Terra Soft offering up 80GB PS3s with Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 pre-installed

Early last year, we polled the grand audience and found out just what you liked (and disliked) about Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 for PS3. Fast forward 13 months, and those still waiting on the sidelines have yet another option for jumping in. As of now, Terra Soft Solutions is offering up Sony's 80GB PlayStation 3 with YDL 6.0 pre-installed for $549.95, and yes, that includes the DVDs containing the OS. Interestingly, it seems as if you'll still have to pony up for a component or HDMI cable, but at least the option's there, right?

[Thanks, Fiddlesworth]

[Anton @ Feb 11th 2008 8:07PM]

Damn, PS3 is like the xbox1 of the new generation consoles...

[Will H. @ Feb 11th 2008 9:49PM]

You can get hdmi cables at amazon.com for 2 dollars, so why is this a problem?

[shawnmos @ Feb 11th 2008 8:10PM]

why???? can it still play blu-ray movies?

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 11th 2008 9:25PM]

Yes, you just boot up into the GameOS instead of OtherOS.

[Kurian @ Feb 11th 2008 9:27PM]

No.. You can play Blu-Ray from Linux as well using one of many media players.

You can even play HD-DVD if you connect the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive to it via USB!!

Now thats called giving it to Microsoft up the A$$.

[John @ Feb 11th 2008 8:13PM]

...or you can just download it and install it yourself?

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 11th 2008 8:17PM]

genius

[JLTate @ Feb 11th 2008 8:58PM]

Except Terra Soft is a bunch of bastards. YDL5 is all that's available for download without paying them money. That'd be okay if it weren't based off of an archaic version of Fedora Core (FC5 if I remember correctly). You can't even install IBM's Cell SDK 3.0 development tools for crying out loud.

[NineT9 @ Feb 12th 2008 1:30AM]

this obviously means the PS3 is now better then the Wii & 360 combined

[Nathan @ Feb 11th 2008 8:20PM]

I would rather get Ubuntu for PPC up and running, YDL was clunky and felt old when I put it on my PS3.

After I realized that there is pretty much no use in having Linux on my PS3 without access to the graphics system, I just got rid of it entirely.

[SweetSauce @ Feb 11th 2008 8:25PM]

Tried Linux in the past...

Not anything there that I found interesting.

I have a PS3. Can anyone tell me why I would want Linux on it?

[Sime @ Feb 11th 2008 8:33PM]

no

[Student Driver @ Feb 11th 2008 8:47PM]

And yet people were claiming that the ability to install Linux (well, permission more than anything from Sony) was a selling point and why it was better than the Xbox 360. I have a 360, and will buy a PS3 for Blu-ray and extended h.264 video support, rather than for Linux support (I already run a couple of flavors) or, Heaven forbid, its ability to play games.

I guess you need games worth playing on it first for that function to really shine...

[rv @ Feb 11th 2008 11:14PM]

h.264 on 260 is a tedious process. If you have an mkv, it takes about 2-3 hrs (and several different apps with extensions) to get it ready for play on 360. After you get used to it, though, its not so bad. I haven't come across an mkv I can't play after this process.

[Dave @ Feb 11th 2008 11:33PM]

orrrrr you could just hook up your comp via a dvi-hdmi cable and play the mkv directly and save yourself 2-3 hrs each time...

[Jimbo @ Feb 12th 2008 5:29PM]

Well, you already say you find nothing on Linux interesting... so maybe you're just not the target of this feature. Me, I keep my laptop at my desk, which is not in range of my living room TV,

but via my PS3 on Ubuntu, I can stream anything on my laptop to my bigscreen TV. It looks awesome (wifi at home is extremely fast and shouldn't be compared with an internet connection). I have access to tens of thousands of ROMS. I play Super Mario, Doom 3, Goldeneye, and Knights of the Old Republic on my fucking PS3! All the roms and emulators run on my laptop in another room, but work awesome. The process to do this is extremely easy.

Also, electronics are inherently cool to fiddle with. Installing linux on your PS3 gives you a chance to really have fun with the hardware, and even try programming for the unique architecture.

I also have an old printer and CD Burner plugged into a USB hub in my entertainment center, and the PS3 makes a very handy word processor, though I much prefer to use my laptop, sometimes my wife needs it. Openoffice and Googledocs.

