using a ps3 as a pc

[Knowledge2012]

After looking at the new specs of the ps3, i am now considering using it as not only a gaming console but a gaming pc, and a pc in general, if you havnt seen the specs for this machine, here they are:

PLAYSTATION 3 SPECIFICATIONS

CPU: Cell Processor PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
--1 VMX vector unit per core
--512KB L2 cache
--7 x SPE @3.2GHz
--7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
--7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
--*1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
--Total floating point performance: 218 gigaflops

GPU RSX @ 550MHz
--1.8 TFLOPS floating point Performance
--Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
--Multi-way programmable parallel Floating point shader pipelines
--Sound Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)

MEMORY
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz
System Bandwidth Main RAM-- 25.6GB/s
VRAM--22.4GB/s
RSX-- 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

SYSTEM FLOATING POINT PERFORMANCE:
2 teraflops

STORAGE
--HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1
--I/O--USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
--Memory Stickstandard/Duo, PRO x 1
--SD standard/mini x 1
--CompactFlash(Type I, II) x 1

COMMUNICATION
--Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
--Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
--Bluetooth--Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
--ControllerBluetooth (up to 7)
--USB 2.0 (wired)
--Wi-Fi (PSP)
--Network (over IP)

AV OUTPUT
Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI out x 2
AV multi out x 1
Digital out (optical) x 1

DISC MEDIA
CD
PlayStation CD-ROM
PlayStation2 CD-ROM
CD-DA
CD-DA (ROM),
CD-R,
CD-RW
SACD Hybrid (CD layer),
SACD HD
DualDisc (audio side)
DualDisc (DVD side)
PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM
PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM
DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD+R,
DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc
PlayStation 3 BD-ROM
BD-ROM

Sony has announced that the ps3 will be Linux compatable along wit osX (they did not mention M$) now this system is supposed to cost under 425$ from what ive read. considering the fact that Blu-ray Disc players costs in the thousands of dollars range, The GPU is made by nvidia and is supposed to be as powerfull as two 6800's or possibly one very good 7800 which alone cost 400-500. BTW, the processor is a cell processor containing 9 seperate cores, with the processor being developed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba. This is going to be a VERY fast pc. Do you guys think this would make for a good pc? Im not sure if the memory is expandale, and that would be the only thing holding me back from using it as a pc, or buying the system period, but other than that, you just cannot beat the price, well i dont think so anyway.

[matthinckley]

I read that sony is going to have linux preinstalled on the hard drive of the PS3 so you can boot into linux out of the box

[Kernel Sanders]

**Some Linkage I Found** (http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/gameroom/2005/08/ps3/index.php)

Hope this helps :D

[Knowledge2012]

Wow, i had no idea! thats great, i wonder what distro they will be using. I wonder if sony will live up to its ps9 commercial! the was technology is going i wouldnt doubt it

[Kernel Sanders]

Wow, i had no idea! thats great, i wonder what distro they will be using. I wonder if sony will live up to its ps9 commercial! the was technology is going i wouldnt doubt it

Read my linkage before you get too excited.......

[BWF89]

I wonder what percentage of packages will compile on the PS3 arcitecture?

[Knowledge2012]

What i would want to know is if you can boot into the operating system and play games at the same time. If that was the case you could possible have a very fast and highly advanced pc for under 500$ im not sure though if will cost below that amount. some say it is, some say it isnt.

If linux will be natively on the ps3, then i dont think it will have any real problems with package support, for the most part.

The ps3 will also open-source, allowing for game development. You just cant beat that. Looks like sony is diffently going in the right direction.

Online play is FREE, unlike xbox360 where you have to pay a monthly payment. I think this is out standing.

It also comes loaded with lots a excellent software, including voice recognition software by eyecandy.

[briancurtin]

The ps3 will also open-source
who said that? i highly doubt that would be true in any way

[GreyFox503]

The ps3 will also open-source, allowing for game development. You just cant beat that. Looks like sony is diffently going in the right direction.
I doubt it. Link please.



