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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!.
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...
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!
systemd MUST run everywhere! there is no place for everything else.
Careful, man. Couple years ago I woke up naked in jail and they told me I had written a new init system. Apparently I was ranting about how it would overthrow the established order and then they shot me up with thorazine.
If you can jailbreak it enough to boot Linux, then using a similar method to open up an SSH daemon on the existing OS to the local network and setting up a local user id to login with should be pretty simple by comparison, right?
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
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.
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.
Every time you say, "whilst" God kills a kitten.
Whilst. Whilst. Whilst.
I don't like cats.