PS3Compatibility

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The PlayStation 3 has an interesting feature that allows users to install a third-party OS, through the PlayStation 3 Open Platform. (http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/) The [PlayStation 3] has an interesting feature that allows users to install a third-party OS, through the [PlayStation 3] Open Platform. (http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/)
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The PowerPC version of Ubuntu can easily be made compatible with the Cell processor so it can run on the PlayStation 3. The PowerPC build of Ubuntu can easily be made compatible with the Cell processor so it can run on the PlayStation 3.
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This is an big opportunity for Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular to gain some userbase, and introduce Linux to a whole new group of users: Gamers. This is an big opportunity for Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular to gain some userbase, and introduce Linux to a whole new group of users: Gamers. This is good to popularize Linux as a gaming platform.

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Summary

The [PlayStation 3] has an interesting feature that allows users to install a third-party OS, through the [PlayStation 3] Open Platform. (http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/)

The PowerPC build of Ubuntu can easily be made compatible with the Cell processor so it can run on the PlayStation 3.

Rationale

This is an big opportunity for Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular to gain some userbase, and introduce Linux to a whole new group of users: Gamers. This is good to popularize Linux as a gaming platform.

It can also help make the PS3 more than just a games machine, making it suitable for Desktop applications as well.

Use cases

David wants to do more with his PS3 than just play games... So he connects his monitor, USB keyboard and USB mouse and installs Ubuntu to make full use of his 1+ TeraFLOPS powerhorse.

Jack wants to play homebrew and/or open source games on his PS3. He installs Xubuntu so he can discover a whole new range of original and free games like Warsow, Tremulous and PlaneShift.

Scope

Design

All the information about running Linux on the PS3 can be found here: http://felter.org/wesley/files/ps3/linux-20061110-docs/

The Linux kernel on the PS3 runs on the top of a hypervisor. Devices and other system resources are virtualized and Linux device drivers are created/modified so that they can work with virtualized devices.

The Linux kernel has access to some devices directly (e.g. USB host controller). Other devices are virtualized by the hypervisor and device service is provided via hypervisor call. For example, storage service hypervisor calls are available.

Sony provides a special "Other OS Installer". This installer installs a patched [http://kboot.sourceforge.net/ kboot] boot loader onto the PS3's Flash ROM. This kboot image must be prepared specificaly for Ubuntu.

Implementation

The following things need to be done:

  • Patch and compile a PowerPC kernel build optimized for the PS3.
  • Patch and prepare the kboot bootloader image.
  • Write proper documentation on how to install Ubuntu on the PS3

We could just patch the main Ubuntu kernel sources but I don't think that would be very good idea since I have no idea if the PS3 patches introduce any recessions.

In any case, the Sony developers are working with the Linux kernel developers at having these patches included in the kernel source.

Code

Unresolved issues

BoF agenda and discussion

CategorySpec

PS3Compatibility (last edited 2008-08-06 16:26:02 by localhost)