Exploring GNU/Linux on PlayStation 3
- Posted September 12th, 2007 at 16:20 EDT by
- 11,631 views
- 16 Comments
It has been public knowledge since before the launch of the PlayStation 3 that it is capable of installing a GNU/Linux operating system. But how is this done and why would we want to do it? We examine the reasons for installing Linux on the PS3 and illustrate how well the console fits the role of a general purpose computer.
We recommend reading through the article in full before actually changing anything on your system. This is not a thorough how-to guide, but we have provided links to the necessary resources to get you up and running. By reading our guide you should get a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as the installation goes. Reviews of specific operating systems may be forthcoming in the future.
What is Linux?
GNU/Linux is an open source operating system for computers, comparable to Windows or OS X. It has been developed by a wide community of hobbyists and programmers, largely in their spare time and for free. There are many different distributions (flavours) of Linux but they all share the same roots.
The main distributions that run on the PS3 at the time of writing are Yellow Dog Linux, Fedora Core, Ubuntu, Gentoo and Debian. These each offer a different view of what Linux should be and have slightly different ways of doing things.
Why on PS3?
The most obvious reason to install a full desktop operating system on your PS3 is to give you all the features of a PC on top of a great gaming and multimedia machine. With Linux you can use the console for word processing, image manipulation, web browsing and even programming. In fact, IBM even provide a compiler and documentation to get you started on programming for the Cell Broadband Engine at the heart of the PS3.
Aside from that, using an open source operating system will give you access to seemingly endless repositories of free software. Everything from editors to games can be run as long as it is compiled for the system. The distros mentioned all have databases whereby you can download a program to do just about anything you could imagine.
Amusingly though, it probably won't be able to run the Linux version of Unreal Tournament 3, but that's what the console's for. It'll work fine on the system software, which you can switch to at any time.
With all these benefits, there are, of course, some downsides to consider. The two biggest hurdles are software maturity for the Cell BE and the limited memory of the PS3.
PS3 Linux hasn't been around for very long so a lot of the free software for the platform is just recompiled code designed for more conventional PC architectures. As such some of it doesn't work and some of it works but very poorly. There are already many good programs out there and with time the software will mature but it's worth bearing in mind nonetheless.
The other issue is more permanent as the PS3's memory is not upgradable. Just over 200MB of system memory is available for use as access to the RSX graphics chip has been restricted and thus its memory is out of bounds. Many people seem to find that using a lightweight distro with a small window manager is the best solution, but performance is still not great.
How to Install Linux
Before we begin, it is important to note that the installation process requires you to format tand partition the hard drive. This means that everything stored on the drive is deleted, and then it is divided into two portions: one for the PS3's gaming side, and the other for Linux. If you have anything saved that you want to keep, be sure to back it up!. That includes save games, profiles, downloaded games, music and anything else you want to salvage.
The first step is to decide which distribution you want to install. We have already mentioned some of the different options available and we recommend you check out their websites to get a feel for what each one offers.
Once you're ready to ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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Perishing_Mind
- 4:39pm BST - September 12th, 2007
- 2
@Triple Dk
Exactly, just like on Windows or Mac OS, you can install every program you want in fact. If certain programs are useful on PS3 is another story ;)
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Aratacus
- 6:58pm BST - September 12th, 2007
- 7
@Mondax... obviosly Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) is the best choice... though i can't seem to find this OS for free.... looked for a long time... my friend put Ubuntu on his PS3, but it was pretty much useless(other then the fact the internet browser is much better than the XMB)... @Perishing_mind, you forgot to mention you can install anything thats designed for Linux... obviosly Flash can be obtained by YDL's standard internet browser Mozilla Firefox(i use this instead of explore anyway).... but ive yet to see someone install "Word perfect" on there Linux... as far as i know... nothing Microsft really works with Linux, except maybe, and i mean maybe, Hotmail IM... just research it... you might be interested... im personally waiting till its availabe from the PSStore, or somewhere conveniant for purchase....
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kloss22 |
kloss22- 7:28pm BST - September 12th, 2007
- 8
you can find yellow dog for free, you can find mirrors to download the .iso from, it's a 3.7 gb download. I just did it last week and installed it on my ps3. It's pretty cool, I enjoy using linux and its a fun system to explore and learn on, but I'm constantly on computers the way it is, so I probably won't play it a ton, but I wanted to do it before i had a bunch of saved games, pretty cool though. I would recommend Yellow dog because it was designed to run on the cell architecture.
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scarriface |
scariiface- 11:44pm BST - September 12th, 2007
- 11
@Triple Dk
Exactly, just like on Windows or Mac OS, you can install every program you want in fact. If certain programs are useful on PS3 is another story ;)
every program?what about steam? so i can play pc games in my ps3? ddont tghi sooo
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faizal5k |
fizzel89- 6:11am BST - September 13th, 2007
- 12
They should correct the statement about how much RAM the PS3 has. The PS3 does have over 200MB, but they should specifically put 256MB. 256MB is not really enough, but I could live with it. heck, my crap dell PC has 256MB and it runs win xp...lol
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 5:51am BST - September 14th, 2007
- 13
Does it slow down the gaming side/XMB?
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itforensic |
ITforensic- 7:08pm BST - September 15th, 2007
- 16
I have been running YDL on my PS3 since December 2006 and all in all it is a nice experiment. However, I don't think it will ever become a mainstream desktop machine because of it's limitations. Running wordprocessors and the spreadsheets is a trivial task but messin' with file systems, Blue-Ray image files and the cell architecture is a thrilling part of the exercise (Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt at home;-)
I would also recommend Yellow Dog and Fedora Core as a runnerup.
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