Sony's
disabling of Linux on the
PS3 has made many people very angry, some
more so than others, but for an enthusiast named madshaun1984 it was something of a call to arms. He didn't file a
lawsuit or whine about it in forums -- oh no. He sat down to get XBMC working and has succeeded, albeit slowly. Right now the CellSDK that this build relies upon is not up to snuff performance-wise, so just scrolling through media is somewhat less than fun and you can forget about playing it. But, the hope is to improve that and to turn the PS3 into a proper media-streaming Linux box... so long as you don't update the firmware, anyway. Full instructions on how to do this are at the source link, but be prepared to spend the better part of an afternoon at it if you want to try yourself. For those not ready for that kind of commitment (or anyone who already has the latest firmware) you can just enjoy the video proof after the break.
posted May 15th 2010 10:20AM
why?
@oldpass56
Probably the same reason I would: Because the PS3 doesn't support the mkv container natively.
Also, the XMB is complete shit for navigating large directory structures...
This is why I hate sony they ae jerks to their customers proud xbox owner
@Oh superphone that's funny given that Microsoft make such freaking awesome hardware it has a massive failure rate...and charge to play online.
Who actually used Linux on their PS3 anyway really?
@ajwoodhouse
You're forgetting that Microsoft has an impressive CS for their Xboxes and not pay 100 Dollars (or was it 150 for 3?) now so that your PS3 will be serviced IF it breaks downs in 3 years.
And the main reason why xboxes fail was because of the new RoHS compliant (lead free) solder which caused all the problems...
@coolicer When the 360 launched it only had a 6 month warranty I think microsoft knew what their doing the only reason they extended it to 3 years was because of the countless lawsuits
@ajwoodhouse You can't compare Sony's online play to Xbox Live. There is no comparison. XBL is vastly superior.
Side note - I own the PS3 and X360 and don't really play much of either so no fanboyism.
@YearZer0 I'm also on a launch X360. I almost wish it would fail so I could justify getting one with hdmi. Need my PS3 to fail too so I can try the slim one. The 40GB model I have now is so fscking loud. Stupid fan.
@YearZer0 you may be right about PSN vs XBL I don't have a 360 anymore (tbh I sold it because it destroyed the first disk I put in it and sounded like a jet so I sold it and went PS3) - but...I start a game and play online with friends and I don't have to pay for anything other than the game...that seems to be all I need it to do...
It is just messed up you can't downgrade it.
What is XBMC? I think this is going to backfire on Sony because now all the attention the removal of Linux is getting will cause more people to try and jailbreak their PS3, sort to speak.
@Thor e
A jailbroken ps3. Hmmmmmmmmmmm........
@Thor e
XBMC was formally known more as Xbox media center. It's a linux based media player that was first made for the original Xbox. It's since branched out to be a media player on windows, linux, live CD/full install.
@Thor e
Am I wrong or can't the PS3 already do what this XBMC can do?
@Thor e
You're not completely wrong, but XBMC does have better features, codecs, skins and coverart/fanart support.
@Thor e
It can play .mkv and flac files! This is literally exactly why I didn't upgrade the firmware on the ps3's in my house. I can't WAIT!
@Thor e
It probably would have been faster to google what xbmc is rather than asking here
@Thor e Yea and honestly this looks like a huge waste of time for something that probably performs pretty poorly.
@Thor e
It's safe to assume that everyone here are geeks right? And that we all have pretty powerful PCs and a good home network? Well, just get PS3 Media Server. It's a piece of cake to set up, no need for hacking...
@brotherfranciz
Except that navigating XBMC is much nicer than the XMB for things like large media directories. And not everyone wants to leave their desktop running to watch content on their PS3. I might as well cut out the middleman and just run XBMC on my desktop in that case.
@xNamelessNeko LOL
Why is this news? He's getting a distribution of Linux to run on non-updated PS3 with the Other OS feature, just like people have been doing for ages.
This reminds me of a fluff article you'd see on Slashdot, not Engadget quality stuff.
@Tres LOL! Yeah. He's a super hacker. He compiled xbmc for ps3 in a linux distribution.
It might be something interesting for whoever might be considering not to update his ps3 ever. I have been considering so and to buy another one for games, but then later I updated anyway and now my ps3 died on me and so now I'll have to buy another one anyway. But it surely isn't much about technology news. He is just running linux programs in a linux distribution inside a PS3 with the Other OS feature.
