How to Turn a PlayStation 3 Into a Linux PC 276
MahariBalzitch writes "Popular Mechanics shows step by step guide on how to install Ubuntu Linux on a PlayStation 3 and still keep the PS3 gaming functionality. Now I just need to get my hands on a PS3." Not bad specs for the price, either, since Blu-Ray players still aren't cheap. And though the article calls the procedure "somewhat complicated," it's a lot simpler than was installing Linux from floppies not so many years ago.
On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Funny)
Who gave me a ride? The guy driving the truck with all the stuff that I was going to unload and stock. He saw me on the sidewalk and pulled over.
Technically, I did not use an 18 wheeler for grocery shopping, but I *did* use one to go to the store once.
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
The cell does have a PowerPC core in it, but it's not the same as the PowerPC that was used in Macs. It's considerably stripped down, and as such isn't that great for general-purpose computing.
I have been considering putting linux on my PS3, but only to tinker with the SPE cores. It's otherwise a really poor linux system.
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It is surely not out of incompetence that many scientific organizations set up PS3 clusters to do some of their number crunching, and many natural science or CS
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Informative)
This means it's probably about as powerful as a 3.2GHz Intel Atom CPU (maybe a bit stronger because it doesn't have that low-power design requirement) - therefore about as powerful as a 2 GHz Intel Dothan (+/- 25% depending on task and effectiveness of the threading capability), with stronger SIMD and 6 extra very powerful but limited co-processors.
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http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/04/1916242 [slashdot.org]
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/11/17/1327239.shtml [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/07/211214 [slashdot.org]
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:4, Insightful)
And that is the news part.
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:4, Informative)
You might find yourself leaving your PC on just to play a game once in a while.
It's News That It Works Now (Score:5, Informative)
There is indeed now a X/MPlayer video driver [linux.yes.nu] that runs full 1080p HD right on the Cell CPU.
And I don't know why you think the Cell CPU "really isn't designed for general purpose computing". That Cell includes a 3.2GHz multithreaded PowerPC that runs all PPC distro Linux SW right out of the distro, as apt-get'able binaries. And there are drivers and apps that use the Cell's 200GFLOPS of onboard DSPs for real computing, like that driver to which I just linked. The Cell is being used by IBM as the CPU in its highest end workstations and blade servers, as well as some of the fastest supercomputers on the drawing board - all running Linux compatible with the one on the Cell.
Look, I understand that 2 years ago the PS3's initial Linux support was more of a novelty, when the PS3 itself had been rushed to market before even the HW was really ready. But the past 2 years has seen its Linux support pass the stage where it's just a "dancing poodle" to where it's more like a husky sleighdog or a border collie. And the reason is that interested people have helped upgrade its Linux support. Linux is open-source so that users can improve it. Which people have done. It still needs a lot of help, but mainly because its potential is so huge, with the onboard supercomputer and built-in WiFi/Bluetooth/Blu-Ray/HDMI/7.1-audio/Gb-ethernet, all for $500. And that chance for volunteers to continue to shape the platform is exciting news for a lot of people, many of whom are exactly the kinds of geeks who read Slashdot.
And I hear it plays games, too.
Re:It's News That It Works Now (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually (Score:4, Informative)
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You are observing bad performance (correct) but drawing in-correct conclusions as to the source of the problem.
** I'll put it more simply than the other replies: GCC compilers for the Cell processor SUCKS. **
That's all people need to know.
Everyone's assuming that because Linux "works" on the Cell, it's on equal footing with other PowerPC. It's not the "same" PowerPC, and therefore ther
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$399 (Score:2)
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Informative)
Not true. Yellowdog has had wifi drivers in place for several months now, and I got wifi running on a Gentoo install on my PS3 as well. I haven't attempted it, but I've read that other people have accessed the bluetooth hardware as well and even gotten the PS3 controllers working in Linux. (Link [pabr.org], though I haven't tried it myself or even really read over it.
