PS3Compatibility

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This is a recommended read for anybody that wants to help out on this feature!

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

Summary

The Sony ["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 HDMI-compatible monitor and USB keyboard and 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

This specification covers preparing a patched Linux kernel package (linux-image-ps3?) compatible with the PS3, preparing a patched kboot image, and writing documentation that will explain users how to install Ubuntu on their PS3.

Design

All the information about running Linux on the PS3 can be found here: http://felter.org/wesley/files/ps3/linux-20061110-docs/ This is a recommended read for anybody that wants to help out on this feature!

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 added in the patches made available by Sony 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

Sony has provided patches for Linux 2.6.19 and kboot.

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)