I used to bag the PS3...

$1,000 (Australian dollars) for a games machine? You've got to be kidding!

OK, so it also plays Blu Ray DVDs as well. I guess that makes it better value. But still, AU$1,000???

Than I discovered that you can also use your PS3 as a regular computer. That's right - you can install a real operating system (Linux) on it and surf the web, do email, word processing, spreadsheets and everything you do on a regular computer.

Above: Linux running on PS3

WHAT CAN A PS3 DO?

So, for your $1,000 you get a box with:

- a Blu Ray DVD player for playing the new, high quality Blu Ray DVD movie discs. Blu Ray players cost over AU$1,000 as a stand alone item.

- an awesome games machine for playing the new, high quality PS3 games. PS3 games cost about AU$90 here... ouch!

- a Linux computer for doing everything you would do on a regular computer (web, email, music, business apps., photo manipulation, programming, instant messaging, FTP, VOIP etc).




HARDWARE

The PS3's hardware is pretty impressive too:

- the PS3 has a multicore Cell processor running at 3.2 GHz.

- wireless connectivity (802.11 b/g).

- gigabit Ethernet.

- Bluetooth 2.0.

- a 60 gig hard drive.

- four USB 2.0 ports so you can add things like a keyboard, mouse, printer etc.

- SD, CompactFlash and Sony MemoryStick ports to plug in cards from your digital camera.

- 512 meg of RAM (not a huge amount by today's standards, but fine for running Linux).



IT'S NOT JUST A GAMES MACHINE MOM

From a marketing pint of view, being able to run Linux on the PS3 is a real bonus. It means the kids can hassle their parents to buy it because it's a "real computer" and they can do their schoolwork on it, not just play games.

OK, in some ways it's not as good as a dedicated computer (for example, you can't increase the RAM), but the PS3 running Linux is great for 95% of tasks we do on computers.



NO MICROSOFT WINDOWS OR MAC OSX?

The PS3 can't run Microsoft Windows or Apple's Mac OSX. It runs Linux. So, you can't run Windows or Mac software like Microsoft Office or Apple's iLife suite.

But don't worry- Linux is great operating system. And there's HEAPS of free quality software for it.

Like Windows and Mac computers, Linux has an easy-to-use graphical user interface. It has a desktop, icons and menus you click with your mouse curser.

If you are a computer geek you can do lots of things in Linux using the 'command line interface' (that's where you type in special text commands to make the computer do things). But normal people can just operate the computer like they would with Windows or Mac, using the mouse to make things happen and not having to remember crazy computer commands.

Linux is a very secure and reliable operating system, so you won't have to worry about virus and spyware infections. And did I mention that Linux is FREE.

The distribution (or 'make') of Linux that the PS3 works best with is called Yellow Dog Linux. This is the distro that Sony endorses. I believe you can run other distros of Linux with the PS3, but how well they work is another matter.

The Yellow Dog Linux installation comes with 2,248 packages, including applications like OpenOffice (a Microsoft Office alternative), GIMP (graphics & imaging) and Firefox (great web browser).

The full list of Yellow Dog's packages are here:
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/products/ydl/included/



HOW DO I INSTALL LINUX ON MY PS3?

Sometimes installing Linux on a computer can be tricky. Luckily, the PS3 install is not difficult.

Your first stop should be this Sony web page:
http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/index.html

This page has the 'bootloader' software you need from Sony. The page also has a FAQ and other info.

You can download the Yellow Dog Linux ISO file here:
ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/yellowdog/iso/yellowdog-5.0-phoenix-20061208-PS3.iso

You will need a computer with a DVD writer to burn the ISO to a DVD disc. When you burn to the disc don't just burn as a 'data' disc... you will need to select "ISO" as the type of disc format in your DVD burning software. Look at the various options in your disc burning software.

Once you've burned the ISO disc you have to partition the PlayStation's hard drive with the format utility in the PS3's Cross Media Bar. This operation will totally wipe your PS3 hard drive, so back up stuff you want to keep. The format utility wil split your hard drive into 2 partitions: one will be 10 gig and the other 50 gig.

One bummer is you can't change the size of the partitions. It would be nice to be able to split it into halves - 30 gig and 30 gig. Then you could assign 30 gig for Linux and 30 gig for your PS3 OS. However, you do get to choose if Linux gets the 10 gig chunk or drive or the 30 gig chunk. It's up to you.

Next task is to create the installer. The bootloader installer (that you downloaded from Sony's site) allows you to install the Yellow Dog bootloader. You only need to use the Sony installer once.

The Yellow Dog bootloader is what allows you to choose to boot into Linux OS or the PlayStation OS.

The Yellow Dog Install Guide explains how to use both installers. Once you have the bootloader running, you can start the actual installation process with your ISO disc. The installation takes about 75 minutes.

Once installed your PS3 will still boot into the default PS3 operating system. To boot into Linux go to the System Setting in the Cross Media Bar. Choose "Other OS" (in this case it will be Yellow Dog Linux).

When you reboot you'll get a command line prompt. Type "ydl" to start Yellow Dog Linux or "boot-game-os" to start the standard PS3 OS.



NEGATIVES : PS3 vs A "REAL" COMPUTER

- you can't upgrade the RAM in the PS3
- no CD/DVD burner
- Linux wi fi not easy to configure on PS3
- no Flash plug-ins for web videos


LINKS

Sony's "Other OS" web page:
http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/index.html

TerraSoft - the makers of Yellow Dog Linux:
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/products/ydl/

I hope this web page is useful to you lucky people who have a PS3.