OtherOS

Yellow Dog Linux booting up on a PS3

OtherOS was a feature available in early versions of the PlayStation 3 video game console that allowed other operating systems, such as Linux or FreeBSD, to be installed on the system. This feature was made unavailable in newer models and removed from the oldest ones through a firmware update by Sony.

The "Other OS" feature is disabled by firmware version 3.21 but still runs on older consoles that have firmware 3.15 or lower.^[1] However, on March 30, 2010 George Hotz (aka GeoHot) stated his intention to create a custom firmware for the PS3 to counter this move,^[2][3] warning gamers not to update their systems until he finds a way to keep the OtherOS option on the PlayStation 3. Hotz in July 2010 left the PlayStation 3 hacking and iPhone jailbreaking scene. He made his blog (both iPhone and PS3) invite-only and deleted his Twitter account.^[4] Additionally, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Sony for those who wish to pursue legal remedies (see PlayStation 3 system software).

Any Linux operating system had access to 6 of the 7 Synergistic Processing Elements;^[5] Sony implemented a hypervisor restricting access from the RSX. IBM provided an introduction to programming parallel applications on the PlayStation 3.^[6]

History

Since 2000, Sony has used the fact that the PlayStation 2 can run Linux in its marketing. They promoted the release of the PS2 Linux Kit, which included a Linux-based operating system, a USB keyboard and mouse, a VGA adapter, a PlayStation 2 Ethernet network adapter, and a 40 GB hard disk drive (HDD).

The PlayStation 3 does not have Linux pre-installed. However, Sony included an option in the XMB menu soon after the PlayStation 3 launched that allowed booting into Linux from the hard drive or from a Live CD that the distributor's kernel would boot.^[7] Sony stated, "It was fully intended that you, a PS3 owner, could play games, watch movies, view photos, listen to music, and run a full-featured Linux operating system that transforms your PS3 into a home computer."^[8]

When Sony announced the upcoming release of the PS3 Slim in September 2009, they stated that it would not be supporting the OtherOS feature, without offering any explanation for this.^[9] In March 2010 Sony announced that the "Other OS" capability of the original PS3 models would be removed due to security concerns in PS3 Firmware 3.21 on April 1 2010.^[10]

Several methods of bypassing the updating and retaining the ability to sign into PSN have been discovered, most of which involve using third party DNS servers.^[11]

Geohot claims to have created custom firmware for the PS3 called 3.21OO that re-enables OtherOS and has published a video of his Custom Firmware as proof.^[12] Despite the release of a YouTube video which apparently demonstrates the use of his custom firmware, the length of time it has taken for a release date to be announced has convinced some in the online community that this custom firmware was in fact a hoax.

On April 27, 2010 a class action lawsuit was filed in California. The lawsuit claimed that the removal of the OtherOS feature was "unfair and deceptive" and a "breach of good faith".^[13] Most of the filing relates to violation of various consumer protection laws relating to the removal. Several other lawsuits were also filed and are somewhat similar in nature but are filed by other individuals.^[14]

On July 14, 2010, Geohot announced that he would not bring out his custom firmware to the PlayStation 3.^[15]

In January 2011, Sony sued Geohot and members of fail0verflow for their jailbreaking of the PS3. Charges included violating the DMCA, CFAA, Copyright law, and California's CCDAFA, and for Breach of Contract (related to the PlayStation Network User Agreement), Tortious interference, Misappropriation, and Tresspass.^[16][17]

On May 4th, 2011, Youness Alaoui from the PS3MFW team announced^[18] the release of a modified PS3 firmware that allows running OtherOS.^[19][20][21]

Linux kernel

Linux supported PlayStation 3 with version 2.6.21. No patches or modifications are required.^[22] A simple Linux add-on CD for the PS3 includes support for Fedora 8 and other operating systems that already claim to install natively on the PS3.^[23] However, there is currently an issue with the latest kboot^{[clarification needed]} boot loader provided by kernel.org. Once the user selects the default action, the USB ports are de-registered on some systems. A work-around is available at PSUbuntu.^{[citation needed]}

Distributions

Debian, Fedora 8, Gentoo, OpenSUSE (10.3 to 11.1) , and Ubuntu run on the PlayStation 3.^{[24][25][26][27][28]} Yellow Dog Linux for the PlayStation 3 was first released in late 2006.^[29]

Ubuntu

Some versions of Ubuntu up to the release 10.10 have been ported to the PS3 platform.^[30] The installer cannot run in Live mode when running in 480i or 480p video resolutions, but it offers a text-based installer that installs fully functional Ubuntu. It is possible to mount an external USB hard drive as the home folder during install.

