Sony PlayStation 2 Growth Package ({Hardware}) · RetroReversing

Earlier than the retail launch of the Ps 2 {hardware} builders wanted to start out improvement in order that the console would have titles on launch.

For the reason that {hardware} was nonetheless below heavy improvement, solely a choose few studios had been trusted sufficient to get despatched one of many Prototype PS2 improvement kits.

The event kits had been used as a construct goal and linked to the event PC by way of a PCI interface card so the PC would ship down the code to execute and the package would run it and show the output on a separate display.

The picture on the left is the one recognized picture of the prototype improvement kits and it was taken from a Sony Dev convention presentation ^.

These kits have an inside reference code EB-* with EB-1000 being the primary unit developed and EB-2000S being the final recognized unit made out there.

It is extremely unlikely any of those will likely be that can be purchased as they had been all ordered to be despatched again to Japan to be crushed and the builders will get despatched out the brand new improvement package as a substitute, the brand new improvement package is the TOOL talked about beneath.

The PlayStation 2 DTL-T10000 Growth Instrument or TOOL for brief was developed by Sony and offered on to recreation studios for recreation improvement.
It connects to a PC workstation and likewise has the power to run each burned and retail PS2 recreation discs ^.

They’ve area to assist 2 IDE exhausting drives directly, they got here as customary with both 20gb or 40gb ^.

There have been a number of fashions of the TOOL out there, codes which have an H on the finish had assist for Networking in-built:

• Ps 2 DTL-T10000 Growth Instrument
• Ps 2 DTL-T10000H Growth Instrument
• Ps 2 DTL-T10000HA Growth Instrument
• Ps 2 DTL-T15000 Growth Instrument with Efficiency Analyzer

The upgraded mannequin DTL-15000 with the Efficiency Analyzer is particularly uncommon and was a dearer unit so builders tended to solely have a pair and used them for debugging efficiency points with their video games.

At present no video exists of the Efficiency Analyzer operating, but when somebody has the power to report this it might be enormously appreciated!

Developed by SN Techniques the DTL-T14000 {hardware} was not a full improvement package in itself it was simply an add-on for current TOOL items that allowed builders to make use of a tough drive model of the sport however it emulates the velocity and disc entry of a bodily CD/DVD. This protects builders creating tons of of CD/DVDs of their recreation when testing and provides extra sensible load occasions compares to the exhausting drive ^.

The picture on the left ^{was taken by Nicholas Cottrill and uploaded to his glorious Flickr account out there right here: Nicholas Cottrill | Flickr.}

For the reason that TOOL was an costly beast geared toward programmers, for QA testing of video games, Sony launched one other unit for often called the PLAYSTATION 2 DTL-H1000 DEBUGGING STATION or TEST for brief. This was mainly an ordinary Ps 2 however with the power to learn burned CDRs.

There have been a number of completely different fashions of the TEST and completely different variants for every area:

• Ps 2 DTL-H1000 Debugging Station
• Ps 2 DTL-H10100 Debugging Station
• Ps 2 DTL-30002 Debugging Station
• Ps 2 SPCH-39004 console
• Ps 2 SPCH-770004 console

Some early fashions didn’t have assist for studying retail discs or DVDs, so solely CDRs had been supported ^.

So as to add networking capabilities you could possibly buy a DTL-H10010 Growth instrument PCMCIA card that slotted into the again of the TEST unit (there was a PCMCIA slot on the TEST the place the retail had the Arduous Drive bay).

Sony formally launched an official improvement package for hobbyists much like their Web Yaroze system they created for the unique Ps.

The package comes with:

• PS2 Linux software program
• PS2 branded Mouse
• PS2 branded keyboard
• PS2 Harddrive adapter + Netwrok interface
• PS2 to VGA adapter
• Arduous Drive

They offered many of those to universities to tech console improvement, however we use the phrase console flippantly because it was mainly simply Linux recreation programming as management of the PS2 {hardware} was severely restricted ^.

Yabasic was launched with each PAL Ps 2 on the accompanying demo disc.

It was provided as an try to make clear the Ps 2 as a Dwelling Laptop within the European Union to keep away from the sport console tax which existed on the time ^.

This try did not persuade the courts in Europe that the console ought to be categorized as a Dwelling Laptop.