AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

[Posted October 20, 2010 by corbet]

For those of you wanting to regain the ability to run Linux on PS3 systems: the AsbestOS bootloader has been released. "Currently, it only supports netbooting a kernel and no initrd (mostly due to bootmem limitations). This is enough to run a Linux system booting from an NFS share or from USB storage media. Almost everything that works under OtherOS is working. As additional perks of running as GameOS, you also get access to a seventh SPE (needs a kernel patch to enable) and there is clearly full access to the RSX including 3D support, although we still need to learn a few details about how that works to be able to use it." (Thanks to Martin Jeppesen).

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 15:12 UTC (Wed) by littlesandra88 (guest, #64017) [Link] (3 responses)

This news story will be stolen by another site starting with P and ending with X, without any credits. Just wait and see :(

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 15:54 UTC (Wed) by DOT (subscriber, #58786) [Link] (2 responses)

This is not an LWN exclusive. All sites will 'steal' this from LWN, and if they are any good they will cite the source, not LWN.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:12 UTC (Wed) by littlesandra88 (guest, #64017) [Link] (1 responses)

It is just that this particular site never cites other sites, even when it clearly rips off LWN.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 18:49 UTC (Wed) by daniel (guest, #3181) [Link]

Meow......

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 15:29 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link]

Hahahahahaha

*gaaaaaaasp*

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Obligatory Star Wars quote about grips tightening and star systems slipping between fingers.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:06 UTC (Wed) by robert_s (subscriber, #42402) [Link] (9 responses)

"you also get access to a seventh SPE (needs a kernel patch to enable)"

I think it will be very interesting to see if this feature ever goes into upstream, as Sony would consider anybody ever using this to be doing so "illegally".

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:08 UTC (Wed) by littlesandra88 (guest, #64017) [Link] (1 responses)

Have the XBox 360 kernel patches been upstreamed?

XBox 360 kernel patches

Posted Oct 20, 2010 17:42 UTC (Wed) by ntl (subscriber, #40518) [Link]

No, they are not in mainline, nor have they been submitted in a long time.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:28 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link] (6 responses)

The seventh SPE isn't a big deal; it's more or less pure reclamation of the one the VM was reserving for itself.

The bigger deal IMHO is access to the 3D hardware.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:35 UTC (Wed) by littlesandra88 (guest, #64017) [Link] (1 responses)

NASA have a PS3 cluster. I am sure they will be delighted to hear that they now get +14% extra compute power on each node =)

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 17:17 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link]

I have a fat PS3 I specifically bought to run Linux (and to play the occasional game; I'd not dreamed that Sony would actually saw off advertised features after the sale.. silly me.)

I also welcome it, but that's not the same as thinking it's nearly as important (metric is perhaps "unveiling previously veiled, interesting things") as the 3D hardware getting exposed whereas before (under OtherOS) it was locked away.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 21:02 UTC (Wed) by robert_s (subscriber, #42402) [Link] (3 responses)

I would disagree.

How is access to a slightly customized, slightly outdated nvidia GPU interesting?

An 8-SPU Cell, on the other hand, is something that you would otherwise have to pay IBM several thousands for.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 21:30 UTC (Wed) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (1 responses)

Technically the PS3 does not have 8 SPU but only 7, and with the OtherOS system, you had acces to 6 SPU anyway (plus the two CPU cores), so AsbestOS only give you access to one extra SPU; and since there is no software designed for exactly 7 SPU, you will not get much extra power.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 29, 2010 13:47 UTC (Fri) by shapr (subscriber, #9077) [Link]

Actually, Cell-specific software uses something like NUMBER_OF_SPUS when executing, thus the software is not written for 6 or 8 SPUs specifically.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 21, 2010 0:26 UTC (Thu) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link]

Because it's one more of something you were already given access to vs a wholly different class of hardware that was kept under strict lock and key? Because it brings in the ability to frickin' finally do 3D instead of pure 2D under strict emulation?

You'd have to pay IBM, Mercury, or Fixstars thousands for a cell CPU in general, number of SPUs aside. That was why I wanted a PS3.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 21, 2010 11:44 UTC (Thu) by littlesandra88 (guest, #64017) [Link] (1 responses)

Marcan just wrote a comment about the 3D driver.

"3D will likely steal bits of nouveau, at least the userspace side. The kernel side of nouveau is pretty much worthless because we dont get direct access to the hardware, but instead we need to marshal through the hypervisor. In a way, the hypervisor implements the part of the graphics driver that is normally implemented in the kernel.

So yes, whenever (proper) 3D arrives, it should be Gallium-based."

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Dec 8, 2010 18:04 UTC (Wed) by Zane (guest, #71759) [Link]

Does AsbestOS not grant access to the GPU?

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 23, 2010 8:11 UTC (Sat) by Kamilion (guest, #42576) [Link] (1 responses)

Woo! Finally, something to do with my old ps3 with the busted bluray drive! Just ordered an X3Max, apparently one of the better jailbreak devices out there; with 128K of flash and a MicroSDHC slot. We'll see how well it can do with AsbestOS. If not, I'll pick up an Arduino Mega 2560.

AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 26, 2010 6:47 UTC (Tue) by yoshi314 (guest, #36190) [Link]

there are news that you no longer need such >40K device. and as low as 16K one is enough (which is pretty common). there are people reporting that it works for them, even on slim ps3 models.

http://psx-scene.com/forums/570113-post9.html