Well, since Sony has been nice enough to allow PS3 owners to install an additional OS on the HDD - Linux, I think I'm going to have to jump the bandwaggon. Here's an example of someone running Linux on a PS3


Proof that the PS3 can do it all. My PS3 running Linux, customizing, surfing the web, watching a movie, chatting, creating a network between my PS3 and my Mac for file sharing, and only one click away from the XMB to play the best looking games and movies on the market all on my HDTV. Any more complaints people?




Wadda ya guys think? Should I do it?

i play games on a console

I hate you...

i play games on a console

x2

I'd say: go for it. Sounds like fun and it can't do any harm. Plus it might be fun to see how well the PS3 preforms as a PC.

I'd say: go for it. Sounds like fun and it can't do any harm. Plus it might be fun to see how well the PS3 preforms as a PC.

I hear slower then a Mac, but faster then a PC.

hey i have a computer that is running as fast as a LINE

this actually makes up for it's price. so now if you have the know-how, you can tell yourself it was worth the money becuase you basically baught a "pc".

i just wonder where or how he got working drivers? O_o i would think that part would have been a real bitch.

I hear slower then a Mac, but faster then a PC.

Haha, what?

You said that like 'Mac' and 'PC' come in one variety.

Also, did Sony get around that little pesky bug of not allowing Linux kernel access, or is it still limited?

Mmmm... For RM3200 you'd be better off buying a used PowerMacintosh G5 and putting Linux on that instead.

Haha, what?

You said that like 'Mac' and 'PC' come in one variety.

Also, did Sony get around that little pesky bug of not allowing Linux kernel access, or is it still limited?

A lot of people talk about "Mac"s being faster at certain tasks than "PC"s; I think it's mostly in reference to video editing and stuff like that.

The only real way this will be relevant is if someone mods an Xbox360 and the Wii the same way and does side-by-side benchmarks of them crunching the same tasks.

Say he does this, installs WINE or whatever the Linux program is you use to emulate Windows programs and then uses it to run Half-Life 2: Episode 2 with all the graphics and audio settings at maximum detail, and posts the results?

A lot of people talk about "Mac"s being faster at certain tasks than "PC"s; I think it's mostly in reference to video editing and stuff like that.

Really? Most of the people I know are pretty IT literate, and know the issue is a lot more complicated.

Video and audio engineers prefer to use Macs because every Windows up to and including XP (i'm not sure about Vista) does some weird thing with the memory cache that really fucks up real-time editing. You can tweak XP to fix the issue, but a lot of the video/audio editing software has been Mac exclusive for years.

Hardware-wise, Macs and PCs are identical now anyway; they both run off Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The only different system is Apple's video editing Macs, which still run off Intel Xeon processors; which you can get in a PC flavour anyway. Strangely enough, the only 'computer' out at the moment with IBM PowerPC architecture is the PlayStation 3- CELL is the direct descendant of the PowerPC line.


The only real way this will be relevant is if someone mods an Xbox360 and the Wii the same way and does side-by-side benchmarks of them crunching the same tasks.

Say he does this, installs WINE or whatever the Linux program is you use to emulate Windows programs and then uses it to run Half-Life 2: Episode 2 with all the graphics and audio settings at maximum detail, and posts the results?

The only issue with this is what I was mentioning before - I think that Sony severely handicapped the accessibility of Linux's access to the system hardware. I was reading - a long time ago, so I don't know if this is still accurate - that Linux is run on only one of the CELLs, and has no access to any of the others, or the VPU.

i play games on a console

I like what Denny says. But if you can make more out of what you buy, I'd say go for it! Let us know how well it runs.

Video and audio engineers prefer to use Macs because every Windows up to and including XP (i'm not sure about Vista) does some weird thing with the memory cache that really fucks up real-time editing. You can tweak XP to fix the issue, but a lot of the video/audio editing software has been Mac exclusive for years.
Very true. Also, from my experience, Windows tends be flaky when it comes to video capture devices. The VIVO on my GeForce 7800GTs are not working well if at all under Windows XP Professional x64, I have a USB video capture dongle that seizured up and refused to work after I upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (the company that made it claimed that the device was a write off and no longer supported when I e-mailed them although I only had it for 6 months before XP SP2 came out, and even under Service Pack 1 it was a PITA and would randomly crash and never hit the 30fps mark promised on the box), a digital tuner card from the same company that made the dongle I have didn't work under x64 at all and now it is chucked into my drawer of lost computer parts in favor of a physx card, and Windows 3.11 seizured up and crash hard when I try to start recording from a S3Live vivo in on a old laptop I own (preview is ok, only crashes when I hit record). The only thing I have that works and works well when it comes to video capturing is a old PowerMacintosh G3 that's heavily upgraded to G4.

you know what would be crazy?

so the guy got a ps3 and put linux right?

and supposedly he can or has put cadega/wine or whatever as well.

why stop there?

i'd test epsxe and mame on that shit. :p

and then inside wine, install vmware, in order to install windows 98 so you can play old dos games. lol O_o



ps3>linux>wine>windows>emulators

or

ps3>linux>wine>windowsxp>vmware>windows98>old dos games

I play console-exclusive games. Consoles are only better at launch since it takes a bit for the next-gen graphics cards to outperform the console hardware.
But I wouldn't use a PS3 as a PC since it'd basically be a burner-less PC that I'd wager would only outperform my current rig in the graphics department. Of course until someone posts up some benchmarks, I'll never know anything for sure (except for the bit about the PS3 being burner-less).

