Possible PS3 OS Information

Ars Technica has some details they think are fairly reliable about the OS the PS3 will be using. From the article: "In fact, there was some question as to what such an OS would be doing with all that leftover horsepower. I think the answer is probably to be found in the interactive, real-time, user- and network-facing sides of the console's functionality. This includes not only the audio/video chat and IM referenced in the PS3 Portal rumor, but also the aforementioned DRM (for streaming and downloadable online content that might be dynamically integrated into the game experience) and security/privacy-related code. "

Comments

So, you can crank it up to "eleven"?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

"PS3 games, at least initially, are not going to use all five or six available SPEs (remember, of the eight SPEs, one is disabled for yield purposes, a second is reserved for the system, and a third allegedly can be taken over by the system if it's needed)."

So, you can crank it up to "eleven"?

Speculation or blatantly obvious?

[Anonymous Coward]

"This includes not only the audio/video chat and IM referenced in the PS3 Portal rumor, but also the aforementioned DRM (for streaming and downloadable online content that might be dynamically integrated into the game experience) and security/privacy-related code"

So that's pretty much what the Xbox 360 has too right? And pretty much what any next gen online console will have, hmmm? Who wouldn't expect an online gaming machine in 2006 to have AV IM/chat and downloadable online content? Sheesh!

They'll be telling us that Vista's gonna have menus and a pointer next...

Re:Speculation or blatantly obvious?

[Austerity Empowers]

They'll be telling us that Vista's gonna have menus and a pointer next...

Not in Vista Basic, you'll need the upgrades for that...

Might As Well Go All out

[Nazmun]

The PS3 has a lot of expensive and powerful media hardware. They might as well create the software needed to use as much of the hardware as possible to market the beast at the $500-700 dollar pricepoint it will probably come out at.

It should be capable of:

1) Live Video Streaming in HD (new hd movie trailers on your big screen vs. PC screen).
2) All kinds of communications, chat, voice, etc.
3) Linux networked device.
4) All the game related stuff like demo downloads, etc.
5) Release a $50 dollar tv tuner accessory + appropriate software to make this into a pvr (already has massive graphics and parallel processing power along with the output hardware built in).

Of course this isn't to say that they should put any less resources on games. They should keep their AA third party and in house development teams and release as much variety + quality of games as they can. However, I'd hate to see all this hardware potential go to waste. Then and again since theres a good chance it will be able to run on linux (if thats not the default os) we may have free alternatives made by hobbyists (depending on the strength of the drm).

Performance Worries

[Nazmun]

The following quote from TFA worries me a bit. It will use a good chunk of the resources on the OS rather then purely for games. If the PS3 devs can't use a lighter version of the O.S. this could be a bit of an issue should they opt to do so in their games (some games may benefit from the voice/video chat but there are tons of games where this is unnecessary and annoying). Currently in the PS2 the default OS uses an almost negligible amount of resources that are pretty much needed to run the games

In the case of the PS3 this equates to 12.5% of the available Cores on the CPU always reserved, an additional 12.5% sometimes taken by the OS, 12.5% of the available RSX memory and 25% of XDR Cell memory. Balancing these out, one could argue that Sony has removed up to 25% of the available CPU power and 18.75% of RAM for these features as well as others that are not mentioned here or will be added in future updates to the PS3 Operation System.

Re: Performance Worries

[Volante3192]

This would be an issue if PS3 games came out of the box demanding >75% of the processing capacity. I doubt that game programmers will be fluent enough working with all those cells this early in the production cycle to actually make use of all that power.

It's not the amount of the cells you use, it's how you use em!

Re: Performance Worries

[The-Bus]

That's a silly comment. Sure, the launch titles won't effectively use all of the power of the console, but you're still reducing the overall power by a pretty hefty chunk. If you had a PC with 2GB of RAM but Vista used 1GB (instead of 256MB) then if you're browsing the web or emailing it doesn't affect you. But as soon as you want to play a game, do video processing, etc. then it sure becomes a problem.

IF Sony can give out OS updates over the internet (as Microsoft sort-of does now with the 360), then it's not a problem, if we assume it's only a matter of time before Sony can bring the OS down to only using a smaller percentage of the resources. But that kind of "we'll worry about it later" approach worries me, as companies generally don't have a great track record when they use that as an excuse.

No news!

[VincenzoRomano]

Quoting from the article:

Sony is planning to have an Operating System running constantly in the background.

I would wonder if Sony did it the other way!
It would be really hard to write and debug every single game (or application) with all the needed run time support in it.
I'd say that trivially a (kind of) operating system is to be present into that hardware marvel.
The real question is: which operating system will Sony choose?
One already existing or a fresh new one?

Hardware

[the computer guy nex]

"I'd hate to see all this hardware potential go to waste"

When you say "all this potential hardware" you really mean "blu-ray drive." The power difference between a PS3 and a 360 (with 3 3.2ghz processors and a better GPU) is negligable.

