I'm attempting to compile some tools. However, I saw you could use linux with the sdk instead of a ps2 tool?
Development always took place on a remote computer. The TOOL is used for only debugging and testing of software, which gets run from over the network.
Oh okay. Thank you for clearing that up. Does that mean that I could possible compile it under windows? I mean half of the tools in this game are using MFC and stuff so id Imagine so. Any idea if the standard ps2 SDK will work? Or do I need codewarrior.
The PS2SDK was traditionally for Linux. I don't know if there were any tools for Windows, or if support for Windows was complete. Codewarrior is a different thing - AFAIK it was a 3rd party thing that supported Windows, so you should decide for yourself whether you want to go with the normal PS2SDK tools (i.e. with Linux) or with the stuff that runs on Windows.
I haven't used the SONY Binutils and GCC programs, but I have used their dsnet stuff on Debian 7. These tools are for interfacing with the TOOL. You could try using any distribution, but these tools were designed and written for an ancient version of Linux and might not work properly on newer distributions.
From what I remember: For Windows there was CodeWarrior (IDE & Compilers) or ProDG (Compilers; not sure if an IDE was included); neither of these will work standalone, and require that you have the PS2 SDK already installed. The Linux distro recommended / used at the time was Red Hat Linux 6.2 (NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the recent Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2), though the tools should work with other distros from back then and they may still work on some newer distros, but not recommended.
Yes it's possible to compile stuff without a PS2 TOOL. The PS2 TOOL is simply a target box with advanced debugging capabilities. All of those are sample programs which came with SDK 3.0.0.2 as source code. I used a retail SCPH-10000 unit with the PCMCIA network adapter to run those samples through a tool called "Startup Card" which makes a PS2 (it's intended for Debugging Station units though) behave like a sort of "mini PS2 TOOL".
