Talk:OtherOS

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wrong order of events[edit]

GeoHot announced he had hacked OtherOS to remove all security BEFORE Sony removed OtherOS, in fact that was the reason Sony removed it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.20.82 (talk) 22:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Separate article[edit]

Should a serperate article exist at all? Is this within the project scope? --Ysangkok 14:47, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think this is a worthwhile topic, even if not done well yet. Deet 22:59, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I think this should be here because it was the logical place for me to look for information on the status of various aspects of linux on the PS3 such as wifi and graphics. I don't know if people are working on these, but no matter if they are or not then this page is the logical place for somebody to say. I would, but I haven't found the answer yet... Jon 20:05, 25 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Has anyone got a YDL installation or running screenshot? I think that would be a better choice than the current Ubuntu picture (no offense), after all YDL is the official distro, while the others are just enthusiasts' results, which are still great but are probably more appropriate as subsection pictures -- Webber 04:09, 08 March 2007 (EST)

There is no official distro for the Playstation 3 and there never has been. Yellow Dog Linux was the first distribution targeting the Playstation 3 and the developers where actively encouraged by Sony to do so, but it is not sanctioned by Sony in any way and cannot be called an official distribution.

Should we just redirect this to the section in the PlayStation 3 article? Mathfan 17:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

no. dwnts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.99.136.195 (talk • contribs) 28. maj 2007, 00:55

i could probably take a picture of my YDL install. and if you wanted could show a few pictures of my ps3 running a snes emulator. if you need them i wouldn't mind. sincerely Mrbiggbrain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.26.1.135 (talk • contribs) 24. jun 2007, 13:05

New developments[edit]

This page seems to be out of date. Is there anyone out there who can update re: the first various issues, not least being fedora 7 supporting PS3, the issue of PS3 wifi, RSX access etc. I don't know enough to start it myself. 86.140.118.192 17:16, 27 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]


What about something like....:

"Linux users have had problems running graphics-intensive programs, this is because Sony's Hypervisor (virtual machine monitor) restricts access to the PS3's "RSX" graphics processing unit. Users have experienced difficulties playing back movies encrypted with the DiVX Codec, as well as modern games."

as for rsx workarounds go, heres an original, "stupid idea that just might work": copy the ps3 BIOS (post 2.10) to another computer (don't implement), upload to the as yet nonexistant "ps3 Hypervisor@Home distributed decryption project", read, edit, and overwrite the hypervisor as needed, copy+paste Sony signature from Hypervisor@Homed firmware update, upload patch to site for free dowload, and repeat when next SSU comes out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.154.124.81 (talk) 23:30, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merge[edit]

I propose merging this and Yellow Dog Linux together. Actually I think we could just delete this page and redirect but I'll go with whatever other people think. -- Vdub49 22:03, 11 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree. I suspect most user of Linux on PS3 are using Ubuntu. Deet 01:31, 12 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree. YDL is used for a lot more than PS3's and Linux for PS3 is a lot more than YDL. This makes as much sense as merge Windows Vista with Dell. -- Henriok 18:20, 12 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

haha, o well I'll just mention it in the ps3 artical -- Vdub49 23:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reinstall PS3 OS[edit]

Can you reinstall the ps3 software? kthxbye -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.127.99.71 (talk • contribs) 14:51, October 27, 2007

I don't think you can, I know that you can delete the Linux though, but it is very important that you back-up the PS3 files before you install or uninstall Linux. -- Vdub49 22:36, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure you can. If you plug in a new blank hard disk the PS3 will recognize it as unformatted and format it for you ... then you have a working PS3. According to the psubuntu instructions you can revert to the PS3 O/S at any time by pressing and holding the power touch-button until it beeps twice. What you would lose by formatting the disks: all your downloads, music rips, gamesaves. Although anything you have paid for in the Playstation Store (new songs for SingStar, for instance) can be downloaded again as you are already recorded as being a legitimate owner. 84.71.43.250 (talk) 21:58, 10 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No need. As long as you don't use the entire HD, you'll always have the XMB to return to. With a fresh PS3, use the XMB to dedicate a small portion of the internal HDD to use for Other OS. Then partition the empty space, install, and enjoy. To reuse the XMB, just shutdown, and then hold the power button for five seconds. No mess, no fuss. IchiroMihara (talk) 09:49, 7 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

actually, at the boot prompt you can type in boot-os-game and it will boot the ps3 os, at least from what I've read.

