How Can I Use Linux on PS3?

[hcubed]

I'll try to be concise, but I may not be successful. I have a phat PS3 60 GB that I have not updated past 3.15. It has YDL 6.2 installed (first thing I did after getting it).

What Sony has done (and is doing) with regard to removing OtherOS and other features (can't use Netflix, etc.) is super irritating to me.

My question is, is there anything remotely useful or novel I can do with this unit if I'm not a developer? I never planned on learning to develop for the Cell architecture, but admit I was intrigued that I could run Linux on my "does everything" game console. I'm also not a gamer (have a few PS2 games I occasionally play on it) and never even really knew what "homebrew" means. I have a few other computers, all of which run circles around Linux on PS3 as an ordinary desktop computer. Is there any reason not to upgrade firmware at this point? I don't want to, if only because of principle, but after a while, as feature after feature drops off, the argument to keep running a yellow dog-slow installation of Linux becomes harder to justify GIVEN that I'm not a developer.

I'm intrigued with PS3 clusters and would love to tinker around with that (if I knew what to do) even though I only have one. I guess I just want someone to give me a reason to not upgrade firmware... any reason. The novelty of the desktop function is waning.

[ppietro]

I guess I just want someone to give me a reason to not upgrade firmware... any reason.

As far as I'm concerned - you had the perfect reason earlier in your message:

What Sony has done (and is doing) with regard to removing OtherOS and other features (can't use Netflix, etc.) is super irritating to me.

For me - this is reason enough never to upgrade my PS3. The very idea that Sony would remove one of Ken Kutaragi's features rather than try to fix it still has me pretty steamed.

And - frankly - I just like having Linux on my PS3. One of the main things about it that I like is that it's not Intel based. I used to use a lot of PowerPC-based computers - and this is probably the last major machine to use this processor architecture.

Then again - I also run a MIPS processor on my PS2 Linux installation.

The flip side to this is that I also refuse to give Sony any more money for the PS3. Why should I reward them for taking away OtherOS by upgrading my PS3 to access the PSN network - which eventually gives them money?

I wrote a long article about this for the PlayStation forums. Here it is:

(Heh - Sony's site is down. *lol* I'll quote it when it comes back on-line.)

My purist stance was recently complicated by the fact that I was given a PS3 Slim as a present. Apparently, my brother got tired of my purist stance.

So - there's no real hardship for me in leaving my PS3 phat on 3.15 with OtherOS. And - technically - I didn't give Sony any further money.

I guess the way I'd look at it is like this. If you have other gaming machines, and you feel like sending Sony a message with your purchasing dollars, leave your PS3 at 3.15, and keep it off the PSN. Finish playing the existing PS3 games you have, enjoy PS2 BC if you have it, and wait until the next generation of gaming consoles to see if Sony regains your trust. This is what I'm doing.

If the PS3 is your only gaming console, you're an avid gamer, and you really don't care that you have one of the last PowerPC Linux boxes, go ahead and update it. If you really bought it strictly for gaming, it's pointless to wait for Sony to rectify this - based on the engineering staff Sony has left, OtherOS is probably never coming back.

Be aware that certain features will break on your console after you update it. Currently, there are issues with the Blu-ray movie Sunshine - you can't turn off the Picture-In-Picture feature - and some third-party USB controllers. Sony started restricting USB to licensed peripherals only, to help defeat the USB homebrew devices.

Also - there are a few posts on the Sony Forums detailing issues with blu-ray drive failures after firmware upgrades on the phats. I have never experienced this myself, but a good friend of mine did. His drive was working - he upgraded it - afterwards his PS3 would no longer read DVDs. It somehow became a Blu-ray only drive. He didn't even bother repairing his phat since it was one of the 40 gigs. He just replaced it with a slim.

Cheers,
Paul

[hcubed]

Thanks for the thorough reply. It's helpful. I didn't know some of the things you mentioned such as some people experience features breaking after upgrading. I don't own a single PS3 game, I rarely play the few PS2 games I have (but occasionally I do). I bought this PS3 a few months before the big stink 3.21 primarily to use as a media player to stream media from my computers all over the house to the main TV in the living room. I use it almost exclusively for this.

The other reason I bought it was the novelty of running Linux on it. Because I have other computers that are much faster as desktop computers, the Linux on PS3 is nearly all novelty and very little practicality.

When I learned that it would give me access to Netflix streaming, that was cool, but I've never actually signed up for Netflix, so that's really just a potential thing that was possible and now isn't. Did I mentioned Sony really gets me irritated when I think of what they've done. It's just wrong.

I'll probably end up not upgrading... because I keep using it primarily for streaming media from PCs, because I like the novelty of having Linux on it even if I don't use Linux on PS3 a lot everyday, ... and for the principle of it.

I still wish I knew enough to toy with development on it and/or to toy with clustering, but right now that's beyond my talents.

HCubed