OtherOS

OtherOS is a feature of early versions of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 video game console, allowing user-installed software, such as Linux or FreeBSD. Software running in the OtherOS environment has access to 6 of the 7 Synergistic Processing Elements.[1] Sony implemented a hypervisor that restricts access to the RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics chip. IBM provided an introduction to programming parallel applications on the PlayStation 3.

The feature was controversially removed by Sony since system firmware update 3.21, released on April 1, 2010.[2] A class action lawsuit was filed against Sony on behalf of users, but was dismissed with prejudice in 2011 by a federal judge. The judge stated: "As a legal matter, ... plaintiffs have failed to allege facts or articulate a theory on which Sony may be held liable."[3] However, this decision was overturned in a 2014 appellate court decision[4] finding that plaintiffs had indeed made clear and sufficiently substantial claims. Ultimately, in 2016, Sony settled with users who had installed Linux or had purchased a PlayStation 3 based upon the availability of OtherOS.[5]

The settlement was then rejected in February 2017 by judge Yvonne Gonzalez, citing two problems: the lawyers' high fee percentage, and the users' difficulty in collecting.[6][7][8] Sony responded in September 2017, offering each member of a single proposed class up to $65. This is a change from $55 and $9 payouts for members of two separate classes in the prior proposal.[9]

History

Since 2000, Sony has marketed Linux on the PlayStation 2. It promoted the release of the PS2 Linux Kit, which includes a Linux-based operating system, a USB keyboard and mouse, a VGA adapter, a PlayStation 2 Ethernet network adapter, and a 40 GB hard disk drive (HDD).

The PlayStation 3 does not have Linux pre-installed. However, Sony included an option in the XMB menu soon after the PlayStation 3 launched that allowed booting into Linux from the hard drive or from a Live CD that the distributor's kernel would boot.[10] The installation manual for the Yellow Dog Linux version for PS3 stated, "It was fully intended that you, a PS3 owner, could play games, watch movies, view photos, listen to music, and run a full-featured Linux operating system that transforms your PS3 into a home computer."[11]

Linux kernel

Linux supported PlayStation 3 with version 2.6.21. No patches or modifications are required.[34] A simple Linux add-on CD for the PS3 includes support for Fedora 8 and other operating systems that already claim to install natively on the PS3.[35] However, there is currently an issue with the latest kboot boot loader provided by kernel.org. Once the user selects the default action, the USB ports are de-registered on some systems. A work-around is available at PSUbuntu.

Distributions

Debian, Fedora 8, Gentoo, OpenSUSE (10.3 to 11.1), and Ubuntu run on the PlayStation 3.[36][37][38][39][40] Yellow Dog Linux for the PlayStation 3 was first released in late 2006.[41]

RSX Homebrew

Linux on the PlayStation 3 allows for a range of homebrew programs to be developed. Although the Cell's performance is more than enough to handle most media requirements or render complex 3D graphics, it does lack the teraflops performance of a contemporary GPU's texture fetching hardware. For this reason many complex games are not possible on the PlayStation 3 through Linux, as access to hardware acceleration in the RSX is restricted by a hypervisor.

There have been developments in enabling access to the RSX through the Linux kernel and the X Window System.[52] It is possible to use the RSX memory as swap space. A trick to access some 3D functions was blocked with firmware 2.10.

AsbestOS

Reverse engineering advancements focused around a USB descriptor parsing vulnerability in 3.41 firmware, which allowed running the Linux kernel on 3.41 firmware.[53][54] The current state of the project is the ability to load the Linux kernel via TFTP and run it with access to all 7 SPEs (requires applying a small patch to the kernel). The rest of the system can run on an NFS share - hard disk access is currently not implemented, as well as some other features.[55]

Also, since the exploit runs the kernel with game privileges, graphics acceleration is now available, although it requires reworking of the nouveau driver code.

FreeBSD

Support for PlayStation 3 was added to FreeBSD 9.0 in summer 2010. This support is limited to machines with OtherOS functionality still intact (firmware version 3.15 and earlier).

See also

• Illegal number
• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• PlayStation 3 cluster

External links

• Open Platform for Playstation 3 Overview
• 3.21 firmware update removing OtherOS capability
• How to Bypass PS3 Firmware 3.21 and Connect to PSN using an internal DNS server