PlayStation 2 Linux userland

Boot-time scripts and tooling for running Linux on a PlayStation 2, on top of the kernel from frno7/linux.

Tested on an SCPH-30004 (PAL, ROM 0150) with a Network Adaptor in the expansion bay, kernel 5.4.221, BusyBox 1.36.1.

What is here

initramfs/

The parts of the initramfs that are written rather than installed: everything under etc/, plus the DHCP lease script. Binaries (BusyBox, dropbear) and kernel modules are not in the repository; they come from the BusyBox build and from make modules_install.

• etc/init.d/rcS - boot sequence. Module order is forced by the hardware: the USB controller lives on the I/O processor, so it needs sif and the iop-* family first.
• etc/init.d/network.sh - brings the network up by itself: loads the SMAP driver, waits for carrier, takes a DHCP lease and starts SSH on port 2222. A missing cable does not stall the boot. /mnt/network.conf on the storage device overrides DHCP with a static address.
• etc/init.d/ntp.sh - sets the clock from a time server once the network is up. The RTC battery is dead on this console, so every boot starts at the epoch and there is nothing local to fall back on.
• usr/share/udhcpc/default.script - applies the lease. Without it udhcpc obtains an address and does nothing with it, which is the usual surprise when using BusyBox as a DHCP client.

Boot leaves a trace in /tmp/trace/ and, once the storage device is mounted, copies it to autolog/boot-N/ there, together with dmesg and the module list. Nothing has to be collected by hand afterwards.

scripts/

Run on the console, from the storage device:

• ps2net2.sh - bring up the network step by step, with a log of every step
• przelacz-modul.sh - swap the network driver from the console keyboard, falling back to the known good one if the new one does not load
• przeladuj-zdalnie.sh - the same swap driven from a laptop, detached from the SSH session that the swap itself takes down
• ps2net-watchdog.sh - watch the link and try to recover it
• test-ata.sh - check that the ATA driver and the network driver can share the expansion bay
• kexec-proba.sh - one kexec attempt, with the state saved before the jump
• set-clock.sh - set the clock from a timestamp on the storage device, for when there is no network

Run on the laptop:

• wymien-modul.sh - send a driver to the console and reload it, about 20 seconds, no need to touch the console
• wgraj-na-pendrive.sh - copy files to the storage device
• zbierz-logi.sh - collect whatever the console has written that is not in the repository yet

build/

Kernel and driver builds, all run inside the ps2dev container.

Conventions

Anything that runs on the console is written in English and in plain ASCII - the console font is CP437 and will not show anything else.