# Ubuntu in my PS3?



## Tycho (Feb 27, 2010)

So, I was thinking about putting Ubuntu 9.10 on my PS3, since my REAL computer is probably going to crap out soon.  I just need to do browsing and email and chatting and stuff, really.  Any opinions or advice on the matter?


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## CannonFodder (Feb 28, 2010)

DON'T DO IT, alot of people burned out the processor cause most of the computing in ps3 is done in the video card.
PS3+linux=dead game system


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## Kivaari (Feb 28, 2010)

Can't you already do most of that stuff with the PS3 as is?

If Cannonfodder is right, then maybe look for something on Craigslist. Not hard to find a computer that will work for around $100.


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## net-cat (Feb 28, 2010)

I'm going to agree with CannonFodder, even if his reason sounds a bit.... uh... not true. (As the say on Wikipedia, [citation needed].)

The reason I say "don't bother" is because it doesn't work very well. While Linux can utilize the SPEs, it... doesn't. It's exactly like running Linux on an old PowerPC-based Mac. Except with no video card.

You'll likely be okay for just web browsing. And maybe some OpenOffice.

But there is no Flash for PPC Linux. And very few media codecs for PPC Linux. And everything is basically run through a VESA framebuffer, so no full-screen, full motion video either.


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## The Blue Fox (Feb 28, 2010)

Sponge Cat said:


> Can't you already do most of that stuff with the PS3 as is?



I had Linux on my PS3. Never found a good use for it tho messed around with it eventually took it off. 
I dont know where Cannon got his info from it will not harm your ps3. All the prosesing is done buy the Cell CPU. And not buy the GPU.

Don't bother messing around with your PS.3 Just get a cheap Laptop or desk top. You will be so munch better off.


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## Runefox (Feb 28, 2010)

PS3 Linux is awesome and all, but it isn't going to let you do much. You'll be able to chat/IM and browse the web, but things like Youtube videos are generally out of its league. Even moving windows around is terribly slow, mainly because the GPU isn't available to offload any of it. It also has only 256MB of RAM, which is a major limiting factor (you can squeeze 512 out of it by using the GPU's VRAM as swap space).

There's that, and if it's a Slim, you won't be able to, anyway.


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## Foxstar (Feb 28, 2010)

Given that any Linux install on PS3 is locked down and semi worthless, don't bother. Get a 300 dollar laptop.


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## Irreverent (Feb 28, 2010)

Foxstar said:


> Given that any Linux install on PS3 is locked down and semi worthless, don't bother. Get a 300 dollar laptop.



I'd have to agree.  Way more functionality, and you can still game on you PS3.  I just got a Athlon 64 quad core with 4gb ddr2 and a 320gb drive for justr over 400.  About $350US.  Runs Win7-64 great, although I'm downgrading the Mint8 partition to the 32bit version.


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## net-cat (Feb 28, 2010)

Irreverent said:


> Way more functionality, and you can still game on you PS3.


He'd still be able to game on the PS3. Installing Linux (or any other third party OS) is fully supported and endorsed by Sony. (On the original PS3, anyway. The removed that feature from the slim.)

Bottom line is this: If you have absolutely zero money to do an upgrade or get a new system, then PS3 is almost kind of sort of a viable alternative. You can, in fact, do "browsing and email and chatting and stuff," so long as you don't consider "Flash" as part of "browsing" and "video" as part of "stuff." If you have a couple hundred dollars, you'd do far better with a modern netbook.


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## Jashwa (Feb 28, 2010)

You can browse and e mail with ps3's normal browser, although it's incredibly shitty. I doubt putting ubuntu and using that would be any better, though. 


Also, you have ps3? Why have we not added each other and played games yet?


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## CannonFodder (Feb 28, 2010)

net-cat said:


> I'm going to agree with CannonFodder, even if his reason sounds a bit.... uh... not true.


I'm not a computer major, so I don't know the actual terminology but the new PS3's can't use linux cause a couple people installed linux and tried playing games on them(non-ps3 games) and burnt out their processors.


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## net-cat (Feb 28, 2010)

CannonFodder said:


> I'm not a computer major, so I don't know the actual terminology but the new PS3's can't use linux cause a couple people installed linux and tried playing games on them(non-ps3 games) and burnt out their processors.



As I said before. Link or you're just spreading FUD.

And if it is true, that just speaks volumes about the PS3's quality.


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## Runefox (Feb 28, 2010)

CannonFodder said:


> I'm not a computer major, so I don't know the actual terminology but the new PS3's can't use linux cause a couple people installed linux and tried playing games on them(non-ps3 games) and burnt out their processors.



