Sony kills Other OS in all models of Playstation 3

[Madeline]

Firmware v 3.21 was released I think just a couple of days ago. Doesn't add anything but removes it. As one of the people using the other OS feature I was pretty much forced to backup everything and format my HD.

Taken from a website I was reading earlier:

Thanks to Geohot, the hacker responsible for first cracking the iPhone and now the PS3, this option has been removed. Geohot aka George Hotz found an exploit in the PS3’s “Other OS” feature which prompted Sony to remove the feature.

Seems someone finally did manage to get inside the brain of the PS3. So, judging by the reaction, this is a panicked retaliation. They really don't want anyone hacking their baby it would seem. However, Sony IS giving people the option to keep their OS. By avoiding this update you can continue to use your other OS. You simply can't do anything you'd normally do beyond play games. No PSN, no chat, no web browsing. Congratulations, you own a $300 paperweight.

Installing this update kills any access to an OS you might have installed as well. Not to mention renders any partioned sections of your HD useless. Meaning it's time to format regardless of if you have the things you need to back up your data or not.

Not that I normally care what Sony does with their consoles, but this seems like a step backwards and it feels a bit forced. I guess Linux was just a fun toy to begin with, but I still feel robbed somehow. Oh well.

[Kyo]

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showt...43507&page=328

[Madeline]

Oh bleh, mods can delete.

[Shojin]

You simply can't do anything you'd normally do beyond play games. No PSN, no chat, no web browsing. Congratulations, you own a $300 paperweight.

Just so you know, you can still use the web browser and play blu-ray movies. Netflix streaming should still work also.
Only PSN and its features won't be available, and any new games that get released that require the latest firmware.

And yeah, this was a preventative move to try and reduce the impact of piracy, should the PS3 be hacked to do so. It hasn't yet, though.

[Kaisha]

I just want to see someone cry over the removal that has actually has used the feature, and use it on a daily basis.

Only thing the update did is give me the head-ache of backing up my PS3 so I can repartition the hard-drive since the 15gb I set aside for Ubuntu 9.04 is now defunct.

There are ways around the update, such as using a proxy and a particular program to spoof your version number or something along the lines of it, but I can't be arsed to set that up, nor would I want to risk Sony potentially being able to see that I'm tricking the system and banning my PSN account due to it.


It seems the PS3 scene has been working hard at figuring out how to exploit the system though, with the kernal dumps of the hypervisor and what not. Only thing I'm curious about is the end-result of how you'd softmod your PS3, as from the looks of things you'd either need a mod chip, or go through some wire-shorting hell to get particular system function access while under linux (which average joe would have problems with trying to run under PS3). Piracy on this system doesn't interest me on the basis that the PS3 exclusives I have an interest in are typically larger in size than my entire monthly bandwidth allotment, and that I'd rather just go out and buy the game than sit by and have my net tied up by torrents for a week trying to download a single bluray iso.

[Dmitry]

Anyone know of an official reason they did this or what? I was kind of disappointed when I agreed to this update, as I had wanted to get Linux on it but never got around to it.

[Elcura]

I'm heart broken by this. Sony has screwed me over for the last time, fuck you Sony!

[Kaisha]

Anyone know of an official reason they did this or what? I was kind of disappointed when I agreed to this update, as I had wanted to get Linux on it but never got around to it.

Official statement on their blog was

In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.

The current means of breaking into the system are via OtherOS, which is why Sony is trying to close off people's access to it before they may be tempted to update to a possible CFW in the future when it's made dummy-proof.

Still a stupid excuse, but oh well, I like gaming on my PS3, so it's not a big deal to me, nor 99% of the community. They nerfed linux under PS3 already, so I'm assuming the hackers' method is something that's isn't fixable via software, or else Sony would have just patched the hole.


All I have to say is, the best part of the 3.21 update is it telling you to back up your trophies via Sync prior to updating, but neglecting to mention you can't even connect to the server to do that while your firmware isn't already updated.

[Madeline]

I honestly think they just wanted a reason to be rid of it. Considering hackers can do some pretty amazing shit once you install an OS on something, it might have been a preemptive measure rather than a countermeasure as some are seeing it/reporting it. We'll never know probably.