The LTS release 8.04 (Hardy Heron) of Ubuntu is incompatible with the PS3. However the 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) release was ported to the PS3 on the same release date as the official main Ubuntu release.^[31]

Yellow Dog Linux

Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 was one of the first Linux distributions to run on Sony's PlayStation 3 platform.^[32] It is designed specifically for HDTV so users with SDTV will have to use the commands 'installtext' and 'ydl480i' to install and run.^[33]

Yellow Dog Linux is based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS core and relies on the RPM package manager. Digital audio has been verified to function properly, however, the Nvidia graphics card is not supported beyond framebuffer mode. In addition, some other hardware components will not function properly without modifications to the kernel. WiFi functionality via the Network Manager is also not fully supported and must be entered manually via the Network Configuration tool, or in some cases, through the command shell.^[34] A workaround is available to enable wireless to be configured via the Network Manager.^[35]

OpenSUSE

OpenSUSE 10.3 was the first version of OpenSUSE to run on the Sony PlayStation 3 platform. OpenSUSE is a free version of SUSE Linux, which is owned by Novell. There are PlayStation 3 specific installation instructions available for OpenSUSE.^[36]

Starting with OpenSUSE 11.2, support for the PowerPC (and therefore the PlayStation 3) has been dropped.^[37]

Fedora

Fedora also ran on the PlayStation 3. ^[38] Fedora 7 works on a USB external hard disk but fails to detect the internal disk, Fedora9 detects the internal disk but not the USB disk, Fedora8 will not work due to video "card" detection problems. Fedora 10 installs on the internal hard disk without any issues and works fine without having to change any settings.

Fedora 12 only installs on the PlayStation 3 when running the 64 bit kernel and only when English is the chosen language.^[39]

RSX Homebrew

Linux on the PlayStation 3 allows for a range of homebrew programs to be developed. Although the Cell's performance is more than enough to handle most media requirements or render complex 3D graphics, it does lack the teraflops performance of a contemporary GPU's texture fetching hardware. For this reason many complex games aren't possible on the PlayStation 3 through Linux, as access to hardware acceleration in the RSX is restricted by a hypervisor.

There have been developments in enabling access to the RSX through the Linux kernel and the X Window System.^[40] It's possible to use the RSX memory as swap space. A trick to access some 3D functions was blocked with firmware 2.10.

AsbestOS

Reverse engineering advancements focused around a recently discovered USB descriptor parsing vulnerability in 3.41 firmware, which allowed running the Linux kernel on 3.41 firmware.^[41][42] The current state of the project is the ability to load the Linux kernel via TFTP and run it with access to all 7 SPE's (requires applying a small patch to the kernel). The rest of the system can run off an NFS share - hard disk access is currently not implemented, as well as some other features.

Also, since the exploit runs the kernel with game privileges, graphics acceleration is now available, although it requires reworking of the nouveau driver code.^{[citation needed]}

FreeBSD

Support for PlayStation 3 was added to FreeBSD 9.0 in summer 2010. This support is limited only to network-booting the machine on machines with firmware version 3.15 and OtherOS functionality still intact.

