PS3 homebrew hack found, Hello World!

We haven't heard much out of the PS3 homebrew scene so far, which could be due to the console's delayed popularity, or perhaps because Sony did users a solid out of the gate and included Linux. That said, there's no stopping these hardcore homebrew types when they put their minds to something, and now Dragula96, a well known PSP hacker, has supposedly found an exploit on the PS3 that let him get a little Hello World proof of concept up and running. At the moment he's not saying how he did it, but he does say the hack is working on 60GB and 40GB PS3s, running the current 2.20 firmware. Next on the agenda? Pong. Video is after the break.

[Thanks, Craig]

[aahatimy @ Mar 31st 2008 11:09AM]

So I risk bricking a £300 machine just for pong???

Is there any real benefit to homebrew on a PS3?

[James Ollier @ Mar 31st 2008 11:11AM]

Yes, an MKV player

[aahatimy @ Mar 31st 2008 11:13AM]

Hmm I read that wrong. No pong on the PS3 but my opinion still stands. And why is there two black marks on the screen?

[cody @ Mar 31st 2008 11:18AM]

The black marks cover the IP and MAC adress.

[NeoDarkSaver @ Mar 31st 2008 11:19AM]

the two marks are to blind out the mac id and ip address.

[skitzo @ Mar 31st 2008 11:19AM]

it's to cover up his MAC and IP address so the world doesn't see it

[Curtis Joslin @ Mar 31st 2008 11:22AM]

if you watched the hole thing you would know it was to cover up his mac and ip address. i don't know why his ip because i am sure he is behing a nat of somesort shurly doesn't have has ps3 directly connected to the internet.. but none the less thats why those peices of tape are there

[EatingPie @ Mar 31st 2008 12:00PM]

Homebrew lets you bring stuff to the PS3 that Sony isn't releasing.

The other "advantage" is (typically) you can use bootlegged games on the PS3.

-Pie

[darkstar @ Mar 31st 2008 12:07PM]

hes afraid people will hack into his ps3.
how... ironic.

[Kozzi @ Mar 31st 2008 12:33PM]

bypass 2GB limit

[Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 31st 2008 1:03PM]

@Kozzi

FYI, the 2 GB limit is already gone as of the last firmware update.

[rv @ Mar 31st 2008 4:48PM]

MKV that would be sweet. It would remove a 4 hr conversion process for me.

[Klaus Burton @ Mar 31st 2008 6:13PM]

To turn the 4 hour conversion process into around 20 seconds depending on the speed of your hard drive/s use MKV2VOB, it's great. It just muxes the MKVs to VOB containers, so it reserves all capabilities perfectly (5.1 AC3 output FTW)

[Tony Rayo @ Mar 31st 2008 9:18PM]

Pong comment from the Engadget is kind of odd. Dreamcast emulation (it works well on the PC) would be great, but Pong already works great in linux =p (with net support, heh small program I wrote to get used to the cell, or rather, ppc64).

[Poom @ Apr 1st 2008 6:07AM]

Don't be stupid. You need to start at something first... -_-" Pong is just the next step before developing more advanced homebrew.

[Ellianth @ Mar 31st 2008 11:10AM]

hello, Dragula96! From PS3 world!

[namgorf @ Mar 31st 2008 11:17AM]

guess I should pick one up then.

[Mike @ Mar 31st 2008 2:13PM]

No. Just no.

I love MKVs too, but NO.

[Rob @ Mar 31st 2008 11:19AM]

That's it?
I thought he'd managed to do something more interesting than getting a "hello world" b.s. message in there. Not that I have the talent to do it either. But, I'm not impressed yet. When they port XBMC onto the PS3 let me know.

[Abuzar @ Mar 31st 2008 11:24AM]

It's the first thing they do when they hack something. Hello world is the basic program that tells you yes they managed to get some basic homebrew running. These people work very hard at this, so stop complaining. I don't see you making any PS3 homebrew.