As for modding a PS3, I'm sure there will be some retarded overly complicated process or something come time when people finally do manage to get inside without Sony being able to find out. I never thought I'd see some of the things that people do with the PS2, but they're there. It's really just a matter of time.

Using a copy of 007 Agent Under Fire to force a file to boot and softmod a PS2 is pretty the fuck out there. God knows what they'll do next.

[Madeline]

Today JaicraB with the help of http://demonhades.org/blog/ya-tenemos-el-lv2-dumpeado/ have done what GeoHot failed to do, dump and publicly leak the PS3 Hypervisor LV2 (GameOS) for the entire PS3 scene to begin reversing and examining for new holes, exploits, etc!

loooooooooooooooool. This'll be fun to keep an eye on.

And I'm officially pissed I installed this update earlier!

[Dmitry]

loooooooooooooooool. This'll be fun to keep an eye on.

And I'm officially pissed I installed this update earlier!

Isn't there a way we can roll this back or maybe do a hard drive back up and format, then install the custom firmware?

[aru]

Just out of curiosity, what were people doing in their 'OtherOS' that makes this a big deal (other than trying to crack the system, of course)?

[Haiko]

Just out of curiosity, what were people doing in their 'OtherOS' that makes this a big deal (other than trying to crack the system, of course)?

You just won the argument sir, just QQ people who bitches for a useless option that not many people cared for.

[miokomioko]

lol at calling a PS3 without online features a $300 paperweight.

[TheDirtyHobo]

You just won the argument sir, just QQ people who bitches for a useless option that not many people cared for.

I didn't use OtherOS, but I still think it's pretty bullshit that they're removing it. When it's one of your advertised features, you don't just remove it because there's a potential threat. It's like if Nintendo made a firmware that made Twilight Princess unplayable because there was the Homebrew loader hack in it. They didn't do that, they fixed the problem instead.

Though this falls slightly less in the 'dick move' category than MS blocking all third party memory cards.

[Narol]

Sounds like it's closer to them removing, say, Internet Channel on the Wii rather than making a single game unplayable.

But I do agree it's kind of sad that the PS3 keeps losing features for no real reason except to save Sony a bit of time/money because they don't want to play a game of back-and-forth with the collective hackers out there.

[*Shinzon*]

Yeah it sucks that they keep taking it away, but lets be serious. Linux had no pratical uses for gaming. Thus you're not entitled to it. You're entitled to services and programs that make your gaming or entertainment purposes better. That's the bottom line. Yeah they may be fighting with these hackers but you know what? Yea while none of this shit may be used to hack the vital systems and codes of the ps3 Sony is entitled to protect their product and you're entitled to using as they see fit. Don't like it too bad. You get EVERYTHING you pay for, not just the shit you want.

[Kyo]

When it's one of your advertised features,

lol

[aru]

I didn't use OtherOS, but I still think it's pretty bullshit that they're removing it.

Why? I'm honestly trying to understand what the problem is here. From what I can gather, installing another OS on the PS3 provided no benefit but is rather a hindrance, allowing hackers an easier time trying to find security exploits.
So what if that's what was part of what was advertised? If nobody used it for anything where's the harm? It's like removing your appendix, you don't use it for anything and if was threatening to kill you via appendicitis, you get it removed.
Being angry about removal of backwards compatibility is something i can understand as that was one of the core advertising features for the gaming/entertainment hub ideal Sony was going for. But people getting upset over this (seemingly) useless feature is something I cannot wrap my head around.

[Rockstaru]

Why? I'm honestly trying to understand what the problem is here. From what I can gather, installing another OS on the PS3 provided no benefit but is rather a hindrance, allowing hackers an easier time trying to find security exploits.
So what if that's what was part of what was advertised? If nobody used it for anything where's the harm? It's like removing your appendix, you don't use it for anything and if was threatening to kill you via appendicitis, you get it removed.
Being angry about removal of backwards compatibility is something i can understand as that was one of the core advertising features for the gaming/entertainment hub ideal Sony was going for. But people getting upset over this (seemingly) useless feature is something I cannot wrap my head around.

That's the problem. People did.