What is this? What am I looking at?
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2026
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Linux
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You could get an official Linux install on your PlayStation 2. That support was later removed which prompted a class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit was about the PS3 removing the OtherOS feature. Which, while handled poorly, made some sense.
The system was initially sold at a significant loss, with the software making up for it. The cell architecture made it excellent at distributed processes, so with the OtherOS feature suddenly the cheapest way to build a supercomputer was buying a bunch of PS3s being sold at a loss and linking them together. Any systems built that way were essentially subsidized by Sony.
What they could have done is have the option to pay to unlock the bootloader for the OtherOS install.
No, what they should've done is made Sony eat the losses from its own business screw-up, and send execs to prison for hacking and fraud. Sabotaging people's property to disable functionality they paid for should've been considered a felony violation of the CFAA on a massive scale.
I'm pissed, too. They should have pressed more so I don't have to pay $150 for one.
I remember some teacher at school saying that selling something below cost was illegal in Germany. Unfortunately I don't know if that is true and I never got to ask him about consoles.
Could have made a huge difference on the console market if enforced.
A quick Google suggests selling at a loss in order to undercut competition is illegal, but selling at a loss to be a loss leader, or as a temporary sale (e.g. to clear inventory) is allowed. And apparently this is why Walmart failed in Germany; undercutting competitors until they go out of business is their primary tactic.
So German supermarkets can’t sell us €4 rotisserie chickens at a loss just for the foot traffic? Damn.
when Sony released the HDD for the PS2 you could get Linux with it. there was a complete package that came with the Linux dvds, a keyboard, and the 40GB HDD. it was a Playstation 2 branded distro which was a fork of a japanese distro named "Kondara" which was a based on Red Hat. the DE was Window Maker.
I had it, it was pretty dang good in all honesty. The second disk had a bunch of packages on it in case you didn't have a decent internet connection. There's still an community for it today that is still making packages and what have you for it.
Sorry to burst the bubble but Sony only released this to try to get tax benefits in the European Union, by claiming the PS2 wasn't just a console, but a computer, which would mean lower taxes.
It still worked. The PS2 was used for super computing as well.
PS2 wasn’t but PS3 was.
https://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/2003/05/27/playing-the-supercomputer-game/
Yes, the ps3 was more widely used. But the PS2 started it.
I've decided when/if ps6 comes out I will probably turn my ps5 into a Linux PC. My experience with Ps5 has mostly been playing games I already own on PS4 but with a much smoother experience.
Video games have very much plateaued anyways. Unless ps6 makes VR fun and can attach a fleshlight to the controller (joking but that's actually not a bad idea) I don't think I'll be missing out.
That idea is related to my very favorite word: Teledildonics.
Teledildonics
lmao instant top 10. Nothing will ever replace #1 defenestration for me tho.
A show that really nailed it was the Cyberpunk anime. The way people got addicted to VR masturbation and just laid on the streets like we see with drugs today.
I remember seeing a prototype of basically a pair, a pneumatic dildo and a pneumatic fleshlight that would record force applied in various places on their working surfaces...somehow, and then transmit that data across the internet. The insurmountable problem was latency.
The wonders of technology
Lovense already does this to an extent. It's not like it mocaps lol but some semblance of interactive, physical sex over the Internet is possible today.
pff wake me when they port Windows 11 to the PS2
No SecureBoot or TPM
now i want a boot up sound of the psx sound
Fun fact Sony lost millions of dollars due to there Linux support
No? That’s not a fact?
Regardless, PlayStation survived the disappointing PS3 era and bounced back with the hugely successful PlayStation 4 in 2013. The PlayStation 5 has also proved a strong seller, especially in comparison to its direct competitor the Xbox Series X/S. With Xbox now porting first-party titles to the PlayStation 5, Sony appears to have emerged victorious from its decades-long rivalry with Microsoft.
and gained billions
Show me in the article where that says anything about it being the fault of Linux support?
People built entire supercomputers out of PlayStations
With that being said, Sony isn't exactly the victim here. They choose to see the hardware at a loss
You’re just inventing a narrative here without any evidence. Yes there were some marketing stunts related to “PlayStations are building supercomputers” but those were done in collaboration with Sony, not despite them. It was just a marketing gimmick. Anyway, you have already stepped away from your absurd claim that Sony lost billions of dollars because of Linux.
money ≠ morality
Mandatory Fuck Sony
even a broken clock is right twice a day