advice/help wanted please re PS2

If you are new to YDL and have some more or less basic questions.

advice/help wanted please re PS2

Postby Camberwell » 05 May 2013, 02:23

good evening folks

I know things have moved on now and I'm a bit behind the times, but I've dusted of the old PS2
I put a DMS4 modchip in it years ago, and I'd love to put linux on it now

I wonder if somebody could link me to an old download of a linux ISO or something I can boot up
to install linux on my Playstation 2

I can get it to boot from MC by holding Triangle i think it is, when I turn it on and i have a network
device plugged in the back with an old 10gig HDD slotted in there.

I'v got a Toxic something come up when i turn it on.

you can tell its been a while since I did all this :)

anyway, an old howto or download site would be great please if someone could help me along my way
just some thing to get me started, I'm pretty ok with linux after that I run Fedora 18 currently on my PC full time

Thanks in advance

Martin
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Re: advice/help wanted please re PS2

Postby ppietro » 08 May 2013, 01:36

Hello,

Unfortunately, Yellow Dog Linux is designed for the PS3, not the PS2. This isn't a trivial difference - the processor targets are completely different: the PS3 uses PowerPC architecture, and the PS2 uses MIPS architecture.

We don't have any PS2 binaries here, so we can't help you. However - I do run Linux on my PS2 - so I can tell you a little bit about it.

The PS2 can't run unsigned code - so there is no open source Linux boot loader for it. The only official way to run Linux on the PS2 was via Sony's Linux Kit and the encrypted PS2 boot DVD-ROM. Also - you needed a dedicated PS2 Memory Card to hold the kernel. This is in addition to the Linux files you had to install to the hard disc - which didn't use PS2 HDD formatting either. Basically - you'd boot from the non-copyable PS2 DVD-ROM, which would load a kernel from the Magic Gate PS2 Memory card, then the boot loader would finish booting from the PS2 Linux formatted hard disc.

Sadly, Sony has discontinued the PS2 Linux kit, but you may be able to find one used. Because this board is hosted in the United States, we are subject to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), so we can only discuss the official Sony Linux kit, due to the PS2's copyrighted boot ROMs. This also means that we can't allow any further discussion of tools that might be used to bypass these ROMs - so I'll have to lock this thread to further posting.

In closing, I can share a couple of links that might be helpful.

Main wiki entry:
Linux for PlayStation 2

Some of my original PS2 Linux notes:
Mozilla for PlayStation 2 Cross Compiling Mini-HOWTO 1.0
Kernel 2.4.17 for PlayStation 2 Mini-HOWTO 1.0
PlayStation 2 Mouse Wheel Mini-HOWTO 1.0

And - yes - those last three links are running on my PS2 webserver. :)

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. Here's the official picture of the Sony PS2 Linux kit. This is from my archives:
Image
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