I have absolutely no desire to run Linux on my dinosaur of a PS3, Steve. I’m geeky but I don’t consider myself that geeky. That and I’m pretty sure Steve would catch on fire.
However, I am geek enough to get just how cool this is for folks who love them some Linux and for those who just want to do this cause they can–all of the fun bits are supposed to be released sometime in January.
Before the PS3 firmware 3.21 update, you had the option of running another OS on the PS3.
According to Playstations official blog, the “Other OS” feature was to “…help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.”[1] And who doesn’t want a “more secure system?” Am I right?
That’s all well and good unless you were of those folks running Linux–I tried to find out how many people were running Linux prior to the firmware update but came up with a bunch of crappy unscientific polls and such on forums. Some put the number as high as almost 25%–which I don’t believe–and as low as less than 1/2 a percent–that’s probably not so accurate either. Talk about a hell of a spread, huh? Somewhere between 6 mil and 120k–If my math is wrong, I don’t care.–when you use the 2009 announced global sales figures just prior to the launch of the PS3 Slim.
Now we’re officially into the ninja sneak part since Sony didn’t include Linux capabilities with the Slim. Which is why this whole, “Let’s hack into the PS3 Slim and convince it to run Linux,” is so cool–even to a sometimes geek like me.
There are 8.7 MB of slides the group fail0verflow–Their site slays me.–used in their CCC presentation. They’ll explain it better than I ever could. BUT, I will put up a video cause it’s pretty nifty.
And from the Amy’s More Random Than You Department, I present you with this most awesome animated gif since apparently Facebook doesn’t allow them and something like this shouldn’t be hidden in the dark confines of a hard drive.
