Subscribe
Did you know that your very own PS3 is actually more powerful then even the best home computers out on the market today. And more then likely it is two times as powerful as the computer you’re reading this from. We hear so much about home PC’s now having Dual Core technology but the PS3 comes with eight powerful CPU cores that absolutely blow anything out on the market today out of the water. So how can we harness this power and turn our humble PS3 into our very own super computer?
Well luckily for us Sony are way ahead of the pack. They built the PS3 with Linux distro’s in mind. And you can actually install Linux on your PS3 much the same way you would with your home computer. And there is nothing extra needed, no extra gadgets or software to buy, just plug and play essentially. Well… As plug and play as it gets with Linux anyway. The great thing is, is that you do not have to lose what you already have on your PS3. So games, music, anything installed on your hard drive is preserved. The PS3 just turns to dual boot mode much the same as a windows PC. So you can either select to go with your standard PS3 OS to play games, or switch to Linux to use it as a home computer.
Now with so many Linux distributions out there, it’s probably going to be a bit of a hard job to choose the right one right? Well actually, your options are slightly cut down due to the PS3 having too much power. (Yes that’s right, too many cores cause issues!). Most standard Linux distributions like redhat, ubuntu, gnome or kubuntu cannot handle the PS3’s 8 cores natively. Mostly down to home computers never having anything close to 8 processors.
This is where Yellow Dog Linux on PS3 comes to the rescue. Sony, know that people would want to utilize the power of their PS3 into something more then playing First Person Shooters each and every day, commissioned a stripped down Linux distro to be directly developed for the PS3. This means your not just getting a “ported” Linux distro, your actually getting something that was made for the PS3 from day one. Not only does Yellow Dog Linux tick all the boxes for harnessing the power of the PS3, it comes prepackaged with everything that you could possibly ever use on your home computer. These extra include Open Office, Pidgin, Gimp and even Mozilla Firefox.
Installing Yellow Dog Linux On PS3 is actually incredibly easy do don’t be afraid that you are going to “Brick” your console by doing something you shouldn’t. Unlike the PSP, PS3’s were made for this sort of customization. And once again i have to point out, Yellow Dog was directly commissioned for this job so you wont be voiding your warranty by installing Yellow Dog Linux on your PS3.
source : www.ps3magic.com
