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How to Turn a PlayStation 3 Into a Linux PC
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.
http://psubuntu.com/wiki/InstallationInstructions/
This is a good Ubuntu installation wiki for PS3.
You're right that this isn't news, but it actually does have a processor that is designed for general-purpose computing; it's called the PPU (64-bit PowerPC processor blah blah blah). There are 7 OTHER SPU's (6 available in Linux) that have been optimized for vector processing. *Those* aren't general-purpose. But, Linux doesn't even need to see those to work. It can just run on the PPU.
The PSUbuntu website is a good resource for anyone who wants to run Ubuntu on their PS3:
http://psubuntu.com/
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. --Will
Also no access to built-in WiFi or Bluetooth hardware (VM doesn't export it)
;))
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, though I haven't tried it myself or even really read over it.
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Yes, you can play movies in VLC in Linux on the PS3.... as long as they are NOT High Definition. without 3d hardware acceleration and low ram, running Linux on the PS3 is painfully slow and sluggish. I tried to play the open source, open movie Elephant's Dream in HD with VLC on the PS3 and it barely ran. it was so choppy it was unwatchable.
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 only is it really slow but many applications are either are not supported with the PPC processor or you have to compile them yourself.
If you follow the instructions at PM's website you should be aware that the command to return to the PS3's native OS is not as the article has it. The correct command is "boot-game-os". Several folks made comments to that effect but for some reason PM is acting as if the error is cast in concrete and can't be corrected.
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.
There is an entire community dedicated to running Ubuntu on a PS3, at PSUbuntu.com. And you don't have to upgrade your HD from whatever size your PS3 came with, although of course it's easy and you can do it. The PS3 HW works right out of the box.
Right now is a good time to join the PSUbuntu.com community, because a new wave of developers on the ubuntu-cell 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 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 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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make install -not war
What's "news" is that this isn't the release version of Linux on PS3 that you installed back then, and that now it actually works.
There is indeed now a X/MPlayer video driver 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.
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make install -not war
Yes, the X/MPlayer video driver works now, playing 1080p HD video right out of the builtin HDMI port.
You might find yourself leaving your PC on just to play a game once in a while.
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make install -not war
According to this 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
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
A while back I setup an overlay for use on Gentoo / PS3 to try and get some of the more recent kernels / hardware working. I'm in the middle of looking to update it at the moment with 2.6.25, and to try and get some of the stuff I've posted in the forum updated onto a web-site. It looks as if the git repo tree now has tags for 2.6.25 which should make things a lot easier.
Bluetooth is possible, but just needs a couple of patches I think for HID support, this might now already be included in the later releases of bluez-utils (I need to check)
For the RSX / Graphics support, this appears to be a bit crappy at the moment, but it is fun to watch F-Zero / Mario Kart on a HD TV using while using the wireless controller, and there is the option to use a VGA cable for non HDMI monitors
To use the SPU's I think 64bit is required, with gcc 4.3
One of the main uses I could see would be the processor for rendering (e.g. yafray) if it had the support. Although at the moment there's not much that's written to take full advantage of the SPU's potential power, given that it operates under a different architecture than the ppc core (although it does heat the room quite nicely)
It's an in-order design, but it does have two threads and a full VMX128 vector processing unit.
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.
The SPU's can do integer math very fast, the problem is all software has to have SPU optimization (which is not trivial) written into it in order to utilize the SPU's. The odds of that happening to something like GCC is nonexistent...who cares enough to do that...nobody. But programs that are actually considered necessities to run fast (mplayer/mencoder, X11 driver) have already been ported and will run blazingly fast using the SPU's.
Surely this is a silicon yield trick. By requiring only 7 SPE's it means that chips with broken SPEs can be used in PS3s while the rarer 8 SPE version can be used in IBM Blades?