As everybody had been more or less anticipating for months now, Sony has released the Playstation 3 Slim, a much smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient variant of the regular Playstation 3. There's good news for people who held out on the PS3 because it was too expensive, and there's bad news for those of us who liked the idea of running Linux on the PS3.
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Member since:2006-07-12
Member since:2009-04-17
It's Sony being dicks. Which is natural Sony behavior. They are pretty much constantly huge dicks.
Sony did not want Linux users having direct access to hardware so for the PS3 they implemented a 'secure' IBM VM that blocked a lot of access. (the PowerPC platform (which the PS3 is a family member) is designed from the ground up for virtualization so that is easy compared to x86 system).
Hackers on Linux found ways around the VM so they could access the Nvidia video card and started figuring out how to get acceleration from that.
But later Sony firmware upgrades closed that 'hole'. And prevented that from working.
Now with people have figured out enough about programming with the SPE that Linux folks now have things optimized to the point were you can play 1080-sized HD video on the PS3 without needing assistance from the video card.
So that is probably one of the reasons why Sony decided to kill it. The other major reason would be that they figured there was no point in licensing the IBM tech for the new PS3 to save a bit of money.
This is the problem with having a computer manufacturer that is also a major movie and music producer. They probably figured that people having the free ability to play whatever media they want on the PS3 would lead to too much piracy going on with that platform... so instead they probably want people to do the 'PS3 Home' for all there entertainment.
Seriously. f--k closed computers like the Xbox and PS3. Those things have lots of potential and they are cheap so they should be perfect targets for people hacking and wanting little multimedia power houses.
(look what XBMC did for the original Xbox)
Now instead you have locked-down systems with limited media support and very limited functionality that is designed to remove as much money from your wallet in the most efficient and corporate-friendly way possible.
Member since:2005-07-10
Most likely there Judgen. Basically it's the razors + blades approach, Sony makes money on the blades (games) and not razors. I imagine if they're smart they'll offer an OtherOS upgrade license pack to cover the shortfall, otherwise the long term it means hackers will crack the PS3 since it's more tempting now target wise.
Member since:2007-02-17
Yeah, I think they just blocked access int he firmware somewhere. Right now nobody knows if this will affect anyone who updates to the latest irmware or only people who get the Slim. My money is on anyone who updates.
Still this is what I've been waiting for. I'm definitley getting one now. Thank the heavens too because I was about to break down and buy an xbox360.
Member since:2006-03-22
As my PS3 attempts to model climate (and has never played a game), this would be rather annoying.
My contact at Sony seems to think the 3.0 firmware update will not (effectively) brick my machine....so I should remain happy.
It does mean that I can't justify my employer buying me anymore (Slim) PS3s.
Member since:
2008-04-10
I want to know, is there some kind of hardware change going on that makes installing alternative OSs on it impossible, or is this just Sony being dicks and saying "nope, can't have that anymore" and taking the feature away from software?