@Tres
XBMC compile for PPC has existed for years now, and there have been PS3 XBMC compiles that, like this, run pretty horribly.
In fact, this is old news, its been years and nobody has bothered optimizing Linux for Cell. The XBMC team said from the beginning that they don't have the time to make a PS3-specific version.
Part of the reason is the PS3 is already a good media player, and for the the files it doesn't support (like MKV and subs) you can use DLNA to work around it. Comparatively, making XBMC run decently on the PS3 would take far too much effort. And PS3 Linux was pretty useless to begin with.
Linux is lame ............
Never going to buy a ps3....
Fuck Sony
@TheLondonExchange
Why do you post here if all you do is complain?
Video is making me sick...fucking use a tripod ffs and turn off autofocus.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
W00T
Now all we need is classic console emulation in 5.......4.....3............2..................1
@Eternity
Emulators for classic consoles have been available almost since day 1 dude, they don't require 3D acceleration and are an easy port to PS3 linux.
Hmm, from what I understand Sony gives zero access to its GPUs in Linux so all you get is a generic frame buffer. What this means is, no playback of HD content. I'd love to have an all-in-one media system I could run XBMC. MythTV and 'real' console games on, but I don't think this is it.
@JerkyChew
The sad part of it is though that it *could* be IT -- if it wasn't for sony being total cock gobblers. I don't care what anyone says -- they straight up promoted the "otherOS" feature and they should have supported it better with a decent SDK..but instead they just abandoned the entire thing and removed it. It's unreal. People say "what do you care no one uses it rabble rabble rabble" -- what they don't understand is that there could be some really killer apps for Linux on PS3...a full working XBMC port with HD\HW acceleration is just the beginning.
@JerkyChew
I was about to type the same. As long as this is simply XBMC linux running using a software rasterizer and stock codecs, it isn't all that impressive. The XBMC linux source code should compile cleanly on any linux box if you have the right tools and libraries, and there is nothing in PS3 linux that prevents you from installing it. You definitely don't have to be a 'hacker' to do this, as the article title suggests.
Now, what _would_ be impressive is if he re-did the complete OpenGL stack and video codecs using the Cell processor. In theory the 6x SPE's you have available should be able to provide sufficient rasterization and decoding performance for XBMC. Problem is: it's freaking hard to do, it takes lots and lots of time, and the few OSS projects that aim for this (like the Gallium3D Cell driver) are moving forward at snail-pace, so you'd have to do almost everything yourself.
@JerkyChew I'm pretty sure 7 cores can decode HD. The problem I see is optimizing it.
@drange
Coding on SPE... Must be too difficult for them, even SONY or IBM gave up on it.
@drange
If it can do 1080p bluray then xbmc should be fine with hw acceleration...but you're right, I don't see a full working version of XBMC ever coming to fruition on the PS3 due to driver constraints. Software decoding blows.
I was just wondering why this hadn't happened yet. I love my original xbox with xbmc but it's just not enough hardware anymore. I enjoy using my ps3 as a media extender, so to speak, but want more flexibility. This is great. (thankfully i havent updated my ps3 yet).
@Jamescb
The PS3 uses a completely different architecture than all the platforms XBMC runs on due to different memory management and the cell processor architecture...
Always been possible, but w/o GPU acceleration. Does this have it?
Grats madshaun1984 on finally gettin this working. Know you worked your ass off on it lol
well, this is interesting
when linux people make android dazzle, it is awe inspiring... this is just dull.
Any chance that people will just put movies on a USB stick and stream them on the xbox by plugging it in
well my PS3 may be getting a little more use besides blu ray player
"the hope is to improve that and to turn the PS3 into a proper media-streaming Linux box"
Someone has never heard of PS3 Media Center.
@IGLAW
PS3 Media Center is a hacked solution to a problem. Don't pretend the problem doesn't exist (lack of major container support on the PS3). Plus, the XMB isn't nearly as nice to navigate or as useful as the full XBMC...
Can haz MKV's on my PS3?
I'm not current on my scripture but I think this is one of the 4 horseman of the Apocalypse!
hopefully boxee will be next!
Jesus just build a freaking htpc