Get your PS3 pre-installed with Linux

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Get your PS3 pre-installed with Linux

Posted Feb 26th 2007 10:00AM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: News, Culture

As my good friend Pat said to me in one of my lesser moments, "Damn it, it's Linux (Lynn-ux), not Linux (Lie-nux). People will think you're talking about that Charlie Brown kid." So true... just so I get my blue blanket. In any case, this news comes from TerraSoft -- those guys behind YDL (Yellow Dog Linux) and all that stuff. They're accepting pre-orders for PlayStation 3's that they've already installed a Linux OS on in addition to the PS3's native OS.

TerraSoft has said their PS3's will ship with "a DVD, installation guide, sticker, and "flippy" -- presumably a dog toy". Hopefully it's yellow, too. That would be greatness. This is a pretty bold maneuver by TerraSoft and one that would've been keen from day one, though we're not altogether disappointed that it wasn't. Now those not hardware-inclined (like yours truly) won't have to look all over the place for very obvious tutorials and can continue to be concerned with knowing about the software of the past, distant past, and future. Right?

Tags: Linux, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony, Yellow Dog, YellowDog

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Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Has anyone installed Yellow dog yet? I'm curious as to how it is and if it's worth putting on my ps3.

Posted at 10:22AM on Feb 26th 2007 by simcha

2. If it's not already supplied (I haven't checked), you can install OpenOffice and do all the word processing you want.

http://www.openoffice.org/

Posted at 1:33PM on Feb 26th 2007 by ck

3. Ok good to know. I was just curious. Emulation would be good as would be word processing but it's not necessary.

Posted at 6:24PM on Feb 26th 2007 by simcha

4. I have installed YDL 5 on three PS3s now. It is a very simple install. It comes with most everything you would want. OpenOffice is on there, as is GIMP, GAIM, Firefox.

What is not included is VLC or MP3 support (OGG, of course). Getting VLC installed is a chore, but the basic install with thousands of RPMs installed quite painlessly.

It is nice having YDL on my PS3. Makes the $600 hurt just a little less.

Posted at 7:33PM on Feb 26th 2007 by Ken Edwards

5. may I asked a question regarding linux? is there some kind of multiboot? or how change between playing the games and running linux?

Posted at 8:07PM on Feb 26th 2007 by Zozzi

6. Why?

Posted at 8:34PM on Feb 26th 2007 by ez054098

7. Among other things, OpenOffice, Firefox, email and chat clients are included in the Yellow Dog distribution.

Installation is pretty straightforward (I hadn't touched Linux in over 10 years, and I didn't have any problem).

Linux on PS3 is extremely interesting for those of us who are interested in using Cell for scientific computing and can't afford (or can't convince their bosses to order) a $20K IBM QS20 server. 140+ GFLOPS (single precision) for $500 (or even $600) is a real bargain.

Posted at 10:00PM on Feb 26th 2007 by drivendriver

8. Zozzi,

There is dual boot. Linux is installed in its own partition on the hard drive. An option in the PS3 system settings lets you set the default OS. When you set that option to "Other OS", you boot Linux. When you're in Linux, the command boot-game-os allows you to go back to the Sony game OS.

Posted at 10:01PM on Feb 26th 2007 by drivendriver

9. They should consider selling hard drive upgrades with linux installed on them. Then they can sell to all of us that already have PS3s and haven't upgraded the drive or installed linux.

Posted at 2:14PM on Feb 27th 2007 by Jiffylush

10. where the hell can i find yellow dog to download?

Posted at 10:44PM on Feb 27th 2007 by Chard

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