Does the PS3 still function?[edit]

When you install PS3 Linux, I assume it gives you a boot menu every time it turns on, or does it completely remove the PS3's functionality to run as a PS3? If it's the latter, that's just completely stupid, and there are no other consoles, or PCs for that matter, that force you to uninstall the OS if a new one is to be desired. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.86.42 (talk) 19:26, 17 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The PS3 is still a fully functional game console when linux is installed. While the process is a little more complicated than a boot menu, it is still very straightforward to change the currently-running OS. --64.142.82.28 (talk) 05:22, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When you start up the PS3, after having installed linux, linux will boot. However, if you continue to touch the power button for about 5 seconds, the PS3 will beep and start the XMB again and ask for your display settings. The PS3 will then continue to use the XMB, until you go to the System Settings and Choose Other OS. The System will then restart and boot to Linux. Everything stays natural, you just lose a little bit of storage space out to Linux. I used about 8GB on my 80GB. IchiroMihara (talk) 09:49, 7 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Install Debian Base via SD Card[edit]

BEFORE ALL, USE YOUR BRAIN!! [LL~] Mr.GaBu 06/07/2008

In-depth tutorial

1) Preparation 

 - You Must Have a SDCARD with 1GB or More
 - Download a debian-testing-powerpc-netinst.iso, rename to debian.iso and put it in SDCARD:
   (http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/).
 - Download the latest PS3 Linux Distributor's Starter Kit (PS3 LDSK) rename to ce3linux.iso and put it in SDCARD:
   (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/CELL-Linux-CL_xxxxxxxx-ADDON.iso)
 - Copy the folder PS3 from CELL-Linux-CL_xxxxxxxx-ADDON.iso to the SDCARD, you must get /PS3/otheros/otheros.bld

2) Installation 

 - From the Game OS, format you HDD to be able to install otherOS
 - Install the otheros.bld bootloader in Sony Game-OS
 - Change the default OS to OtherOS. Now be sure that the SDcard is in PS3! 
 - Select Yes to restart PS3.
 - The kboot will be booted and you see the penguins! Nice...
 - Do the following commands at the prompt of kboot:

mkdir -p /media/sdcard && mkdir -p /media/cdrom && mkdir -p /media/cell && mount sdb1 /media/sdcard 

 -(sdb1 must change, do a cat /proc/partitions or dmesg to correct this if needed)

 - To see if the mount is correct type : ls /media/sdcard
 - You must see the iso images that you renamed in past steps (ce3linux.iso, debian.iso and the PS3 folder)

 - More commands to install debian:

mount /media/sdcard/debian.iso /media/cdrom && mount /media/sdcard/ce3linux.iso /media/cell && ln -fs /media/cdrom /cdrom 

 - Starting the installation:

media/cell/boot/vmlinux initrd=media/cdrom/install/powerpc/initrd.gz 

 - More commands to mount the CD and progress the Debian Installation... (ALT+F2)

mkdir -p /mnt/sdcard && mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdcard && mount /mnt/sdcard/debian.iso /cdrom && ln -fs /mnt/sdcard/debian.iso /dev/scd0 

 - ALT+F1 Select for search again a media and them select install without modules.

 - Configure your system as well as you want now :)! (hostname, network, partitions and etc...)
 - Select Continue and APT is configuring again Now.
 - Continue without a kernel for now, next we need to install one :)! Select Yes
 - At a point of the configuration (Before APT) is possible to get a error about mounted CD...Just select Continue...
 - For now, select Base system Only... to get time about the installation

3) Boot Debian 

 - Well, ALL AGAIN :) (With the SDCARD IN PS3)

mkdir -p /media/sdcard && mkdir -p /media/cell && mount sdb1 /media/sdcard && mount /media/sdcard/ce3linux.iso /media/cell 

 - After that, boot into Debian on the hard drive by typing at the kboot prompt:

media/cell/boot/vmlinux root=/dev/ps3da1 

   Notes:
     o This assumes you installed Debian on the first partition of the
       PS3 hard drive.
     o The `sdb1' may be different, depending on the USB probe order and the
       partitions on your USB stick.  Type 'cat /proc/partitions', and/or
       review the dmesg to find the correct device name.

