does the ps3 use gpl code?

[Choad]

the ps3 does a LOT of things. it has support for a large variety of 3rd party devices such as bluetooth devices, printers, keyboards, mice and now it turns out wacom tablets work too, all plug n play.

why would they spend all that extra time developing support for hardware that almost no one will use with their ps3?

maybe i am way off... but it sounds an awful lot like the functionality of linux. is it possible that they are using GPLed code in their firmware?

[PrimoTurbo]

Holly crap Google is fast.

I searched for "ps3 gpl code" in Google and your post comes up first.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=ps3+gpl+code&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

You posted 22 minutes ago? Some fast caching.

I suspect they might of stolen some code also, but might never know since it's a completely closed system.

[Choad]

Holly crap Google is fast.

I searched for "ps3 gpl code" in Google and your post comes up first.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=ps3+gpl+code&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

You posted 22 minutes ago? Some fast caching.

I suspect they might of stolen some code also, but might never know since it's a completely closed system.
jesus! that's insane!!!

isn't the gpl kind of a joke if you can't enforce it on closed systems?

[PrimoTurbo]

How can u enforce it if you cannot prove that a propriety program is using it, and reverse engineering it could be illegal in certain countries (eg. Mod Chips).

[GeneralZod]

jesus! that's insane!!!

isn't the gpl kind of a joke if you can't enforce it on closed systems?

No more than any other copy(right/left) license. The leap from "isn't perfect" to "is a joke" is a pretty big one, too :)

[Choad]

we should start doing what cartographers do to stop people copying them. tho i don't know how you could do that with software...

[red_Marvin]

What do cartographers do then?

[Choad]

What do cartographers do then?
late reply lol, they put deliberate errors in that are so obscure no one will notice them, meaning that people will copy the error unaware that it's incriminating them

[happysmileman]

late reply lol, they put deliberate errors in that are so obscure no one will notice them, meaning that people will copy the error unaware that it's incriminating them

Wow, so Windows must be the most well-designed piece of software ever. (I kid, I kid)

Edit: But that said, I doubt the PS3 uses GPL code, it's a very popular system, someone would've noticed if they looked hard enough, and I definitely don't think it's unreasonable to think Sony wrote the code themselves, they could easily have used BSD or maybe even LGPL code, but they'd be well aware of the legal risks in using GPL code

[Npl]

mice, keyboards and I think bluetooth-devices aswell have generic drivers, so theres no need for lots of drivers. No clue about wacom tablets and googling reveals that the list of supported printers depend on country. Thats the list for US for example (http://playstation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/playstation.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=433&p_created=1194555472&p_sid=E_cUG6fj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX 3Jvd19jbnQ9NCw0JnBfcHJvZHM9NCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PTE uNCZwX2N2PSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXByaW50Z XI*&p_li=&p_topview=1)

Also, Sonys producing CE-Devices for ages (supporting media formats and standards like USB,Firewire ) and thus already has a rather large codebase.

[Frak]

There are methods for checking the presence of GPL software. Compiled software retain some hex patterns that will match 99.99% of the time. If you were to dump the firmware/ROM out of the PS3 and then run a check against it, it would start to find similarities based on a tolerance (1 for whole software match, 10 for word, word the size, match). This is how they found that CherryOS was using GPL'd code from the PearPC project.

Anyways, I doubt they would be using GPL'd code. Sony already has rights to a lot of that hardware via contracts and protection plans from other companies, so they can implement it without batting an eyelash.