[Coco] Retro computing and what's worth it...

[John W. Linville]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 02:35:26PM -0600, Frank Pittel wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 08:30:25AM -0500, John W. Linville wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 10:44:48PM -0600, Sean wrote:
> > > There was an official Sony release that allowed a PS2 to run Linux.
> > > However, according to this Wikipedia entry it might be hard to find.
> > > Personally I never pursued it.  My PS2 was for games, and I had plenty
> > > of PCs to run Linux on.  And since I liked the games, I didn't want to
> > > risk breaking it!
> > > 
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_for_PlayStation_2
> > > 
> > > Modding a PS2 to accept other OSs is a totally different animal.  I'd
> > > just get the boy an old DOS box if you want him to learn how to use
> > > command prompts.  Too much modding is required to get a game system to
> > > do the same stuff as an old PC.
> > 
> > A PS3 is a much easier option for running Linux.  You can install
> > several different distributions from the standard install media,
> > including Fedora, YellowDog and doubtless others.  I find it to be
> > a little slow, but it is usable.
> 
> Wouldn't it be easier and possibly cheaper in the long run to go out and
> buy a sub five hundred dollar computer and put linux on it?

Considering that Sony sent me the PS3 for free?  No. :-)

Beyond that, YMMV.  For example, someone that wanted a game console
_anyway_ and also wanted to run Linux on _something_ may find this an
ideal solution.  It also isn't a bad option for someone that wants a
(semi-)"big" PowerPC system for development purposes and doesn't want
to keep an old Mac around.  Or, maybe you need a Blu-Ray player...or
maybe you have a really small apartment... :-)

John
-- 
John W. Linville		Linux should be at the core
linville at tuxdriver.com			of your literate lifestyle.