Sony has started taking UK orders for a kit to turn the Playstation 2 games console into a computer running the Linux operating system.

The kit allows games developers to gain experience in programming the console and hobbyists to experiment with Linux on relatively inexpensive hardware.

It costs �155 and consists of a specially tailored version of Linux together with the hardware needed to turn the console into a full computer, though buyers still need to provide a compatible monitor.

Besides Linux, the pack contains a hard disk, keyboard, mouse, monitor lead and network interface.

PS2 owners buying the kit should be able to connect their console to a home network or to the internet if they have a broadband connection with a network socket.

The kit has gone down well in Sony's domestic market in Japan, so the company is now making it more widely available.

Sony recommends that anyone buying the kit be computer-literate and have some familiarity with Linux.

Passionate following

Linux has been put together over the years by a community of volunteer, academic and at times commercially supported programmers.

It is most popular as a server operating system, working behind the scenes on jobs like delivering web pages or storing files.

But it does run on the desktop and can be set up to provide a familiar looking windows, icons, mouse and pointer interface.

Linux has a passionate following among enthusiasts, many of whom love nothing more than seeing it run on yet another device.

There are versions of Linux for PCs, Macs, PDAs, mainframes and just about anything else with a processor inside.

PS2 tinkering

For those who feel up to it, the add-on pack could be a cheap way of experimenting with Linux.

Linux could come for the Xbox

Attached to a broadband connection, it would make a handy web terminal.

Potential Linux tinkerers without a PS2 might consider a bottom of the range no-frills PC instead.

That would cost little more than the price of a PS2 and the add-on kit together, and would run Microsoft Windows, too - though it probably would not be fantastic at playing the latest PC games.

Efforts are under way to make Linux run on Microsoft's new Xbox console, too.

It is a natural target, given that its internal components have much in common with standard PCs.