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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.

4 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Blu-Ray Players not Cheap? WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dude, are you on crack?

    1. There is only one sku for the ps3 currently, and it's only 399. There will be a new one soon for 100, but it's basically the same.

    2. While you can use a bluray drive for reading bluray discs, you can't actually play movies with it, as per a couple of months ago, or at the very least, not without serious time investment converting the video.

    3. Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Pixel Junkies Monsters, Warhawk, Folklore, Gran Turismo, Resistance: Fall of Man. All of these are exclusive to the PS3, all of these are highly rated, and there's most likely at least one game in this set that would appeal to you as a gamer, as this largely covers the spectrum of genres available today. AND I hadn't even mentioned Metal Gear, which comes out this month (IIRC).

    It's clear that either you're (a. retarded or (b. simply bashing the PS3 because it's cool to do so. But guess what? It's not really cool to do so anymore because it's starting to become a solid system.

  2. Re:On what planet is this 'news'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The news part of the article isn't so much that it's possible to install linux on a ps3, but that the how-to appeared in a relatively mainstream magazine. The sort of thing you might come across while waiting in a doctor's office. Never mind that a quick web search reveals the instructions - this is introducing the concepts to a wider audience who would otherwise never have even thought of the possibility, and might get some of them thinking.

    And that is the news part.

  3. Why Ubuntu? They dropped PPC support by chriseh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't get it. Ubuntu officially dropped PPC support last year.

    So, why would Popular Mechanics recommend Ubuntu when you could download Yellow Dog Linux (for free as well from public mirrors), which is developed by the company hired by Sony to develop linux for the PS3. This sounds somewhat odd.

    Disclaimer: I work for Terra Soft Solutions, so I've clearly got a bias here.

  4. Re:On what planet is this 'news'? by kestasjk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think he meant the processor isn't designed for general purpose computing like a 18-wheeler isn't designed for grocery shopping; you could do it but that's not what it's designed for so it's not the best idea

    --
    // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);