Boot with PCSX2 system emulation

[frno7]

Figure out why the Linux kernel isn’t booting with the PCSX2 PlayStation 2 emulator, and, if possible, fix this to have it boot to a functional shell prompt. PCSX2 is a system emulator, and it would be a very useful complement to the R5900 QEMU application emulator.

See also issue #81.

[immolo]

This never meant anything to me back in the 2.6 kernel days but one of the PCSX2 devs said it would never work due to TLB not being emulated, this was in 2006 though but a quick search shows this was the still the same in 2016.

Probably not related but sharing on the off chance it helps push you towards the solution.

[mirh]

PCSX2/pcsx2#11910
They aren't against adding it, should any people be so determined.

[frno7]

Boot testing with PCSX2 (or some other emulator, like QEMU) was more useful when Linux kernels were updated continuously. Since 32-bit architectures are on a path to Linux obsolescence, the best home for PlayStation 2 Linux most likely is the present Linux 5.x series, which won’t need much boot tests. See #1 (comment).

However, unrelated to PCSX2, writing Linux kernel device drivers remain a substantial piece of work. :-)

[DCFUKSURMOM]

have you tried building the kernel with the initrd compressed differently? pcsx2 has always failed here for me:

[DCFUKSURMOM]

i intend to try it at some point, was just wondering if you had..

[frno7]

I’ve made no further attempts, since TLB emulation will fail regardless.

[maekawa-mugi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKJLaxzPDTM

I have confirmed that implementing full TLB support in PCSX2 allows it to run up to the Linux userland. Would you be interested in this? However, the implementation relies entirely on AI assistance, and I have not conducted a thorough review. Also, it appears that loaders such as KernelLoader and Gentoo*.elf cannot currently be used with PCSX2.

If this project avoids AI-related contributions, you can safely delete this comment.

[frno7]

I have confirmed that implementing full TLB support in PCSX2 allows it to run up to the Linux userland.

Nice. :-) It boots Linux 2.2.1, according to your video, but the latest kernel for the PlayStation 2 is Linux 5.4 for some years now. Does Linux 5.4 boot too?

Would you be interested in this?

What use cases do you have in mind?

However, the implementation relies entirely on AI assistance, and I have not conducted a thorough review. Also, it appears that loaders such as KernelLoader and Gentoo*.elf cannot currently be used with PCSX2.

I haven’t used Kernel Loader for the last ten years or so, because later versions of Linux boots with wLaunchELF instead.

If this project avoids AI-related contributions, you can safely delete this comment.

The use of AI coding assistants for the Linux kernel is developing, but in your case, I assume that the contribution is for the PCSX2, and that the Linux kernel is unmodified?

[DCFUKSURMOM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKJLaxzPDTM

I have confirmed that implementing full TLB support in PCSX2 allows it to run up to the Linux userland. Would you be interested in this? However, the implementation relies entirely on AI assistance, and I have not conducted a thorough review. Also, it appears that loaders such as KernelLoader and Gentoo*.elf cannot currently be used with PCSX2.

If this project avoids AI-related contributions, you can safely delete this comment.

Do you have these patches somewhere? I wanted to play with the 128M RAM mode in PCSX2 lol