Quote:
It was bound to happen. OF has been ported to the Wii (actually just the board). We called Nintendo yesterday to speak with them about it. We will have another call next week.
What would do with a Wii if you could?
There are plenty of things you could do with a Wii.
Some of the benefits are that a port of the Open Firmware/Aura abstraction layer enables users to boot another operating system such as Linux, on top of the existing Wii Menu. Since a lot of the system - controller sensitivity, wireless configuration - is already done on the Wii, this means Linux needn't replace all this, giving you an instant working system.
What would you run on it? The Wii gives you a ~700MHz G3-class processor, 64MB of RAM, a decent ATI-engineered graphics (at ~720x480), obviously a wireless internet connection, and the mouse-like 3D controller.
Homebrew gaming is one option.
Perhaps connecting Wiis into a cluster for computation - allowing connection of other Wiis on the internet via
Friend Codes.
Maybe a MythTV front-end - boot in and play videos and music from another system (UPnP media server or a true MythTV PVR backend running on another system). This kind of usage has already
proved popular on modchipped original Xbox systems, so much so that Microsoft have even built it into the Xbox 360 using UPnP and Windows Media Player.
How about
doing multi-touch hacks actually on the Wii rather than another system with a Wii remote? :)
PS3 Linux is popular but mostly as a geek toy; it's not exactly brimming with possibility out of the box. What you do with it usually comes from experimentation - install it, then think of how you can apply it to something. Some people have turned them into supercomputers - the Wii wouldn't be powerful enough to make a dent in this regard though.
I think, importantly any OS running on top of the OF/Aura should have access to as much of the original Wii settings as possible, and be a part of the Wii ecosystem. Having to set up Linux for wireless access when you already set those for your games is redundant and annoying. Having to change your sensitivity and recalibrate the mouse for Linux goes the same way. Once users can get into a Linux distribution (burned to a DVD and installed to a USB disk) then the possibilities are endless, and the more it takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the Wii itself, the quicker users will find unique reasons to use Linux on the Wii.
However I think a mistake would be to treat Linux as a way to skirt around Nintendo; reading game discs would be a no-no. Doing it to run MAME emulation of classic arcade games, while fun, is pointless considering you can buy them with far better compatibility and Wii controller support for less than $5. Running Opera under the Linux (it's available for PPC Linux after all) would be cool, but you'd lose Flash and the zooming features. You have to give Nintendo a little respect for their device, and the idea that you should be able to use things from the Wii Menu without waiting 2 minutes for a Linux to boot first :)
Also importantly I think the Wii Linux should be treated as an application - tied to the firmware obviously, as there's no other way to run Linux on a Wii - from the Wii Menu. And when you click "Shut Down" on the Linux desktop or press the Home button on the Wii remote, the system should be hibernating if necessary and giving control back to the console itself (this can be done through the RTAS shutdown hook anyway).
The Open Firmware also gives a way for Nintendo to keep their technology private - I'm sure they will not want to give away documentation on internal Wii operation which most game developers and application vendors have to pay thousands of dollars for.
So, go into the
WiiWare shop, click to buy Genesi's firmware, put in the DVD and install your Linux, and off you go..
Login
Register
FAQ
Search