iSCSI on the PS3 (Network Sharing of Blu-Ray Drive)

[cainmp]

Hi guys, new to the forums. I have been reading a lot of articles here and I cant seem to find an answer to my question. i found this website: http://linux-iscsi.org/index.php/Playstation3/iSCSI, and it clearly shows the sharing of the PS3 Blu-Ray drive over the network to another PC using the technology of iSCSI. i am a completely new to Linux, i did successfully install YDL 6.1 and have played around with it and am happy with my experience so far.

for anyone who doesn't know, iSCSI is a network protocol that allows hard drives, partitions, CD/DVD drives tape drives, etc to appear to a networked computer as a local drive, and allows reading and writing to occur as such. So, in theory, once installing the iSCSI target software on the PS3, one could share the Blu-Ray Drive over the network to any PC and it would appear as a local drive for watching Blu-Ray Movies locally.

to my question, does anyone know how to implement this software? there is little to no help on the website there except for the software files, Googleing the topic has proved useless, and I have no idea how to install, configure or use it beyond looking at the website.

Any help at all that may point me in the right direction would be great.

cainmp

[Jaybps3]

These threads are difficult, I would like to help you but at the same time. Im not sure helping someone gain access to the blueray drive over a network is a good or bad thing.

Im going to have to say I can't. I guess if one of the moderators/administrators veiws your post, and says its ok I will help out. Otherwise my position stands.

[bonedome]

Yes I think you may have opened an interesting thread or a can of worms.
The issue here is clearly one of legality and in the wonderful no borders world of the internet it's difficult to know what laws apply.
Apparently it is technically illegal (in the UK) to copy your legitimately owned cd to mp3 or ipod,
if you where a part of some organised crime gang making grillions of £$ from selling ripped off dvds etc then you may come to the attention of law enforcement, on the other hand I doubt ever so slightly that the royalties police are going to be kicking your door in at 4 in the morning if you're Joe public listening to your mp3 player while you wait for the bus, hence lots of people do it without losing too much sleep.
One question that also needs answering is if you could copy a bluray disc onto a hard drive is it the same quality ?
If it can only be played at the same res as a normal or upgraded dvd I can't see a big problem/much point.
There that's my two pence

[ppietro]

These threads are difficult, I would like to help you but at the same time. Im not sure helping someone gain access to the blueray drive over a network is a good or bad thing.

Im going to have to say I can't. I guess if one of the moderators/administrators veiws your post, and says its ok I will help out. Otherwise my position stands.

I think it's okay. It doesn't look like this is designed for piracy - there doesn't appear to be any "cracking" involved. It just appears to be a way to allow you to remote connect to drives.

Use your best judgment here. If you get a bad feeling about it, feel free to skip it.

Cheers,
Paul

[ppietro]

Yes I think you may have opened an interesting thread or a can of worms.
The issue here is clearly one of legality and in the wonderful no borders world of the internet it's difficult to know what laws apply.
Apparently it is technically illegal (in the UK) to copy your legitimately owned cd to mp3 or ipod,
if you where a part of some organised crime gang making grillions of £$ from selling ripped off dvds etc then you may come to the attention of law enforcement, on the other hand I doubt ever so slightly that the royalties police are going to be kicking your door in at 4 in the morning if you're Joe public listening to your mp3 player while you wait for the bus, hence lots of people do it without losing too much sleep.
One question that also needs answering is if you could copy a bluray disc onto a hard drive is it the same quality ?
If it can only be played at the same res as a normal or upgraded dvd I can't see a big problem/much point.
There that's my two pence

My interpretation of this software is that it allows you to remotely connect to a blu-ray drive. Consider it an alternative form of networking. There's no mention of copying at all - I would assume that the Mac in the pictures has blu-ray playback software but no blu-ray drive. I don't see any U.S. legal issues with this. It's the same as removing the blu-ray drive from your PS3 and putting it in a PC.

As for your last question about copying - now that's something that probably shouldn't be discussed here.

Let's try to keep this thread specifically on-topic about installing the iSCSI software and not spin off into discussions about legal issues. Otherwise, I probably will be forced to lock it. (Not trying to be threatening here - just trying to be a good site admin. )

Cheers,
Paul

[uncholowapo]

This isn't a bad idea for people with modern generation computers that can stream super fast and don't have a BD Drive readily available. I'll have to bookmark it Hmmm I'll experiment with it when my friend gets his gaming PC next week.

[cainmp]

Thanks guys, i must admit that there is zero intent to break any laws here, from my understanding, the PC, or mac or Linux box or whatever still has to communicate with the drive as if it where local, meaning some software like PowerDVD or similar is required to allow playback, nothing illegal there. I merely don't have a desire to pay for a new Blu-Ray drive in my PC when i feel it is possible to use the one I already have (in my PS3). so again, does anyone know how to install/configure iSCSI on ydl 6.1?

cainmp

[cainmp]

Anyone have any ideas?

[ppietro]

Anyone have any ideas?

From the looks of the website - it's not a typical install. There may be some compiling steps involved. It'll take a little while for the folks on this community forum to get this running.

Cheers,
Paul

[cainmp]

Thats cool,just wondered if anyone was working on it or if there was anything I could do to help (testing etc).

[uncholowapo]

I tried a quick compile from the svn version like it said in it's readme and I came out with errors. I don't know if I was supposed to compile on the PS3 or on my laptop though since the site is very limited on instructions or if it is me that can't understand the instructions.

[Jaybps3]

Ok well I think I will go ahead and hop on it. I'll be back with my results soon as I get some

[uncholowapo]

I'm still wondering how HD movies can be played over a network without any help from the Cell. I don't see anywhere that it uses the Cell for any video processing. So I'm guessing it uses the hardware of the recieving machine i.e laptop or desktop. Any ideas?

[billb]

I'm still wondering how HD movies can be played over a network without any help from the Cell. I don't see anywhere that it uses the Cell for any video processing. So I'm guessing it uses the hardware of the recieving machine i.e laptop or desktop. Any ideas?

Sounds to me like the machine you'd watch the videos on (not the PS3) would be reading from the PS3's blu-ray drive over the network as if it were attached.

[Jaybps3]

I got this worked out, I'll post a tutorial up soon. Basically the main thing is installing the iscsi-target once you get that done, Configuring it for use is fairly simple. Windows vista is what I used to connect, the iscsi initiator was already installed

You have to have your kernel source installed to build the iscsi-target. Once you have your kernel source installed properly its just as simple as run make KERNELSRC=/usr/src/KERNEL-SOURCE install

That will get the target module built and installed.