Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PlayStation 4 Will Be Running Modified FreeBSD

Posted by samzenpus on from the under-the-hood dept.

jones_supa writes "This discovery comes nicely alongside the celebration of FreeBSD's 20th birthday, for all the UNIX nerds. The operating system powering the PlayStation 4 is Orbis OS, which is a Sony spin of FreeBSD 9.0. It's not a huge surprise FreeBSD is being used over Linux, in part due to the more liberal licensing. The PlayStation 4 is x86-64 based now rather than Cell-based, which makes it easier to use FreeBSD. BSDs in general currently lack manufacturer supported full-feature AMD graphics driver, which leads to the conclusion that Sony and AMD have likely co-developed a discrete driver for the PS4. Some pictures of the development kit boot loader (GRUB) have been published too."

3 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. License war commencing... by cold+fjord · · Score: 0, Troll

    In 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  2. Re: A great win for FreeBSD by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 0, Troll

    You expect, but it's not at all required. If you want code back, use a different license.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  3. Re:A great win for FreeBSD by AilleCat · · Score: -1, Troll

    This is what happens when liberals and dirty hippies put their hands in an OS. They expect everything for free. BSD developers are proud people, and like to see their software used in various situations. Usually, like in the cases of certain vendors (ie. Apple) the code IS contributed back, developers familiar with the code are given jobs, etc. The BSDs have a much more libertarian bent to software, and it shows in the quality. It DOES benefit us. It just doesn't benefit YOU.

    -T (aka BSD-Pat)

    --
    FreeBSD The Power to Serve