PS3 w/ Linux for Desktop Computing?

Y

Yoy0YO

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
312
So! My HP laptop is dead, tears were shed, its organs (hddrive, ram, keyboard etc) were harvested

Now I have a PS3 (the old fat and ugly one) that supports Linux. I've read some disappointing things about running Linux on PS3's because Linux is unable to access the memory or something about how the non x86 processor simply fails at much of the Linux commands
Has there been any development in this area? Is it possible to devote a PS3 to everyday computing?
Web browsing, PDF reading, flash videos, HD videos, word processing and other generic Uni related work

Can my PS3 fill this void?
 
I don't own a PS3 but my understanding is that it runs fairly well, though access to the 3D graphics processor is locked out. It's not a fast processor by today's standards (given that [almost] all code is going to run only on the PPE), but it certainly should be usable. Like most consoles it is also very RAM-starved, having only 256MB of system RAM. Video RAM is, as far as I can tell not (no longer, anyway) available for use as system RAM. Might have trouble with HD content due to lack of access to the RSX.

Probably usable, but the lack of RAM is going to hurt performance pretty severely. Might work well with a lightweight desktop environment.
 
It can make do. It won't be the best computing experience you've ever had, but it should do everything you need.
 
Dunno why this was bumped so far, but they removed the "Other OS" option in the latest firmware. So, no go for Linux anymore.
 
I haven't tried Linux on my PS3 since the first year the PS3 was out, but back then it was dog slow and I can't imagine using it as my only PC. 256mb of ram is definitely not going to cut it these days.
 
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