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The Chatterbox => Computing => Topic started by: Zakamiro on June 06, 2008, 04:30:48 AM

Title: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Zakamiro on June 06, 2008, 04:30:48 AM
Won't void your warranty, either.

Here's the link. (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how_to/4263321.html?page=1)
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Spectere on June 06, 2008, 12:32:42 PM
This is one of the advertised features of the PS3.

They also neglect to mention that you can't use the RSX (graphics hardware).  At all.  Yeah.  No hardware rendering support whatsoever.  That means that you're probably going to see X11 lag simply by dragging windows around.  Lame.
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Alice on June 06, 2008, 01:06:22 PM
This is one of the advertised features of the PS3.

They also neglect to mention that you can't use the RSX (graphics hardware).  At all.  Yeah.  No hardware rendering support whatsoever.  That means that you're probably going to see X11 lag simply by dragging windows around.  Lame.

that's horribifuckis

who the hell would do this
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Spectere on June 06, 2008, 03:36:24 PM
horribifuckis

hahahaha YEEESSSSSSSSSSSS~~~~~!!!!!!!

who the hell would do this

Sony, who else?
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Bobbias on June 06, 2008, 04:33:23 PM
Can you hax0r is to work?
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Alice on June 06, 2008, 05:55:12 PM
hahahaha YEEESSSSSSSSSSSS~~~~~!!!!!!!

Sony, who else?

i duno maybe YOR MOM

But yeah.  Sony makes me :-(
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Spectere on June 06, 2008, 09:15:35 PM
Can you hax0r is to work?

Sure.  Just disable the hypervisor (which will probably severely impact your ability to play games, leaving you with only a mediocre Linux system with limited resources...256MB of RAM, anyone?) and write your own PPC nVidia drivers.  That oughta be easy.
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Bobbias on June 07, 2008, 08:19:35 AM
Well, I was only asking if it was actually possible.

Quote from: Wikipedia
There have been developments in enabling access to the RSX through the Linux kernel and the X Window System[16]. Still in the early stages of development, the workaround allows Direct Memory Access (DMA) to the RSX memory to get images there.

If one wishes to use the RSX in Linux then it is recommended that one does not upgrade one's firmware to 2.10 or higher. This has the effect of restricting access to the RSX chip.
http://wiki.ps2dev.org/ps3:rsx http://wiki.ps2dev.org/ps3:hypervisor

Hmm, apparently my idea has been in progress for some time. Looks like there won't even be any hax0rs needed, really. Just someone documenting all the undocumented specifics necessary to use it.
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Spectere on June 07, 2008, 02:49:59 PM
Looks like there won't even be any hax0rs needed, really.

No.  The fact that you need a specific firmware version means that you're exploiting the hypervisor.  The same thing applies to the Xbox 360 Linux project.

It's not going to be practical for normal use, and you're still forgetting that you're going to need a full driver set for an nVidia-powered graphics chip running under Linux PPC.  One doesn't exist and it's not exactly trivial.  There is a project out there that's working on developing an open source nVidia driver, but it's nowhere close to working on a GeForce 7800 (which the RSX is based on).
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Bobbias on June 07, 2008, 03:52:20 PM
I'm just saying, it's not as impossible as you made it out to be. The PS3 is still EXTREMELY new. How long did it take before they had many homebrew programs running on the PS2 using the hard drive hack?
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Spectere on June 07, 2008, 04:40:54 PM
When did I even say that it was remotely impossible?  Putting words in my mouth isn't going to help advance your argument.  What I said was that it's very difficult.

Let's not forget that you can lose your abilities to play the new games that come out on your game console because of having to keep your firmware held back.  I don't know if the PS3 does this, per se, but the 360 has an "eFuse" system that prevents older kernels from running on systems with "blown" fuses.  For a new kernel to work, the fuse must be "blown."  This has been known for quite some time (at least a year and a half) and they have yet to find a solution that allows you to simultaneously take advantage of the hypervisor exploit and run newer games.

Both of these systems are more secure than your average server.
Title: Re: Turn your PS3 into a PC.
Post by: Zakamiro on June 10, 2008, 07:24:23 AM
i think thisalmost makes ps3 cost-effective enough for me to consider buying it. (as with other things...)