Running Linux on the PS3 - A detailed view of what's out there

[Dorza]

What about network rendering? Is it possible to use the PS3 with linux installed as part of a render farm? I'd imagine it would be fantastic for this type of work.

[Agent]

The problem is getting any render programs to run on the different architecture.
AFAIK 3D Max is x86 only, Maya is x86 + Mac Power PC. Having those powerful SPE's isn't much use if the program isn't programmed to use them.

[NeoTechni]

You're failing to grasp the article here. The author has explained the steps he has taken to get VLC running. Just because you have, doesn't mean that the majority of home users will be able to.
Its not an article titled "What does NeoTechni have running on his PS3", but rather the experiences that home users are likely to get if trying to install it.

I grasped the article. He said NO choice. I had the choice of typing yum install vlc, that means there is a choice. The average linux user knows how to install things given PS3s linux was the first I ever used linux it's safe to assume the average user has the same experience I do or better. I only spent 5 minutes on google to figure out yum.

Simply quoting the article, stating "Wrong", then taking the article out of context by comparing it to your distribution (without any details at all) was silly.

That's not silly, that's pointing out errors. Would you have preferred I yell out "BULL**** YOU LYING SONS OF BITCHES!" I specifically chose wording that was non-threatening. I hope you guys will eventually realize that and drop the subject.

I did include details. My original post said I'm using YDL.

i've used bluray in YDL.

You got an abrupt response because your opening post came across as very rude

Because I was pointing out errors? Gees, stop being so defensive.

aunch-day (and by that i mean the first launch globally, not wherever you're based) machines came with firmware 1.00 out of the box, which lacks the ability to boot other OSes. it was rectified quickly for other global launches, but first-day machines lacked the feature.

I which case saying I didn't use it launch day would be wrong. You merely corrected yourself to include that I did use it launch day despite you yelling at me saying I didn't.

so you agree that the menu option in e17 is broken and worthless?

I never knew it existed. I read the manual and it said to type boot-game-os. But I guess the average user has no choice here either since the average user won't RTFM?

it's a frustrating prospect for media use, since there's no way in hell it'll play HD media properly without more access to the hardware

forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=624724&st=0
Ps3 Hypervisor's Fifo/push Buffer Located And Altered! - Scenyx Entertainment Community

Or did you assume that this was 'just another Windows rules, Linux sucks' article

No, I prefer Windows.

This article is about the viability of Linux as a comfortable OS for home users, i.e. your grandma,

Lol. That'd be a paradox. For starters, my grandma can't figure out the TV let alone the VCR.

[NeoTechni]

I apologize for coming off as rude, that was not my intention. I also apologize for not having apologized sooner, I was taken aback by your replies.

Also, PS3 launched in America like a week after Japan, so the delay was negligible.

[ikonia]

as I said in an earlier post "what an idiot"

see above tosh and a couple of hours later weak "I'm sorry" comment.

out of your 5 posts 4.5 of them have been utter crap, trying to find fault in something for no reason, and when questioned about this you behave like a total idiot.

or am I "wrong !" as your so fond of saying.

Normally I enjoy a good discussion on an interesting topic like this, however your total prick approach has ruined if for me. Your clearly unable to contribute in any way, so go back to what you where doing.

[NeoTechni]

trying to find fault in something for no reason, and when questioned about this you behave like a total dick.

I did no such thing. I found fault in the article, because there was fault in the article. That was the reason. Nor did I behave anywhere near half as badly as you.

however your total prick approach has ruined if for me

I hope everyone realizes the complete irony here.

I was polite. You were a complete ass. To further prove this, I said there were things wrong in the article, you called me a dick. That by default makes you the ruder one.

Your clearly unable to contribute in any way, so go back to what you where doing.

Again, very ironic. Your statement applies to yourself more than me.

I attempted to correct some falsities. You merely insulted me. You contributed nothing but an argument. Where I came here specifically to contribute.