Online play is FREE, unlike xbox360 where you have to pay a monthly payment. I think this is out standing.
The PS2 had free online play too, but it didn't do so well. If the PS3 has centralized xbox-live like system for free, now you're talking.


Besides, it's Sony. Even if you bought a PS3 and wiped it clean to use as a PC, you still bought from Sony.

[Knowledge2012]

who said that? i highly doubt that would be true in any way

"....little is known in public about the PS3 apart from its hardware specifications and the reports that it will be based on open APIs for the game development." - wikipedia.org

I have also seen this on other sites as well.

[Knowledge2012]

I doubt it. Link please.


The PS2 had free online play too, but it didn't do so well. If the PS3 has centralized xbox-live like system for free, now you're talking.


Besides, it's Sony. Even if you bought a PS3 and wiped it clean to use as a PC, you still bought from Sony.

I beleive it has a centralized xbox-live like system, developed by sony. What is wrong with buying a sony? I rather have a sony over any M$ wanna be gaming system, not only that but sony makes some of the best products around with VERY good qaulity.

If you want to know more about the ps3 and all its awesomeness check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3

[Qrk]

PLAYSTATION 3 SPECIFICATIONS

CPU: Cell Processor PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
--1 VMX vector unit per core
--512KB L2 cache
--7 x SPE @3.2GHz
--7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
--7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
--*1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
--Total floating point performance: 218 gigaflops

GPU RSX @ 550MHz
--1.8 TFLOPS floating point Performance
--Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
--Multi-way programmable parallel Floating point shader pipelines
--Sound Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)

MEMORY
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz
System Bandwidth Main RAM-- 25.6GB/s
VRAM--22.4GB/s
RSX-- 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

SYSTEM FLOATING POINT PERFORMANCE:
2 teraflops

STORAGE
--HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1
--I/O--USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
--Memory Stickstandard/Duo, PRO x 1
--SD standard/mini x 1
--CompactFlash(Type I, II) x 1

COMMUNICATION
--Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
--Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
--Bluetooth--Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
--ControllerBluetooth (up to 7)
--USB 2.0 (wired)
--Wi-Fi (PSP)
--Network (over IP)

AV OUTPUT
Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI out x 2
AV multi out x 1
Digital out (optical) x 1



How in the world is this $425? Were talking less than the price of a Mac Mini here. I suppose we can expect quite a few of the peripherals to be available as add-ons.

If Sony manages to pull this one off, I suppose I'll have to go buy a console. It will be my first since N64.

[drizek]

They are taking a HUGE hit on it to sell it at that price.

BTW, they will have "xbox live" services that are centralized, but hte actual game hosting will be done by third parties.

[GreyFox503]

Sorry if I come off as very critical, but that's what I am of Sony. Their electronics division makes good hardware, but the games dept... Playstation 1 and Playstation 2s were not very well made, especially in their first iterations. It will be interesting to see if the PS3 has more or less problems than the 360 had at launch.

I also don't like Sony because of the whole music-CD rootkit business. It will take a long time for me to ever buy from them again.

I'm not a Microsoft fan either, and I'm not buying an Xbox 360 for that matter.

I am still interested in the PS3; mainly about its price. I'm dying to know what they'll sell it for, because it's supposedly very expensive. I guess we'll know soon enough.

[mcduck]

After looking at the new specs of the ps3, i am now considering using it as not only a gaming console but a gaming pc, and a pc in general, if you havnt seen the specs for this machine, here they are:

Sure, it PS3 will be a great machine, it will have great games, and you can run Linux on it. But that doesn't mean that everything that runs on a x86/Linux would run on a Cell/Linux system. The CPU is different, the architecture is different, you can only run Linux on it because Linux is open-source and can thus be ported to different machines. Most PC games aren't open-source, and even those that are need to be ported for Cell before they will take any real advantage of the hardware.. PS3 is not going to be any cheap super-PC for PC gamers.