4) Install Linux Kernel 

 - Mount the PS3 LDSK CD

mkdir -p /media/sdcard && mkdir -p /media/cell && mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdcard -t msdos && mount /media/sdcard/ce3linux.iso /media/cell -o loop 

 - Update your apt source list (/etc/apt/source.list):

- deb ftp://ftp.br.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free - deb-src ftp://ftp.br.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

- deb ftp://ftp.br.debian.org/debian-multimedia testing main - deb-src ftp://ftp.br.debian.org/debian-multimedia testing main

- deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main - deb-src http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main 


 - Install the kernel from the RPM package on the PS3 LDSK CD:

       apt-get install rpm
       cd /
       rpm2cpio /media/cell/target/kernel-* | cpio -iv
       depmod -av

   Notes:
     o Probably alien would work too, but alien depends on many more packages
       than plain rpm.
     o As an alternative to using the PS3 LDSK kernel RPM package, you can
       build and install a Linux kernel with PS3 support from sources.

5) Create kboot.conf 

 - Create /etc/kboot.conf, so it looks like:

default=linux timeout=15

gameos="root=/dev/ram" linux="/boot/vmlinux-2.6.25.4 root=/dev/ps3da1" 


   Notes:
     o The actual name of the kernel image may differ, depending on the
       version of the PS3 LDSK you used.
     o This assumes you installed Debian on the first partition of the
       internal hard drive
     o To confirm type ls /boot/

6) Install ps3-utils 

 - Now, we need some rpm sources from CELL-Linux-CL_xxxxxxxx-ADDON.iso (cell.iso) , so mount it!
 - Download the latest ps3-utils release:
   (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-utils/).
 - apt-get install gcc g++ make patch automake autoconf libtool autobook kexec-tools alien
 - Lets now use alien to do the conversion:

(I´ve mounted in /mnt/cell) 

 - Copy ps3utils.rpm from /cell/src/ to /usr/src/
 - alien the rpm package to .deb (default) and install with dpkg -i ps3-utils*.deb
 - Now your debian Rocks :) and able to boot the game-os  (ps3-boot-game-os)

Mr.Gabu [LL~] PSNID : GhosTTux

Image copyright problem with Image:RH-Fedora logo-nonfree.png[edit]

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No ads for distros[edit]

The final portion of the Ubuntu entry on the page reads

(...) Through successive versions of Ubuntu every 6 months, more hardware support is added frequently. As a result, Ubuntu supports accelerated graphics hardware out of the box, although some other hardware components will not function properly without modifications to the kernel.

This is a problem for two reasons: first of all it is, in the context of this article wrong. No-one except Sony can provide an operating system that has hardware acceleration for the Playstation 3 RSX chip, due to the hypervisor mentioned under the Fedora article. While I do not know what level of support Ubuntu has for the RSX chip, I suspect it is at best the same as Fedora has. The second reason is that this is more and advertisement than information. It is likely not something the contributor who added it, wrote himself but is likely lifted from official Ubuntu material (I'm too lazy to check at the moment). Even if it has not been copied, it still sounds like it tries to make Ubuntu look like it is far superior to the other OS' on a Playstation 3, based on what is true in x86 land. Fedora has a release schedule of 6 months too and supports about the same hardware on Playstation 3 as Ubuntu does. Rather than having ads for distros, pros and cons are far more interesting -- there is no mention of the fact that Fedora 9 is rubish on the Playstation 3 due to heavy memory consumption, while Yellow Dog Linux 6 flies on the machine and there is no mention of the level of SPE programming support the individual distros provide. These details are the ones that are really interesting -- not what hardware a distro supports on x86 platforms. FrederikHertzum (talk) 01:45, 9 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed[edit]

I removed the small descriptions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.255.154.129 (talk) 14:46, 16 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Recent revert[edit]

This edit undid a change which made the article more neutral by avoiding the GNU/Linux naming controversy. It should be reverted. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 18:19, 2 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It is.. I has been for some time. -- Henriok (talk) 18:48, 2 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
D'oh! Thanks for the catch. Apologies for the needless comment. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 19:22, 2 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Updated firmware[edit]

There has been an firmware update to ps3 as well. http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/18/sony-announces-ps3-firmware-3-0-european-playstation-video-stor/ . Does anybody know if this makes it harder to install GNU/Linux OS'es or not. Shirishag75 (talk) 03:18, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Rumor: OtherOS support will be gone in upcoming PS3 revisions[edit]

There's a rumor that the upcoming resized PS3 will have OtherOS support removed. Should be watched closely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.174.60.207 (talk) 20:52, 9 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not a rumor anymore:
Removal of “Install Other OS” feature
The new PS3 system will focus on delivering games and other entertainment content, and users will not be able to install other Operating Systems to the new PS3 system.
Along with a vast line-up of attractive and exciting entertainment content with the new PS3 system, SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform and create a new world of computer entertainment.
Source: http://www.scee.presscentre.com/content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4842&NewsAreaID=2
84.156.106.164 (talk) 22:29, 18 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

do you think my website dont diserve to be on this page?[edit]

i just submited a great Guide on how to [link removed] install linux on a playstation 3 console and moderators deleted it, do you think my website should be aproved in the external link? [link removed] i think this rely might help people who are still struggling to install ubuntu or yellow dog on their PS3.