No. Basically, the feature was removed because of a lack of demand, and Sony had already shown off the power of their console that way with many lavish articles detailing PS3's being used in things like render farms (much like they had with the PS2). In addition, because the PS3's GPU is locked and inaccessible while running in Linux, absolutely everything is being run off a single (rather slow) PowerPC core unless something is designed to specifically make use of the SPE's (the SPE's are a different architecture from the PowerPC processor PS3 Linux runs on, and thus nothing standard works on them and they aren't usable as processor cores). This means that games in general are impractical, and 3D rendering is impossible. Even things like emulators don't run at full-speed, and require special magnification applications using the SPE's to scale the display because the processor alone can't keep up with it. Running Youtube video brings the system to its knees, and prepare to just shut it off if you for some reason try running full-screen flash video.

From experience, it's because as an end-user feature, PS3 Linux sucks, and it always will for as long as the hypervisor exists. It's slow, it's unresponsive, it's limited, and overall doesn't do an adequate job of being a desktop PC.


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## Psychedelic_Lombax (Feb 28, 2010)

Tycho said:


> So, I was thinking about putting Ubuntu 9.10 on my PS3, since my REAL computer is probably going to crap out soon.  I just need to do browsing and email and chatting and stuff, really.  Any opinions or advice on the matter?


If you have the old fat Ps3, it will work without a hack via Other OS feature, if you have a slim, it's hacking time.


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## Runefox (Feb 28, 2010)

Psychedelic_Lombax said:


> If you have the old fat Ps3, it will work without a hack via Other OS feature, if you have a slim, it's hacking time.



Except there are no working hacks for the PS3 firmware.


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## Tycho (Feb 28, 2010)

Well, so it looks like I'll probably be getting a Netbook or something similar.  I'll have to look around and see what they can be made to do.

If I wait 'til May though I could probably just buy my brother's notebook off of him for chump change.


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## Irreverent (Mar 1, 2010)

net-cat said:


> He'd still be able to game on the PS3. Installing Linux (or any other third party OS) is fully supported and endorsed by Sony..



Yeah, I didn't word that very well.  I meant surf on the notebook and game on the PS3.  Damn cold medicine.


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## net-cat (Mar 1, 2010)

Runefox said:


> Except there are no working hacks for the PS3 firmware.


http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/

Actually, someone finally did it. Just this year, in fact.

Granted, it's probably going to take a while before anyone does anything useful with it. (And it doesn't work on PS3 slim.)

EDIT: Seems to be a hardware hack. Doesn't require soldering anything to the board, just poking an existing trace. Still, pretty cool.)


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## Runefox (Mar 1, 2010)

Very nice. I certainly wouldn't be able to do anything with it, but maybe this'll spark something interesting - Like "real" homebrew (assuming the XMB can be modified this way, which I'm sure is theoretically possible) and maybe in the far-flung future, a real video driver for Linux.

I wouldn't have the hardware to do this, either. Apparently there's a very specific amount of time you need to pulse it (~40ns), so you'd need to whip something up hardware-wise to do that. I'd say certainly not a problem for you with your background though.

EDIT: Reading the comments on the blog, it seems that people actually are under the understanding that this guy took down the PSN. ... This warrants a lolwut.


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## net-cat (Mar 1, 2010)

Runefox said:


> I wouldn't have the hardware to do this, either. Apparently there's a very specific amount of time you need to pulse it (~40ns), so you'd need to whip something up hardware-wise to do that. I'd say certainly not a problem for you with your background though.


Well, looking at the illustration included with the hack, it looks like you only need to short some traces out and don't need anything other than a soldering iron for that.

Now, given the timings involved, an high-speed microcontroller or a low-speed FPGA would make the hack significantly easier and more likely to succeed. But it's not necessary. (Incidentally, I have a low-speed FPGA development kit on my desk at home...)



Runefox said:


> EDIT: Reading the comments on the blog, it seems that people actually are under the understanding that this guy took down the PSN. ... This warrants a lolwut.


Indeed. I find that difficult to believe. (Though, in theory, it could be a knee-jerk reaction from Sony. Badly tested patch they pushed out, or something.)


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## Jashwa (Mar 1, 2010)

It was an issue with the internal clocks.


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## net-cat (Mar 1, 2010)

Jashwa said:


> It was an issue with the internal clocks.


So I read. Something to do with leap year, which is a calculation any first year CS student should know...

As for the hack itself, I've got a lot of respect for it. Looking at the technical specs of it, there's no reason something similar shouldn't work in the slim. (It's just introducing an unexpected condition into the memory controller which you can then exploit through the hypervisor's behavior.) They'll have to find a game or applet with an arbitrary code execution exploit for it to be workable on the slim, though. 

Of course, Sony can patch the hypervisor. (I think.) But that's a very low-level piece of code and and they will have to be exceedingly careful about changing its behavior too much.


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## yiffytimesnews (Mar 1, 2010)

At least you want have the current problem http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100301/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_playstation_problem


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