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Setting Up Ubuntu On a PS3 For Emulation

Posted by Soulskill on from the eight-bit-high-def dept.

Gizmodo is running a guide on how to install Ubuntu on a Playstation 3 and set it up to play vintage games through emulation. Quoting: "It still kind of surprises me (in a good way) that Sony was, from the start, very OK with PS3 owners tinkering with Linux on their PS3s. A modified release of Yellow Dog Linux was available from the very beginning, and some very handy hard drive partitioning and dual-boot utilities are baked right into the PS3's XMB; Ubuntu gets installed on an entirely separate partition of your PS3's hard disk, so your default system doesn't get touched and switching between Ubuntu and the XMB is a piece of cake. There is a flipside to this coin, however. Since the PS3's Cell Processor is PowerPC based, you won't be able to use any Linux software that's compiled for x86, which is, unfortunately, most of it. However, Ubuntu has always had a PPC distro, and most of the basic stuff will work just fine. You can even load up a PPC-compiled Super Nintendo Emulator, SNES9X, and play some classic games pretty easily on your Sixaxis controller paired via Bluetooth."

2 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Illin with the panicillin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Is she illin in the panicillin?
    Is she chillin in the panicillin?
    Is she stealin in the panicillin?
    Is she feelin in the panicillin?

    Panka panka

    Is she liable no suitifiable pliable style is so suitifiable
    Is she liable no suitifiable im not on trial but its suitifiable
    Is she reliable no suitifiable not just viable but real suitifiable
    Is she try-able no suitifiable lying in the aisle im real suitifiable

    Is she spillin in the panicillin?
    Is she squealin in the panicillin?
    Is she feelin in the panicillin?
    Is she trillin in the panicillin?

    Panka panka

    Is it libel? no suitifiable pliable style is so suitifiable
    Is it a style? no suitifiable im not on trial but its suitifiable
    Is it a mile? no suitifiable not just viable but real suitifiable
    Is it wild? no suitifiable lying in the aisle im real suitifiable

  2. Re:VM hacking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Worth pointing out, that Ubunutu is not the best choice. Yellowdog is, it includes a patch to allow the 256MB of GPU memory to be used in addition to the regular 256MB of system XDR.

    Ubunutu - 256MB
    YellowDog = 512MB

    Quite a performance difference. You could apply the kernel patch if you are so inclined to run Ubunutu, but why bother, it's clearly Yellowdog that is tweaked for PS3...