[ale] Linux on Game Consoles--the answer!

[Ken Arromdee]

For Dreamcast Linux, see www.linuxdc.org (unfortunately this page is barely a
placeholder at the moment).  Searching Google, I found a list of Dreamcast
Linux links at http://www.oneeyedman.net/sega.html .  Right now it's just a
curiosity because the Dreamcast only has 16M memory and no hard drive.  One
advantage of the Dreamcast for homebrew software (including Linux) is that
the Dreamcast can boot ordinary CDs, so you don't need anything special.

For Playstation 2 Linux, go to http://playstation2-linux.com/.  You need a
kit from Sony to use it.  The kit has a hard drive with it, in a proprietary
format.  You can only access the hardware through Sony's runtime environment,
which won't let you read regular CDs or DVDs.  (An artificial limitation
imposed by Sony.)

The X-box won't run ordinary CDs (it only runs CDs encrypted by Microsoft)
and obviously Microsoft isn't going to make Linux kits, so to run Linux you
have to get your machine modified.  Modified machines can run import games,
bootleg games, and homebrew software, as well as regular X-box games.
Microsoft doesn't like this very much and keeps trying to shut the modifiers
down.  Anyway, try xbox-linux.sourceforge.net and www.xboxhacker.net.

The person who said that Linux runs on earlier X-boxes but that Microsoft
made changes to prevent it got things a bit garbled.  Actually, Linux never
ran on any unmodified X-box--you always had to modify it.  Microsoft made a
recent change to prevent it from being modified.  It was cracked within a week,
because of Microsoft's poor security (they used an algorithm with a known
flaw), so this isn't a problem.

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