PS3 + Linux

[Hosom]

Just curious really, anyone around put linux on their ps3 and want to share their experience? I've heard a few mixed reviews online, was wondering if anyone else had anything to say about it.

[virusiidx]

I have Ubuntu 8.10 installed on my PS3. It's good for simple stuff such as web browsing and basic computing. But since it uses a PPC cpu, not very many things are compatible or compiled to run on ppc, such as emulators, etc... I'm a linux person myself and don't find it worth it to install it on the PS3. You're better off saving the space.

[Hosom]

Thanks for this, I've watched a few reviews, and read an article about 16 PS3s being used in computational physics...was mostly curious as to whether or not it could be set up as a small vent server, or desktop to use in another room for house guests and stuff. I'm not really concerned about HDD space on the PS3 due to the fact that I don't use it very often.

Any opinions on if this is possible? Will probably look into setting it up tomorrow night and giving it a test.

[virusiidx]

article about 16 PS3s being used in computational physic

That might be the folding@home project, except that it's not 16 ps3, it's thousands of ps3 and pc's linked together in a supercluster, which you can also contribute to by one of the downloads from the XMB. Unless you're talking about something different, I can completely see it being possible. The cell is pretty powerful for supercomputing and clustering.

As far as the vent server thing goes, I had the idea of using a vent server when I first installed linux on the ps3. But since the cell cpu is a powerpc architecture, it won't be able to run any i386, x86 or x64 programs. The machine code is just different. I don't think vent has any ppc sources available according to their download section:

Ventrilo - Download

I hope that all makes sense, it's still fun and an experience to install it and mess around with it anyways, especially if you're new to linux. I would suggest starting off with yellowdog linux, since that was compiled specifically for PS3. Other options are Ubuntu (powerpc version). When and if you do get that installed, check out the repository to check out what programs are available for that OS.

Here are some links to check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)

PowerPC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PlayStation_3


Have fun

[Kaisha]

The lack of RAM was reall offputting for me, especially when I spent hours trying to get Ubuntu 7.10 to load on, just to learn networking on it was completely busted thanks to a particular PS3 firmware update, so I had to redo the whole damn process with the more up-to-date Ubuntu 8.10.
(I tried ages ago and had the same 7.10 disc laying about...)

But anyhow, unless you like terminal I personally wouldn't have bothered, as the aforementioned RAM issue crops up whenever you try to multi-task anything. Can't do anything more than simple stuff.

In case you weren't aware, the PS3 hardware itself is locked behind a hypervisor, so don't go installing Linux thinking you'd be able to harness it's power for use as an actual PC (well, you can, but it's slow due to the OS always reaching to the swapspace on the HD). Everything is software emulated, can't even get the 3d visual effects of Ubuntu going.

[Hosom]

Yeah, I understand all of that...thanks, I'll most likely still install it for the experience. I've already worked with Ubuntu, will probably work with Yellowdog to try a different distro. As it stands the cpu does seem to limit the possibilities due to it being so advanced, no one has really coded applications for it...

Oh, and the 16 PS3s doing Computational Physics: gravity.phy.umassd.edu

As far as the limitations with the hypervisor, I'm aware of those as well, but for the task I had planned on using the ps3 for that wouldn't have really been an issue... anyway, thanks for the input.

[virusiidx]

Came across this article today that you might be interested in.

Gizmodo - How-To: Install Ubuntu On Your PS3 For Vintage Gaming Emulation - Ps3 ubuntu

Seems there's one PPC compiled SNES emulator out there.

[tebian]

Came across this article today that you might be interested in.

Gizmodo - How-To: Install Ubuntu On Your PS3 For Vintage Gaming Emulation - Ps3 ubuntu

Seems there's one PPC compiled SNES emulator out there.

Thank you for that, I always wondered if it is dual boot setup. Now to destroy my PS3 during down time today... I use my ps3 for we browsing a lot and if I could just have that working with "anything" more then that one sony made, i would be one happy camper !