See Also

• Illegal number
• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

References

1. ^ Patrick Seybold (28 March 2010). "PS3 Firmware (v3.21) Update". PlayStation.Blog. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/03/28/ps3-firmware-v3-21-update. Retrieved 29 March 2010. 
2. ^ George Hotz. "On the Playstation 3: Don't Update". http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-update.html. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
3. ^ Ben Kuchera (30 March 2010). "Hacker vows to fight Sony PS3 update, restore Linux support". ArsTechnica. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/03/hacker-vows-to-fight-sony-ps3-update-restore-linux-support.ars. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
4. ^ "Geohot Closes Twitter Account and Blog". iHackintosh. 13 July 2010. http://www.ihackintosh.com/2010/07/geohot-closes-twitter-account-and-blog/. Retrieved 2 August 2010. 
5. ^ SPE Access
6. ^ IBM's introduction to programming parallel applications
7. ^ PlayStation Manual (How to)
8. ^ "Yellow Dog Linux launches for PS3". http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162316.html?tag=result;title;0. Retrieved 2007-08-29. 
9. ^ "SCEE PS3 Slim press release". http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4842&NewsAreaID=2. Retrieved 2009-08-18. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "PS3 Firmware 3.21 Coming April 1st". http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/03/29/ps3-firmware-3-21-coming-april-1st/. Retrieved 2010-03-29. 
11. ^ [1]
12. ^ "OtherOS Supported on "3.21OO"". http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/04/otheros-supported-on-321oo.html. Retrieved 2010-05-23. 
13. ^ http://ia331218.us.archive.org/2/items/gov.uscourts.cand.226894/gov.uscourts.cand.226894.1.0.pdf
14. ^ "Sony Sued Again For Removing PS3 Linux Feature". IGN = 2010-05-07. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1088481p1.html. 
15. ^ "Geohot Bids Farewell; No 3.21OO For You!". http://www.ps3-hacks.com/2010/07/14/geohot-bids-farewell-no-3-21oo-for-you/. Retrieved 2010-07-23. 
16. ^ Sony follows up, officially sues Geohot and fail0verflow over PS3 jailbreak. Nilay Patel, Engadget (2011-01-12). Retrieved on 2011-02-16.
17. ^ See also File:sonyvhotz.djvu
18. ^ Tweet from Youness Alaoui
19. ^ "OtherOS Is Back!". http://ps3mfw.com/?p=481. 
20. ^ OtherOS++ at gitbrew.org
21. ^ Ars Technica. "With PSN still down, hackers return Linux to the PlayStation 3". http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/05/with-psn-still-down-hackers-return-linux-to-the-playstation-3.ars. 
22. ^ The latest source for the PS3 kernel^{[clarification needed]}
23. ^ Linux add-on CD for PS3^{[clarification needed]}
24. ^ "Debian". http://www.keshi.org/moin/moin.cgi/PS3/Debian/Live. Retrieved 2007-03-04. 
25. ^ "PlayStation 3 Spin". http://www.ps3coderz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=54. Retrieved 2007-10-07. 
26. ^ Gentoo
27. ^ Ubuntu
28. ^ How to Install another OS (w/voice over)
29. ^ Boyes, Emma (2006-11-27). "Yellow Dog Linux launches for PlayStation 3". gamespot. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162316.html?sid=6162316. Retrieved 2006-11-30. 
30. ^ help.ubuntu.com
31. ^ "Intrepid Ibex released". PsUbuntu. 2008-10-30. http://psubuntu.com/2008/10/30/intrepid-ibex-released/. Retrieved 2008-10-30. ^{[dead link]}
32. ^ IGN: Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Hands-on
33. ^ terrasoftsolutions.com
34. ^ Yellow Dog Linux 6.x Hardware Support Page
35. ^ http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4416#p22368
36. ^ en.opensuse.org
37. ^ en.opensuse.org
38. ^ "CECHExx PS3 with firmware 2.01". http://www.linuxforps3.org. 
39. ^ "Installing FC12 on an 80GB PlayStation 3". http://www.philipotoole.com/fedora-12-on-the-ps3. 
40. ^ ps3:rsx wiki.ps2dev.org
41. ^ "AsbestOS - running linux as gameos". http://marcansoft.com/blog/2010/10/asbestos-running-linux-as-gameos/. Retrieved 2010-10-26. 
42. ^ "LWN - AsbestOS news entry". http://lwn.net/Articles/410773/. Retrieved 2010-10-26. 

External links

• Open Platform for Playstation 3 Overview
• 3.21 firmware update removing OtherOS capability