[quwert95]

Funny you mention Sony -- Linux support on the PS3 turned into a big deal. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OtherOS )

Historically, other game consoles could be used a "general purpose computing devices," such as the Sega Dreamcast with Windows CE and the Nintendo Famicom (which is short for Family Computer).

[blihp]

Sony also 'officially' (in the sense that it was targeting hackers/developers) supported Linux on the PS2. IIRC, it was a $200 item which included a hard drive, network adapter and DVD with Linux on it.

[toast0]

> Sega Dreamcast with Windows CE

Afaik, there was never a Windows CE general purpose environment for the Dreamcast. Sega supported game developers using Sega's 100% propriatary OS or using Windows CE as embedded OS. Either way, the OS would ship on the disc, and isn't a lot more than a kernel and libraries.

Of course, BSDs and Linux were ported to the Dreamcast at some point, as with anything that can boot user provided code and has enough ram.

The dreamcast did have a web browser, and keyboard and mouse, but without significant local writable storage, would make a lousy general purpose computer.

[Osiris]

Big enough deal for them to remove it...

[quwert95]

And then get a drawn out lawsuit. :)