I am happy that you have written a guide to install linux on PS3, but there are 25,400,000 hits for this on Google. Why should you website be listed and not the rest? (Wikipedia is not a mirror or a repository of links.) I deleted your link because I considered it a link mainly intended to promote a website. You strengthen my argument by adding the link twice in your comment: Adding external links to an article or user page for the purpose of promoting a website or a product is not allowed, and is considered to be spam. Although the specific links may be allowed under some circumstances, repeatedly adding links will in most cases result in all of them being removed.. I therefore deleted the link, also here on the talk page. The link in question can be found in the article's history. I advice you to read WP:PROMO. --mabahj (talk) 08:39, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Page temporarily semi-protected per WP:PROT. Anonymous editor, it's been explained to you why your link is unsuitable for Wikipedia. If you continue to try to insert it on this (or any other article), you run the risk that I or another admin will be forced to add your site to our spam blacklist. This means that not only will the site be blacklisted across Wikipedia, but also by other organisations that use our blacklist too. This could severely damage your web traffic. Please read the links mabahj has given you and don't edit war to include content you've been warned is unsuitable. EyeSerenetalk 11:47, 22 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

usage by US military[edit]

The US Air Force uses, or atleast used, OtherOS. Here are two sources: [1] - i can't add the other one, since it's a forum news-post--ILoveSky (T | C) 06:52, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Windows and other OSes[edit]

Why does the article only mention the ability to run Linux using Other OS? Can't Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X be used with Other OS? PCHS-NJROTC (Messages) 02:44, 22 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt it. The listed operating systems work because they were ported to the platform. Windows and OS X weren't. Reach Out to the Truth 18:31, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Late reply to this fellas, but Windows do work with the PS3's OtherOS, but not supported by Sony. I've seen a YouTube video of someone using Windows 98 on a pre-v. 3.21 original PS3 and it worked, but at a slower pace as Windows 95 and 98 as with other succeeding Windows versions up to Windows 8 only supports Intel and AMD processors, not the IST Cell.

As for the video I don't know if it's still there as my first and only viewing of that vid was last March and as for MacOS I still doubt it will work as I don't see any YouTube vid of any MacOS version loading on a PS3. Kyrios320 (talk) 13:22, 18 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Main PS3 artcile[edit]

PlayStation_3#OtherOS_support

I tidied the main article section - it was concentrating on the removal of the feature, without actually mentioning the feature..

There may be some links or content (including some I removed) that are relevant here. Please see the edit difference for details diff Imgaril (talk) 14:47, 6 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Bias[edit]

This article appears to be biased. The article focuses on jailbreaking, actions by GeoHotz, ways to follow activities by GeoHotz (irrelevant to this article), and bypassing the update feature. I've added the class action decisions by federal judge to make the article more balanced, but I still think the balance is off. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chris Boers (talk • contribs) 11:26, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]


I agree with you. "GeoHOT" really had nothing to do with anything, anyways. He took code from other developers, that they were still working on and he released it before they wanted to release it, just so he could get "e-Fame". The original developers of the exploit, wanted to lock down their code and make sure everything was as perfect as possible before the release, in order to prevent Sony from fixing it & patching it, as well as to have a nice looking, finished piece of code that was easy to use and functional for even the most basic people with not much/no "tech savvy". Mr. Hotz just wanted to take credit for something he had no part in, for the "e-Fame" that comes along with it.


This resulted in him having to go to court for something he did not create, but just distributed. This is why he was not able to put up a good defense in court, because he really didn't have the complete understanding of how the exploit worked and the legal issues surrounding the method of the exploit. That's called KARMA. On a side note, I would also like to take the time to point out that he used a large part of the legal money that people donated to him online, for things like trips to South-America. He can deny it all he wants, but it was completely obvious to everyone involved.


Don't get me wrong, the kid is really intelligent. He just lacks moral fiber.


The guy is a fraud. Always has been, probably always will be. ―ТнеСупԁісате.сом (talk) 04:49, 11 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]



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