Newbie to PS2

[drf]

Since I'm used to Xbox the PS2-world is a new experience to me and I must say it's not easy to understand everything.

I got myself...err...my girlfriend a PSTWO (slim) with a DMS4 Lite the other day, also bought a memory card and and a cable so I could hook it up to my network.

What I want to do, or be able to do is to play games (doh - of course) and watch tv-programs (stored on a server of mine). So I have some questions.

I've surfed around the forums and internet, but I ain't gettin any wiser.

So to the questions.

1. What does the official network adaptor do? Do I need it? (We don't intend to play online or anything like that)
2. What is the best solution to play (stream) xvid, mp3? SMS? Mediaplayer PRO?
3. uLaunch? Do I need it? I have no hdd (maybe that doesn't have shit to do with it?)

I would like to have some kinda menu or something either on the memory card or on a thumbdrive, that comes up when you start and there maybe you could choose either to play games or listen to mp3, watch a tv-program (xvid) or maybe there are some better solutions?

Oh...more questions, what kinda recordable dvd's does it like + or - ?
How long can I expect the laser to function? Maybe it's worth it to buy a USB-HDD?

How do I get started?

Thankful for any help!

[jon_jon]

The official network adapter is for the older fat PS2 and is not compatible with your slim PS2. Your slim PS2 comes with a built-in network adapter.

Newer consoles will accept both DVD+R and -R, but older consoles tend to prefer -R.

With the DMS4 lite chip installed, make sure you get Toxic BIOS installed as well. It is the firmware that will allow you to use backup discs if that is what you want to do.

[drf]

Thanks for your answer, so i don't need the adaptor, that's great, good for my wallet too

Toxic BIOS is installed, atleast it shows it's logo when booting, but i don't know which version, I assume it is the latest since I had the console chipped yesterday.

[daisukejigen]

If you want to just play games or watch video across a network, just install SMS to a memory card, and then use whatever boot method your chip says to. I never set SMS to stream files myself, but lookin at it, it doesn't seem hard. Just need to make a special file with network info on it, and put it on memory card. It should all be in a readme.

[drf]

Could point to a howto or something like that, I don't know how to do that, I've read alot but haven't found something that suits my needs yet.

[daisukejigen]

Well the howto for SMS should be including in the file you download. How Toxic BIOS works, I don't know. Google for the main website of the bios and they should have info?