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Bluetooth is possible, but just needs a couple of patches I think for HID support, this might now already be included in the later rele
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
As it stands, researchers already have access to play around with the Cell SPEs, and can do enough that there's no need to break it for their own needs. The general hobbyist who wants all the other stuff tend to not have the knowledge and resources to break in, and install linux, and thus no one has done it. Not a bad tradeoff, the research community gets to use the PS3 to play with Cell processors (helping IBMs goal of encouraging Cell development), and the hacking community has far fewer resources available to break the system, and less demand for it.
Phil
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think so. I think it's all Sony. They just don't want you doing other things with their baby while you could be playing games, and buying games, and providing Sony with licensing revenue.
The PS3 is dramatically cheaper than any other Cell platform, so it's still interesting to "researchers", just not the ones at the best-funded and thus best-equipped universities. But out in the real world, without an ivory tower up one's ass, cheap supplies still spur private research.
The point is that the PS3 is an inherently limited platform and without graphics access it's just a strange-architecture PC with horribly slow graphics and 256MB RAM, which is just barely adequate for websurfing but which for example is really not enough to run OO.o smoothly, let alone Inkscape. Arguably the Xbox is more useful - neither the PS3 running Linux nor the Xbox will help anyone view HD video, but the XDK for the Xbox is running around and if you're willing to write or port Windows software you can put whatever you want on it... which is how we run XBMC.
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The reason your h264 files won't play is because they use the wrong container format. You can easily convert them in less than 60 seconds. (Try mkv2vob)
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
1) Wifi access is not only available but works out-of-the-box with Yellow Dog Linux
2) Bluetooth access works fine and with only a tiny amount of work the Sixaxis controllers work as Bluetooth joysticks, and get picked up and used for stuff like Dosbox (old two-player dos games with Sixaxis joysticks sitting on the couch with your 47" LCD, anyone?)
3) Full access to the six special coprocessors, only access to the RSX chip is restricted
It runs fine at 720p and I have had Age of Empires II running just fine via the wireless connection to a Win98 harddrive image loaded up with qemu.
It's great.
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:4, Informative)
According to this [howstuffworks.com] the Playstation 3 has 1 3.2Ghz power pc core that manages 8 of the vector processors. Apparently only 7 of the vector processors are used, the 8th is redundant in case one fails?
Free Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii [free-toys.co.uk]
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The WiFi, Bluetooth and all the other snappy onboard HW is also now running under Ubunuto.
You are judging the platform on its initial Linux support from 2 years ago, when the machine was released (rushed to market). Since then, the platform has come of age. It still needs testing and packaging help to be "grandma ready", but that's why geeks
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About everything you say ins inaccurate (Score:3, Informative)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Funny)
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I love linux and use it as my Primary Operating system, but I feel sorry for people trying out linux for the first time on the PS3 because its just frustrating. Not o
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
To use PPC apps, you don't have to "compile them yourself". This is Ubuntu. All you do is apt-get install them from a source package.
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2) if VLC isn't playing something your not doing it right or try mplayer.
3) using that much caps for a completely pointless post makes you a retard.
4) being an 1337 XBOX gaming 14 y/o should take up enough of your time, if not spend more time using your 1337 halo skillz.
5) come back to slashdot when your balls drop.
6) if you choose to ignore 5 remember to remove your finger from the shift key sometimes.
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Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On what planet is this 'news'? (Score:5, Interesting)
Gromacs on a cell? (Score:3, Interesting)
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http://www.gromacs.org/content/view/25/ [gromacs.org]
I wouldn't bank on that, it gets almost Double the processing done on a g5 with a slower clock than a high end p-4. you might have wanted to look into that before you put your foot in your mouth. according to wikipedia the SPE in the ps3 is clocked to 3.2 ghz.
"Linux Pentium 4 1 Intel 8 3000 1024 10176 2280 1353 164 3045 357
But, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But, but... (Score:5, Funny)
LOLWUT (Score:2, Funny)
Take pictures.
Jesus Christ. What a dumb fucking article. It's sad to see that this is what has become of PopMech.
Re:LOLWUT (Score:5, Funny)
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Icons? (Score:2, Funny)
"Somewhat Complicated" (Score:5, Interesting)
In some respects, it seems exactly like installing Linux from floppies.