Re:Not a total cliche, considering the PS2 kit...

[Wesley Felter]

Yes, Sony announced that the PS3 can run Linux. But the game OS might not be Linux.

Grids?

[mr-mafoo]

I remember a while back when all the buzz about the new PS console was starting. There were numerous reports that the PS3 would form a distributed Grid computer for things like running the game servers or providing Mhz for rent (over broadband).
I'm wondering if this is still the plan? Was it the press confusing Cell and Grid? The other question it poses is what is the legality of using a client's box and bandwidth for sony's network

Re:Grids?

[Jerf]

There were numerous reports that the PS3 would form a distributed Grid computer for things like running the game servers or providing Mhz for rent (over broadband).I'm wondering if this is still the plan?

No, it was just a way of trying to demonstrate the phenomenal cosmic powers the PS3 will possess. I truly doubt that was ever anything other than talk.

See also the "Emotion Engine" (translation: "CPU"), "real-time Toy Story graphics" (something the new generation is getting close to if you fudge the resolution issue, but the only way the PS/2 was getting Toy Story-quality graphics was by playing the Toy Story DVD), and the nations that were polite enough to classify the PS2 as a "supercomputer" worthy of import/export controls, which made for wonderful, if meaningless, news stories for Sony.

'Course, at the time they were babbling about grids and stuff the PS3 sounded amazingly more powerful than anything available at the time. Now it mere seems kinda powerful for the price. In another year it'll be underpowered at best, and soon after that, the idea of network PS3s together for any sort of computation will be about as silly as the idea of networking PS2s together now.

That may be conservative, too; with the latest multi-core processors from Intel and AMD not being all that much more expensive than single cores, and the ever dropping price of 3D graphics, the point at which a computer costing the same as a PS3 will best the PS3 in most ways may come very quickly. (You can probably blame the Blu-Ray drive for that, since I wouldn't put one in the PC, and that's a lot of margin for the PC to play with.)

(However, the real final killer is that if they expect me to leave my PS3 on for any extra period of time, they're going to have to pay me for the electricity, which can be ~$10 a month or more, or restrict the grid to things I don't mind donating that sort of money to, which wouldn't make Sony any money.)

Where is the Devastator Cell?

[Kamalot]

In the dawn of the PS3, the system specs were all powerful. The almighty Cell processor has 8 SPEs and would take advantage of other Cell processors on the network, such as those in your TV. It was kind of like Devastator, the processors combining to become even more powerful.

Then we find out that Sony is having trouble making Cell chips with 8 working SPEs. So the PS3 is promised to only have 7 working SPEs for each system.

Today we find out that the OS will always consume an SPE and has the right to abduct another when necessary. This reduces the potential number of SPEs that a developer can reliably count on for a game to use at all times is reduced to 5.

The true power of the PS3 keeps being reduced the closer to launch it becomes. Additional features have already been dropped. How many more will evaporate before the PS3 becomes a real device you can go to the store and buy?

"Cell will create a new extensible computing platform. A set-top box containing a Cell chip could, for example, combine to share processing power with a Cell-powered high-definition television to render the graphics of an animated movie."

"A game console might use a chip with 16 cores, while a less complicated device like a set-top box would have a processor with fewer"

"It will have the ability to do north of 1 trillion mathematical calculations per second, roughly 100 times more than a single Pentium 4 chip running at 2.5GHz."

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-948493.html

What went wrong on the way? Why do we now have a processor that isn't half what we were promised but is still a total bitch to program for?

Don't you think someone should be asking these questions?

Finally

[thesnarky1]

Just what I always wanted! The ability to talk on AIM using two thumbsticks while fragging my way through a room full of badass monsters!

Homer Simpson's Car

[Kamalot]

Think of a car manufacturer telling you about an upcoming sports car. The automobile will have 8 cylinders in a brand-new type of engine and will be faster than anything else on the road.

A year goes by and the manufacturer is having trouble producing the brand-new engine with 8 working cylinders. Instead, they decide the sports car will only use 7.

Now we find out that the fancy computer controlled car needs power to run the fuel-injectors, radio, On-Star and GPS system. As a result, the car will always occupy one cylinder of power and will have the option to abscond with another cylinder when it deems necessary.

Your 8-cylinder powerhouse is now a 5-cylinder go-kart. Sure, it has a really fancy GPS system and radio, but what about those that wanted the super-car they were promised? The machine isn't focused on delivering the best driving experience possible, it has turned into a Homermobile, with a bluray player, the ability to download music and shows, 7 wireless controllers, cup holders, a coffee machine, and three horns that play "La Cucaracha".

How about a company that focuses on doing something well, instead of trying to be everything to everyone?

The original PS3Portal article

[genedefect]

You can get to the original article here

http://www.ps3portal.com/ps3/article/352.html
http://www.ps3portal.com/ps3/article/352/2