[Rob @ Mar 31st 2008 11:32AM]

Verbatim off my previous comment: "Not that I have the talent to do it either."
My only comment is that I was expecting more. That's all. I'm hopeful that they will get further. However, considering how central the PS3 has become, I don't see myself messing too much with it within the PS3 OS. Fortunately enough, the PS3 handles Linux too, so that may be the ideal route for any talented programmers to take.

[Kamokazi @ Mar 31st 2008 12:04PM]

You can expect more now, that's the point. Being able to say 'Hello World' and NOT in the desktop Linux environment, means that the PS3 can be manhandled in pretty much any way. If you don't tell anyone you've cracked it, then you're the only one who can start on the homebrew development.

[Meridimus @ Mar 31st 2008 5:31PM]

Basically, in about a day or so there will be pong. Another few days, Doom. After that people will be playing backup games. Then all the awesome open source software will start getting ported over.

It's only a matter of time...

[Jonathan Keim @ Mar 31st 2008 11:20AM]

I won't be doing homebrew on my PS3 (although I do on the PSP).

You can't even play online after an upgrade comes out... until you upgrade.

[fred @ Mar 31st 2008 6:35PM]

same here

[ogvor @ Mar 31st 2008 11:30AM]

Wait, can't you install Linux on the PS3? Couldn't Hackers have just used that to Hack it? I'm suprised it's taken this long.

[Hexxeh @ Mar 31st 2008 12:44PM]

That's all run though a hypervisor which doesn't allow access to most of the system. A similar system was implemented on PS2 Linux kits.

[Demo @ Mar 31st 2008 11:32AM]

My level of happiness cannot be explained with mere words.

[Indeed @ Mar 31st 2008 1:02PM]

interpretive dance!

[andres @ Mar 31st 2008 10:45PM]

numbers!

[skulldriveshaft @ Apr 1st 2008 1:18AM]

how about this:

0110100001101001011001110110100001100101011100110111010000100000011011000110010101110110011001010110110000100000011011110110011000100000011010000110000101110000011100000110100101101110011001010111001101110011

[John @ Mar 31st 2008 11:38AM]

I know you can run linux on it (I have Yellowdog on mine), but this is still useful. For one thing, you're restricted from partitioning your drive in any way other than splitting off 10 gigs - which means either linux or the PS3's own OS will only have 10 gigs to work with. Since games like DMC4 have installs close to 5 gigs (!) you pretty have much have to keep the larger partition for your PS3 system, so you can't really store media on the linux side. This could lead to stuff like more codec support, so... bring it on

[Johnnie3 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:41AM]

Okie? that was useless. The Ps3 gets a firmware updated every3-4 months and who the heck is going to risk 500$ system for Pong?

And videos like these make me sick! they're Always shaking and making it unclear to the viewers; making the whole thing seem like another Hoax!.

Tip: get a tripod or put your camera on a flat stable surface, stop filming your findings with your UNIT!

[Dan P @ Mar 31st 2008 2:21PM]

If any hacker groups need someone skilled in the art of making videos, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtQQcHz7h5M

I'm desperate for work :P

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Mar 31st 2008 11:41AM]

Wow, this was just plain pointless. There is no reason to hack a PS3. Yes you can install Linux. Hell there is at least 1 distro that was specifically for PS3's (the original OS before Sony decided to switch back to the PSP OS).

So far 6 distros have been proven to work flawless on a PS3, so this serves no purpose. In fact there is an option in the menu of the default OS called, "Install second OS." that sets up the partition and dual boot system for you.

P.S. Linux OS as second boot plays....well everything, but Blu-ray. And if you legally own a PS 1 game that doesn't work on your PS3, an Enulator will get the job done.

[KarlW @ Mar 31st 2008 11:47AM]

The PS3 and PSP operating systems, despite looking similar, are entirely different underneath. Image resources are about the only thing the two have in common.

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Mar 31st 2008 12:10PM]

Underneath, ha ha. Trust me when I say this, other than the needed changed because it would be running on a different hardware platform, there are identical. The PS3 OS literally is a super charged, modified version of the PSP OS.

