Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer) [LWN.net]

The Inquirer takes a look at way to run Linux on your PS3 without voiding the warranty. "According to PSX Scene a bunch of open source hardware hackers have released a dongle called PS Jailbreak that will turn the PS3 back into a Linux machine. The FAT32 file system is currently supported and they are working on NTFS. It works on current firmware but the dongle is fully updatable. It also allows ordinary online game play."

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Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 20, 2010 18:21 UTC (Fri) by jdahlin (subscriber, #14990) [Link]

Being jailbroken is not exactly the same thing as running Linux. It should definitely be possible, but Linux will have to be ported to run on the new hardware. Seems that the article in Inquirer is assuming that being jailbroken is the same as running Linux for some reason.

Reading the actual forum posts from PSX Scene reveals that some people have tried to run Linux but not succeeded yet.

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 20, 2010 18:24 UTC (Fri) by jimparis (guest, #38647) [Link]

It seems that this is based on a leaked or stolen "jig" key, which is what Sony uses for servicing PS3s. Details are still scarce as only modchip distributors have been given samples so far. It does not "turn the PS3 back into a Linux machine" -- currently the only software it comes with is a tool for GameOS that allows pirating games. While this does mean that unsigned code is being executed in GameOS, it's not yet clear whether it subverts the hypervisor in a way that would allow Linux support to be easily re-enabled. It's likely that this can be eventually achieved, though, especially as details of the dongle's mode of operation are worked out by people who aren't just interested in making a buck off piracy.

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 20, 2010 21:41 UTC (Fri) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link]

So if those are really "open source" people, they should release the specifications/software of the dongle/protocol, so that I can put that on my freely programmable USB dongle. ;)

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 9:32 UTC (Mon) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link]

Great news for the PS3 port of FreeBSD (http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/user/nwhitehorn/ps3/).

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 14:35 UTC (Mon) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link] (4 responses)

Wow, I don't read many "blogs", but this one is quite poor. The blog talks about "open sourcerors" jailbreaking the PS3 to run Linux. They link to a "psx-scene" forum message where the words "Linux" and "open source" do not even occur.

They probably still call this Journalism.

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 21:16 UTC (Mon) by jmorris42 (guest, #2203) [Link] (3 responses)

> They probably still call this Journalism.

Yup. You spot it in this case because you know more than the 'journalists'. But rest assured the same attention to detail goes into the stories on medicine, economics, politics, etc. you read every day in the legacy media, thinking it makes you an informed citizen.

Frightened yet?

For me it was the typographical and grammar errors that started appearing in major news organ's output that tipped me off that the game was over. Because if there isn't a gizzled old editor with a red pen catching those basic errors anymore (or even a second to invoke the automated checks in Word) you can bet there isn't a bookworm fact checker going over every detail and a perky intern calling up every source to ensure they were accurately quoted. No, today's journalists are just bloggers in suits, only without the peer pressure to get their facts right.

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 21:36 UTC (Mon) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link] (2 responses)

I question the contention that new-media bloggers feel any pressure to get facts right either.

-jef

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 22:02 UTC (Mon) by jmorris42 (guest, #2203) [Link] (1 responses)

> I question the contention that new-media bloggers feel any
> pressure to get facts right either.

It is called the comments section. Look at lwn.net itself for a perfect example of new journalism at work. If a story gets something wrong how many minutes will it stay up before a reader chimes in? Now compare and contrast to the legacy media. While the NYT that might get around to running a correction next week in a spot in the paper nobody is likely to ever see, how long does it take lwn to propagate a correction from the comments to the main article?

Bloggers get pageviews over another blogger by reputation. A reputation for being wrong hurts them. It should hurt the legacy media and of course it does, it is just that since they all suck customers had little choice but to pick from almost equally bad choices... until now.

Sony PS3 gets jailbroken to run Linux (The Inquirer)

Posted Aug 23, 2010 22:32 UTC (Mon) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link]

A lot of personal bloggers will willfully and purposefully remove or bar commentary when it questions the "truthiness" of any opinion being expressed. I would not hold up LWN as typical.

An furthermore, there is a lot of opinioneering both inside tradition and new media. There are lots of examples of content streams being a popular resource for opinion regardless of factual correctness, tv, newspapers, blogs.. being popular doesn't mean being factually correct..it just means knowing your audience. The sad reality is people self-select what they want to read not because its true but because its entertaining and caters to what the reader has already chosen to believe. This is simple a symptom of a larger cultural problem that goes far beyond traditional versus new media. New media is just better equipped to indulge/exploit the cultural proclivity for self-selection for better or for worse.

-jef