# PlayStation 2 Console

Hands\-on explainer of the original PlayStation 2 console

By 초록옷젤다

Topic: Machines

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/kxKPVDq6ihTa)

## Transcript

### 1. Meet the PlayStation 2

This is the original PlayStation 2, a games console from the year 2000\. It is about 30 cm long and weighs 2\.2 kg\. Its real buttons and switches all work here, so let us wake it up\.

Drag empty paper to turn the console\. Tap its buttons to use them\.

### 2. The main power switch

Round the back sits a rocker switch beside the power socket\. Flipping it lets mains electricity into the power supply inside\. The console is now on standby: a small red light glows, but nothing runs yet\.

Orange dashes show electricity flowing in from the socket\.

### 3. Press power

The power button on the front turns the console fully on\. The light turns green, the cooling fan starts to hum and the start\-up routine, called the BIOS, begins\. With the main switch off, this button does nothing\.

### 4. Load a disc

The eject button drives a small motor that slides the disc tray out\. Press it again and the tray carries the disc back inside\. Games came on CDs and DVDs, and this console could play DVD films too\.

Look closely at the disc label\.

### 5. Spin and read

With the lid lifted away you can see the drive\. A motor spins the disc while a laser on a sliding sled reads tiny marks in it\. It reads DVDs at up to 4 times and CDs at up to 48 times normal speed\.

Blue dashes show game data travelling to the processor\.

### 6. The Emotion Engine

The main processor is called the Emotion Engine\. It runs the game about 295 million steps a second and uses 32 MB of memory\. All that work makes heat, so the heatsink warms up and the fan pushes hot air out of the back\.

Red dashes show warm air leaving through the rear grille\.

### 7. Pictures and sound

A second chip, the Graphics Synthesizer, draws every picture using its own 4 MB of fast memory\. A sound chip mixes up to 48 voices at once\. Both travel down the AV cable to the television\.

Green dashes show picture and sound heading to the TV\.

### 8. Play\!

The DualShock 2 controller plugs into the front\. Press its cross button: the signal runs down the cable to the console, and the game answers by spinning small motors inside the controller so it shakes in your hands\.

Memory cards in the slots above save your progress\.