4 ms·
This reminds me of back in the day when the US became very worried that the 'level of sophisticated computing power' in the then-recently released PlayStation 2
by dotBen 3y ago
This reminds me of back in the day when the US became very worried that the 'level of sophisticated computing power' in the then-recently released PlayStation 2 could be used by Iran or North Korea to power nuclear missile guidance systems, if Linux could be installed on the box. What was especially weird was that Sony then went ahead and released Linux for the PS2 anyway which made no commercial sense anyway!
At the time there were particularly tight restrictions on distribution of PS2, beyond the usual export embargo of any tech to these countries.
UPDATE: If this interests you, here's a whole page explaining the weird history here: https://www.pcmag.com/news/20-years-later-how-concerns-about-weaponized-consoles-almost-sunk-the-ps2 https://www.pcmag.com/news/20-years-later-how-concerns-about...
- RajT88 3y agoWasn't Linux on the PS2 some way for Sony to recruit engineers? I thought I heard something to that effect - people who bought the linux kit got headhunting calls 9-12 months later.
- comprev 3y agoThat's a pretty imaginative method for recruitment. If you're nerdy enough to want to install Linux on a games console, maybe you'd like to get paid for it!
- rejectfinite 3y agoAlso for taxes https://www.gamespot.com/articles/uk-court-ps2-is-no-computer/1100-6152983/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/uk-court-ps2-is-no-compute...
- MBCook 3y agoYou may be thinking of the Net Yaroze edition of the original PS1, which was basically a lower spec dev kit for home users.
- wildzzz 3y agoI've always heard the PS2 Linux kit was to defeat some higher tariffs on importation of video game consoles versus the lower ones on personal computers. Some editions of the PS2 came with the network module pre-installed so maybe even without the HDD necessary, it could still loosely be defined as a PC since all that is missing is software that could easily be downloaded and installed.
- cardanome 3y agoYeah for the same reason, European PS2 versions shipped with a Demo-Disc containing a dialect of BASIC.[0] I don't think anyone ever made proper games with it but as a kid I really enjoyed playing around with it and making my first programming baby steps. [0] https://www.theregister.com/2000/11/07/sony_adds_basic_to_playstation/ https://www.theregister.com/2000/11/07/sony_adds_basic_to_pl...