Around midnight Pacific time on the 17th, Sony updated their Open Platform website [CC] needed to install PPC Linux on the PS3. The FTP Site contains the CELL Linux ADDON CD image, which has the bootloader (kboot/otheros.bld) and instructions needed to install Fedora Core 5, PPC. A full install from DVD takes about two hours. Most all hardware is supported except for graphics accelerator support (framebuffer only, up to 1920x1200).http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/11/17/1327239.shtml

Is anyone else running this linux distribution on their PS3? I tried installing it today and it seemed to install without incident but I can't seem to get a GUI to work on my system. When I run startx the GUI is distorted and unusable. When I run startkde I get error messages saying it cannot connect to DISPLAY "" and cannot connect to Xserver. I haven't installed a linux distribution before so I'm not sure how common a problem it is. Anyone have any suggestions?

Here's a YouTube video of Linux on PS3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZXcuhJkwx4

There are some Fedora-on-PS3 threads starting to show up now on the Linux Forums site:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/redhat-fedora-linux-help/

Thanks for the link stampeder. Looks like other people are having the same problem with core 6 as me. There were some suggestions there on how to fix the video problem that I will try after work today. Hopfully it solves my problem. Yellow Dog Linux is supposed to be released today on YDL.net. I may try this distribution if I have no luck with Fedora.

Well the fixes I found on the other forum fixed my gnome desktop display issues. If anyone else runs into this give me an email. Now I'm stuck getting the wireless network configured. I posted a message on the other forum but if anyone here knows how to configure a wireless card in Fedora Core 6 let me know. I really want to be able to surf the web from linux rather than the browser built into the PS3.

Another linux on PS3 forum:

http://forums.qj.net/f-ps3-linux-283.html/

I've heard that Sony has submitted patches to the 2.6.20 kernel to update Linux to run on all PS3 internal hardware. Yellow Dog has their kernel up and running with Sony's help, but now Sony has officially merged the particular hardware stuff into the main kernel.

Just installed YDL 5.0 into my PS3, system runs like charm.
It's obviously outstanding vs XBox360, I got XBox360 last year on release day, and it failed within a week, the quality of XBox360 is far away to PS3.
Is any body here installed YDL in their PS3? Did you try use Logitech bluetooth keyboard/mouse? I'm trying to get one for my PS3.

As far as the Bluetooth keyboard, at least with the GameOS, you can use it but you need to plug in the USB dongle as the PS3 won't use it's internal Bluetooth receiver for keyboards/mice at this point. It's possible that it's enabled in YDL but I highly doubt it and can't confirm either way. But since it works with the USB receiver plugged in anyways, no harm buying it to try out. It's a great KB/Mouse anyways so you'll get your money's worth.

This is geared towards developers, but contains great info for most DHCers:An introduction to Linux on the PlayStation 3

Overview, installation, and first programming steps

Jonathan Bartlett (johnnyb@eskimo.com), Director of Technology, New Medio
IBM Developerworks
03 Jan 2007

The Sony® PlayStation® 3 (PS3) is the easiest and cheapest way for programmers to get their hands on the new Cell Broadband Engine�(Cell BE) processor and take it for a drive. Discover what the fuss is all about, how to install Linux® on the PS3, and how to get started developing for the Cell BE processor on the PS3.

The PlayStation 3 is unusual for a gaming console for two reasons. First, it is incredibly more open than any previous console. While most consoles do everything possible to prevent unauthorized games from being playable on their system, the PS3 goes in the other direction, even providing direct support for installing and booting foreign operating systems. Of course, many of the game-related features such as video acceleration are locked out for the third-party operating systems, but this series focuses on more general-purpose and scientific applications anyway.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-linuxps3-1/

Does anyone know if the PlayStation3 with Yellowdog Linux installed can play avi, dvix, xvid files and if it can would it be able to play the 960 x 576 or higher resolution files?

The jury is out on that nausicaan, but suffice to say that if you're a novice Linux user then no it cannot play all of the above files and will likely have stuttering issues with files that have that high of resolution. If you really know Linux inside and out then it can be made to work because there are verified cases of people having it work like you'd want, but it's not easy and the failures greatly outnumber the reported successes.

A couple questions I was hoping someone could help me with.

1: Everytime I try installing Ubuntu on my PS3, it freezes at 15%. I've tried both automatic partitioning and manual partitioning. Neither work. Am I missing something?

2: Do wireless keyboard/mice sets work with Ubunto on the PS3? When I was running the live cd, my wireless keybaord would work, but not the mouse. They both share the same receiver. It's a Belkin model if that means anything. Should I replace it with a logitech? Or would neither work?

I appreciate any responce I can get!

Are you using any of the web howtos about Ubuntu on PS3, or just giving it a try yourself? I'm just curious if they show any gotchas, not having done such an install myself.

I can't take credit for this, but it worked for me (at least to get past 15%, not it's hanging at 78% which is another story altogether).

"Once the system is up and running from the disc, you may choose to install Ubuntu permanently. There is a bug which halts the installation at 15%. To avoid this you need to terminate some running services and processes.
open System > Administration > Services.
Uncheck everything except the CPU frequency manager (powernowd), Graphical login manager (gdm) and System communication bus (dbus).
Open System > Administration > System Monitor. Select the Processes tab.
Kill all processes on the list (right click > Kill Process). The ones that are necessary for the system to install will automatically restart or refuse to be terminated."

Yep I researched it on the web. It is a common glitch, but they say it is always solved by manually partitioning the drive (which I tried) but it still freezes at 15%

Thanks Mike, I'll give that a try.

Anyone know if wireless mice work with the ps3?

Anyone know if wireless mice work with the ps3?Both Bluetooth kbd & mouse kinda worked in YDL 5.0 (I have Rocketfish set), but I needed to do some tricks to make YDL to recognize the devices at boot time. This was a couple of months ago & I haven't played much with YDL since...

So, YDL 6.0 was released for download a couple of days ago, and I'm interested in installing it on my PS3. Now, I don't have much experience with Linux, and I know my initial attempts are going to be disastrous to say the least. What I want to know is if there's a way to ensure that regardless of what I do, the PS3's OS remains the default? ie: if I screw something up, I can restart the system and it will automatically return to the GameOS.

Any tips would be appreciated.