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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."
"is based on a Unix-like software called FreeBSD"....HA!.
One software, two softwares, right? One hardware, two hardwares. One information, two informations. One firmware, two firmwares. Right? And when you correct someone ("it is one PIECE of software, or one PIECE of firmware"), the response is "English is a changing language" NO. Pardon me whilst I go eat some toasts.
I think the point is that they were able to do it in relatively short order once it was Jailbroken. Getting an existing OS to run on proprietary hardware which you don't have drivers available for isn't a cakewalk.
A software? Did anybody write a software recently? I wrote three softwares last week.
P.S. there appears to be a problem with logging on. I get a message "wrong image text", which is hardly surprising because there's no image.
At the bottom of the
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...
Ok, the above is pretty funny, but this is New Year, so I'm allowing for the editor (and the submitter) being wasted... Or, maybe, Siri was wasted and misunderstood them.
But, seriously, replacing FreeBSD with Linux is sort of like making a millionaire out of a billionaire...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It would be unusable without GNU utilities
Gosh, you should know that the ONLY software is systemd, everything else is obscure niche non-working hobbyist stuff that cannot be used on production system like a PlayStation!
Yeah, if anything is Unix, BSD is, although there are others with a similar claim.
BSD was the "Berkeley Software Distribution". Distribution of what, you might ask? Of Unix. It's the Berkeley Software Distribution of Unix.
This is like calling Centos or Debian "Linux-like" software.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
How does this represent a lack of comprehension? Linux is System V style and FreeBSD is, well, BSD style. When we use the term Unix, or *nix we are simply being all encompassing because it's easier than having to continuously draw the distinction. You used the term yourself. I gather from your post you are also thinking "why bother?". Why not?
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Linux is "Unix-like". It was made to be similar to Unix in behavior, but be based on different underlying code.
FreeBSD is literally Unix (descended from the "Berkely Software Distribution" of Unix). It's not the only version of Unix, but it's more Unix in origin than say, Ubuntu or Redhat are Linux in origin, as they also inherit significant parts of their origins from GNU utilities. No one with any comprehension of their history would call them "Linux-like", though.
As I've said elsewhere, the jailbreak is the accomplishment.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
Precisely!!! If they wanted to run Linux on it, they could have just gotten to the Linux jails in the OS - assuming that it wasn't removed while making the Orbis OS.
Also, did they say that they REMOVED Orbis in order to get Linux on it? If no, they could use the FreeBSD utilities that come w/ Orbis. In fact, this could well be a project for the Debian kFreeBSD project, if it's still alive
While FreeBSD is BSD derived, Open Group owns the brand name, and from that POV, unless and until FreeBSD is run through their test suite and passes the UNIX 03 specification, it is not UNIX.
No, if he was arguing why is Linux replacing Windows, it would have been. But the question here is why is Linux replacing FreeBSD, which is a good one
FreeBSD comes with compatibility for running Linux executables, but it doesn't let you run the Linux kernel unless you run it in a VM, which doesn't seem to be the case here judging from the boot logging. Getting the Linux kernel to run on the bare hardware means adding drivers to run on the PS4 hardware, which is PC-like but not exactly a PC, and I doubt Sony published their FreeBSD hardware drivers. Doing that in just 2 weeks time is pretty impressive in my opinion.
Headline I'd like to see: "Sony gets sshd and X11 running in Orbis OS; introduces WorkStation 4"
Softmods to install GNU/Linux on an original Xbox have been around for a long time. All you need is a copy of MechAssault (the one without Gotye) a 2 GB flash drive, and a cable.
Or did you mean XbOne?
I'm not "completely wrong in that regard." as my actual statement (which you seem to have read as the opposite meaning) was 'No one with any comprehension of their history would call them "Linux-like"' It sounds like you agree with me on that.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
FreeBSD is not only Unix in one of it's most faithful implementations - it's also a damn fine Unix, too. I used to like Solaris as well, but am not in touch with the OS and the community since after Solaris 9, so I am not sure about it anymore. FreeBSD, on the other hand, hasn't skipped a beat and it's still king, at least among the open-source operating systems.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Now Playstations run on Linux. BSD isn't going to be around much longer...
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
So Sony has created a computer that is next to impossible to jailbreak. (Keep in mind you have to have the old firmware for their exploit to work.) And yet they claim all their systems were hacked. Right...
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
How the fuck did you miss "news for nerds"?