In the olden days, you swapped the boot and root floppies; here you swap the hard drives, which indeed is somewhat complicated, as in "I wouldn't trust my grandmother to do it right" (not grandfather, though!).
As for the rest... OK, I am one of the few people in the universe who actually read documentation, but nevertheless... a page-long manual, illustrations included, makes the procedure somewhat complicated?
Indeed, Linux has come a long way if not being able to simply pop a CD and install on anything, incuding a toaster, makes the install procedure "somewhat complicated".
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In the olden days, you swapped the boot and root floppies; here you swap the hard drives, which indeed is somewhat complicated, as in "I wouldn't trust my grandmother to do it right" (not grandfather, though!).
It's not required that you swap harddrives. If you choose to use the existing harddrive in your PS3, you just have to format it to repartition.
Re:"Somewhat Complicated" (Score:5, Funny)
Whoosh.
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The whole guide boils down to: boot from CD, install 'kboot', boot into PS3, tell the PS3 to allow other OSs, boot from CD, install. Profit.
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???
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Ubuntu Installation Instructions (Score:5, Informative)
This is a good Ubuntu installation wiki for PS3.
Finally!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Now we can finally see the day when they'll have good games running in the Playstation 3!!!
...by playing Playstation 1 games in it via a Linux Playstation Emulator!
http://www.epsxe.com/
http://www.pcsx.net/
:D
*nerdgasm*
...
...
And then to see just how macho the Cell processor is, we can run Virtual Box in the PS3 then run Win Vista within Virtual Box within Ubuntu within the PS3!
let's see how macho you are now, Cell processor!
PS1 games (Score:2)
obligatory (Score:2, Funny)
>Sony sell's PS1 games from their store.
>You can download them, play them on your PS3...
What??? Do it the easy way by buying games from the PS1 download store to run them in your PS3 as opposed to running your old PS1 CDs through an emulator in Linux in the PS3? (and thus not buy something you already own twice)
***
*cue nerd police*
***
"We're very sorry to inform you sir, but your geek license just got revoked!"
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No 3D acceleration would likely kill PS1 emulation via Linux.
And the PS store does give the added benefit of allowing you to take the games with you on your PSP as well.
I bought Castlevania Symphony of Darkness through the store, because I never actually had the game on the PS1.
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BTW, the PS3 runs PS1 games under the Sony GameOS in SW emulation at full (or greater) speed, without using Linux.
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The problem is PS2 emulation! Completely possible in software, but Sony's not going to do it for their 40GB models, and they're not going to give us proper 3D chip access in Linux to run the unofficial emulators there.
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PSUbuntu (Score:5, Informative)
http://psubuntu.com/ [psubuntu.com]
Not Impressed (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly what was accomplished here except writing an article about an obvious installation. Sony basically added support to the Linux kernel(their was a
It ain't News for Nerds unless code or a soldering gun was required.
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Not bad specs, with one exception: (Score:5, Interesting)
On the 360 side, hobbyist developers have a different set of trade-offs. You can write games C# using XNA Game Studio, 512mb shared memory, and even get hardware acceleration (some of the demos are quite impressive). On the flipside, there's a $100/year membership and fat chance of ever running linux (in any official capacity at least)
Re:Not bad specs, with one exception: (Score:4, Interesting)
It's kind of ironic (suspicious?) that you can pirate 360 games way easier then you can run homebrew/Linux on it.
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The limited RAM is still a problem. But not for playing video, which streams from either disk or the Gb-e LAN. And there are other hacks, including some HW hacks, if you need more RAM for more serious computing that isn't based on the stream model.
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Go read this [gamasutra.com] article on GamaSutra real quick.
Slashdot isn't the place for any positive information about the 360. It's rather silly, because for any up-and-coming game coder, it's probably not a wise one to ignore or spit at.
PS3 Linux Media Center (Score:5, Interesting)
I currently use an Xbox 1 with Xbox Media Center installed, but it's starting to get long in the tooth since it doesn't support HD resolutions.
Although the GPU is restricted from access when in Linux , the CPU on the PS3 is plenty strong still as I understand it. Is there a way to install Linux easily on a PS3 so that it can be an easy to use media center comparable to XBMC?
