Since Sony’s PlayStation 5 console is quite literally an AMD-based gaming PC with a custom mainboard, the only thing that really keeps anyone from just installing another operating system on it is the hypervisor-based firmware. Since in older firmware for the original ‘phat’ PlayStation 5 there exists a hypervisor exploit, this logically means that you can totally run Linux on them, as demonstrated by [Andy Nguyen] with the PS5-linux project on GitHub.
PS5 firmware version 5.x from 2022 seems to have at least partially addressed this particular vulnerability, so this leaves firmware versions 3.x and 4.x supported by PS5-linux for now. Firmware versions 1.x and 2.x also have this vulnerability, but [Andy] hasn’t added support for these yet. As for the prospect of running PS5-linux on 5.x firmware the prospect is less certain, but it’s reckoned that since the OS would then run inside the hypervisor it’d be quite limited in its functionality. Firmware versions 6+ are currently still firmly locked-down.
If you have an original PS5 kicking around with the right firmware version, to use the project you need a 64+ GB USB drive to run from and USB dongles for Wi-Fi/Ethernet. For Bluetooth support you also need a dongle. With the USB drive inserted into the console, on boot it runs the jailbreak exploit and sends the bootloader as payload. If all goes well you should then see the desktop of Ubuntu 26.04 Resolute Raccoon pop up.
It’s arguable how practical this currently is, but since it doesn’t modify the PS5 firmware it’s not permanent at least. Unfortunately Linux doesn’t have drivers for much of the PS5’s hardware, so the available video resolutions are limited, power management features such as standby are not working, and there are currently bugs related to HDMI audio and video output on some monitors.
It’s unfortunate that features like OtherOS (before it got pulled) on the PlayStation 3 or the official Linux for the PlayStation 2 aren’t a thing any more, but this hack offers at least some glimpse of what that could have been like for a modern Sony console.
The otherOS is was a hack by Sony to reduce pricein some regions of the world where a games console is a luxury product and computers are not classified as a luxury item.
Luxury items would have a higher Value Added TAX rate. So it was a loophole, but once Sony removed the OtherOS prom previously sold PS3 consoles those countries should have been seeking the unpaid VAT directly from Sony.
It’s a real shame the original PS2’s MIPS cpu is so defective, otherwise there’d probably be a NetBSD target for it by now.
This was pretty interesting. The ps2 linux was interesting even if limited and slow. I love my ps3 and the OtherOS story was interesting and had not heard all the backstream chatter. Makes sense in a way.
The usefulness should be pretty good eventually. Look to the ASUS BC250 blade server with a PS5 CPU. There exists an early GPU driver for it, but Bazzite has patched support back in for it.
This would be quite a capable Steam gaming machine, especially considering DRAM prices right now.