Tips on Installing Linux on PS3

By Scott Ace

Did you know that underneath the hood of your PS3 are 8 (Yes eight) CPU cores powering your console? While home computers are still languishing in the realm of double cores, Sony has taken a huge step forward in the technology stakes. So why not take advantage of all this processing power and turn our humble PS3 into a “Super Computer.” Previously this was impossible and we had to be contempt with leaving our console playing First Person Shooters all day. Nowadays however, Sony has allowed Linux platforms to be installed onto the PS3, turning your once gaming console into a fully functional home computer.

However before you go in a mad dash to install Linux on your PS3, there is a few things to note. Much like the infamous PSP or iPhone, you can “brick” your PS3 if you are not careful. Here are some tips when going about installing Linux on a PS3.

1: One of the most crucial points missed when installing, is that your game controllers will not function throughout the Linux installation procedure. It really sucks to be half way through the install, but have no way of completing it. Make sure you have a regular USB keyboard and mouse plugged into your PS3 while installing. After the install, you still won’t be able to use your PS3 controller on the Linux platform, but you will be able to use it just like normal in the PlayStation OS.

2: Make sure that if there is anything on your PlayStation harddrive that you want to keep, that you have it fully backed up. When you install Linux you will be forced to create a new harddrive partition. To do this you will need to wipe all existing data to essentially start from scratch. Any data that is on the harddisk at the time of install will be lost forever. I cannot stress this enough! Backup all your data!

3: Closely related to the above. When you take a backup, make sure it’s on something like a large pen drive or even an iPod. (I have heard of people using their 40 GB iPod’s purely for backup drives). Not only will your data be lost when you try to install Linux. If Linux completely stuffs up and you can’t install it, you will want to get all your old data back as easy as possible.

4: Make sure you choose the right version of Linux for you and your PS3. Not all distributions of Linux can be run on the PS3, and all need to be ported to take full advantage of the 8 CPU cores. At the time of writing, only Ubuntu and Yellow Dog are full available to be installed on the console. You can use distro’s like Fedora, but they aren’t fully compatible with the PS3′s hardware and only cause headaches.

If you follow the above tips you should be in for an easy install. It may sound daunting at first but once you have all the preparation ready, its just matter of inserting the disk and following the wizard. Good Luck!

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Visit us at Linux 4 PS3