[ikonia]

you made fault in an article that had no fault, you just didn't read the article.
Once you found the fantasy faults you presented them in a rude an arrogant manner with no dicussion. That made you come across as an idiot. If you had been mistaken about what you where arguing I would have discussed it with you, but because of how you presented yourself "wrong" "wong" and "wrong" I couldn't be bothered dicussing it with you. In your following dicussion you found fantasy fault with everyone who kept telling you in a polite manner that you where mistaken you chose to argue the fact in in the same manner you introducted yourself to the forum. At the end of your posts you continued to argue how wrong everyone else was and that you where still right to find fantasy faults in the article.

Therefore I stand by my short summary of your contribution "what an idiot"

[directhex]

this doesn't strike me as the most productive argument featured on the forums. calm down, ladies.

as i said on reply 16:

I think it's definitely worth answering questions raised about my work. If I were unable to defend it, I'd have no right to write it.

and really, i'd like to think i addressed each of the points you made - i stand by those replies. YDL's boot-game-os option, in the e17 menu, doesn't do anything. ydl out of the box doesn't deal with blu-ray, or offer any rational means of switching media player (by rational, look at ubuntu's Add/Remove window). and, as per sony's own press releases, YDL is the distro which was specifically designed for ps3 use - originally it was going to be pre-installed out of the box. it's hard to get any more "first" than that.

and i agree entirely that one use case isn't all use cases - we're actively discussing installation of a ps3 cluster for cell development at work.

some people have taken the content of the article on board - i spoke with colin watson of the ubuntu release team, who informs me most of the bugs i encountered have been fixed, and he's issued a general call to action for ubuntu developers to tweak and optimize and bugfix ps3 ubuntu.

i still think there's a way to go before ps3 linux reaches the simplicity and usability of i386/x86-64 linux. i really don't see how anyone could disagree with that.

[ikonia]

exaclty, people read the aritcle and took the context on board and the lab conditions the article was writen in.

Rather than someone read the headings, tried to be mr smug and tried to pull it apart, and even now still tries to justify these comments rather than simpley saying "I took the article out of context, my mistake, oh and really sorry for my attitude, I should have read the article a bit better before posting"

mistakes are easy to make, and taking ariticles out of context is very easy to do, but trying to justify and justify 1.) how wrong the he actially is 2.) the attitude.

this board has enough idiots on it, so I'm hardley going to welcome another moron who's first attitude is "wrong wrong wrong" "justify justify justify" return to "wrong wrong wrong"

[NeoTechni]

you made fault in an article that had no fault

It had many, I pointed them out. You're "explanations" to discount them did nothing to discount them.

Once you found the fantasy faults you presented them in a rude an arrogant manner

I did nothing of the sort, I pointed out real mistakes in a polite manner. You were the arrogant/rude one.

but because of how you presented yourself "wrong" "wong" and "wrong"

The word wrong is not rude. Your response "dick", was rude.

everyone who kept telling you in a polite manner that you where mistaken

Nothing of the sort happened. People like you were EXTREMELY rude. Some people said I must've been using a different distribution than YDL, but I told them I wasn't.

i stand by those replies. YDL's boot-game-os option, in the e17 menu, doesn't do anything.

As I said, the instructions included said to type in the prompt. I never knew of said menu option.

And to the extremely rude person: I fail to see how that flaw was "Fantasy" when I specified from the start the instructions said to type boot-game-os and that works. When poster admitted he didn't do that.

ydl out of the box doesn't deal with blu-ray,

My YDL did deal with blu-ray out of the box. As I explained, I used it to disprove the "R:FoM uses 17 gigs of pad files" rumor ages ago. And this is how the rumor started in the first place (people checking file sizes in linux) I may have had to type a mount command but it most definetly supported bluray.

And to the extremely rude person: I fail to see how that flaw was "Fantasy" when it existed, and I used the same distro.

and, as per sony's own press releases, YDL is the distro which was specifically designed for ps3 use - originally it was going to be pre-installed out of the box.

