New PS3 in September 2009 drops support for Linux installations

HyRax1 · 19th August 2009, 12:35 PM

http://au.playstation.com/games-medi...as-a-new-look/ (halfway down the page)

One of the "new features" of the new PS3 is that the ability to install an "Other Operating System", ie: Linux will no longer be available in the re-designed PS3 launching in September 2009. The change does not appear to apply to older PS3's.

Not that Linux on PS3 was really that useful at least from a Desktop perspective, but for raw number crunching, it was a hot ticket item. Damn shame, really. I'm sure Sony will cite it as a "cost-cutting" measure.

Ah well. At least programming enthusiasts and Universities will make good places to sell secondhand older model PS3's.

Iroquois · 19th August 2009, 1:02 PM

I think that those who are really interested in installing it will still find a way to do it. Bit of a bummer it can't anymore be done easily from an in-built menu/process, but I imagine it will still be possible.

Menthu_Rae · 21st August 2009, 4:32 PM

What a joke, seriously.

Piss poor in my books. I'm pretty sure Uni's using clusters of PS3s would be pretty pissed, too... seeing the slim PS3 uses less power and thus produces less heat, etc

They could've had more PS3s and thus more number crunching power for the same energy use... but nooo, Sony wants it their way

SLATYE · 21st August 2009, 4:46 PM

It remains to be seen just how well Sony prevent people from using Linux. After all, they've managed to put Windows 95 on a PSP.

It's also possible that Sony or IBM is planning to produce a dedicated Cell-based system for research groups. The PS3 is pretty good, but it's not really ideally suited to that sort of work. The Blu-ray drive and GPU are useless (GPU wouldn't be quite so useless if Sony actually allowed access to it under Linux). A bit more RAM would probably help a lot.

I'd be a bit surprised if they didn't have something up their sleeve. After all, they're making a profit on each slim PS3 now; so why wouldn't they want universities to be buying 20+?

The only alternative reason I can think of is that someone was getting too close to unlocking the GPU under Linux. That could open the door to things like piracy and breaking the region coding restrictions.

Rockman.EXE · 22nd August 2009, 5:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLATYE

The only alternative reason I can think of is that someone was getting too close to unlocking the GPU under Linux. That could open the door to things like piracy and breaking the region coding restrictions.

This was accomplished a while back (not completely but enough for decent hardware acceleration), but was quickly squashed by Sony with a hasty firmware update.

IIRC the majority of the Cell's cores are locked out too.

Quote:

It's also possible that Sony or IBM is planning to produce a dedicated Cell-based system for research groups.

I suppose things like this would be the next best thing:

http://www.mc.com/microsites/cell/Pr....aspx?id=10596

http://www.fixstars.com/en/products/.../features.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QS22#Cell_based

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zego

19th August 2009, 12:35 PM	#1
HyRax1 48656C6C6F20576F726C6421 Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: At a desk. Distro:Ubuntu Posts: 7,077	New PS3 in September 2009 drops support for Linux installations http://au.playstation.com/games-medi...as-a-new-look/ (halfway down the page) One of the "new features" of the new PS3 is that the ability to install an "Other Operating System", ie: Linux will no longer be available in the re-designed PS3 launching in September 2009. The change does not appear to apply to older PS3's. Not that Linux on PS3 was really that useful at least from a Desktop perspective, but for raw number crunching, it was a hot ticket item. Damn shame, really. I'm sure Sony will cite it as a "cost-cutting" measure. Ah well. At least programming enthusiasts and Universities will make good places to sell secondhand older model PS3's. __________________ If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?

21st August 2009, 4:32 PM	#3
Menthu_Rae Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Northern Beaches, Sydney Posts: 6,140	What a joke, seriously. Piss poor in my books. I'm pretty sure Uni's using clusters of PS3s would be pretty pissed, too... seeing the slim PS3 uses less power and thus produces less heat, etc They could've had more PS3s and thus more number crunching power for the same energy use... but nooo, Sony wants it their way __________________ System Specs: i7 3770K, Noctua NH-U12P SE2, 32GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3-1600, ASUS P8Z77-V Premium, 2048MB Zotac GTX680, ASUS Xonar Essence One, 120GB/240GB Samsung 840 SSDs, 2x 3TB Toshiba HDDs [RAID1], 2x Zalman ZMMFC-1 Plus, Dell U3011 30" LCD, Creative T-40 Series II 2.0, LianLi PC-A71B, 8x Scythe SFF21G, 1kW Silverstone ST1000P. Over 50 Trades.

21st August 2009, 4:46 PM	#4
SLATYE SLATYE, not SLAYTE Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Canberra Posts: 25,773	It remains to be seen just how well Sony prevent people from using Linux. After all, they've managed to put Windows 95 on a PSP. It's also possible that Sony or IBM is planning to produce a dedicated Cell-based system for research groups. The PS3 is pretty good, but it's not really ideally suited to that sort of work. The Blu-ray drive and GPU are useless (GPU wouldn't be quite so useless if Sony actually allowed access to it under Linux). A bit more RAM would probably help a lot. I'd be a bit surprised if they didn't have something up their sleeve. After all, they're making a profit on each slim PS3 now; so why wouldn't they want universities to be buying 20+? The only alternative reason I can think of is that someone was getting too close to unlocking the GPU under Linux. That could open the door to things like piracy and breaking the region coding restrictions. __________________ Main system: Phenom II X4 920 \| 8GB (4x 2GB) DDR2-800 \| Gigabyte M57SLI-S4 v2.0 \| Leadtek Geforce 9600GSO 384MB \| Enermax Modu82+ 525W \| 1TB Hitachi HDD \| 3.5" + 5.25" FDD Laptop: Compal EL80 \| C2D T7200 \| 320GB Fujistu HDD \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| GF Go 7600

19th August 2009, 1:02 PM	#2
Iroquois Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 1,960	I think that those who are really interested in installing it will still find a way to do it. Bit of a bummer it can't anymore be done easily from an in-built menu/process, but I imagine it will still be possible.