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bored2k
June 10th, 2005, 08:32 PM
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html


Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi disclosed that he plans to install the Linux operating system on the PS3's hard disc drive (HDD) so it will be recognized as a computer, rather than a mere console.

(...) Of course, the PS3 can run Linux. If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so. Maybe a new OS might come out.

Oh my.. I better start saving money.

pdk001
June 10th, 2005, 08:35 PM
playstation is the thing to children

bored2k
June 10th, 2005, 08:40 PM
playstation is the thing to children
Wich means ? (we're talking about a cheap supercomputer here)

mike998
June 10th, 2005, 08:42 PM
Finally a console creator has looked at what's happening in the market. Maybe it will only shift a couple of extra units, but every little helps...

mrtaber
June 10th, 2005, 08:44 PM
I read this, and was immediately swept by a wave of techno-lust. I am so ready for my PS3 supercomputer running Linux.

Mark :)

bored2k
June 10th, 2005, 08:52 PM
Finally a console creator has looked at what's happening in the market. Maybe it will only shift a couple of extra units, but every little helps...
I think he's aware of this, but in my opinion, this would be the beggining of the end of console game consoles as we know them. I think he wants to show the world that we still think (at least, 98% of the world) of consoles as mere gaming machines, like Nintendo has been trying to do. That is proof that Nintendo's "Consoles for games only" is just slowing the pace for the evolution of technology. Microsoft also did the same did by not advertising the XBX 1 as a possible computer, just like some have been using it (servers, linux, etc). I think this strategy will benefit the gaming industry, Linux growth, sales and technology in general.

As of today, I admire mr. Ken Kutaragi. I deviated a little from Sony about a year ago (I had already bought my Playstation 1 & 2 so it didn't matter :-P), but after today's news, they have my attention :D.

poofyhairguy
June 10th, 2005, 09:12 PM
From this:


IPCW: So Linux can be run on the Cell?

KK: Linux is legacy, but it will be a start. In the case of the Cell, operation systems are applications. The kernel will be running on the Cell, and multiple OSes will be running on top of that as applications. Of course, the PS3 can run Linux. If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so. Maybe a new OS might come out.

Lol. Lindows. I guess that means Ubuntu will run fine on there. He seems to want to go after the computer market a little:


This time, we're positioning the PS3 as a "supercomputer." But people won't recognize it as a computer unless we call it a computer, so we're going to run an OS on it. In fact, the Cell can run multiple OSes. In order to run the OSes, we need an HDD. So in order to declare that the PS3 is a computer, I think we'll have [the PS3's HDD] preinstalled with Linux as a bonus.

Sounds too good to be true. If people are really using these things as computers by the time the first price drops hit I'll get one (I promised myself I'd never buy a first gen Sony machine again).

Something tells me that it will lack something major. I mean, Sony makes money off the games and will probably lose some cash at first on the consoles. Maybe they will make it so that they gain back that loss when you buy the overpriced harddisk. Time will tell.

bored2k
June 10th, 2005, 09:20 PM
Sounds too good to be true. If people are really using these things as computers by the time the first price drops hit I'll get one (I promised myself I'd never buy a first gen Sony machine again).

Something tells me that it will lack something major. I mean, Sony makes money off the games and will probably lose some cash at first on the consoles. Maybe they will make it so that they gain back that loss when you buy the overpriced harddisk. Time will tell.
LOL what's your experience with first gen consoles ?

I have a PS2 v1 (or 3, don't remember) console.. had. It gave me so much trouble. PS 1 games wouldn't run, neither would music discs (at first they did, they just suddenly stopped working) and eventually a game would load after several minutes of screeching and a Ringu (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/) type sounds. Although If I have the money I would probably buy one, I would wait a few moments until the first wave of "hits" arrive. Plus, I'd have to wait for the official and "3rd party" development on them ;).

The advantage of waiting is that probably someone would come up saying "I managed to use my Hitachi disk on the PS3 ! here's how.", so hopefully, we won't have to buy overpriced hardware.

