Linux for PlayStation 2(orPS2 Linux) is a kit released bySony Computer Entertainmentin 2002 that allows thePlayStation 2console to be used as apersonal computer.It included aLinux-basedoperating system,a USBkeyboardandmouse,aVGAadapter, a PS2 network adapter (Ethernetonly), and a 40 GBhard diskdrive (HDD). An 8 MB memory card is required; it must beformattedduring installation, erasing all data previously saved on it, though afterwards the remaining space may be used for savegames. It is strongly recommended that a user of Linux for PlayStation 2 have some basic knowledge of Linux before installing and using it, due to the command-line interface for installation.
The official site for the project was closed at the end of October 2009[1]and communities like ps2dev[2]are no longer active.
This kit has stopped being officially sold in the US as of 2003 due to the entire allocation of NTSC kits selling out. However, it is still available through somesecond-hand markets,such aseBay.Some incorrectly[citation needed]speculate that it was used as an attempt to help classify the PS2 as a computer in order to achieve tax exempt status from certainEUtaxes that apply to game consoles and not computers (It was theYabasicincluded with EU units that was intended to do that).[3]Despite this, Sony lost the case in June 2006. The kit was released in the spirit of the earlierNet Yaroze.PlayStation and Sony ended their support of hobbyist programmers with the support of Linux on the PlayStation 3 being discontinued.
