Linux gaming console

**Richard_The_Lionhearted** · 06-05-2005

Ever heard of a gaming console ran by Linux? Probably not. Back in 2001 a company called Indrema tried, but ran out of money and was unable to secure additional financing in a capital market that had grown hostile to Linux-related business. The Indrema console was to use commonly available software, including the Linux operating system, and would have imposed no royalty fees on game creators, encouraging hundreds of small developers to write titles for the console. But since the L600 was never released we never seen this console. Anyway I was just wondering what could make a Linux gaming console good and avoid this again. And what you'd like to see from it.

**dark_lord_kodd** · 06-05-2005

Wasnt there a linux add on kinda effort for playstation 2? I seem to remeber reading about it...you got a hard disk, an OS (i think red hat based) and a network adapter....

I dont know about a complete linux based console....i guess it wouldnt really make much difference, as long as it plays the games.....

what would be good, would be a shared OS between several consoles...so you could play the same copy of a game on a xBox and on a playstation and on a gameboy whatever they are called this decade.....

I guess that wouldnt be so good for the console makers tho.....

**Richard_The_Lionhearted** · 06-06-2005

the Linux hdd for the PS2 has been discontinued in North America. It wasn't really that great either. I still don't see why Linux users didn't just hack it instead of putting up 2 hundred dollars to buy the hdd. We hacked the Dreamcast, Xbox and Gamecube and you're telling me that none of us are smart enough to hack the Ps2? That's bs. Anyway I forgot to mention that I still have the software developing kit for Indrema. I guess I'll just have to use it to make games under the PC instead though.

**a12ctic** · 06-06-2005

i have linux on my xbox, and ive played my xbox on my desktop (swaped hard drives) :P

**Richard_The_Lionhearted** · 06-06-2005

Originally Posted by a12ctic

i have linux on my xbox, and ive played my xbox on my desktop (swaped hard drives) :P

How exactly did you do that? The HDD is mainly just a storage area for the hard drive while the board controls the game play. Maybe if you used an emulator though you could do that. By the way what I meant when starting this topic is something much bigger. You see we can hack the Xbox, PS2.etc. But what I have in mind is not putting Linux on to another company's console but by building a console specifically for the purpose of putting Linux on it.

**eatinglemur** · 06-07-2005

A full linux system does too many things, and is probably not suitable for a gaming console. linux rocks and everything, but a console ought to have a very speedy embedded system. Such a system might benefit from using an embedded linux kernel, but not to run a GNU system.

I'd regard linux gaming as basically a PC thing. It's like saying we ought to make a console that runs Windows, but I do believe such things exist. I know VIA used to make a little gaming console that was designed to run "PC games" (I assume this means it's a Windows box with special software). Also, I was at a local arcade once and I happened to notice one of the arcade machines was running Windows 95 (no joke). I knew this because the game crashed and left the Windows desktop on the screen and an illegal operation error message.

**techieMoe** · 06-07-2005

Originally Posted by eatinglemur

I'd regard linux gaming as basically a PC thing. It's like saying we ought to make a console that runs Windows, but I do believe such things exist.

I believe they exist as well. Didn't the Sega Dreamcast run a modified version of MS Windows 98? I also seem to remember the Xbox running on a modified Windows 2000...

**eatinglemur** · 06-07-2005

That Dreamcast bit is news to me, but anything is possible. If I recall correctly, Slashdot had an article about Windows 2000 running on the xbox but the method used was an x86 virtual machine running atop xbox linux.

**Richard_The_Lionhearted** · 06-07-2005

Originally Posted by techieMoe

Originally Posted by eatinglemur

I'd regard linux gaming as basically a PC thing. It's like saying we ought to make a console that runs Windows, but I do believe such things exist.

I believe they exist as well. Didn't the Sega Dreamcast run a modified version of MS Windows 98? I also seem to remember the Xbox running on a modified Windows 2000...

Actually the Dreamcast ran Windows CE

**onlinebacon** · 06-07-2005

Dreamcasts rock

I have GentooX running on my XBOX, and it is cool- I understand what you mean Richard_The_lionhearted but what difference would it make?

Maybe you mean it could be a PC that you could view on your TV screen?

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