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Wednesday, June 27, 2001
 From treasure hunting to word processing Local firm helps transform PlayStations into desktop computers By Leah Bower Most Sony PlayStation owners see their machines as a chance to treasure hunt with busty babe Lara Croft or blast zombies into gory shreds in Resident Evil. Those at Blokman Trading, a Prague software company, hope people also will start adding more mundane activities to the list: word processing, spreadsheet making and Internet surfing. The 15-employee company has developed a novel product, software that transforms Sony's original PlayStation into a Linux-based personal computer. While the result is a slow-moving, circa-1990-era desktop, sometimes it's all consumers want -- or all they can afford, said Veniamin Uborskyi, administrative director at Blokman. So far, 30,000 people have downloaded the PlayStation-transforming software from Blokman's distribution site, www.runix.ru, despite painfully long download times. "Many PlayStation 1 owners don't need a computer very often -- just to write a letter or browse the Internet," Uborskyi said. "They don't need to spend thousands of dollars to buy a computer. They can do what they need with the help of our system." Sony launched its first PlayStations in Japan in late 1994 and replaced them with a high-speed PlayStation 2 in October 2000. The game console has been wildly successful, with some estimates placing them in one-fourth of U.S. households. Helping gamers give their old consoles a new, different life wasn't the goal for Blokman, a company that spends most of its time creating software for built-in computer systems, such as those that help pilot planes. The company's programmers started playing with the idea last fall, as a training exercise to hone their skills at installing Linux into different environments. Linux is an operating system, software that, like Microsoft Windows, helps a computer run other programs. "While working, we realized that we were creating a product that may be interesting for a wide market and decided to make a commercial product out of it," said Uborskyi. As far as he knows, no other companies have created competing PlayStation 1 conversion products. It's no wonder, said Tomas Valenta, a Linux expert with Gateway Czech Republic. Turning a gaming console that has no keyboard, no hard drive, no mouse and no memory into a desktop computer is a complex task. Techies have been buzzing about Blokman's feat on message boards. "I would have expected compatibility problems," Valenta said. The conversion software, called Runix, is offered at no cost, Valenta said. It's in the spirit of Linux, which was developed by Linus Torvalds, but has grown over the years thanks to thousands of developers throughout the world who are allowed to tinker with it for free and mold it to their own uses. A CD with Runix on it -- which will let users avoid long download times -- should be available in a few months for a small fee. Blokman has also said it is working to produce a hard disk drive and printer compatible with the game system, so that files can be saved and documents can be printed out. Right now, Runix users get only a text-based system, leaving them to type in commands, the same way Microsoft DOS users did in the late '80s and early '90s. That means the majority of downloaders -- who have mostly been from Japan, the United States, Great Britain and Scandinavia -- have been techies, company officials say. Future oriented Blokman programmers are working on a more user-friendly, graphics-filled version. Besides adding Runix, PlayStation owners wanting to convert their machines also need to buy basic add-on equipment, including a mouse (200 Kc/$5) and a keyboard (200 Kc or more), said Vadim Veshchezerov, director of Blokman. All the necessary pieces should be available at almost any electronics store anywhere in the world, he said, though a 2,000 Kc kit that combines everything into one package also is in the works. Now that Blokman is finding fans, it is considering expanding. Company officials hope to increase their staff of programmers, most of whom work in Russia, from 15 to 100. The company is now eyeing the PlayStation 2 and the competing Nintendo 64 game console, working to create accessory kits for them. This time, though, they may have competition. Sony got so many requests from Linux users to offer conversion products similar to what Blokman created that the company has designed its own conversion kit. So far, the equipment is available only for the PlayStation 2 model released in Japan and costs about 7,950 Kc. "We don't know when the [PlayStation 2] kit will be released here," said Ivan Bradac, PlayStation product manager for Sony Czech Republic. Valenta points out that converting a PlayStation 2 -- which costs more than 17,000 Kc for the original unit and 7,950 Kc for a Linux kit -- is hardly a deal, considering a low-end PC can cost less. But, for now, the Blokman conversion of the earlier model can be had for as little as 6,000 Kc. Companies aren't concentrating only on adding Linux to consoles. A consortium including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, ExciteAtHome and AT&T is looking to bring Linux to set-top boxes that deliver interactive television programming. Leah Bower's e-mail address is lbower@praguepost.cz More business stories Losing power Growing effort to delay CEZ's trip to the auction block Blackout threatened Country's power workers ask for job guarantees Rumors of low bids plague Komercni's sale Questions raised about manipulation, deficits Kavan tries to head off TV3 fight Officials fear Lauder repeat in spat over new network Movers & Shakers Compaq's Czech chief U.S.-bound Spaces & Places Garden is getting new life E-world Making movies on the go Kal's Korner The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Home |