AthenaEnv (JavaScript-Runtime) and the bright future of development on the PS2!
Most people know that the PS2 isn't quite an easy platform to develop on, but this has changed in recent years and we are at the point that we can create performant applications within Runtimes like what is going to be presented here.
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This article is about the "Athena" Runtime Environment, or "Athena Environment" or "AthenaEnv" by @Daniel Santos, which is a Javascript runtime for the PS2, which is ONE project for the PS2 which strives to make developing/development for the PS2 WAY easier, whilst trying to provide a performant backend to developers who haven't strived (or maybe don't want to) into all the nitty gritties of the PS2.
THIS is meant to allow you to create Javascript-based applications on the most sold console and it is INTENTIONALLY done on a limited platform (to show what is possible on low end hardware compared to nowadays), whilst still providing quite some power!
This article will show you some application-examples in the video-tab created within/on Athena, such as:
- Athena Terminal
- Athena Dash
- Athena Package Manager
- Discord for PS2
- Ping pong game
The PS2 is an awesome platform, interesting to learn stuff on and develop for and NOW we can introduce absolute beginners to developing apps and games and so on!
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Some showcases...
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Q&A (towards Daniel Santos)
.Q: Does it supports 3D?
A: Yes but 3D isn't a priority at all.
Q: How does it run JS on a PS2?
A: Athena uses a moderately modified version of QuickJS, a JavaScript interpreter written in C. It has a lot of performance improvements, new functions and resources.
Q: I tried it on PCSX2 and it doesn't work!
A: ENABLE THE FUCKING HOST FILESYSTEM!
Q: Does it work on AetherSX2?
A: Yes but I'll have to compile an ISO image for that, since AetherSX2 doesn't have support for host filesystem!
Q: I want a specific function or library!
A: Open an issue on GitHub explaining why that function/library is so important and I'll investigate it's implementation!
Q: Which JS versions does it support?
A: JavaScript ES2020 (but it should work with ES2015).
Q: Why is it not working on my PS2?
A: Check your wLE version and if you got all the content from bin folder.Athena is a custom JavaScript loader, so it searches for main.js to start working!
Q: Can I call another script?
A: Yes! You can call the AthenaEnv-ELF via an argument (1st) and tell it to use the name you want! This however only works in the same folder where the ELF is located at (for now).
You can however switch from script to script "willy nilly"! -
GitHub:
https://github.com/DanielSant0s/AthenaEnv
PLEASE share this information wherever you can! This makes it VERY easy to develop applications as well as games for the PS2 and this is just ONE new Runtime!
There is also a new LUA-Runtime with ps2gl-support by the same developer (in the works, but also released), called "Enceladus"! More (news) on that later!
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