Also, I use Mozilla Firefox on my PS3 to surf the internet.

Some morons thing the PS3 is somehow diminished because it can fold proteins, play Planet Earth in 1080p, or run many operating systems. I say these things all greatly enhance the fun of the machine. The games are not as good as the 360 right now, but the 360 has obviously peaked (outsold by the PS3 even with a huge disparity in library quality... and even EA is making th ePS3 the lead console for new games).

I really think Ubuntu is really a wonderful part of my PS3, and adds solid PC functionality. I have the PS3 itself for awesome graphics, but I fund myself spending as much time in Linux, surfing the internet on my couch or playing goldeneye with a USB adapted Dualshock 2.

I don't understand how people who like a gadget site like this cannot see the value in this great feature!

To each his own, but I think this is a great little item.

[jbhitter24 @ Feb 11th 2008 8:32PM]

i have an 80gb PS3, but much like ubuntu, i don't really see any purpose to get rid of vista/current ps firmware.

whats my motivation? the gui already on the ps3 is pretty great, just a few quirks when trying to access media over my network, but if anything i would imagine a linux distro would be worse for that.

[Nathan @ Feb 11th 2008 8:44PM]

Linux doesn't replace the XMB of your PS3, in fact there is little you can actually do with Linux, aside from browse the web a little easier (no more memory errors) and use a word processor. There is no native support for using the graphical memory to decode video so HD of any type is out.

And on top of that, now you have to keep a KB and mouse handy for when you boot into Linux...to use OpenOffice...or Firefox...which you could do more easily and with a better experience on your PC.

Personally the only reason for anyone to put Linux on their PS3 is for the satisfaction of feeling like you made it do something above and beyond its basic description. Otherwise, there really is no point.

[JLTate @ Feb 11th 2008 9:04PM]

Well, ever since it was decided that Linux wouldn't be able to access the video hardware on the PS3, it in effect became little more than a $600 Cell workstation. Which for that task it excels.

[Vance @ Feb 11th 2008 8:48PM]

I like how it sais Apple PowerPC when they have nothing to do with the PPC, it's IBM's.

[Nathan @ Feb 11th 2008 8:53PM]

It is listing the platforms it works on: IBM Cell, PS3, and Apple PPC chip. They aren't saying that they are all one in the same.

[John M @ Feb 11th 2008 10:35PM]

Actually the PowerPC was a collaboration between IBM, Apple and Motorola. Secondly there are tons of systems that run on PowerPC that Terrasoft does not support, they primarily focused on supporting Apple implementations of the PowerPC.

[Ryan Karolak @ Feb 11th 2008 11:18PM]

The PowerPC architecture was actually first created by an alliance between Apple, IBM, and Motorola. The reason why they list "Apple PowerPC" is because they're referring to the Macs that have PowerPC chips in them. Yellow Dog Linux was a popular choice for those who had PowerPC macs and wanted to run Linux. Apple now uses x86 Intel processors which is why you often hear terms such as PowerPC Macs, Intel Macs, Universal Binary, Apple PowerPC platform, ect.

[vindansam @ Feb 11th 2008 9:02PM]

Actually, IBM manufactured the PPC for Apple, until Apple made the switch to Intel processors.

[Chris @ Feb 11th 2008 9:23PM]

The only reason this would be worth it is for that program that lets you stream a game from windows to PS3 (its still controlled through windows)

[Joshua Walters @ Feb 11th 2008 10:07PM]

Thats a pretty big rip off, considering you can do it yourself for next to nothing. (most people already have the flash memory needed to do the install).

I have heard it can be a pain in the ass, so I guess I can see why someone wouldnt want to do it themself, but still, thats ALOT of money to save yourself a few hours of time.

[digitallysick @ Feb 11th 2008 10:15PM]

anyone got a YDL 6.0 torrent?

[Ravi @ Feb 11th 2008 10:26PM]

Just noticed that their 24" monitor is 1440x900 for $849! what in the world?

[haixin @ Feb 13th 2008 9:28PM]

I've been told that Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 offers the ability to play 360 games on your ps3 can anyone confirm this forme by chance please and thank you.