"It all began when a young man named George Hotz began to work on the PlayStation 3, trying to gain access to the machine in a way that made Sony uncomfortable. In response, Sony removed the OtherOS functionality of the PlayStation 3 in a mandatory update, and the hacking community was not happy with this decision, resulting in a sort of cold war. PS3 hackers have once again gained the upper hand: Linux has been returned to the PlayStation 3."
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Member since:
2006-10-31
I used to think those console hacks were great but when we come down to it, it's really just hacking for the sake of hacking. I mean, who will jump through all the hoops just to run linux on a PS3 as their everyday box?
With the variety that today's PCs offer in performance and form factor, it's become so easy to find something that fits one's needs. It's also easier to get drivers for such hardware and get on with your productive day.
I guess putting linux on the PS3 is like climbing a high mountain. You put a lot of effort into it and you're really happy once you're on top but then all you can do is sit for a minute, take a picture and come back down.
Member since:2010-05-16
As it was already written:
You show me where I can buy an eight core computer with a bluray player for under $500.
And see what US Air Force do, for example:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-air-playstation-3s-supercompute...
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/345642/Air_Force_Taps_PlaySt...
http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&q=us%20air%20force%20...
Member since:2005-11-13
Not to mention an HDMI port, a GPU you can actually play modern games on, and a form factor that fits nicely in an entertainment center.
Note: This is not a rhetorical question. I would love to get a PS3, but I don't want to jump through hoops to fully unlock it. But if I could get a real HTPC with comparable specs for about the same price, I would.
Edited 2011-05-07 00:20 UTC
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2010-05-16
If you read the given links, you'll see what the US Air Force has done.
So we have to choose between those two possibilities:
- The US Air Force is not well informed.
- An internet commenter is not well informed.
Member since:2009-03-17
Member since:2010-05-16
Member since:2009-03-17
Bam! Another fallacy, yer on a roll...
If there were so many mistakes it would have been very easy to start.
IBM and other 3rd party vendors have provided plenty of BLADE PCI-E and Blade add ons which allow CELL programmability much easier (and legally). Also if cost was a concern for the US Air force, newer GPUs do provide much higher computational density at similar price points.
So yeah, it could very well be that the US Air Force does not know what they are talking about, and that the previous poster was in fact, correct. For example.
Member since:2005-11-11
Member since:2005-11-18
Or... such purchasing decisions were made years ago when the Playstation still had the lead.
Anyway, the Playstation Cell processor achieves 230 GFLOPS single precision. An entry-level nVidia GPU such as the Geforce GT 440 (~80 Euros) achieves 342 GFLOPS single precision. More expensive cards and Tesla stream do above 1 TFlop. Also, modern GPUs have a lot more memory available, which is nice, because it allows for larger working sets and copying data from main memory to the GPU memory is expensive..
Also take into account that generally everyone agrees that CUDA is much more fun to program than for Cell, and that modern off-the-shelf Intel CPUs have 2-4 cores (compared to PS3's single core PowerPC CPU), x86 hardware is suddenly far more interesting these days than the Playstation 3.
But after all, we are comparing 2006 hardware to 2011 hardware.
Edited 2011-05-07 15:42 UTC
Member since:2010-05-16
Member since:2006-07-14
Yes, they'd also discover that the project was started in 2006. That is when the decision was made, not 2011.
Its like when Apple switched to intel, everyone brought up the Virginia state super computer as evidence that PPC was faster and cheaper. Technology... changes quickly. You can't base a decision today on a four year old assessment.
Member since:2010-05-16
Member since:2010-02-04
Member since:2005-08-27
The military does not move at the speed of light. It is at the best interest of a company to sell any branch of the military a stock of systems and shoehorn them into support contracts. I have under good authority that the Army Corps of Engineers still has DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha systems clustered running VMS.
Edited 2011-05-09 17:46 UTC
Member since:2006-01-26
And then you can download homebrew games, emulators, etc. and actually *use* the hardware you bought for lots of other things that Sony didn't let you do to begin with.
My mod'd original XBOX can do all sorts of neat-o things, including play a DVD, watch countless videos and listen to my entire music collection off the NAS in my office. It also happens to emulate just about any retro console I would want it to.
Edit: Oh, and the console was free, modchip was < $50
Edited 2011-05-07 00:12 UTC
Member since:2007-09-22
I think security research is important, like when they attacked the MD5-hash of a SSL/TLS Certificate Authority Root Certificate and created a rogue certificate:
http://lwn.net/Articles/314997/
Member since:2005-06-29
Member since:2007-03-26
With the variety that today's PCs offer in performance and form factor, it's become so easy to find something that fits one's needs. It's also easier to get drivers for such hardware and get on with your productive day.
I guess putting linux on the PS3 is like climbing a high mountain. You put a lot of effort into it and you're really happy once you're on top but then all you can do is sit for a minute, take a picture and come back down.
If this was a new console that was hacked, then I might agree with you that it's a largely pointless exercises that's engaged for purely hobbiest (is that a word?) reasons.
However the PS3 did previously support Linux and Sony forcefully removed that feature post sale. So in reality all these hackers are do is returned advertised features to a devices that a purchased with it.
It really is a sad state of affairs when you have to hack a device just to retain functionality, let alone enhance it.
Member since:2006-02-15
Member since:2007-03-26
Member since:2005-08-09
Member since:2006-01-26
Nope, but the side-effect of returning OtherOS to the PS3 Fat is that it also happens to work on the Slim - which people figured it would, and Sony just didn't want to support it any more (they're notorious for removing features in subsequent revisions of their consoles, unlike most others).
Really too bad too - since the slim uses less power, and would make all those PS3 clusters even more efficient.
Member since:2010-04-06
Member since:2011-01-28
Ventajou,
It may be useless to you, but so what? Instead of building a large server out of bulky consumer components, we can re-provision something which is compact and more suitable.
If people can benefit from homebrew software when devices aren't locked down by the manufacturer, who are you to tell them it's useless?
Hacks can extend the functionality, productivity, and lifetime of devices. Consider how much interest there is in custom firmwares for routers and nas devices.
Member since:
2010-03-22
Member since:2010-02-04
http://www.ps3hax.net/showthread.php?p=197685#post197685
The ones with 256 MB are NAND machines