After bowing to consumer pressure once again, Sony today released a Linux kit for the PlayStation2 in Europe.

After initially announcing that it would only be made available on the Japanese market, the console giant started taking orders for the Linux kit on a special website today.

Costing £155, the kit consists of a 40GB hard drive, a network adapter, USB keyboard and mouse and a monitor cable adapter, as well as DVDs with the Linux operating system.

The kit is only being sold over the internet, at Linuxplay.com because, according to Sony, "the Linux kit is a niche product, which would not be of interest to the majority of PlayStation2 owners.

"By distributing the kit via this website, we hope to avoid any confusion about what it is, and who it is suitable for, and thus save disappointing those individuals who might buy it in error."

Back in March, Sony said that it did not expect the product to make a profit, but that it would just break even.

But the firm does hope that Linux hobbyists who tinker with the PlayStation will be encouraged to become games designers for the platform, and hopes to use interest in the kit to recruit an army of PlayStation developers.