[DrXym @ Mar 31st 2008 12:16PM]

I expect that substantial portions of the XMB source code is common to both, including APIs, entry points (for hooking menu items), theming etc. but there is no reason that this means the rest of the Game OS has to be.

[KarlW @ Mar 31st 2008 1:02PM]

No, believe me: I've looked in to both systems extensively. The two operating systems are entirely different. They're like Apples and Oranges - they're both round, and they're both fruit. But that's about as far as the similarities go.

You obviously have very limited knowledge of software development if you think that "the needed changed because it would be running on a different hardware platform" is a small thing. Sony wrote a whole new OS for the PS3, and made it look like the PSP system. They have different rendering pipelines, threading capabilities, network and audio stacks, I/O subsystems... the list goes on.

[Andrew @ Mar 31st 2008 1:34PM]

Uhm yes, there IS a big difference. If you bothered actually installing Linux, you'd know that it's severely restricted as to what hardware it can access. Specifically, it only has access through hypervisor and for example cannot access the video card directly. What this means is that even basic 2D acceleration is provided through software, meaning simple stuff like moving windows around or more importantly playback of any video is so slow that it's practically useless. Yes, even simple video playback in low resolution (let alone HD) will saturate the hypervisor. Sony was thinking that someone will write a parallelized code for PPU+SPU that would speed graphics enough for basic desktop usage but of course that hasn't happened (or if it did, there hasn't been much fanfare).

[Lars @ Mar 31st 2008 2:41PM]

"Sony wrote a whole new OS for the PS3, and made it look like the PSP system."

Actually XMB first came from the PSX. I'm glad that something good came from PSX because aside from the sublime XMB, the PSX was a disappointing failure.

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Mar 31st 2008 10:39PM]

I know a lot about software. You are putting words in my mouth. I never said the changes were a "small thing". I know it was a huge undetaking, and that the the core of the OS was complete written from scratch. Plus most of what you named is kernel level changes anyway which obviously had to be written from scratch.

In the end YellowDog Linux was suppose to be the PS3's OS, and will access all the hardware just fine. Sony changed their mind about using it very late in development because the wanted something "more familiar to their users"

And this homebrew is still pointless, no one seems to disput that. lol

[sinjinn @ Apr 1st 2008 8:18AM]

judging by your low rank i think many do dispute that.

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Apr 1st 2008 2:29PM]

Yeah because my low rank, being based on others clicking (-) because they don't agree or like what I said, has everything to do with my knowledge.

[KarlW @ Mar 31st 2008 11:45AM]

Homebrew on the PS3 isn't really that useful. The biggest anti-piracy measure Sony put in to it was Blu-Ray.

Yes, you can dump a Blu-Ray disk(disc?) using Linux or through a homebrew application, but they can be anywhere up to 50Gb, making downloading and burning games impractical. Dumping them to the PS3 HDD or an external drive is somewhat useful, but not much.

Yes, I know Homebrew != piracy, but that's usually what its used for, like it or not (see PSP, PS2, Xbox, GC, Wii....etc)

[Jesse S @ Mar 31st 2008 11:52AM]

People download whole blu-ray movie rips. They will do the same for the games.

[Jesse S @ Mar 31st 2008 11:54AM]

What I think will happen is someone will use bit torrent to download games directly to the PS3's hdd.

You can use 3.5" drives on the PS3, supposedly, at least. I can't wait to see a heavy downloader getting busted with with a 1TB PS3 full of games, lol.

[Jeremy @ Mar 31st 2008 12:16PM]

Yeah it sucks, homebrew projects like this usually do lead to piracy from other sources, however there are a lot of people who want this for legit reasons (like XBMC on the original Xbox). It would be one nice HD entertainment machine if a PSMC (playstation media center) were ever to be developed.

[Jesse S @ Mar 31st 2008 11:51AM]

So, the PS3's finally been hacked. Poor Sony...now everyone's going to just pirate the games when they figure out how to load them on.

[giedrys @ Mar 31st 2008 12:08PM]

Screw pong. How about playing PS3 games from hard drive? I can't believe nobody worked on that since the release of PS3 in Nov 06.