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ST-Computer Leser 2002 January
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ART49.SCR
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2001-12-24
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<link=g49.scr>PS2</l> - A PC Killer?!
Something curious came up the other day, from the overheated and
overhyped world of consoles, a scene which I normally ignore. A small
article in the technology column of the Thursday edition of the
Guardian told me of something potentially hugely interesting, a Linux
add-on box for the Playstation 2!
Actually, I remember Havoc saying something about this a short time
before, on our last visit to his place in sunny explosion-damaged
Enschede, when we travelled to the second edition of the world famous
Error in Line party, and he seemed quite keen on that idea himself!
People like Mr Pink will be already familiar with the development
environment for the PS2, which is Linux based. It seems that Sony are
reprising their Yaroze homebrew devkit experiment, which was a PS1
which needed a PC to link to. The new PS2/Linux combo is a lot more
exciting though, as it is a standalone unit which plugs into the
console, transforming it into a Linux personal or home computer!! What
limited information I have to hand suggests that it is reasonably
affordable too.
The link in the article took me to what I assume was a Japanese
website, as my browser doesn't recognise Japanese characters, but grabs
whatever is nearest to hand to substitute for these. The end result is
endearing gibberish, with the odd english loan word, and a nice screen
grab, more of which you can see in here.
So what of the implications of this add-on box? Well a lot depends on
how Sony wish to play it. Surface appearances suggest that this add-on
is simply a Yaroze mark 2. Its debut seems to be a tentative toe-in-
the-water affair, with a limited run of 2000 units, sold only in the
Japanese market, to gauge demand. But according to a subsequent report,
this first run sold out in just EIGHT MINUTES!
Which I think is probably all the information Sony needs to press on
with it!
The next logical step is a wider release, more units into worldwide
territories including the USA and Europe. In the case of any European
release, there will be an immediate and eager horde of demo coders
waiting to grab this opportunity, (apart from those people who may
already be cobbling their own add-on devkits together!?)
Or Sony could ratchet up the release rate still further, perhaps aiming
to break out of the exclusive developers and homebrew coders club, with
the intention of selling as many of these add-on Linux boxes, to make
an entirely new form of mass-market personal or home computer!
There have been mutterings from various sources, that Sony might like
to take on the overmighty Microsoft, not just making PS2 a console, but
an entire alternative general computing platform. The combination of
state of the art custom chips (with future versions in the works) and a
sleek and slinky Linux O/S makes an attractive alternative to the dull
grey mass of bloated wintel boxes that overwhelm the market place. It
seems to be getting very close to the Amiga concept, maybe the
forbidden words "Home Computer" will start to come back into use?!
As I said, it depends on how Sony want to play it. Will they be bold,
and strike out for the biggest possible market share, or will they
suddenly lose their nerve like the rest of the non-wintel
manufacturers, whose "winning" strategy in dealing with the Microsoft
menace seems to be to kick their legs in the air and give up!? Still,
if Microsoft fancy their chances in the console market with the X-Box,
which is basically a PC at heart, shoved into a console box, why
shouldn't Sony attempt to blur hardware boundaries from their end with
a console that turns into a computer!
But should we in the Atari scene be getting excited about what is a
foreign platform, after all? I would say yes, for various reasons. Most
Atari people already own hardware in addition to their precious TOS
boxes. Much of this hardware is wintel or console based. With this add-
on available to serve your everyday computing and state of the art
commercial gaming hunger, it is feasible that the wintel parasite could
be phased out of your life entirely, unless you like running bloated
applications and email clients that attract viruses in the same way
that shit attracts large bluebottle flies!
We have got to be careful of our precious handful of TOS coders
defecting to try their luck on this new platform, of course, but at the
same time, a PS2 computer would attract a lot of people from all other
platforms. This gives rise to an entirely new demo scene, which in turn
inspires the rest! Not to mention that there is a chance of a new
generation of wannabe game and demo coders getting hold of the
hardware. They go and make a journey of self-discovery like the
oldschool people used to make, in a way which isn't possible on a
typical wintel PC, which sits there smugly emitting tales of parental
restrictions, AOL, and bovine conformity.
It could be cool to see someone like Defjam or Sqward emulating an ST
or Falcon perfect version of an original hard coded Emotion Engine
driven effect!!
It would be even cooler to see a future younger version of Defjam or
Sqward do their stuff years after we're all grown up with families, and
fancy titled admin jobs, with all our free time spent going to the
opera or house-hunting. I think the PS2/Linux combo may be THEIR best
chance........
CiH, for Chosneck Diskmag, May '01
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