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What is special about Ubuntu distributions that run on a PS3? Is there an 8.10 PS3 version out yet?

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closed as off topic by Zoredache, Jeff Atwood♦ May 29 '09 at 6:58

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4 Answers

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Ubuntu 8.10 for the PS3 was released Oct 30, 2008: Wiki here, and downloads here. The 9.04 release is a bit behind schedule, but should hopefully be out soon.

As for what's special about it, the packages are compiled to run on the PS3's cell processor and by default include packages & configurations to support the PS3's standard hardware... If you're looking for more specifics than that, you'd have to check out the documentation.

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The PS3 Cell processor is a PowerPC (PPC) processor, which is different than ARM or x86. So right there, you need to rebuild the whole Ubuntu archive for PPC just run the damn thing. Frequently things that build on normal Ubuntu platforms fail to build from source (FTBFS) on PPC due to assumptions built into the code about datatype implementation etc. In addition, the PS3 is not common hardware and needs some kernel patches regarding SPEs and other features only present on the PS3.

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The Cell architecture isn't really PPC - it's a Power architecture, yes, but PPC is a separate entity. Cell is best described as its own architecture. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor) – Tim May 27 '09 at 18:43
For the purposes of general computing, it's PPC with some crap duck taped to the side. – jldugger May 28 '09 at 2:12
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Are you trying to stick with Ubuntu for some reason? If not, Yellow Dog Linux is the more mature platform for the PS3. It's designed for the PowerPC (PPC) based processors such as the Cell processor used in the PS3. This includes its package repositories. The company even sells Cell based PC's if you have a PowerPC fetish.

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up vote 1 down vote

I recommend Gentoo. I've been using Gentoo on a ps3 for nearly a year with no problems, and performance is not bad, much better than the alternatives I tried. When I was looking at Ubuntu and Yellow Dog at the time, it was very difficult to get wifi working in both, whereas it worked perfectly after a few minutes of configuration in Gentoo.

Unfortunately, the ps3 does not make a very good 24/7 HTPC due to the 256MB memory (which can't be expanded), and the very high power consumption. It's a shame because otherwise it's almost perfect.

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