Could PlayStation 3 Games be Ported to Ubuntu?

[user1397]

Since the PS3's OS is yellow dog linux, the games developed for the PS3 have to be developed in OpenGL, and could potentially work on other linux distributions.

What I'm saying is, that potentially you could be able to play PS3 games on your ubuntu box, whether it require extensive or extreme decrypting methods.

Ubuntu has already been installed on PS3 machines before, and I know this is different, but do you think it is possible?

[hizaguchi]

The PS3's operating system is not Yellow Dog Linux, or any other Linux distro. You can optionally install a Linux distro onto a PS3, and Sony contributes back to the kernel to make that option more and more worthwhile, but the OS that runs the games is not Linux. It's a proprietary OS for running games.

On top of that, the PS3 doesn't use a normal processor, it uses that weird Cell processor. Games complied for the Cell most likely won't run on an x86 processor no matter how much decoding and decrypting you do. :(

[user1397]

The PS3's operating system is not Yellow Dog Linux, or any other Linux distro. You can optionally install a Linux distro onto a PS3, and Sony contributes back to the kernel to make that option more and more worthwhile, but the OS that runs the games is not Linux. It's a proprietary OS for running games.

On top of that, the PS3 doesn't use a normal processor, it uses that weird Cell processor. Games complied for the Cell most likely won't run on an x86 processor no matter how much decoding and decrypting you do. :(ah, that is true about the cell processor...I had forgotten.

But I really thought the PS3 just had a modified version of yellow dog linux, as you can see here http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=yellowdog :


Starting with version 5.0, the company has also built a specialist edition for Sony PlayStation 3 with the Enlightenment desktop.

[hizaguchi]

Yeah, Yellow Dog does make a distro specifically for the PS3 (they moved to that from making distros specifically for Power PC), but it isn't installed by default when you buy the PS3. You have to download it and install it yourself, and last I heard, it runs at a speed comparable to a 700 Mhz Pentium 3 PC.

[tehhaxorr]

ah, that is true about the cell processor...I had forgotten.

But I really thought the PS3 just had a modified version of yellow dog linux, as you can see here http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=yellowdog :

You would be wrong, Yellowdog has a version designed to run on PPC Cell processors and has kernel modifications to help it install and run on the PS3, but it dosen't ship with the PS3, Sony are trialing Linux as an option in the future when they focus on turning the PS3 into a fully fledged multimedia PC, at this stage, it's just a flash console.

[maddog39]

What if you have a PowerPC based computer. Since the Cell processors are a form of the PowerPC line and I do believe use the same or similar binary. Cant you run them on macs running linux then?

[hizaguchi]

That's more likely, but I still doubt it. You'd need one of those G5 Power Macs to come anywhere close to the PS3's processing power, and even then I'm betting that PS3 games are designed to use features of the Cell processor that older Power PC processors won't have, so they may not run at all, even if you did decode and decrypt them. But even if they did run on a G5, you'd still need a community of developers with G5 Power Macs who were willing to take the legal (DMCA) risk of decrypting the games to work on the porting... either that or Sony would have to port them (HAHA!). So long story short, I doubt that even if it were possible, it would ever happen. :(

[tehhaxorr]

Yeah, Yellow Dog does make a distro specifically for the PS3 (they moved to that from making distros specifically for Power PC), but it isn't installed by default when you buy the PS3. You have to download it and install it yourself, and last I heard, it runs at a speed comparable to a 700 Mhz Pentium 3 PC.

That sounds like a serious software error on Yellowdogs part is thats the case, Cell is one of the most powerful processor architectures available right now.

[hizaguchi]

Yellow Dog is just a distribution. The slowness is due to the kernel not fully supporting the Cell yet, which is why Sony has been contributing patches.

[beefcurry]

No way in hell can PS3 games be ported onto Ubuntu or other OS's. the PS3 has their own system which will problely never make public. XBOX360 games however can be ported to vista (quite similar actually). PS3 is a completely different archetecture. don't even think about it.

[user1397]

ah, ok, I was wrong then.

[hizaguchi]

don't even think about it.

That's right! You stay inside the box damnit! We've got enough free-thinking people as it is. We don't need your kind running around saying, "What if?" to distract us. We're much too busy figuring out how to use all 64kb of our RAM.

</sarcasm>

[gustojr]

That's more likely, but I still doubt it. You'd need one of those G5 Power Macs to come anywhere close to the PS3's processing power, and even then I'm betting that PS3 games are designed to use features of the Cell processor that older Power PC processors won't have, so they may not run at all, even if you did decode and decrypt them. But even if they did run on a G5, you'd still need a community of developers with G5 Power Macs who were willing to take the legal (DMCA) risk of decrypting the games to work on the porting... either that or Sony would have to port them (HAHA!). So long story short, I doubt that even if it were possible, it would ever happen. :(

Cool--I'm going to get my dad to get us a Cell game system this Christmas. Then again, he waits till everyone around can get a super deal before kicking in gear.

[koshatnik]

I just wish console makers concentrated more on making the games for their machines better, rather than tarting about with hardware specs. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how uber-specced up a console is, if the games are all formulaic, generic crap. Which covers about 99% of console games for sale at the moment.

Same crap, different, shinier bucket.