Can I use PS3 YDL 6.1 on different TVs?

[baked_penguin]

I have everything ready to install YDL 6.1 on my PS3, but from the tutorials I've seen it seems that I won't be able to change the screen resolution once it has installed without re-installing it. Since I use the PS3 on both a HD TV (through a HDMI cable) and also a pretty standard smaller TV (using the standard AV lead that came with the PS3) I anticipate that this will cause issues when switching TVs. So, can anyone please answer any of the following....

1. Can YDL 6.1 be used with the standard PS3 AV lead or am I stuck with HD use only with it?

2. Is it possible to change the resolution without re-installing it?

3. If changing picture resolution is possible, how difficult is this to do?

Any answers here would be much appreciated.

[bonedome]

Hello
no it's not difficult and you won't have to reinstall, the video resolution is chosen at boot up from file /etc/yaboot.conf, you can follow this guide http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?t=3524 and no you don't have to use hd.
One thing though, you may have to change to the lower 480i setting before switching from hd to sd as you might not get any display, if you end up with a text login, just login as normal and type startx to get GUI.
portable ps3 i like it

[ppietro]

You can also create Yaboot.conf entries for each TV.

See this post:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3198&p=12521#p12521

I know the post says I haven't tested it - but - yes - I have used it since I posted it, and it works great.

Cheers,
Paul

[baked_penguin]

This all sounds reassuring. I'll give it a go.

Big thanks to ppietro and bonedome for your answers

[baked_penguin]

I installed YDL 6.1 successfully, but the part about changing the screen resolution wasn't so simple. I got the test mode to work, but I couldn't figure out how to permanently change the screen settings despite using the forum turorial posts and wasting many hours.

So, the short version of the story is that I gave up out of frustration and re-formatted my PS3 hard drive, putting it back to a machine where everything on it works as it should (internet back on, game saves back in etc). Quite frankly, I think it is very disappointing that YDL doesn't have a tool built into the GUI that allows the user to test and confirm their TV settings after installing it. Although there are Linux users out there who think that the current state of affairs is sufficiently easy for them, few people who are unfamiliar with this kind of thing will be willing to persevere with such a steep learning curve.

It baffles me that the people behind YLD have got so much right, but yet have gone so wrong over the absence of a user-friendly TV settings tool. I was intending to use YDL to run game emulators, but from what I have read it seems the emulator packages aren't very user-friendly either (can't blame YDL for that one though). Hopefully, there will be a Linux distro for PS3 that bridges these gaps or else Linux will never become widely used on this machine like the dreamers were hoping.

[billb]

I installed YDL 6.1 successfully, but the part about changing the screen resolution wasn't so simple. I got the test mode to work, but I couldn't figure out how to permanently change the screen settings despite using the forum turorial posts and wasting many hours.

The process for setting the tested mode is described in the section under "Edit your yaboot.conf file" in this guide:

viewtopic.php?t=3524

I don't see where you posted any questions about it so I don't know what part you had trouble with, specifically. In writing that guide, I tried to be brief and didn't get into explaining all the details. I'm open to suggestions for improvement.

I was more or less completely new to Linux when I first installed YDL 5.0 on my PS3, and remember well the frustration of learning my way around. I went through a LOT of trial and error, reinstalls, and spent many hours trying to figure things out. One day I'd be happy with my system up and running the way I wanted it, and the next I'd be trying to fix something I screwed up.

It baffles me that the people behind YLD have got so much right, but yet have gone so wrong over the absence of a user-friendly TV settings tool. I was intending to use YDL to run game emulators, but from what I have read it seems the emulator packages aren't very user-friendly either (can't blame YDL for that one though). Hopefully, there will be a Linux distro for PS3 that bridges these gaps or else Linux will never become widely used on this machine like the dreamers were hoping.

I don't believe it comes down to which distro you're using on the PS3 -- whether it's YDL, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Gentoo ... as far as I know they all use basically the same method of setting the screen resolution.

Sony provides a Linux Distributor's Starter Kit as described here:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ ... -08.06.09/

Some specific utilities are included with it, with ps3-video-mode being one of them:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ ... ities.html

In the "Other Notes" section, see:

Other Notes
Don't change the display resolution while sound is playing.

Don't change the display resolution from X. If you do, you will need to
restart the X server. This is because the X frame buffer driver assumes
a frame buffer has a fixed line length.

If you would like to boot Linux into a specific video mode you may pass a
video mode option on the kernel the command line. Two formats are available.
One uses a video mode name as video=mode-name, and the other uses
a video mode-id as video=ps3fb:mode:mode-id. See the EXAMPLES section
below for more information

The part I've made bold in the above quote explains why there's no GUI tool to change the resolution on PS3 Linux. With the way everything is implemented you can't really do it while in the GUI.

So it's the Linux Distributor's Starter Kit provided by Sony, and the way we're restricted to using a frame buffer instead of accessing the RSX directly by the PS3's hypervisor, that complicates matters -- not Fixstars' implementation of Yellow Dog Linux on the PS3.

I don't see where Sony really stands to profit from improving Linux support, as the rumor goes that they lose money on every PS3 they sell where the user doesn't also purchase PS3 games for it. Kai Staats, COO of Fixstars Solutions, posted about this on the YDL General mailing list back in January:

http://lists.fixstars.com/pipermail/yel ... 22341.html

Yes, because PPC hardware is a relatively small player in the commodity,
consumer world, there is less pressure and less reason for companies such as
Apple to support Linux. But the inside story is that Apple was conflicted,
for at one time (2000/2001) they had a Linux Technology Manager, full-time,
with a small team at his disposal. But eventually, this position was
terminated (as far as I know).

Apple's shareholders want religious focus, not me-too consideration of all
things possible. Linux simply was not on the radar outside of the work by the
former Terra Soft, which was granted a unique license to install Linux and
maintain warranty, but never received a single bit of data.

Concerning Sony, similar unfolding. While the former CEO of Sony had a vision
for the PS3 to be more than a game box, selling PS3s without games actually
loses money for Sony (or so the rumor goes). So if you open the RSX so that
Linux lovers may run their favorite games (Windows emus as well) on the PS3,
Sony loses money on each PS3 they sell to Linux users who don't buy games.

This is not to say that the situation will never change, but hopefully this bit of background info helps you understand more about it.

In summary, I'd be happy to help you out if you want to try Linux again on your PS3. YDL 6.1 is the best version I have used yet ... I've had YDL 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 6.0, and now 6.1, as well as several versions of Fedora installed. I may check out OpenSUSE on my 2nd PS3 soon, but I'd have to wrestle the controllers away from my wife and daughter who have become addicted to Little Big Planet.