About PS3 being open-source; no, it won't be. But it will use some common API:s that are. After having problems with PS2 being hard for coders because they couldn't use any graphics they knew before, Sony decided to make PS3 use OpenGL. (This might also have something to do with Microsoft gaining DirectX and choosing it for XB and Windows ;))

[tseliot]

Sure, it PS3 will be a great machine, it will have great games, and you can run Linux on it. But that doesn't mean that everything that runs on a x86/Linux would run on a Cell/Linux system. The CPU is different, the architecture is different, you can only run Linux on it because Linux is open-source and can thus be ported to different machines.
That's right. And we don't even know what kind of bootloader and distro Sony will use.

[GreyFox503]

I'd be surprised if the PS3 came loaded with a real distribution that you could run in an open-ended fashion.

What I expect is a standard console interface like PS2's or Xbox 360's, just with linux as the backend. It may not be recognizable as linux at all.

On the other hand, you could boot up your PS3 and wind up staring at a Gnome/KDE desktop. But I wouldn't bet on it.

[Virogenesis]

I'm sure it will just use a linux backend BUT I'm also sure we'll see a mod chip which will open up locked features.

And as for the cell chip they are being installed inside blade servers so I'm sure we'll be able to compile on a ps3 :)

[Kimm]

Probably just a linux backend, but then again, using Gnome or KDE (or any common DE for that mather) doesnt make a system more or less "Linux", linux is the kernel, so strictly speaking, the PS3 will run Linux.

Unless Sony makes changes to the kernel (which the cant if they want to be GPL compiant... if I get things right, not without giving the new code back anyway), we should be able to compile a new kernel will all standard features... correct me if I'm wrong.

[Knowledge2012]

How in the world is this $425? Were talking less than the price of a Mac Mini here. I suppose we can expect quite a few of the peripherals to be available as add-ons.

If Sony manages to pull this one off, I suppose I'll have to go buy a console. It will be my first since N64.

Those are not add ons, those come standard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation_3

As i mentioned before, no one knows the price, many speculate it will be under 500 to compete with the 360 and new nintendo system.

[Knowledge2012]

Sorry if I come off as very critical, but that's what I am of Sony. Their electronics division makes good hardware, but the games dept... Playstation 1 and Playstation 2s were not very well made, especially in their first iterations. It will be interesting to see if the PS3 has more or less problems than the 360 had at launch.

I also don't like Sony because of the whole music-CD rootkit business. It will take a long time for me to ever buy from them again.

I'm not a Microsoft fan either, and I'm not buying an Xbox 360 for that matter.

I am still interested in the PS3; mainly about its price. I'm dying to know what they'll sell it for, because it's supposedly very expensive. I guess we'll know soon enough.

I am also eager to learn of a price. The machine seems to be worth around 700, thats what im geussing. I dont think they will have any problems with hardware, well im hoping not. They did delay the release from March this year to November, i read it was for some Blu-ray issues, but who knows. They are having a world wide release date instead of releasing them seperatly to other contries first and making others wait which i think is pretty cool.

Kimm:
If they did develop a kernel with standard linux features, would you be able to play pc games on the machine using lets say cedega? or would the game have to be created around the cell architecture? I know the videocard was made from Nvidia so you should be able to use the card fairly well i suppose?

[Kimm]

If they did develop a kernel with standard linux features, would you be able to play pc games on the machine using lets say cedega? or would the game have to be created around the cell architecture? I know the videocard was made from Nvidia so you should be able to use the card fairly well i suppose?


I was pretty sertain that the Cell processor was PowerPC and thus I imagined that Linux for ppc would run on Cell. Anyway, if Sony ported the kernel to the Cell processor, they would have to make the new code available (its GPL after all), meaning that the kernel could be recompiled.



would you be able to play pc games on the machine using lets say cedega? or would the game have to be created around the cell architecture?


Nopez, since the PS3 is Cell and not x86, windows applications will not run in wine (I'm not even sure wine will compile...).

On the NVIDIA part... I supose so, you can have Nvidia cards on PowerPC (rinning Linux), right? so that should work