages
such as ps2gl. Many volunteers are releasing packages for popular things such
as window managers/web browsers etc in the CFYC project too.

SCEE/SCEA don't have staff maintaining the PS2 Linux kernel, and while
SCEI might have done some development I don't think they're about to
release anything. This is really in the hands of the PS2Linux community.
xRhino have done a brilliant effort with the 2.2.21 release & want to do 
more.
Both xRhino & SCE are hosting mirrors for the Debian-based BlackRhino port, too.

There's unlikely to be a new hardware bundle going on sale, though we may
look at selling the kit in components rather than only as a bundle as we do
now. 

The Linux kit is killing two birds with one stone, meeting the response to
demand for a working Linux distro & acting as the next generation Net Yaroze.
Consequently it's not your average Linux distribution, and while I'd 
encourage any Linux users that are interested in it, I would say that it's 
not ideal if you're one of those nuts[1] who has to run bleeding edge versions
of everything..especially when not every app you like to run in Linux is going
to run well on the PS2's architecture.

In Japan, SCEI seem to have pretty much dropped all support for the
kit, and stopped selling it several months ago. We've got no intentions of
doing that any time soon here (or in the US afaik). I've just had a quick
trawl around .jp sites for kernel updates and haven't found anything that 
quickly, though I wouldn't be suprised to find BBN stuff kicking around.

I've written too much now. Executive summary - 
- Now it's out, we're encouraging its use, particularly in universities (we've
got three unis taking on 20 right now).
- No updates on the kernel from SCE - just volunteers in the PS2Linux community.

I think that's just over-compensated for my general lurking habit [sorry].
Alasdair was in touch about LDC in Edinburgh again, and I had promised to 
write something. Should we come along and give some more demos?

Cheers,

Sarah.
[1] Nice nuts, not psycho nuts. The enthusiastic sense of the word.


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