Gitbrew Brings OtherOS Back To The PS3

otheros

Instead of simply watching the days pass by while the PSN network continues to be unavailable, why not do something useful with your PS3 console? [MS3FGX] wrote in to share some news regarding efforts to bring the OtherOS option back to the PS3.

The team at gitbrew.org have been diligently working to bring Linux back to the console for a little while now, and have released a dual-boot firmware they are calling OtherOS++. This firmware has two huge benefits over Sony’s original attempt at Linux support for the console. It can be run on the original “fat” PS3s as well as the newer “slim” models – something that was not possible until now. Additionally, it gives the Linux install full access to the PS3’s hardware rather than running the OS inside a virtual machine.

The project is relatively new, so the installation procedures and associated documentation are not suitable for the less experienced individuals out there, so consider yourself warned.

We love that there are people doing all they can to bring this awesome feature back to the PS3 – it’s a huge step in the right direction.

[Image via gitbrew]

62 thoughts on “Gitbrew Brings OtherOS Back To The PS3

  1. Sony makes the PS3, and they have every right to make it how they see fit. Firmware updates have always been optional. PSN is a service, want to use the service? Well, then have the required firmware.

    Nobody is forcing people to upgrade their firmware.

    Sony makes the PS3, not as a means to support a bunch of self-righteous whiny ninnies who can’t stand it when they don’t get their way, but makes it for profit.

    Profit is the incentive to create something like the PS3 and the games they license. These “big corporations” are owned by stockholders, most of which have the majority of pensions and IRA investments. In other words, average people own stock in corporations. They do this to gain an increase on their investment. As such, Sony must protect the interests of the stockholders and show them a profit (dividends).

    Governments are the ones that must honor rights. Nothing says you have a right to anything a company sells or manufactures. Don’t like it? Well, then go buy someone else’s products.

    What little whiny brats have no right to do is commit a criminal act just because they don’t like how a company does business. Just don’t buy from them. What Sony did by removing OtherOS was not criminal, but some think it justifies criminal behavior because they didn’t like that decision. No, I am not talking about piracy. Want to keep OtherOS? Fine, don’t upgrade the firmware. To the MP3 guy, want to keep MP3 functionality on your DVD player? Simple, don’t upgrade its firmware.

    Nothing in life is free. Even PSN is not free, someone somewhere is paying for it.

    It’s because of crooks things like DRM exist at all. It’s because of whiny hackers that things have to be locked down, firewalls exist, locks are made, etc. It is irresponsible to say that more piracy would not result from these hacks. Maybe you won’t, but if you make things easier for a crook, then more crooks tend to exploit that weakness.

    Am I saying Sony’s decision to remove OtherOS was the right decision? Heck no, I think they are learning that right now the hard way. However, it does not justify criminal behavior to “punish” them.

    Now, let the flames fly.

  2. @SuperSparky

    Fine. Give me the monetary value of the feature that was stripped back. Sound fair? Now, how do you place a value on that feature? Considering I own 5 games and used the PS3 primarily for learning- something that was “OK” at the time I bought it, I’d say that I need the majority of the cost back. That’s fair. To dupe this type of user out of $350 and then snatch the feature back after updates, not so much.

  3. @SuperSparky: If corporations have these rights, then we have a similar set of rights. If they can do whatever with a thing just because they made it, in the name of protecting their profits, we can do whatever with a thing we bought, in the name of protecting our enjoyment. On the legal field, the corporations can buy (errrr… lobby for) laws, and we can buy soldering irons.

    When I buy a shirt, I can mod it, add another pocket, tie-dye it, alter its functionality as I please. Same with furniture and pretty much everything else. Why should electronics be anything different?

  4. In my experience, open source software users are much less likely to pirate software than other kinds of computer users. When I was younger, in my teens, I used to do lots of torrenting of games and software etc, but now since I started using Linux and OSS as my software of choice I appreciate software development much more. I haven’t pirated software in years, I payed twice as much as the average windows user for all three Humble Indie Bundles, I’ve bought loads of old games on Amazon to play using Wine which I could have pirated in a fraction of the time. I think you are underestimating us xorpunk. The vast majority of people who care about the OtherOS feature on PS3 are Linux users who care about open source and appreciate developers hard work. Piracy hurts open source software because it encourages people to get paid software for free instead of using the great free as in freedom and free as in free beer alternatives. Having the OtherOS feature is great as it encourages younger people to tinker with computers and hardware, and start to gain an interest in computer science.

    There is some very interesting research being done on using GPU at kernel level to compute operating system tasks, rather than just being used in userspace as is posssible now with CUDA and OpenCL technologies. If this was leveraged on the PS3 it could potentially turn it into an even more powerful computer, very exciting!

  5. My 60G PS3 still has my linux partition burried inside it that can’t be locate. It has been fun playing with Linux on my PS3 and always learning something new. But now I have to wait to see if there is a way to get OtherOS back by using a bootable disc or something.

  6. @xorpunk: We’ve been over this. The technical and economic reasons you provided are blatant lies. What you marginalized are the CELL research projects and the PS3 clusters used by the USAF and by universities across the world, so not only are you a dirty liar, you’re a hypocrite.

    Speaking of hypocrites, that trolling accusation is funny coming from the guy telling a HACKING community that the only people who want to use Linux on what is still the most cost-effective machine it’s usable on are pirates.

    Linux users aren’t pirates. In fact, the average Linux user average double the payment per person over Windows or Mac users on “pay what you want” sales for indie games. That IS the bottom line, and it’s not convenient. It’s true.

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