Re: [GD-Consoles] PS2 devkit

[Jason G D. <jas...@py...>]

> Hi,
>
> can anyone summarize quickly what the differences between having a
regular,
> expensive devkit for the PS2 and PS2 Linux. What is the price differnce
for
> getting started, how do the libraries you program against differ, and is
it

A PS2 Linux kit costs 250 euros and is available on the web for anyone to
buy.
The cheapest PS2 Devkit costs 10000 euros and is only available to a
registered developer.

The former is simply the linux OS running on a standard ps2 and allows you
to program what you like within the confines of that OS, or by jumping
through a few hoops, allows lower level access to the machine. It comes with
full hardware manuals, minus the one for the sound chip. Developing anything
low level is likely to be a painful process involving a lot of reboots, and
debugging is very primitive. There are no real libraries to speak of other
than some kernel modules/devices for accessing the custom hardware, and
whatever is available from the community at large. There are a few fulltime
support staff, but most of the support comes from other users.

The latter is a ps2 with more memory hooked up to an internal PC host which
controls it, and allows more-or-less unintrusive control from a development
environment running on a networked PC. Low-level development is the norm as
the PS2 only has a thin native kernel and no OS to speak of. Debugging is
pretty advanced even with the "free" tools that are supplied by Sony. There
aren't a lot of libs worth speaking about on this setup either, but there is
a wealth of sample code and considerably more support staff dedicated to
helping you out.

> feasible to start research and pre-production work with a low-cost
solution,
> and once you're pretty sure you've got a product, spend more money.

Yes, it's a feasible approach, but I'm not aware of anyone having actually
done it. Actually, I believe there was at least one developer who prototyped
on a linux kit before moving to "real" development systems, but that was
mostly down to confusion over licensing issues, and delays in getting them
signed up.

> Also, would middleware solutions (netimmerse, renderware, havok, etc) for
> the PS2 be supported on PS2/linux ?

At this time none of those work on PS2 linux, and it's doubtful they ever
will - the costs in porting would far outweigh any profit they might somehow
make. You're pretty much stuck with whats freely available - of course you
could get the source for a public 3d engine and port it...

Jase.