But hey, you want something bad ? have you seen the boomeranguish type controller ? I didn't grow to love the Dual shock for about 5 years (plus the XBX small controller dual-shock look alike) just so tehy would make one .. not so sexy.

Still, it's great news and I'm anxious to see what XBX devs will come up with to compete!

darkoptix
June 10th, 2005, 09:56 PM
The cool thing with the next-gen consoles is that they have the ability to run OS X, by using the powerpc processors. Which ever one is the easiest to mod, will be my buying target.

poofyhairguy
June 10th, 2005, 10:02 PM
LOL what's your experience with first gen consoles ?

Sony ones have turned into plastic bricks for me (both generations). My Nintendo stuff lasts for years....



But hey, you want something bad ? have you seen the boomeranguish type controller ? I didn't grow to love the Dual shock for about 5 years (plus the XBX small controller dual-shock look alike) just so tehy would make one .. not so sexy.


Hmm...I 'll give it a chance. Honestly I want to see games before I'm impressed with anything.

Keyser
June 10th, 2005, 11:05 PM
awesome interview. i get more excited about ps3 every day it seems.



But hey, you want something bad ? have you seen the boomeranguish type controller ? I didn't grow to love the Dual shock for about 5 years (plus the XBX small controller dual-shock look alike) just so tehy would make one .. not so sexy.

the new controller looks kind of goofy, but i have one almost identical to that for the pc, and its actually quite comfortable (especially for someone with big hands like myself)

as for sony first-gen consoles, i have heard the bad things but i have a original ps2 and it is still running strong. it has a few hiccups here and there playing dvds (but i dont use it for that anyways.)

crane
June 11th, 2005, 07:03 AM
I can't wait to see how this develops. I think game consoles will change the way things work in the home though. They are becoming multimedia units as well as the modern computers are doing the same.I think they are on a path that will merge or cross. I am interested how the console builders will continue to modify and improve their units.

I don't think I will buy one right off the bat for running an OS but it's possible. I found an xbox on a pawn shop the other day for 75 dollars. I thought wow that could make a really cheap, easy, and highly portable Quake3 game server.!! Has anyone tried this?

owdeuk
November 17th, 2005, 09:14 AM
If they do a bundle and ship the PS3 with UT2007 + keyboard + mouse, that'll do me for starters as it's cheaper than upgrading my current PC and messing around with Holy Stuff settings just to get a decent FPS. :rolleyes: Running LINUX is a big bonus, anything else that develops is an even bigger bonus. What would be cool would be an XBOX emulator, then I could retire my xbox as a server or something. :cool:

Agree with bored2k about the HD, probably worth waiting a while. But it depends if you can. :D After all the 360 hype this Xmas I'll be counting the days down next year until the PS3 release.

Wonder how the original UT would run in the PS3 + Linux environment?

mcduck
November 17th, 2005, 09:43 AM
Well, I'm running PS2-Linux as well as Ubuntu, and I wouldn't count on using PS3 to run any games with Linux. Even if it is linux, that doesn't make the hardware compatible with PC-games or software. Cell is very different from PowerPC and x86 processors, and unless Sony also makes some nice pc-emulator everything must be ported for it to run. There sure won't be any commercial games for playstation-linux, and FOSS people will have very hard time porting anything from x86 to Cell, otherwise the games won't be able to use any of the Cell's real power.

With PS2 linux, it took years until anybody managed to get any program to display videos properly, and even now divx and such run pretty badly. That's because they aren't optimised for PS2, and therefore they only run as if the machine only had one 300MHz cpu and 32MB of RAM. Getting any real power from the machine requires using the VPU (vector processing units), and you can be sure that no linux program has any useful code for using those.. I suppose PS3-linux will not be so different.

Even if a machine runs linux, that doesn't mean that it is compatible with PC's.

owdeuk
November 17th, 2005, 12:13 PM
Yeah, I sorta gathered that. ;) It would be nice though if something eventually did get ported.

