PSUbuntu. Running Ubuntu(linux OS) on your PS3

[Sketchzter]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if anybody here has set up linux on their PS3. I just did recently (I'm actually on Ubuntu right now,posting this message) and I have to say its pretty neat. You basically convert your PS3 into a computer. The only bad thing is that you have to reformat your Hard Drive at first and can either partition 10GB to the "Other OS" and have the rest of the Hard Drive to the PS3, or Partition 10GB to the PS3 and have the rest of the Hard Drive to the "Other OS".

I'm planning on getting a USB hard drive though so I can begin to get all sorts of movies and music. Its cool running Snes, NES, and other emulaters on the PS3 though. If anyone is interested in setting up Linux on their PS3, http://psubuntu.com/ is a good place to go. The latest version of the OS Ubuntu is there, ready to burn on a disk and set up on the PS3, alongside with tutorials on how to set it up. If you do set that one up, make sure you get the latest version (which is PSUbuntu 8.10). You can also google "Linux on PS3", and check the wikipedia article. It has some more information about other OSs that have been ported to run on the PS3.

I'm still very new to linux, but it's neat to have. I have Ubuntu 8.10 on my system.

 

[Anttaru]

If you want to enjoy Music and Movies Via media storage on your PS3 the best way is to utilize the PS3's stock media server option.

First you get "TVersity" for your PC. It's a free download. Tversity is a media sharing software so you can access files from your PC through your home network to your PS3 or PSP or Wii or 360 or cell phone or whatever other device you can do this with.

You set up what files you want to share, and that's pretty much it. Turn on the PS3 and go to the search for Media servers option, and it's done in seconds. Browsing in the XMB whatever movies pictures or music you set to share can be accessed in your PS3. No wait time. It's as instant as though the files are in the PS3 itself, and it plays beautifully.

Only thing is your PC has to be on, which is not a big deal in my case cause my PC is always on.

It understands a wide range of video formats including Quicktime and Divx (Divx <3), One down side for the PS3 is it lacks .AVI support at this point in time. If you want to run an AVI file in the PS3, you'll have to seek assistance from another software, the results do not affect the quality or speed of which the file is bring run though.

 

[Sketchzter]

If you want to enjoy Music and Movies Via media storage on your PS3 the best way is to utilize the PS3's stock media server option.

First you get "TVersity" for your PC. It's a free download. Tversity is a media sharing software so you can access files from your PC through your home network to your PS3 or PSP or Wii or 360 or cell phone or whatever other device you can do this with.

You set up what files you want to share, and that's pretty much it. Turn on the PS3 and go to the search for Media servers option, and it's done in seconds. Browsing in the XMB whatever movies pictures or music you set to share can be accessed in your PS3. No wait time. It's as instant as though the files are in the PS3 itself, and it plays beautifully.

Only thing is your PC has to be on, which is not a big deal in my case cause my PC is always on.

It understands a wide range of video formats including Quicktime and Divx (Divx <3), One down side for the PS3 is it lacks .AVI support at this point in time. If you want to run an AVI file in the PS3, you'll have to seek assistance from another software, the results do not affect the quality or speed of which the file is bring run though.

yar. Winamp actually has this feature built in with its latest installs. We had to reset our PCs hardrive though cuz of some fatal error we got, but I'm too lazy to redownload all the songs I had on the PC and stuff like that.

Having linux on the PS3 is convenient for me though since there is more than one person in the house that is on the PC a majority of the time, so now I can do what I can do on the PC, on the PS3. I mean, PS3's lolbrowser is a joke, and the main thing I ever use the PS3 for (aside from occasionally playing a PS3 game) is playing FFXI.

 

[PBParrot]

I have set up Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3, But the only thing I ever use it for is to watch pirated stuff on my HDTV. probably gonna install another distro though. Yellow Dog is rather unstable

 

[Shady]

I just got a ps3 a few days ago for my brother's birthday and I'm using TVersity to move blu-ray movies to the ps3, but it takes foreeever. Does it usually take 9-10 hours to copy a 4gb file to a ps3?

 

[Firestreak]

The bottleneck is probably your connection not your ps3. People have reportedly streamed uncompressed blu-rays(20+ gig files) with a decent router. I myself am looking to one day built a media server. As long as it has a 40 mb/s read capability it can stream blu-rays. With a 4 gig file, you should not be getting that kind of speed.

 

[Shady]

I wound up using my brothers external hard drive, had to make a folder labled VIDEO on it for the ps3 to pick up that there are video files there but it works so much faster. Am now moving 4 gig files from my pc to hard drive in 5 mins then from hard drive to ps3 in 5 mins. That's how it was supposed to go down on TVersity, who knows. When I tried streaming it over the internet it would do the 2-3 seconds of video clip, then it would pause, then another cuople seconds, then pause again.. def. a bottleneck somewheres >.> gotta stick with the hard drive for now I guess.

 

[Firestreak]

Maybe time for a router upgrade. I use the Netgear Rangemax 3700 - and I can actually plug an external hard drive in. Doesn't work with all brands and doesn't read huge partitions(I'm using 700 gigs). What's nice though is my laptop doesn't need to even be on.

 

[Shady]

Are you running Linux offa your ps3? What're the pro's/cons to doing that? Is it true if you installed the latest update you can no longer do that and if so, is there a way to downgrade your update to get outta that jam? So many questions, so little time!

 

[Firestreak]

Not running linux, and yes it's been removed(which is bullshit).

With my router set up correctly to read my external as a media server, all I need is to set my PS3 to enable media servers, and it works instantly.

From there I set up a decent file tree system.

4 main folders: Pictures, Music, Television and Movies

The Movies are then divided into folders like Science-Fiction, Horror, etc.
Television by series, and then season.
Music by Artist, then Album.
Pictures are just random pictures with a XKCD folder.

So let's say I want to watch an episode of south park. I turn on my ps3, go into the video list, and click on the media server. Then I click Television > South Park > Season 13 > Pee - and instantly that episode starts playing. Or let's say I want to listen to Bob Marley, I go under the music list, click the media server, click music > Bob Marley > Catch a Fire > Stir it Up, and then Stir it up is playing.

You can do the same thing with any router, only your PC will need to be turned on for you to do it, because you'll have to set this up inside of your PC's hard drive, and then use TVersity to turn your own files into a virtual media server. It's what I did until recently.

With enough content, and bittorrent, so you can download whatever movie or tv show you want... you absolutely DO NOT need cable TV. I think the only thing I watch live right now are baseball games and if I didn't have a roommate I'd cancel the cable, and get MLB.tv instead.