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Hackers Get Linux Running On a PlayStation 4 (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Two years after the PlayStation 4 was released, and two weeks after it was jailbroken, a group of hackers has now successfully installed Linux on it. "...it appears that the fail0verflow team utilized a WebKit bug similar to the one recently documented by GitHub user CTurt and then took things up a notch. CTurt's workaround focuses on the PlayStation 4's Webkit browser, which is tricked into freeing processes from the core of the console's operating system by an improvised webpage. The PS4 is powered by Sony's Orbis OS, which is based on a Unix-like software called FreeBSD. With a route into the console's system, fail0verflow then identified weaknesses in the PlayStation 4's GPU. It specifically called out engineers from semiconductor company Marvell, accusing them of 'smoking some real good stuff' when they designed the PlayStation 4's southbridge chip."

5 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. A UNIX like system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "is based on a Unix-like software called FreeBSD"....HA!.

    1. Re:A UNIX like system? by Dwedit · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a UNIX system, I know this!

  2. Okay by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay, I gotta say that's pretty impressive. Not that Linux will run a PlayStation 4, but that they could do what it takes to get it installed and running.

    In a similar vein, I was on the Microsoft campus the other day. One of the instant bean-to-cup coffee machines wouldn't work, it was basically frozen solid with a non-responsive touchscreen. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. (I'm not kidding, that's what MS support would have suggested, right?)

    Lo and behold, when it booted up I saw it was running Slax, a Linux variant often found in embedded systems.

    I laughed- if only the MS employees knew that this subversive OS was the one making them their morning coffee (the lifeblood of every corporation) they'd probably be up in arms about it. lol

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  3. Re:Replace FreeBSD with Linux? Bad deal by Mazhe · · Score: 5, Funny

    systemd MUST run everywhere! there is no place for everything else.

  4. Re:Please let me informate you by ElectricHellKnight · · Score: 2, Funny

    Every time you say, "whilst" God kills a kitten.

    Whilst. Whilst. Whilst.

    I don't like cats.