InstallOtherOs
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Sony taken to court over PS3 'Other OS' removal
Sony forced PS3 owners into a tough decision with the mandatory 3.21 firmware update: either lose online play, or forgo Linux support. On Tuesday, Anthony Ventura chose door number three -- and filed a lawsuit in California, asking the judge for class-action status. The complaint quotes Sony executives on numerous occasions saying how vital and important the "Install Other OS" feature was to the game console (it's a computer, remember?) and claims breach of contract, false advertising, and several other causes of action against the entertainment giant. Sure, a lawsuit was bound to happen, given the number of angry PS3 owners out there, but here's the thing: there's no telling whether the court will grant a class-action certification here, and even if the case gets that far it's pretty unlikely to force Sony to turn the feature back on -- instead, customers will probably receive a token amount in damages while the lawyers get their full fees. For example, a rare, successful class-action suit against Palm -- filed in 2004 -- got Treo 600 owners only $27.50 in store credit, five years later. Meanwhile, we hear European PS3 owners just have to ask for their money back -- which, we promise you, is the fastest way to put an end to your Linux-based PS3 nightmares. Either that, or just wait for Geohot to make it all better.
Bypass PS3 firmware 3.21 in seconds -- at your own risk (update: defunct)
Face it: Sony's backed you into a corner. You can't play PS3 online without downloading the 3.21 firmware update, but if you download, your precious 'Other OS' is forfeit -- and there may be side effects. You could wait it out, hoping Geohot comes through with a workaround. You could even sue Sony for a refund if you live in Europe. Or, if you're not terribly worried about the security of your PSN account and personal information, you could instead input just ten digits into your PS3 and magically bypass the entire issue. Though technically minded individuals have been skirting Sony's firmware checks for years now using private proxies, homebrew developer Aaron Lindsay decided to set up a public server at 67.202.81.137, which allows anyone to piggyback on his success in mere seconds -- we tried it ourselves, and it worked like a charm. By doing so, you run the risk of giving Aaron all your credentials... but if the odd identity theft doesn't break your stride, you can jump right back into that Uncharted 2 session by entering the above number into Internet Connection Settings > DNS Setting > Primary DNS. Update: As of April 13, the proxy DNS trick no longer works. We're not sure why, but considering how long the hacking community holds a grudge, we expect a workaround in due time.
Geohot brings back other OS support with PS3 3.21OO custom firmware
Well, Geohot promised a workaround for Sony's removal of the "install other OS" feature in PS3 firmware 3.21 and now Geohot has delivered. While it's not available to the public just yet, Geohot's 3.21OO custom firmware will apparently be simple to install and, as you can see in the video after the break, it works just as you'd expect and simply restores the "other OS" option to its previous place. Geohot even says that the custom firmware might actually enable the other OS feature on the PS3 Slim, but he hasn't yet had a chance to try it out. [Thanks, Milo]
PS3 firmware 3.21 is out: say goodbye to 'install other OS'
Just a tad ahead of schedules -- perhaps as a macabre assurance this isn't some April 1st joke -- firmware 3.21 for the PS3 is now being seeded to anyone who tries to log onto the PlayStation Network. As far as we can tell, all the update seems to do is remove the "install other OS" option and kill access to anyone who does have another platform dual-booted. Just a friendly reminder, if you fall into that category, be sure to either backup your partition or wait for Geohot to find a workaround. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Geohot advises against updating PS3, will find 'safe way' around losing OS support
In case you hadn't heard, there's a PlayStation 3 firmware update coming this Thursday that'd knock out the "install other OS" option and remove any currently-installed non-PS3 platform. Our guess is it's not going to affect the majority of owners, but the diehard users are certainly up in arms, and no one really likes losing a feature, even if it's rarely used. Leave it to Geohot, then, to right the wrong. Arguably the reason for Sony's reversal (see: PS3 exploit), the famed hacker has published not only a letter of sorrow at the company (unsurprising), but also a call for users not to update. Instead, he claims he will "look into a safe way of updating to retain OtherOS support" and issued a tech-savvy threat about "touching the CFW," much to the company's chagrin (trust us, you don't even want to know what he's talking about here -- far too scary). We wouldn't normally say a war's brewing, but ol' George Hotz has proven himself more than capable at starting something fierce. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