It supports no additional hardware that Fedora Core supported, I said this already. The only difference was that it was Sony approved. And if it were truly designed for PS3 specifically, the menu option you mentioned would have worked. Fedora Core is as much PS3-specific as YDL was.

And to the extremely rude person: I fail to see how that flaw was "Fantasy" when it works, and I used the same distro.

or offer any rational means of switching media player (by rational, look at ubuntu's Add/Remove window).

By that logic no linux distribution supports HDTV resolutions since you have to edit config files. The option is there, it merely takes a few minutes of research.

What you mean is it includes no user friendly option. Which by that logic PS3 doesn't give the user the choice of using linux at all since installing it isn't user friendly. Linux was made for more advanced users, ones who can type yum install XXXX

Rather than someone read the headings, tried to be mr smug and tried to pull it apart, and even now still tries to justify these comments rather than simpley saying "I took the article out of context, my mistake, oh and really sorry for my attitude, I should have read the article a bit better before posting"

Um, you guys keep accusing me of rudeness with responses like that? WTF?
It was not my mistake, my replies still apply to the context of the article. The faults I found were still valid. And that whole "you make linux users look bad" reply you gave me applies not to me, but to you. I read the article fine, I made no mistake.

Wrong is not rude. You saying dick/idiot/moron was rude. You started the argument. And you trying to justify your rudeness cause I said "wrong" is horribly immature and laughable. "Wrong" doesn't justify your insults. I was polite. You weren't. And had you not been a complete jerk, I would've apologized for your over sensitivity before. But as I said I was taken aback by what a complete jerk you were. I can't believe you over reacted so horribly.

[NeoTechni]

And to further emphasize who the rude one is (despite the obviousness of it what with ikonia yelling dick/moron/idiot, where all I said was "wrong") I even apologized for saying wrong. Attempting to put this stupid argument behind us, yet ikonia continues, still insulting, hypocritically claiming I was rude.

I took specific actions to insure I wasn't rude. I chose the most non-insulting word I could rather than saying something like "you lying incompetent" so no one would interpret my response as rude. ikonia is horribly over-reacting. And I hope he stops posting cause it's just going to this argument where we repeat our own points with no one conceding. Even though I tried to agree with him and he just insulted me even more.

[Nick]

Ok, before this degenerates ANY further, I'll post one last warning to EVERYONE arguing over the semantics of how Jo's article has been criticized.

Stop the name calling, ok?

We should be able to have an adult discussion on this. If not, I'll lock the thread, clean up all the crap and start giving out holidays... and not the 'week on a sun-kissed Jamaican island' sort of holiday, ok?

Right, let's get it back on track.

[NeoTechni]

Stop the name calling, ok?

I've been begging for some intervention, thank you

Anywho, I've been spending some more time in YDL (trying to get VNC server working)

Not only is there no boot-game-os option in the menu that I can see, but there is a userfriendly GUI for installing software packages which includes numerous media player applications. So they have given you a choice that fits within your strict definition.

[YDL button] Applications \ Applications\ System Tools\ Software Management \ Add/Remove Software (Add/Remove Software)

Then click Applications, then Sound and Video.

And instead of saying this is hard to find, you should be telling your readers how to find it. I only came here to help.

[gtech]

just wanna say thx Neo, you come up with some interesting points!

[directhex]

just for you, i'll sit through the YDL install again, and take screenshots of it failing to work.

[NeoTechni]

I don't care really. My YDL works. It'd be a waste of your time.
Also.

PS3PC.net - Installing Fedora 5 Linux on Your PS3

Installing Fedora 5 Linux on Your PS3
Tuesday, 21 November 2006

4 days after PS3 came out, and I've seen a pic of the otheros install option before PS3 came out

PlayStation.com

Version 1.11 November 28, 2006 More Details
Version 1.10 November 17, 2006 More Details

The only update before the 21st was available the day PS3 launched. So I was definetly able to have it installed when I claimed