Well, since Sony has been nice enough to allow PS3 owners to install an additional OS on the HDD - Linux, I think I'm going to have to jump the bandwaggon. Here's an example of someone running Linux on a PS3






Wadda ya guys think? Should I do it?

Get it done lad!

Think i will give this a try when i get mine, 2 more days to go :D

Is it possible to run Windows emulators and console emulators on ps3's version of linux?

I believe the answer is yes, you can emulate, however I have been wrong about things in the past. Right now I'm trying to find someone with a DVD burner to make me a copy of the disk. I have the link for the OS download, but my laptop is gayer then... gay. Hey, DeathShining, Congratulations in 2 days.

Thanks.

So i read theirs like 3 different linux's, Gentoo, FC5 and YDL? Im not to sure what and if theirs any difference's, something to do with sound and how well Emu's work on them. Which one are you installing Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?

I play console-exclusive games. Consoles are only better at launch since it takes a bit for the next-gen graphics cards to outperform the console hardware.
But I wouldn't use a PS3 as a PC since it'd basically be a burner-less PC that I'd wager would only outperform my current rig in the graphics department. Of course until someone posts up some benchmarks, I'll never know anything for sure (except for the bit about the PS3 being burner-less).

They make external USB burner drives, you know.

Thanks.

So i read theirs like 3 different linux's, Gentoo, FC5 and YDL? Im not to sure what and if theirs any difference's, something to do with sound and how well Emu's work on them. Which one are you installing Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?

there's a lot more linux distro's than that. o_o (a LOT more). but the guy prolly used ubuntu or something. he's got gnome installed. i think gnome comes packaged with ubuntu.

They make external USB burner drives, you know.

For some reason, I forgot about those. Probably because I hate how external PC components make my rig look like it's budding.

But I still wanna see somebody put up benchmarks so I can see how my rig stands up against a PS3. Even though I know that the PS3 will be better, I want to know how much better it is.

EDIT: I just wonder how the power supply will stand up to the abuse. My rig as-is needs to have more than 500 Watts while under a full load. Seeing as the PS3 has a 380 Watt PSU, I don't think it'll hold up well.

For some reason, I forgot about those. Probably because I hate how external PC components make my rig look like it's budding.

But I still wanna see somebody put up benchmarks so I can see how my rig stands up against a PS3. Even though I know that the PS3 will be better, I want to know how much better it is.

EDIT: I just wonder how the power supply will stand up to the abuse. My rig as-is needs to have more than 500 Watts while under a full load. Seeing as the PS3 has a 380 Watt PSU, I don't think it'll hold up well.

Don't the external drives have their own PSU?

I've never used one, but I very seriously doubt a standard USB port will put out enough juice for one, it's being used for data transfer anyway.

Don't the external drives have their own PSU?

I've never used one, but I very seriously doubt a standard USB port will put out enough juice for one, it's being used for data transfer anyway.

The external drives use a seperate PSU. But the power needed to pump the internal HD, CPU, and GPUs in my rig run easily over 380 Watts.

The external drives use a seperate PSU. But the power needed to pump the internal HD, CPU, and GPUs in my rig run easily over 380 Watts.

That's more of a design flaw in your system than anything, computers don't require anywhere near as much power now for the processing power you get in return than they did not even a year ago.

I'd wager similar improvements were made in the PS3's design (and the Xbox 360's, to be fair).

That's more of a design flaw in your system than anything, computers don't require anywhere near as much power now for the processing power you get in return than they did not even a year ago.

I'd wager similar improvements were made in the PS3's design (and the Xbox 360's, to be fair).

True, since I'm using 2 dx9 cards. Twin x1900xtx cards to be exact.
But I still want to see some fucking benchmarks, I'm surprised that nobody's done some sort of bench test as of yet.

True, since I'm using 2 dx9 cards. Twin x1900xtx cards to be exact.
But I still want to see some fucking benchmarks, I'm surprised that nobody's done some sort of bench test as of yet.

They have.

PS3 running Linux versus a Powerbook G5 (http://www.geekpatrol.ca/2006/11/playstation-3-performance/). Be sure to read the comments after the initial article for all the disclaimers by the author that they add to clarify things.

Cool, those are some interesting results though.

Yeah, I don't get why the read performance was so low compared to the blistering write performances in the later comparisons.

Someone comments that it's because the PS3 was emulating a desktop and Linux wasn't running optimized in the same way it was on the G5 (and something about a distro called Yellow Dog that should do a lot better when it is released), but I don't keep up with that stuff enough to be able to say if that sounds correct (most of my software modding will be along the lines of straight menu systems for launching emulated games and stuff).

and then inside wine, install vmware, in order to install windows 98 so you can play old dos games.
Well, wine probably wouldn't work here, since it will only work on a x86 CPU (remember that Cell is a PowerPC-based CPU, like those used by Apple prior to the Intel Macs). Neither would VMWare. Bochs, however, is the right tool for the job. Also, why not also put in Mac-on-Linux and run Mac OS X on that as well?