What is BB Navigator?

BB Navigator, or Broadband Navigator, or BBNav, is Sony's Broadband and Hard drive utility. It lets you browse web sites, download games, view pictures from your digital camera, manage files on your memory card and hard drive, and much more. Check out the official site for a more complete list. Currently it is only released in Japan and as part of the FFXI US Beta.

When you install BB Navigator, it attempts to set up, partition and format your hdd. It then uses the hdd to store all of the files needed for an upgrade to the regular Browser that you get on your PS2 when you turn the PS2 on without a disc in it. So far people have only gotten it to work on Japanese machines, and on one US machine that had a particular chip replaced with the Japanese version. There are rumours of being able to get it working using the PS2Linux RTE, but I have not heard anything concrete about that yet.

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PlayStation BB Navigator, known as BB NAVI or PSBBN, is a unique add-on to the PS2. It has been available and sold with PlayStation BB Packs in Japan for a long time now. And has yet to surface on US shores nor Europe. As a matter of fact, BB NAVI works only in Japanese PS2s, even Asian PS2s will not function correctly with the BB NAVI.

Many people have been praising and shouting about the XBOX's dashboard. It's capability of creating game saves directly on the hard drive as well as ripping music CDs makes it a wonder machine. Well, it certainly didn't take Sony long enough to develop it's own dashboard-like software for the PS2. BB NAVI is more than an "add-on" to the PlayStation2. It's ability to rip music cds, copy full dvd movies, transfer digital pictures from a digital camera, and copy DV movies from your DV camcorder. As a plus, BB NAVI displays all your HDD-installed games and offers you a boot screen to start your games directly from the HDD without the need of the disc. An example of this concept is Final Fantasy XI and Guitar Freaks 4th mix. To top it off, BB NAVI has a slick space-like interface.

Even though the HDD is already released in the US. The package does not offer BB NAVI. Instead, SCEA decided to bundle the original HDD utility disc that was first released in Japan ages ago. In conclusion, WE don't get any fancy features. Just FFXI.

At the time of writing, there has been no confirmed news from SCEA that they will be bringing the BB NAVI to the states. Thus, I have this guide to give everyone a sneak peek at BB NAVI. However, if you own a copy of BB NAVI yourself and also have PS2 Linux and the HDD, this guide will provide you with details on how you can install BB NAVI onto your own precious PS2.