hi all, i know this is more of a router platform but i wanted to give life back to my ps2 so i rebuilt openwrt for the PS2 with some toolchain configuration changes, and also rebuilt custom kernel 2.4.17 and it's working like a charm, if anyone wants to give it a try, let me know, i'll post the links and make a tutorial.

i only tested this on a FAT PS2, but it should work on a slim as well
spoiler:

root@PS2REBORN:~# uci show system
system.@system[0]=system
system.@system[0].hostname=PS2REBORN
system.@system[0].timezone=UTC
root@PS2REBORN:~#

root@PS2REBORN:~# cat /etc/openwrt_version
8.09
root@PS2REBORN:~#

root@PS2REBORN:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor               : 0
cpu model               : R5900 V3.1  FPU V3.0
BogoMIPS                : 392.39
wait instruction        : no
microsecond timers      : yes
extra interrupt vector  : no
hardware watchpoint     : no
VCED exceptions         : not available
VCEI exceptions         : not available
ll emulations           : 0
sc emulations           : 0
root@PS2REBORN:~#

root@PS2REBORN:~# ps aux
  PID USER       VSZ STAT COMMAND
    1 root      1996 S    init       
    2 root         0 SW   [keventd]
    3 root         0 RWN  [ksoftirqd_CPU0]
    4 root         0 SW   [kswapd]
    5 root         0 SW   [bdflush]
    6 root         0 SW   [kupdated]
    7 root         0 SW   [khubd]
    8 root         0 SW   [ps2mc]
   10 root         0 SW   [smap chk lv 1]
   11 root         0 SW   [smap timeout]
   12 root         0 SW   [smap]
   13 root         0 SW   [ps2mcfs]
   18 root         0 SW   [usb-storage-0]
   19 root         0 SW   [scsi_eh_0]
   58 root      1996 S    init       
   69 root      2008 S    syslogd -C16
   71 root      1988 S    klogd
  158 root      1892 S    /usr/sbin/dropbear -p 22
  176 root      1972 S    /usr/sbin/dropbear -p 22
  177 root      2016 S    -ash
  263 root      1992 S    /usr/sbin/httpd -c /etc/httpd.conf -p 80 -h /www -r P
  624 root      2588 S    screen
  625 root      2752 S    SCREEN
  626 root      2012 S    /bin/ash
  802 root      1996 R    ps aux
root@PS2REBORN:~#

Sure and I am interested. Please kindly post a tutorial. Thanks.

okay, i'm going to try and simplify the procedure as well as i can:

requirement : Ps2 FAT (only tested on this one) or a slim (might work with a modchip) with a modchip (tested with matrix infinity) or swap magic/cogswap (might work, since my ps2's modded and i have no swap cd)
At least a 128MB USB Pen Drive and if it's a FAT ps2, also the network controller (that big black thing that fits behind the console)
uLaunchELF (i use 4.40)
and of course some knowledge about running homebrew on the ps2

1st: if you already have ulaunchelf you can ignore this part:

download ulaunchelf iso http://www.4shared.com/file/182092830/5 … D_ISO.html and burn it to a DVD
download ulaunchelf boot.elf  http://www.4shared.com/file/182092888/e … /BOOT.html and copy it to a usb drive (don't use the same pen drive since the wrt one is going to be repartitioned and stuff)

2nd: download the rest of the files
download kernelloader http://www.4shared.com/file/182086923/3 … der20.html
download kernelloader config file http://www.4shared.com/file/182107912/2 … onfig.html

download initrd.gz http://www.4shared.com/file/182093949/8 … nitrd.html
download kernel modules http://www.4shared.com/file/182108030/a … dules.html
download ROOTFS http://www.4shared.com/file/182108031/d … OOTFS.html
download the kernel http://www.4shared.com/file/182107489/6 … linuz.html

copy ulaunchelf boot.elf , kloader20.elf, config.txt (kernelloader config) to a pen drive

3rd: bootup ulaunchelf either using the dvd or your previously installed ulaunchelf, i won't make an explanation on how to use it because it would take too long, but it's quite intuitive (you can use a usb keyboard)
insert the pen you previously created , go to filebrowser, mc0:/, create a folder named BOOT (CASE SENSITIVE), and copy BOOT.ELF and kloader20.elf there
create a folder named kloader and copy config.txt there (the if you can't find the files on launchelf they're probably on mass0:/ or mass1:/)

you can now turn off the ps2, the memory card should be ready.

