Linux on PS3?

So I've read somewhere that there is a way to put Linux on the PS3. How would I go about doing this? Are there any tutorials/links someone could post for me? I am completely new to Linux and would like to learn more about it .

 

Google is your friend young padowan

Third link after search.

 

Thanks for the link , I've read through it but what's with the distro stuff? I understand that they are like different versions, but what are the differences?

 

You should start with reading this before anything else.
Then go to Distrowatch and read about the most popular distros atm, their pros and cons, alternatives and more.

 

linux is a kernel. A distro is the kernel plus the system on top of it, which can vary greatly. The different distros don't correspond to different versions. Each one is an entirely different system. Some are very similar (e.g. Fedora and Red Hat), some are worlds apart (e.g. OpenSuSE and DSL).

 

How much space does it take up? And should I download the x86 or x64 edition. I'll be using Xubuntu if it makes any difference.

 

Go with the x64

Any reason why you want to do this?

 

I recently installed Linux on my PlayStation 3. A couple things you should know

- The PlayStation 3 uses a PowerPC based processor, that means you NEED a PPC based distro. Since Apple stopped using PPC architecture, most distros these days are NOT PPC based. Most are x86 and x64 based.

I have used three distros with my PS3 - Xubuntu, Ubuntu, and Yellow Dog Linux. Ubuntu and its sister distros are being ported to the PPC platform for the PS3 by a group called PSUbuntu (I ~think~ the addy is www.psubuntu.com) The Ubuntu port works fairly well though it is a little slow so you will need to spend some time optimizing it.

Xubuntu does not have working wireless out of the box. Unfortunate because the XFCE environment would be more merciful to the PS3's limited RAM (you only have 256 MB available to you) I believe that at this time Xubuntu's wireless is non-functional though they may have fixed it.

Yellow Dog Linux is the "official" distro and works very well out of the box. The installer is easy to use and graphical. I had a little trouble with the wireless (for some reason I couldn't scan for a broadcast but had to enter my SSID manually) but I did get it to work after I had everything else set up.

Right now I am running YDL on my PS3 and it is also the distro I recommend. It is the official version, and outside of the PS3 the distro itself is optimized for HD televisions so it is very easy to work with.

You will need to format your drive (so back up any saves/etc you want) and allocate 10 GB to the Linux partition. Beyond that it is virtually impossible to break your PS3 because the PS3's firmware limits your access to the hardware and software.

I thought it was worth it because its great to have the large screen to work with presentation and its kind of fun to browse the web but do keep in mind that it is fairly limited. You only have 256 MB of RAM and limited video support. I believe you can get some BD support working but you cannot actually watch BD movies from within Linux (you'll have to boot back to the PS3's operating system)

One cool thing, in YDL for the PS3 there is a button on your menu to boot back into the PS3's OS without having to get into the terminal and typing in a command.

 

Wow Algus, lots of information there , just a few questions:

Can I just download YDL from a mirror and not buy it? Is the ISO from the download mirror any different from the one on this page? I'm guessing it's the same thing, but just need clarification.

Does a bluetooth keyboard work with Linux installed?

Would you recommend Ubuntu if I could get a wired connection?

I've heard that Linux cant fully utilize the PS3's graphics card, what would this affect?

What do you mean when you say "the distro itself is optimized for HD televisions so it is very easy to work with." are you saying that the images are cutting off on other distros?

EDIT: Might be a kinda off topic question, but how do you backup the files on the PS3 ?

Just to try it out

 

You can download the ISO here

http://us.fixstars.com/support/downloads/

You will need to burn it to a DVD rather then just a CD

Dunno about bluetooth keyboards, I use USB keyboard/mouse since I have an older 80 gig with 4 ports.

I haven't tested Ubuntu with a wired connection but I would think that Xubuntu with a wired connection would work pretty well since the PS3's RAM is pretty limited. IIRC I did have sound problems with Xubuntu as well. Dunno if that's been fixed yet.

