forums.ps2dev.org

ps2devman · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 265

PS3-Slim's innards :
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation-3-Slim/1121/1

Also, don't forget to grab available dev stuff still online, like this one :
http://nocturnal.insomniacgames.com/index.php/Main_Page

Who knows... PS3 Linux related blogs may shutdown one after another from now...

rapso · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 147

lotharx · Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 24

The PS3 design is so refined that anything outside the otherOS address space is pretty much attack vectors for piracy. Finding anything for 'homebrew' outside otherOS environment and publishing it will be a certain prelude to piracy because of the way the PS3 is designed.

Most of the regulars here have already mapped the entire address spaces for both the XDR and DDR2 from otherOS mode. All the HV calls are known from the kernel, and ones not in the kernel source would take a huge framework to probe for.

speedxl · Joined: 07 Aug 2008 Posts: 26

As most guessed OtherOs is not being removed on PS3 models before the slim, with firmware 3.0, here�s confirmation directly from developers of the firmware at SCE JAPAN, it includes details of other upgrades etc.. however its in japanese.

Google translated link

http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?u=http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/rt/20090827_311039.html&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=es&ie=UTF-8

and here a translated synopsis by other site

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/08/28/sony_firmware_3_0_secrets/

If someone is fluent in japanese maybe could translate for us the original full sentence about the OtherOs, because the google translation sucks..

rapso · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 147

kengreen · Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 13

Today Sony's Satoshi Hashimoto, in an interview with http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/rt/20090827_311039.html, confirmed that Sony will not be removing the OtherOS and Linux functionality in old (non-Slim) PlayStation 3 consoles. As reported in PS3ews

ooPo · Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 2:42 am Post subject:

someone · Idiot Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 74

the other possible outcome is somebody else breaks it, only for piracy, and doesn't release any information since they want to keep the hack to themselves this will cause the ps3 to have piracy and no homebrew
but looking at the past this is unlikely

of course the ideal solution is still sony allowing proper homebrew so everybody keeps control of what they want

bootsector_ · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

May the PS3 hacking begin!

Herben · Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 107

I've never been one to consider the potential for piracy as a reason limit my own hacking. PC games continue to sell regardless of the fact that the PC is not a "secure" platform. You can download pre-cracked games for PC from any number of places on the net and run them without a hitch yet these games continue to sell. Both Wii and xbox have been pirate-friendly for a long time now yet they keep making money. You don't see developers jumping ship due to lost sales from piracy on those platforms.

I honestly believe that Sony fears unlicensed software more than piracy. They supported "homebrew" as long as it required you to boot into a separate OS by changing a setting in a buried menu, rebooting the system and waiting for the other OS to boot. Not exactly convenient and not within grasp of the average Joe Gamer. But if you can play ooPo's homebrew game "Fantastic Faecal Flinger" directly from the game menu of XMB, people might not be so quick to pay $10 for some rehashed shit on PSN. That could hurt them in a way that piracy doesn't. People can't be made to feel bad about using free software simply because it doesn't benefit SCE.

Sony has plenty of ways to combat piracy without fucking over unlicensed software makers. I simply can't shake the feeling that Sony feels as threatened by us for providing alternatives to their software as they do pirates. After all, it's pretty easy to get $70 for a crappy game when you have a monopoly, isn't it?

I think the speed at which Sony patched the RSX hack and the lack of support for OtherOS in the PS3 Slim speaks for itself.

TyRaNiD · Joined: 18 Jan 2004 Posts: 918

I think now Sony have abandoned "homebrew" they are fair game, alas normally once you can get unlicensed code running it tends to end up with piracy as well is not really our fault.

Oh and rapso I call bullshit on the CCC presentation, the 360 was hacked for piracy, without that the initial stuff couldn't have even been booted. Sure they might have more cunning hacks these days but it is amazing what access to devkits can do for your blackbox hacking :P

ps2devman · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 265

For me, all happened when Sony feared to be third in the consoles market contest. Higher ranks got jealous of Nintendo getting better success with lower plastic tech.

So a switch occured. True devs, who really had power of command, lost it. Kutaragi got dropped. Above that, some game devs said they were confused that ps3 could be seen as computer and not a game console.

Now higher ranks want to overtake nintendo, counting on their low tech to be outdated soon.

Also, be warned, any announcement made by a Sony dev may just be betrayed in future if higher ranks decide so, without further notice.
Because it's all about money and market shares now. The 'dev' era is finished. And higher ranks panic easily.

Even if older models are still supported, the harm is done. Just look at how motivation just vanished for the groups of devs who wanted to invest time in OtherOS.

For those with low hacker skills, it may be time to bring support to Linux on 360, since it's now possible to boot directly linux on 360 thru a small 3 resistors hardware hack. Native sound is missing, temperature detection and automatic control of fan speed is missing, etc... And doing so they will give time to PS3 Slim hackers to find something.

For those with high hacker skills, they now have 2 great challenges :
- run homebrew code on PS3 Slim
- extend fast memory (really a painful problem)
I doubt it can be done only by Software, so it will take time.

One fantastic thing about 360's and PS3's is that they are made in large numbers and so the components inside them are cheap, even if they can be re-used to make a very powerful computer (I talk only about CPU, since GPU's are now already outdated : RSX=NV47 and Xenos=pre-R600)

Another way would be to consider a way to recreate the best homebrew platform using one of them (or both), by imagining very audacious and innovative ways to re-use their components. If the result is too far away from the platform required to play backups, then you avoid piracy too, but you open new pleasant ways to create free homebrew code.

LionX · Joined: 27 Dec 2004 Posts: 61

i think this slim version is just for people who just wants to play COD4/COD5 and dont want to pay bug bucks. its not for us devers and people who wants flexibility

Ameen · Joined: 14 Jun 2009 Posts: 12 Location: Bahrain

That's really sad, considering the time PS3 hackers were willing to spend on this platform.

Cell is a very interesting platform to play with, but instead of unlocking the RSX, Sony yet surprises us with the abandon of OtherOS support.

I hope they can fix this in the near future somehow!

What a shame..

whig · Joined: 04 Jan 2009 Posts: 35

Coding drivers too expensive?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/28/sony_ps3_slim_linux_install_loss/

J.F. · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 2906

lotharx · Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 24

rapso · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 147

rapso · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 147

J.F. · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 2906

ouasse · Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 90 Location: Paris, France

ps2devman · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 265

PS3 Slim has fw 2.75 onboard (out of the box)

ps2devman · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 265

Spanish hackers have confirmed that fw 2.80 allows BD-J homebrew if it's read from BD Drive. So... for people satisfied by BD-J performance, another way of research is to emulate the BD Drive so BD-J can be read.
(without the need to burn a BD-R of course... at least not more than once)

Since the goal is not to read madly encrypted PS3 specific BD's but regular BD's working in any BD player able to execute BD-J, it shouldn't be as hard as a true PS3 specific hack.

I guess it can take the shape of some intermediate connector between PS3 and the BD drive (like the recent modchips we see for the Wii).

If you burn one BD-R with specific pattern and just have the modchip replace that pattern, on the fly, with data coming from another easier media, maybe something can be done...