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| + | ====== Ubuntu Linux on the PS3 ====== | ||
| + | ===== Introduction ===== | ||
| + | Personally, I find Linux on the PS3 quite useless. The PS3 has 256MB RAM available to Linux, and Linux can only use 2 cores on the Cell processor. The cores run at (I believe) about 3GHz. Despite the processor speed, the low memory causes the PS3 to be a crappy desktop system. Here is a rundown of things you should know before installing Linux on your PS3: | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Installing Linux on the PS3 does **not** void your warranty. Sony put this feature in themselves and they want you to be able to do this! In fact, Sony used to sell a kit for the Playstation2 that consisted of a hard drive, ethernet card, and keyboard and mouse. This allowed you to install Linux on the PS2. This kit is no longer made and there were a limited number of them to begin with. | ||
| + | * It is reported that the PS3 manual describes how to upgrade the hard drive in the PS3. Upgrading the hard drive also does not void the warranty. | ||
| + | * When running Linux, Linux does not "speak" directly to the hardware. Instead, Sony implemented a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervisor|hypervisor]] and Linux talks to the hypervisor. The hypervisor "watches over" Linux and prevents it from touching the section of the hard drive where the Sony OS is installed. It's virtually impossible to mess up your PS3 from within Linux. Below I describe recovery instructions if something does break. | ||
| + | * As mentioned before, Linux sees two 64-bit PowerPC processors (according to **cat /proc/cpuinfo**) and 256MB RAM. While running the XFCE desktop and Firefox 3.x, I experienced lock-ups all the time. I then ran **aptitude upgrade**, which made the system unusable until all the packages were updated. The issue is the low amount of RAM; the system would constantly run out of RAM and begin to swap to disk. For my uses I find it an awful desktop system, but it may be possible to turn the PS3 into a specialized system for one type of task (video transcoding?). | ||
| + | * Adobe does not make Flash for Linux on PowerPC. There is a way to get [[http://psubuntu.com/youtube-on-psubuntu/|Youtube to work]] on PS3Linux, but you can forget about all other flash-based sites. Note that the built-in Sony web browser supports Adobe flash and can play Youtube, Pandora and other flash sites. Hulu playback is a bit choppy for me. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Installing Linux ===== | ||
| + | :!: Somewhat stolen from the PSUbuntu site (see resources). | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Prerequisites: | ||
| + | * Sony Playstation 3 | ||
| + | * USB Keyboard and Mouse | ||
| + | * PSUbuntu Disc (burned from ISO, see resources below) | ||
| + | * Go to [System Settings] > [Format Utility]. | ||
| + | * Select "Format Hard Disk" and click [Yes]. | ||
| + | * Choose [Custom] and [Allot 10GB to the Other OS]. (You will not need more than 10GB for Ubuntu) | ||
| + | * Select [Quick Format] and confirm with [Yes]. | ||
| + | * Insert the disk you burned into the PS3. Connect the keyboard and mouse. | ||
| + | * Go to [System Settings] > [Install Other OS]. | ||
| + | * Select "Other OS" and hit "Yes" to restart the system. My system did not reboot after this step. I had to go to [System Settings] > [Default OS] and set it to "Other OS". | ||
| + | * Install Ubuntu the way you usually do (if you haven't installed Linux before, this is not the place to learn. Try on a regular computer first). This took me about 30 minutes to install all the packages. | ||
| + | * The system will reboot into Linux. At the **kboot:** prompt press enter. You can now login to Linux. | ||
| + | * To reboot back to the Playstation OS, you can do one of three things: | ||
| + | * at the **kboot:** prompt, type **boot-game-os**. | ||
| + | * Within Linux, run **sudo boot-game-os**. | ||
| + | * Hold the power button on the front until the system beeps once. The video and boot settings will reset to defaults and you will need to set them up again. | ||