Ah well wait and see I suppose. :rolleyes:

zenwhen
November 17th, 2005, 12:40 PM
I want to buy a computer from a company that installs rootkits on people's computers. It sounds like a great idea.

olaf-g
November 17th, 2005, 06:29 PM
Watch this all you techno-gaget-freaks

Looks like IBM has already developed Linux kernel patches and a GCC toolchain for the cell processor. There is a SDK with a cell simulator ontop of a Fedora x86 box:

http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/topics/cell?Open&ca=daw-flHts-111005

So please start NOW to port all your stuff ;)

jc87
November 17th, 2005, 08:15 PM
This is probably the boost that Gnu/Linux needs do enter at the Desktop market .

Sony playstation 3 will have millions and millions of users , and even if only let us say 30% of them buy a PS3 HDD , will still be a lot of people using gnu/linux.

Ok Playstation 3 is not a computer at the egxact term , so there will be no direct drivers and such increase , but many of thoose people will enjoy gnu/linux and start using it at it´s personal computer , and if not that , at least will still browse the internet with firefox , or work in openoffice (after being adapted to CELL off course), and help fighting M$ closed formats in that areas.

I hate Sony because of stuff like their recent DRM aventure , but i got to recognize that this is your chance to say : Bill let me tell you where you can shoove your closed formats.

Kudos to Sony , without realizing it they may be doing the most significative step in the history of gnu/linux since a young hacker named RMS decided to built a free OS based on unix.

Brunellus
November 17th, 2005, 08:22 PM
This is probably the boost that Gnu/Linux needs do enter at the Desktop market .

Sony playstation 3 will have millions and millions of users , and even if only let us say 30% of them buy a PS3 HDD , will still be a lot of people using gnu/linux.

Ok Playstation 3 is not a computer at the egxact term , so there will be no direct drivers and such increase , but many of thoose people will enjoy gnu/linux and start using it at it´s personal computer , and if not that , at least will still browse the internet with firefox , or work in openoffice (after being adapted to CELL off course), and help fighting M$ closed formats in that areas.

I hate Sony because of stuff like their recent DRM aventure , but i got to recognize that this is your chance to say : Bill let me tell you where you can shoove your closed formats.

Kudos to Sony , without realizing it they may be doing the most significative step in the history of gnu/linux since a young hacker named RMS decided to built a free OS based on unix.
don't get carried away. PS2 Linux was GNU enough, sure, but it required a proprietary bootloader.

All Sony wants is a cheap development platform. They have zero intention to help desktop linux.

dosed150
November 17th, 2005, 08:26 PM
i assume this will run like a dual boot? so you can either boot into a game from the blu-ray drive or boot onto linux from hdd

jc87
November 17th, 2005, 08:34 PM
don't get carried away. PS2 Linux was GNU enough, sure, but it required a proprietary bootloader.

All Sony wants is a cheap development platform. They have zero intention to help desktop linux.

I´m not saying that Sony are all good folks , but at the moment they only have to win with helping it because :

1) They also help their PS3 vision of a computer and not just a console.

2) Sometimes the best defense is attack , if they hit M$ money cows (Wintendo and office) , M$ in the future will have less resources to compete with Sony , will still have a lot , but not as many.

The enemies of my enemies are my friends.

Master Shake
November 17th, 2005, 10:46 PM
LOL what's your experience with first gen consoles ?


Atari, or Colecovision?

Back in the day, Atari, Coleco, and Mattell all announced computer add-ons for their respective consoles. Atari's 2600 add-on never came out (although several third party ones did, in limited release)

The Coleco one was of note, as it was the only one of the first gen-consoles to have a "real" OS available for it -- DRI's CP/M (Which I grew to love)

For the record, Atari announced computer add-ons for the 2600 and the 7800. The 5200 was the atari 800 computer sans keyboard. The XE game system had the computer add-on pre-packaged with the game system.

BWF89
November 18th, 2005, 12:30 AM
It may be Linux but you can bet that it's going to include all sorts of DRM and proprietary parts.