Geohot Brings Other OS Support To PS3 With Custom Firmware

suraj.sun tips news that hacker Geohot is following through on his promise to fight Sony's removal of the "Install Other OS" feature on the PS3. He posted a video of the work he's done so far that shows a PS3 console booting into Linux. Quoting Engadget: "While it's not available to the public just yet, Geohot's 3.21OO custom firmware will apparently be simple to install and, as you can see in the video after the break, it works just as you'd expect and simply restores the 'other OS' option to its previous place. Geohot even says that the custom firmware might actually enable the other OS feature on the PS3 Slim, but he hasn't yet had a chance to try it out."

not on slim

[swanriversean]

I will be completely surprised if this works on the PS3 slim.
I understood that one of the ways Sony cut the price and reduced the size for the slim was that they did not include the IBM hypervisor that made the whole thing possible.
(see:
      http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-ps3-1/ [ibm.com]
      http://www.osnews.com/story/22073/Why_No_OtherOS_Option_on_PS3_Slim_Sony_Answers [osnews.com]
for a few more details)

Without the hypervisor, its just not possible.

Re:not on slim

[millennial]

No, that's definitely not true. The hypervisor isn't what made running Linux possible; it's what made it limited when it did run. The hypervisor is also actively involved in the regular PS3 OS. It's an essential part of the PS3, and they'd never build a retail version without one.

Re:not on slim

[PhunkySchtuff]

I don't believe they have dropped the hypervisor - that's one of the major security strongpoints and partly what has kept the PS3 from being totally pwned by now...
From the osnews article [osnews.com] you linked, they say (with emphasis mine)

I’m sorry that you are frustrated by the lack of comment specifically regarding the withdrawal of support for OtherOS on the new PS3 slim. The reasons are simple: The PS3 Slim is a major cost reduction involving many changes to hardware components in the PS3 design. In order to offer the OtherOS install, SCE would need to continue to maintain the OtherOS hypervisor drivers for any significant hardware changes – this costs SCE. One of our key objectives with the new model is to pass on cost savings to the consumer with a lower retail price. Unfortunately in this case the cost of OtherOS install did not fit with the wider objective to offer a lower cost PS3.

What I read into this is that they don't want to keep updating the hypervisor drivers for OtherOS support with the major hardware changes they made for the Slim, not that they're dropping the hypervisor altogether...

Re:Countdown to lawsuit

[91degrees]

It will be interesting though. This firmware update restores advertised functionality of the product. It will be hard for Sony to demonstrate that this infringes their rights.

Re:Ha.

[marcansoft]

Quite the contrary, it's not ridiculous, it's true. Sony's good drive security prevented drivechips (which is where the money's at), and Other OS prevented homebrewers from exploiting the system, which inevitably leads to softmod piracy (which is usually developed by people piggybacking on homebrew hackers for all the hard work). Consoles are hacked for homebrew [marcansoft.com] which is then abused for piracy.

I know quite a few console hackers, and until the Slim's release (no Other OS) the interest in breaking out of the Other OS sandbox was near nil.

Re:Countdown to lawsuit

[TheRaven64]

No it won't. If the firmware includes any of their code then it's a derived work of a copyrighted program and can not be distributed without their permission. What the code does will be completely irrelevant to the case. There may be a class action lawsuit from customers about removing functionality after purchase, but this will be an unrelated case.

Re:Ha.

[Oldstench]

Not the case with the PS3 though. Games are region free.

Re:Interesting

[CronoCloud]

That's not entirely true. There's a DNS trick you can do to let you log into PSN with a 3.15 PS3. Just use this as your primary DNS: 67.202.81.137 its your PS3 that determines if you can use PSN, if it thinks you're fully updated you can use it.

http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7266&start=90#p37713 [yellowdog-board.com]

http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7266&start=150#p37842 [yellowdog-board.com]