I've seen reference to the fact that such a thing is possible, but is there an ISO I can just burn or install and have it work? If not, why not?
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Because Sony sucks. They use a hypervisor to manage Linux running on the PS3 to lock it out from using any of the useful hardware on the box.
Penny Arcade (Score:2)
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Capt. Obvious day (Score:3, Informative)
You don't want a BDROM and you can't be bothered to put together a PC? Say hello to Zonbu and their line of line of cheaper [zonbu.com]machines [zonbu.com].
Zonbu not upto your taste? Perhaps Madtux [madtux.org] might help.
That was from 3mins of Googling - you get my drift. Linux on PS3 is almost as old as Linux on PS2 (one with HDD). Anyone remember Linux on xbox [xbox-linux.org]?
I am not sure who or what I should be insulting here - the selection of this story or Popular Mechanics. Oh and 129$ from newegg for a BDROM drive is cheap enough for me (HTPC and all) - Give it a couple of months and you will get sub 100$ BDROM drives and as any serious gamer knows, it's not the console price that will get ya - it's the games as they come out but I digress. Back to watching Monty Python on Hulu...
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You do not get the point... it is not that you are going to buy a ps3 to install linux. It is that you have a ps3 and want to install Linux just for the sake of it.
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Some problems with the article and Ubuntu (Score:4, Informative)
Secondly, the wireless adapter isn't supported yet so if you want Internet, you'll need to run a cable to your PS3 or plan on doing some compiling to get wireless support. For those of you who are old hands at Linux, this may be no big deal but for someone like myself who hasn't used Linux, it's an opportunity to learn a lot of new things. It reminds me a lot of decades ago when I first read K&R's C.
one of the most energy inefficient "PC's"... (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=106346&catId=100245&tid=100008&p=5&title=Computers'+energy+costs [choice.com.au]
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PSUbuntu.com (Score:4, Informative)
Right now is a good time to join the PSUbuntu.com community, because a new wave of developers on the ubuntu-cell [ubuntu.com] maillist have just joined, and are uniting with the users at PSUbuntu.com to test and smooth out the PS3/Ubuntu distro.
And there is also a fairly new X/MPlayer driver [linux.yes.nu] that will render full 1080p HD video on the PS3's Cell CPU, that also needs just a little testing and integration.
What I really want to see is a PS3 running Ubuntu using the PlayTV [wikipedia.org] PVR device that Sony is releasing this year. With Ubuntu running it, the PS3 could be quite the killer platform for all home entertainment.
And I hear it plays games, too.
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Where is the real opengl? (Score:2)
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Why Ubuntu? They dropped PPC support (Score:5, Insightful)
So, why would Popular Mechanics recommend Ubuntu when you could download Yellow Dog Linux [ydl.net] (for free as well from public mirrors [terrasoftsolutions.com]), which is developed by the company hired by Sony to develop linux for the PS3. This sounds somewhat odd.
Disclaimer: I work for Terra Soft Solutions [terrasoftsolutions.com], so I've clearly got a bias here.
Does it ? (Score:4, Funny)
Imagine a Beow.. Oh what, they have [engadget.com] er
First Post, yes, no, Ok I'm off then.
It is great, but... (Score:2)
Here is a guide to not only install linux, but actually start programming with the Cell:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-linuxps3-1/
Re:Blu-Ray Players not Cheap? WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)
1. There is only one sku for the ps3 currently, and it's only 399. There will be a new one soon for 100, but it's basically the same.
2. While you can use a bluray drive for reading bluray discs, you can't actually play movies with it, as per a couple of months ago, or at the very least, not without serious time investment converting the video.
3. Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Pixel Junkies Monsters, Warhawk, Folklore, Gran Turismo, Resistance: Fall of Man. All of these are exclusive to the PS3, all of these are highly rated, and there's most likely at least one game in this set that would appeal to you as a gamer, as this largely covers the spectrum of genres available today. AND I hadn't even mentioned Metal Gear, which comes out this month (IIRC).
It's clear that either you're (a. retarded or (b. simply bashing the PS3 because it's cool to do so. But guess what? It's not really cool to do so anymore because it's starting to become a solid system.
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