Quote:Original post by a3a2004
console dev kit, couple thousand bucks, you could get the linux thing for ps2 but it isn't offered in north america anymore

wow cool I got my ps2 kit when they dropped to $99!
http://playstation2-linux.com/faq.php
What are the differences between the Linux (for PlayStation 2) development environment and that used by professional game developers?
Professional game developers get access to a special version of the PlayStation 2 hardware which contains more memory and extra debug facilities. This hardware, known as the T10K, is a lot more expensive than a commercial PlayStation 2 and is only available to licensed game developers. If you are seriously interested in becoming a licensed game developer, please see this link for North America and this link for Europe and Australasia . In addition to the T10K, licensed game developers get additional support which is part of the reason that the T10K is so much more expensive than a PlayStation 2 console.

In terms of access to the PlayStation 2 hardware and libraries, Linux (for PlayStation 2) offers an almost identical set of functionality to that provided to licensed game developers. In fact the system manuals provided with the Linux kit have identical content to 6 of the 7 system manuals provided to licensed developers. The missing information which is provided to licensed developers and not to users of Linux (for PlayStation 2) describes the hardware that controls the CD/DVD-ROM, SPU2 Audio chip and other IO peripheral control hardware. This hardware functionality is still available for use with the linux kit through a software interface called the Runtime Environment.

The final major difference between the two is the operating system. A licensed developer creates games for the PlayStation 2 which use a light weight proprietary operating system kernel. This kernel offers much less functionality than Linux, but has the advantage of offering slightly faster access to the hardware.

In most cases, it is possible to get almost the same performance with Linux (for PlayStation 2) and the professional game development tools.

[Edited by - daviangel on July 8, 2004 12:52:25 AM]