Is linux dead as a viable OS on PS3?
- Thread starter edepot
- Start date
I think there is an active group in Sony (Europe) handling PS3 Linux. You can contact them on the cbe-oss-dev mailing list.
They should open up another user dev area on the GameOS side. I think the reception and returns would be better (Think iPhone AppStore).
EDIT:
Let's go yell at some Sony official sites and see what happens.
They should open up another user dev area on the GameOS side. I think the reception and returns would be better (Think iPhone AppStore).
EDIT:
Let's go yell at some Sony official sites and see what happens.
Linux on the PS3 isn't great. But it's a really cheap way of opening up Cell development to local users. If they can't replace this in some form or other, then that will be a big shame. I really like the install Other OS feature, and I think the only reason they took it away, apart from pissing on someone's grave and simplifying the PS3's user interface, is because their team feels too much stress from hackers, I guess. It will remain to be seen whether it will help.
But it's a great shame for Cell development. I really hope they come up with some form of alternative, but I can't have my hopes up ... shame.
But it's a great shame for Cell development. I really hope they come up with some form of alternative, but I can't have my hopes up ... shame.
I'm puzzled as well. Maybe something with the i/o ports? Maybe they can make their SATA and USB controllers a bit cheaper if they forego a few standards (AHCI/OHCI), and if that nukes Linux compatibility ... so be it :\
You can always still do CBE development on a PC... running linux.
It's not ideal, but you can cross-compile on x86, and execute it in a simulator running on the same linux system:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/xlcpp/features/multicore/?Open&S_TACT=106AH21W&S_CMP=GRAD
It's not ideal, but you can cross-compile on x86, and execute it in a simulator running on the same linux system:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/xlcpp/features/multicore/?Open&S_TACT=106AH21W&S_CMP=GRAD
'Other OS' was a golden opportunity full of potential. Sony never developed it, and now have abandoned it. PS3 could have been so much more. So you go play your Uncharted, while those of us who understood mourn the loss of perhaps the last great hope for a Better Computing World.
Yes, it will stay for older PS3 models.
Source: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1322957&postcount=96
Source: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1322957&postcount=96
I never figured out why they didn't do it? Selling unlocked PS3's at a profit would be one way of making money of PS3.
I am sure lot of people would buy it then. I'd load it up with 1GB XDR ram and put it out for 500-600 $. If the rsx was unlocked, there's no way in hell, it would not lead to pickup in PS3 sw. And yes, that would ease the burden of writing code for CELL as more people would be proficient with it. And as for, answering the question of this thread. YES. Linux is dead for PS3.
'Other OS' was a golden opportunity full of potential. Sony never developed it, and now have abandoned it. PS3 could have been so much more. So you go play your Uncharted, while those of us who understood mourn the loss of perhaps the last great hope for a Better Computing World.
But what was that potential, realistically? It was always rather awkward having to shut down the Game OS and boot up Linux. That meant that Linux couldn't be connected to the net and running all the time, and Game OS couldn't be connected to the net and running all the time, and a 192 meg (effective) in-order PowerPC Linux box was just never worth that much.
It's a shame for those people who were doing Cell development for scientific computing, but I don't think I ever saw or heard about anything particularly noteworthy done on Linux for Cell outside of some tech demos at University.
Maybe if Sony had provided GL access to RSX we might have seen some worthwhile things done with it, but they went well out of their way with the hypervisor and RSX bounce buffers to nail everything down tighter than a drum.
PowerPC Linux + SPUs - 3d acceleration == ??
The real potential was an old style computer, like the 8 and 16 bit eras, where the system works and you knew exactly what hardware you were developing for. There could have been a big push for alternative interfaces and easier ways of doing things, instead of the legacy windows, icon, mouse, pointer interfaces we've had for 25 years. And there were the possibilities of developing some fabulous software doing all kinds of funky things.
Yes, the current scene is barren, and in that respect it's no loss. But in terms of potential, what it could have been, it's terrible. Even if console computing never got anywhere, at least it was an option. Now there's nothing but PC and Mac stretching out forever in front of us (until Google buys the world).
Ahhh, I see. I think you had far grander ambitions for that sort of thing than anyone at Sony ever did.
I don't think the world of the early microcomputers is ever coming back. The center of gravity for computer usage has shifted irrevocably towards Internet access and media playback. The specific hardware, and even the operating system software, is ever less important.. access to the world of online and offline content is where it is at.
And I say this as someone who used an Amiga 1000 for 7 years straight. I know what it's like to have a beloved piece of hardware that you can just swim in for years and years. Today, though, the software is portable (whether it's Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, WebOS,...), and all the adventure is at that level and higher.
PS3 with Linux was never the best optimized for being a general computing resource. It's one thing for game developers to cope with programming to Cell, and it's another thing entirely for amateurs and hobbyists to do so.. particularly when they can just wait a few years and mainstream hardware will bring that kind of performance level to them without requiring a wholly bespoke programming effort to achieve it.
Definitely! I think Sony only cared for Linux as a Cell development cultivation platform. The homebrew community havent been attracted, and so they are abandoning it, looking to traditional means to cultivate Cell expertise and systems.
Yes, eventually. It'll be a world of virtualised hardwares. We'll just log onto Google with our embedded wireless-access user chip and World Population Identity Number.