4th: now get another pen drive (or just repartion that one), erase ALL partitions on it and set it like this:
1st partition primary with only 15MB , with FAT Filesystem
2nd partition primary with AT LEAST 50MB, ext2 filesystem (be sure to format it using 128 inodes e.g: mke2fs -I 128 /dev/sdX2)
3rd partition primary with AT LEAST 64MB (i'd recommend 300MB for php and stuff) for Swapping

5th: black magic
copy vmlinuz and initrd.gz to the first partition
untar ROOTFS.tar to the second partition

unmount pen drive

6th: Try it
plug in a usb keyboard to the PS2
plugin the newly created Pen to the PS2
Boot up launchelf
go to filebrowser mc0:/BOOT/ select kloader20.elf and boot it
inside the kloader i've set it up to autoboot, but feel free to look around, when u're ready go to boot using this configuration and cross your fingers

7th: Post results

as for the buildroot i'm going to try and make a patch file to add that platform to 8.09

my buildroot configs for building are here :

openwrt config: http://www.4shared.com/file/182115072/e … onfig.html
uclibc config: http://www.4shared.com/file/182115813/c … onfig.html
busybox config: http://www.4shared.com/file/182115784/8 … sybox.html
base-files package: http://www.4shared.com/file/182115952/d … files.html

P.S: DO NOT OPKG INStaLL FROM THE OFFICIAL REPOSITORYS, packages WON'T RUN, and don't istall kernel modules

i'll try to set up a repository with all the packages that build later

(Last edited by kadettgte on 27 Dec 2009, 04:54)

I'm interested too... it would be nice to also have audio/video output... do you think it's possible?

you have video output, but with very bad quality, as in.. VERY BAD, as for audio i disabled that specific kernel module as well as the memory card access because they had random crashes on my ps, but if you want i can recompile another kernel with audio.... though don't flame if it doesn't work

I made a diff of the (old) 2.2.26 kernel used in blackrhino project (http://playstation2-linux.com/projects/blackrhino/).
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zjmzytcmk … hino.patch
On youtube looks like it has stable audio and video output.
Maybe something useful might be found in it... although, i'm not very skilled in kernel patching... so if anyone could take a look at it would be nice!

Any other remarkable not-working device? (e.g. DVD drive, firewire, ...) It would be nice to have a device-based support list updated in the first post of this thread for this wonderful gaming console!
Let's revive it...

About the bad video quality, i saw here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aAluGJJ2ls (1:45)
That he startx using specific parameters. Something like:
startx -- -screen 0 pal
Could it be related to the quality issue?

hummm i'm not using 2.2.25, i'm using 2.4.17 2.2.26 is just too old to use with openwrt, i remember trying it and busybox reported a "very old kernel" so i had to stick with 2.4.17 , but i haven't tried X, what i wanted to say about bad video quality was on the console

as for other devices, dvd was working but i disabled it because i don't need it, firewire... i have nothing that plugs in there to test , ethernet is REALLY slow, FPU is not working, i had to recompile busybox with soft-fpu because it wouldn't work any other way, i disabled most of the routing packages because the PS2 as a routing platform... too sluggish

@kadettgte
OK!

Anyway, just for reference:
I found that someone managed to get 2.6.21 running on its PS2:
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8409
And provides this patch:
http://allievi.sssup.it/tatiana/linux-2 … s2.tar.bz2

all the packages built are here
http://www.4shared.com/file/182474519/4 … kages.html

How about the Xbox? I have one laying around with Xebian (Debian) on it, plus about 4 others in need of repair

i could try to port it , but i don't have an xbox :S but... what architecture is it?

It should be x86. It's been years and the last I remember I had found a 2.6 kernel for it that was already all put together.

http://www.knizefamily.net/russ/software/xbox.html

I can't seem to remember the main site that shows the specs, but it's basically a 680mhz/64Mb ram mini pc inside a black box. Only thing is I'm not sure how you would hook up wireless, except for maybe via the usb 1.0 ports. I'll see if I can put one of mine back together and send you way, have like 5 of them.

hummm if it's x86, why don't you try the x86 port on the downloads?

sorry for posting in a pretty old thread, but i'm very interested in this development.

i have one question - does it start network and dropbear server by default? i don't have an usb keyboard, and that's a bit of a problem for me, should i have to manually configure those services somehow.

yes and yes lol, but you should get an usb keyboard in case something happens