Are you still running on a single core Intel with 256 MB of RAM and a nVidia 5200? You may be thinking it's time to upgrade that jalopy setup you have and go to the shiny, candy coated world of Vista. Whoa! Hold yer horses there, cowboy! A better option lies around the corner from a source you may not have expected: Your Playstation. Since late last year, Yellow Dog Linux (Made by Terra Soft Solutions) has been the official secondary operating system for Playstation 3 (GameOS is the default). Other versions of Linux have been confirmed as being compatible, including Ubuntu, Fedoro Core 7, Gentoo, and Debian but, I'm am unaware if they are as easy to install or if they even work as well as Yellow Dog.
For the uninitiated, Linux is an operating system like Windows, except that it has been completely designed from the ground up for free by programmers to run faster and be more stable. Nobody truly owns Linux so it can be distributed for free. It's a Unix-like Operating system. There is also a huge host of free software ranging from word processors to media players to games even.
Linux Games
Linux doesn't really have too many commercial games, although there is quite a few native games for it. A few stand out including X-plane and Darwinia. Some companies have ported games in-house to Linux: Bioware, Epic Games, id Software, and EA to name a few.
Cedega, has been porting PC games for a while now and, for a small monthly fee, provides patches for hundreds of games that will now work under Linux including: World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, Need for Speed Carbon, and Half Life 2 plus loads more. These work in varying levels from near perfect to needing a little more work. Despite this inconsistency, Cedega updates regularly so if they can find a way to get your favorite game working like new, you be the first to know. Just imaging the speed that six cores (Yellow dog uses six of the eight cores and saves 2 for GameOS) can run my game of Half life 2 at makes me all warm and toasty inside. Especially when my Windows PC freezes after running it for 30 minutes.
Update: Cedega doesn't work on a PS3 because PC games require a Intel x86 architecture. However, bochs, an in development x86 Emulator, is worth a try for emulating windows software on Yellow Dog.
Put a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) on your PS3
Watch a lot of TV when not playing games? Well why not put a PVR on your PS3? With just as many options, and sometimes even more, than as Windows Media Center Edition, Open Source PVRs are a perfect alternative to Microsoft's media software. People have plugged in a USB tuner and run MythTV on it. Check it out here. The menus maybe aren't as pretty to look at and it may take a little more effort to setup but, it's just as good as the competition. The high def capability for the PS3 (Yellow Dog only runs in High-Def) means anything you record will look crystal clear too.
Oh and if we're lucky Sony will release their Official PVR in America.
Hardware
While most PC-Windows setups will run easily $1000 and up the PS3 isn't a dollar over $600 before tax (In America) and it's more than three times faster then most PCs! With one 8 core CPU and the super fast RSX graphics card, you differently won't be hurting for more power. It has Two Terraflops of system floating point performance(Whatever that means), for crying out loud! Yeah, I don't know what a Terraflop is either, but it just sounds cool...and kinda like a painful diving technique. One possible Achilles heel is the paltry 512 MB of ram, but Linux can do far more with that then Windows can. Here's the Full Spec Sheet for PS3.
Because Terrasoft knows that every PS3 will be made the same theres no need to fiddle with every option until it works. There are only a few things that they have had trouble with. One is the built in wi-fi, It doesn't work completely. Another thing is it can't take full advantage of the RSX graphics card yet. (As of version 5.0). But this may all change as time wears on.
Install
Terra oft has instructions for installation of Yellow Dog Linux of PS3 here: (PDF Alert!) Here's the Terra Soft Homepage and Downloads page too.
Setting it up is a snap. Simply backup all the stuff that you wanna keep on a USB hard drive, because ALL MEDIA WILL BE ERASED DURING HARD DRIVE FORMAT so be mindful of that. After that, all it takes is reformatting the Hard Disk to work as if it were two (Repartitioning), installing it and bam! You just kicked it up a notch! And thanks to the USB ports all over your brand new Linux monster using a mouse and keyboard is as easy as plugging it in. The hard drive can even be replaced if you want more then the hardware comes with (As long as it's a serial ATA interface). Here are some pictures from the PS3 manual.
If all this talk about reformatting and installing is giving you heart palpitations, Terrasoft has PS3s with Linux Pre- Installed available here, mice and keyboards too.
Even if you don't use it as your main computer it's worth it to try out Linux on one of the fastest commercial available computers around. Especially if you already have a Playstation 3 or plan to buy one.
7 comments:
Too bad the PC is constantly changing, and in a year or two, PCs that can run Crysis on Max settings will be a standard in the market.
Too bad the PS3 has a graphics hypervisor preventing use of the RSX meaning SNES and MUGEN are as good as you get gamewise
Ah, pity your just wrong ;)
PS3 has a single CPU, with a bunch of DSP's, which are not comparable.
Comparing Apples to apples . . . well PC's actually a comparable PC will only set you back about $400, you can't include peripherals, monitors or OS as the PS3 doesn't include those either.
yeah, the surf the web as ps3 doesn't has any good exclusive games. seriously on one in its right mind would buy it
This article is full of wonderful inaccuracies.
Can I has cheezburger?
wtfbbq!!!1
Post a Comment