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You can easily install Linux on your PS2 without buying the official Linux distro from Sony.

Required:
- A PS2 with modchip, IDE controller (integrated into most PS2 network adapters) and HDD (2+ gigs)
- PC with CD burner
- USB keyboard and mouse

So, let’s get started. First off, you need to download a PS2 distro called Black Rhino. But wait, don’t get the distro from their site. It’s non-bootable due to copyright laws. You need to get a slightly modified version called “PS2 LINUX RTE CD 1.0 (Install BlackRhino) by CERF4″. You can download it from here.

Now, burn the ISO. It’s bin/cue formatted (CDRWin) and can be burned with most CDR software.

Smack the CD into your PS2. Connect the USB keyboard and mouse and hit the power button. If you don’t have your PS2 connected to a VGA monitor, you should be holding Select+R2 to let the boot loader know you want TV mode - otherwise you will only see a black/flickering screen.

You should now see a menu on your screen. Select “Boot” and on the next screen select “Install BR” (upper left corner). This will start a generic Linux kernel and show a login prompt. Log in as “root” with no password.

Now it’s time to prepare two partitions: one for the OS, the other for swap. And with only 32 megs of RAM, you’ll need the swap space, trust me. Run the command “ps2fdisk” as such:

fdisk> n
partition number: 1
size in MB: (as big as possible, but save space for swap)
partition type: l (lowercase "L")
comment: main

fdisk> n
partition number: 2
size in MB: (the remaining, recommended 256M)
partition type: s
comment: swap

fdisk> w
fdisk> q

The partitions are now ready, and it’s time to format. Type “mke2fs /dev/hda1″ and wait a moment while the partition is being formatted. Now, mount it: “mkdir -p /mnt/hd; mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hd”.

Let’s mount the CD so we can access the installation files. Type “cd /lib/modules/2.2.1/fs/; insmod isofs.o” and “mount -tiso9660 /dev/ps2cdvd /mnt/cdrom”.

The last step is copying the files from the CD to your hdd: “cd /mnt/hd; tar xvzf /mnt/cdrom/brimage.tgz”. Have a coke while watching the files being extracted to your hard drive. Dum-dee-dum, and when it’s done, reboot your PS2.

That’s actually it! Leave the CD in the drive, boot it (remember Select+R2 if you don’t have VGA) and when the menu appears, choose Boot -> BlackRhino. You can now maintain your PS2 as a standard Debian box. Simply run “apt-get update” once to refresh the APT database, and install any package you might need.. gcc, make, X11, you name it.

Congratulations, you now have a fully functional PS2 dev box running Linux :-)

Story keywords: install linux ps2 playstation tutorial guide instructions black rhino