It is true that your Linux install won't be able to fully utilize the PS3's graphics card. I don't know the full technical details on why this is myself but I would speculate they set it up to be fairly restrictive so you couldn't damage anything.

As far as what this limits you to...I'm not sure. I mainly use YDL on my PS3 for browsing the web or doing office work. Being able to use Firefox as my web browser is a whole heck of a lot nicer then having to use the PS3's web browser. You also won't be able to get some of the flashier desktop effects that you might be able to use on a dedicated PC.

If you were looking at doing this for, um, emulation purposes then I would guess you might have trouble running some heavier emulators like an N64 emulator.

I didn't have any problem getting Ubuntu to display in 720p on my television but you end up having to fiddle with the terminal to change resolutions if I'm not mistaken. Yellow Dog Linux more or less adjusted itself properly out of the box.

 

Those mirrors are confusing...I went http://mirror.anl.gov/yellowdog/iso/ then clicked on the bottom link, I hope it's the right one .

I use a wired connection with my PS3 so I'll try both distros when I get a chance.

So no flashy eyecandy ? I was looking forward to that part. No I wont be doing emulating, I just don't have as much love for older games when I see the crysis icon on my desktop .

Does YDL auto detect the screen res or make changing res easy?

Does the PS3 auto boot into Linux after the install? And can you switch to Linux from the XMB?

 

I did this recently just to do it and be able to say I did

 

It is supposed to auto-boot to Linux after you set it up but for some reason that doesn't quite work for me. IDK maybe I am doing something wrong. Anyway, accessing your Linux install from the XMB is pretty easy

You go to System->System Settings->Default OS and then choose "Other OS" and the machine will boot into whatever you have installed on your Linux partition.

During your YDL install you'll get into the proper resolution easily enough. You can change it through the terminal

http://us.fixstars.com/support/solutions/ydl_6.x/video-test.shtml is probably helpful.

The other thing I like about YDL that I forgot to mention is that it uses Enlightenment as a desktop environment. I actually had wanted to install an artistic distro called OpenGEU (based on Ubuntu, but uses Enlightenment and is all pretty and such) until I found out about the whole PPC thing which kind of limits your available options.

One drawback of YDL is that the programs it comes pre-installed with are mainly just internet utilities. It doesn't have quite the library that Ubuntu does so you might need to spend some time installing new programs.

Also, here are a couple screenshots of YDL on my PS3:
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/9548/screenshotpb6.png

(ahh Digital Blasphemy always wins for wallpaper!)

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4879/screenshot1xs3.png

Firefox and Thunderbird out of the box. They're my browser and email client of choice so its always a win for me.

Anyway, you might want to play around with a couple different distros to see how they work. I believe that Fedora is another popular distro for the PS3, though I haven't tried it myself since I am happy with YDL.

 

Just downloaded, unzipped, and burned YDL and Xubuntu but I have some work to do so I'll install this weekend. I'll update when finished :]

 

Just curious, did you get a chance to try it out? I'd be interested in knowing your experiences, especially if you tried out another distro

 

I still havn't done it yet . I thought I lost my usb keyboard but it turns out that I lent it to my friend a while back . I don't know when I'll see him, he says he's "busy" this week . I really hope I can do this soon, my HDD is formated and ready...

 

ARGH so I finally get all my stuff together (I know took a while huh?) but I'm stuck and can't install. I've gotten to installed the other OS thing in the XMB, and restarted after setting the default OS to other OS. Now when I try to boot I get "don't understand action "lease fail"". What does this mean and how can I fix it? I'll poke around some more and see if I can get it to respond.

 

Anyone? I'm stuck without a PS3 right now I think it wants me to type something but I don't know what to type. It shows "kboot:" and I have no idea what's going on.

 

Read the installation guides.

 

YDL is supposed to have an installer right? Well nothing shows up. I've tried to boot back into PS3 OS by typing in "boot-os-game" but that didn't work. What if I put in an Xubuntu disk, would that change anything?