Linux ps3 linux? is their an official / whats best??

i know people always say about how linux is personal preference and i know this lol. what i'm asking IS...

yellow dog linux... wiki says something about it being the "offical linux distro"? how can it be the official distro? I thought linux was 3rd party/community based? so am i to understand that it's developed by sony themself's or just that it implys its the first/main dedicated linux project or what?

if the above is true or whatever does that mean rsx isn't locked down so you can have visuals/3d etc etc?

what is the best distro to use for features. for example my main linux os was and will always be ubuntu... it has everything i need/want... how good's psubuntu? is it made by their community or someone else working solo converting it each time a release comes out?

without 3d etc what is the ps3 capable of? no hd video/divx playback i take it?

 

If you use ubuntu normally then use psubuntu on your PS3. Yellow dog was the 'official' linux distro for the ps3 as sony said so but it makes no difference what so ever.

 

Yellowdog is the "official" supported one. It was supposed to come pre-installed on the ps3 but they scrapped the idea. When you format your ps3's hard-drive, make sure to back your stuff up... Also, it will only allow you to allocate 10 GB to the ps3 or the linux partition, and the remaining to the other. I have yellowdog on my ps3, and it was a pain to get working because i had the wrong version. Make suer you have the ps3 version, because there are also 2 other versions for mac's and pc. You can change the internal hard-drive without voiding your warranty either. You just need a external hard-drive enclosure that gets power from a wall outlet, and a 5400 rpm laptop hard-drive. I have a 250 internal, with the original 60 GB that came with it as an external for my linux partition. Best of luck.

 

wait so your saying you can put 2 hdd's in the ps3? one internal and one external and have both for different things?
does that mean then if i had 2 320gb's or even 2 terabyte hdd's i could have a terabyte for each os as it were the ps3 one and my linux flavour?
can psubuntu choose how much i allocate a single drive?
can't i put a sata 3.5 hdd in then i could put a terabyte and use it as my media device.

 

oh and whats the max size hard drive i can use? i'm planning of using a sata hard drive 3.5 with the cable plugged inside and the hard drive in a silicon bag or a external enclosure with a standalone powersupply for the hard drive... so could i put a terabyte in?

 

The PS3 uses standard 9.5mm 2.5" Laptop HDDs. If you don't mind it looking messy I have seen cables being plugged inside going to and external 3.5" HDD.
EDIT: Found one here.

 

thats exactly what i'm going to do.
whats the max size of hdd though?

 

The biggest 3.5 i've seen is 1 TB...

Now to the partition part, you need to partition the hard-drive through the ps3 OS, this only allows you to allocate either 10 GB to the PS3 OS and all your save files, or 10 GB to your second partition that you will install linux on. I suggest you install linux on the 10 GB partition, then use an external hard-drive that gets power from the outlet so that you can add to that limitted 10 GB that sony allowed you when you originally partitioned. It's very logical and it should work. As for the running of a cable, that would work, but your going to have some trouble getting the cables in properly in the ps3... It's a bit of a tight space, and it might take some time to get the power and data cable in properly. Best of luck. Suggestion, get 2 encloses, that way you don't see the hard-drive in the bag idea that you suggested, and it has better protection in a solid case. Just make sure it has an external SATA cable, and a alternate power source (plug in wall)

 

what is ubuntu like on the ps3? do you just plug in usb keyboard/mouse and get a system that works like any other computer? are there repositories for it, or do you have to compile everything?

 

no i mean what is the maximum hard drive size supported by the ps3... i want a terabyte...

so i'm going to end up with two external 3.5's one connected as usb and the other via a pc sata cable inserted with tweaser pliers... it isn't that hard there is loads of videos on youtube of how to do it... i've done that sort of confined space thing before...

so basically in linux i will use the external drive as my main source of storage as i would on the pc.sweet sounds like they've got this locked down.
as i was going to build a silent htpc download box that would double as a media box sat under the 37" HDTV i have... and now i've got a free PS3 via my phone contract so all I'm going to have to pay for is the 3.5's... I have one already so all I need is another... oh and another external power source as I also have one of them already

also I have a ps/2 keyboard/mouse to usb thing I use on my 360 etc and it worked on that so surely it will work on the ps3? that way I can have a Usb free for the external hard drive sorted...

aslong as the PS3 supports a terabyte it looks like I've got myself a nice HTPC/linux box/Blu-Ray media box/Gaming Rig...

Sweeeet

 

I think it should be fine for media, but don't expect sterling performance in all things, the machines memory is limited and linux has no access to the 3d sub-system regardless which distro you use.

 

I think that the NouVeau driver has some basic 3D support for the PS3, but I dont know exectly the state of this driver. And about performance, i think a little gentoo with almost nor services exept networking and atiny xserver like xvesa (1.1mb) would improve performance of this low ram environement a lot. Also, if you try gentoo, package size optimisation may help a lot too (binary will store less data in ram at load). But gentoo is harder to install than Ubuntu ou YellowDog, it is not made to be easy to install, but to take advantage of the hardware it run on. You will also have more package and software than in any other ppc linux distribution (I heard that fedora has some package too, but gentoo have all package it has on PC, but some may not work as good).

 

i have tried yellowdog didnt think too much of it but did manage to get ubuntu studio running on my ps3 for a while

 

im not sure if i'd go with a terabyte. Im not sure if that will work. I know that 750gb does as i've seen a pic with 750gb as the internal hdd. Two 750gbs maybe?

 

h'mm two 750's maybe...so anybody know the max size hard drive a ps3 will take? i want to use a tb but i'm not sure if it will support it?going with ubuntu yes.
should be running 8.0.4 final when my ps3 arrives(Y)

 

The maximum 2.5 drive space is 400gb. The maximum 3.5 drive space is 1tb.

 

thats not what he was asking. he asked the maximum size the PS3 will recognize and use. Im not sure but I know 750gb works. Do you have a 1TB already? You could try it out first.

 

no unfortunately not mate. i will be buying it specifically for it you see... and i don't know anyone with one either:\ sucks lol.

 

My friend modded it with a 400gb 2.5, so i know that works.

 

i'm wanting to use a 1tb 3.5