Sony having a change of heart for PS2 developers

[porter]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/10/29/sony-removes-content-approval-ps2-now-open-platform

I'm currently trying to get blackrhino linux running on my PS2....

[guardian452]

great, I love my ps2. Even more than the ps3, original playstation, anything! Epic, wonderful games

[pentium]

I seriously hope this means that we can bring Folding@Home to the PS2.
Better yet, go back to the good old days when you could load Linux onto a hard drive and pretty much use your PS2 as a computer.

[Gray Fox]

I always wanted Linux for the PS2. But I can never find it, or it costs way too much. Another thing that will bug me is the the PS2 only has 32MB of Ram.

[pentium]

True. You really can't run anything special with only 32Mb of ram linux-wise without it mostly being text based.
I wonder what a watered down version of KDE would be like?
Heck, just getting F@H to boot off a disc would be cool.

[guardian452]

I saw the linux kit in walmart a long time ago and really wanted it, I begged and begged but my parents never got it for me I think it was about $140 or so for the disc, hdd, network adapter, keyboard, mouse, and vga plug.

[porter]

My plan is to use Action Replay Max to install an exploit from USB drive to memory card to get the ELF loader and then kernel loader running. Then install blackrhino from http://playstation2-linux.com/projects/blackrhino/

[pentium]

I bought AR MAX for the same reason but never figured out how to get the exploit to work.
Could be that I was doing it wrong though...I eventually gave up and started for the Final Fantasy VII pack. At least it came with a hard drive.

[porter]

I bought AR MAX for the same reason but never figured out how to get the exploit to work.

I'll report my progress.

[Gray Fox]

A screenshot from the PS2 Linux

http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/2002/03/21/graphics/xwinps2.jpg

[pentium]

A screenshot from the PS2 Linux

http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/2002/03/21/graphics/xwinps2.jpg

It does not look too bad. Heck, it is at least running GIMP.
Now if only I could...nope, can't talk about that.

[Gray Fox]

Is there any different distros for the PS2?

[porter]

Is there any different distros for the PS2?

Are there any .....

The only two I know of are blackrhino and Sony's.

[porter]

Wow!

http://www.geocities.com/gibbo501/

Using "Action Replay Max Evo" PAL version, and "Walt Disney's The Jungle Book Groove Party", and the magic code of "SCES_030.20" I have managed to exploit my SCPH-39002 PlayStation 2.

I have my network adapter with a Maxtor 40Gig drive jammed in with dodgy foam....

I've even managed to start the EXECFTPS.ELF, alas it's configured itself to a bogus address!

But no matter, we're getting there, it feels like progress!

EDIT:

set up CONFIG.DAT with IP address and can FTP in to write to memory card etc.

Ran the HDDF48.ELF to format the disk, and set up a partition for some ELF files.

Now running HDLFPP.ELF which is HD Loader, trying out putting a game on the disk.

[Gray Fox]

http://digg.com/programming/How_to_install_BlackRhino_Linux_on_Playstation_2_w_o_official_kit_from_Sony

But the website is gone.

Here is what it had.

Code: Select all

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