AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

Posted Oct 20, 2010 16:28 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877)
In reply to: AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released by robert_s
Parent article: AsbestOS PS3 bootloader released

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How is access to a slightly customized, slightly outdated nvidia GPU interesting?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