Linux on the PlayStation 3

Sony and GNU/Linux

The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) is the most open console system ever released
Terra Soft worked with Sony to develop Yellow Dog Linux 5 specifically for installation on the PS3
The Fedora project hopes to have a PS3 port available for F7
It's possible to install Yellow Dog Linux, Fedora Core, Debian Etch, Ubuntu, Gentoo, and probably other PowerPC (PPC) distributions that ship with a 2.6 kernel
PS3 is the least expensive Cell Broadband Engine (Cell BE) processor available
Sony has never publicly released an undetectable rootkit for Linux

Has nine processing elements (one disabled, one reserved for OS)
The main processor is based on a dual-core PowerPC, called the Power Processing Element (PPE). It coordinates number crunching in SPEs. Shows up as dual 3.2GHz processors in /proc/cpuinfo.
Seven Synergistic Processing Elements (SPE) each with
- a vector processor, the Synergistic Processing Unit (SPU)
- 256K private memory area (local store)
- 128 128-bit registers (normally holding 4 32-bit values)
- Memory Flow Controller (MFC) for moving data between system memory and the local store
512MB RAM

Blue-Ray Disk Drive
Video output can be 480i with Composite or S-Video cables
- 480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p with Component or HDMI
- Only ships with the composite video connector
- Connects with standard HDMI cable, or special PS2 or PS3 cables
Audio output via ALSA, but the output doesn't sound right with the kernel I'm using
Gigabit Ethernet. No VLAN trunking or promiscuous mode.
802.11b/g wireless support was recently added (60GB model only)

Most device access happens through a hypervisor that provides virtual access to the underlying hardware
Some device access is restricted or not currently working
- Hard Drive access to PS3 format partitions is restricted
- Direct access to Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is restricted. X uses a virtual frame buffer with no hardware acceleration
- Game Pad does not work in Bluetooth mode and requires a driver modification to work in USB mode (so don't expect to use it as a mouse)

An installation guide such as the one at fedora-ps3.com
USB Keyboard (and probably a USB mouse)
FAT format USB keychain/hard-drive, or burned CD for installing the bootloader (Memory Stick, SD, CF cards are also options on 60GB PS3)
DVD-ROM of Fedora Core 6 for PPC
Linux ADDON CD-ROM from kernel.org or fedora-ps3.com
bootloader installer from playstation.com
bootloader files from Terra Soft or fedora-ps3.com

Need to adjust the device section of the Xorg configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) to use the frame buffer driver
```
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "fbdev"
	Option      "ShadowFB" "false"
EndSection
```
The video resolution is controlled by kernel boot options in /etc/kboot.conf, not X configuration.

You can only create a 10GB partition or use the whole hard drive.
Make a backup of your drive (using an external USB drive) before formatting the new partition, I did not, but some people have reported loosing game data when formatting.
The Fedora installation isn't the normal Anaconda installer. There are two basic install options, full or minimal install.
If the PlayStation has problems booting linux, turn it off and then hold down the power button until it beeps (5 seconds) when powering it back on. This will cause it to boot back into the PS3 OS.