The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) runs Linux, but getting it to run well requires some tweaking. In the third and final article of this series on PS3 Linux Peter Seebach talks about ways to get X11 slimmed down to fit on a smaller memory budget.
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Member since:2008-04-16
Dumb may not be the right word, but disappointing could describe it. Half-hearted efforts are rarely worth doing. I understand they have a fear that people will develop games for Linux that might compete with the commercial ones for the PS3 OS. I personally don't see this happening, telling the average user they have to install an OS on the Playstation before they can play the game, if you have a quality game that cost millions you could afford to release it on the regular PS3 OS if you felt it would be profitable. Perhaps they have another reason but I have not really heard it, as they may not want people using these systems without buying regular PS3 games and if they just run Linux on it, that may be what occurs and Sony does lose money on every PS3 due to the actual cost of the hardware. This makes little sense then to even let people install Linux in the first place. It as if one side of Sony wants people to install Linux but the other side fears the result if that is all they do. So they end up with a compromise that is not really good at anything. I personally would have purchased a version of the PS3 for a price that allows Sony to make a profit instead of a loss if I knew it had a Linux version that could take full advantage of the hardware (perhaps it should come with a VGA cable too and a wireless keyboard/mouse!) Dumb, may not be an accurate description of this current half hearted Linux compromise, but Schizophrenic could be!
Member since:2007-02-17
The only real reason Sony let users install Linux on the hardware is so they could classify it as a computer and thus reduce their taxes or something like that. They tried the same thing with the PS2. Granted they did put more effort into it than they did with the PS2 but they aren't really serious about it. Sony and IBM are trying to sell you a cell powered computer, they don't want you use a your cellpowered console and convert that into a computer, they can't charge you $$$ for that. Besides that things have really gone down hill if 256MB of ram isn't enough to run an OS. I remember when 64MB got you a full working OS with the works.
Member since:2005-07-06
While probably true, would that really be such a bad thing for Sony? I bought an (original) xbox for exactly one reason XBMC. However having bought the xbox I found myself buying a bunch of games for it as well. I know other people bought an xbox for exactly the same reason.
The same would probably happen with the PS3. I have yet to pick a current gen console. However if Sony gave enough access to the hardware to make it (also) work as a good general purpose linux based media player, they would get my money. And having bought a PS3 I would no doubt buy games for it. I still don't quite see what Sony has to lose. Sony would sell a few more consoles and thus a few more games. It's not like people will start pirating more all of a sudden just because they can watch the movies on a PS3 with some software they downloaded off the internet.
Member since:2006-07-26
Member since:
2008-01-29
You're very quick to call Sony dumb.
I'll tell you the first thing accelerated graphics will be used for: playing illegal HDTV rips of movies in the .mkv format.