Sony kit will turn Playstation 2 into Linux desktop

By
EE Times
(03/22/02, 01:08:32 PM EDT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. Sony Corp. will release a kit in May that will turn its Playstation 2 game console into a Linux desktop, and is also working on a browser, e-mail and instant-messaging capabilities for the platform.

Also at the Computer Game Developers Conference, Sony demonstrated a new user interface that relies on gestures, and which could appear on Playstation 2 games later this year.

In a keynote address Thursday (March 21), Shinichi Okamoto, chief technology officer in the broadband division of Sony Computer Entertainment, sketched future plans for the Playstation 2 and a follow-on system that would appear in 2004 or later and include a new multimedia-centric Web browser. "I believe you will see the implementation of this navigator soon," Okamoto said. "You can say this is the Internet Explorer of Sony."

Sony will start selling an upgrade kit in May for $199 aimed at turning Playstation 2 into a Linux computer. The kit will include a 40-Gbyte hard-disk drive, a USB keyboard and mouse, and a CD with a variant of Red Hat Inc.'s Linux. Sony sold a similar kit for its first Playstation console. The kit is intended for hobbyists who want to develop Playstation programs, and will serve as a test case to help Sony determine whether to use Linux as the operating system for its next-generation game console based on the so-called Cell processor being co-developed with Toshiba Corp. and IBM Corp.

"Linux is one of the operating systems we are considering for Cell. Others include a proprietary real-time environment developed in-house and other existing ones," Okamoto said in an interview after the conference.

"A lot of programmers don't like Linux, but I believe we need a good environment with TCP/IP and other features," he said. "Linux is one direction for us to find this environment. I hope we can get lots of feedback on the PS2 and Linux with this new product."

Asked if Sony might work on the next-generation platform with Microsoft Corp., whose Xbox competes with Playstation 2, Okamoto quipped, "Yes, they can license my software very reasonably."

Slower move to broadband

Okamoto also said that Sony will roll out broadband gaming features and services for the Playstation 2 this year, working with partners such as America Online, iMode, Telewest and Vodaphone. Those services will use a so-called Dynamic Network Authorization System for copyright management. The system is based on a disk ID that is read by a DNAS server, he said.

The communications industry recession has slowed down the rate at which broadband features for Playstation 2 have been rolled out, but would not impact the next-generation console, the Sony researcher said.

Okamoto said he spends most of his time working on the Cell processor, which is being designed mainly at an IBM facility in Austin, Texas. He described Cell as "a network-based computer architecture implementing a next-generation network system with security and copyright management as a part of it."

Sony chose to work with IBM mainly due to that company's concepts of grid computing and autonomic computing, which involve distributing applications across multiple computers on a network and making systems that can repair themselves.

"If we succeed in applying these concepts, the future of entertainment will be changed dramatically," Okamoto said. Details of the Cell chip will not be revealed until 2003 or 2004, however, he said.

Wand-based interface

Meanwhile Sony demonstrated a new user interface based on gesture recognition. In at demo at the Computer Game Developers Conference, a user navigated through a videogame using a stick capped with a green ball that was tracked by a USB camera mounted on a Playstation 2. The user could sketch out simple shapes like squares and triangles to call up context-sensitive menus.

Using the metaphor of a wizard casting a spell, the interface also let a user create a virtual rainstorm or make a character appear or disappear on a display screen.

Three weeks ago, Sony gave away software at a Playstation developers conference that enables the gesture interface, seeding the first games that will use the technique and may appear before the end of the year. The code relies on a CMOS sensor camera, which may be bundled with a future console, and motion-tracking software that requires less than 10 percent of a Playstation 2's processor.

Sony's main innovation for the program was the creation of an easy way for users to calibrate the gesture wand, said Richard Marks, a special projects manager in Sony's R&D center in Foster City, Calif. One objective of the effort is to open the door to a broader group of users. "I have a seven-year-old who can use the Playstation, but my two-year-old can't play it," Marks said.