PlayStation 3 owners who still don't have Yellow Dog Linux on their gaming machines might want to check out today's YDL update. The folks over at Terra Soft Solutions have just released their software on several public mirrors for downloads. Interested? Check out the full article for more info.

Over on Zx-81's website, he's released a compilation of things he's used to make PSP software on his Fedora Core Linux machine. The full title is PSP Software Development Kit for Linux Users, but let's just shorten it to PSP SDK for Linux.

Zx-81 wasn't very explicit as to what was inside, but so far, we see plenty of scripts, C++ information, as well as samples you can try out and study.

In any case, you should probably pick it up if you're a Linux user who wants to expand his current base of programming info. In the meantime, we'll just sit here and wait for you guys to come up with newfangled applications we can cover, so we can give credit to your programming prowess. Enjoy!

Download: PSP SDK for Linux

Everyone knows that the CELL BE-powered PlayStation 3 can run a couple of Linux distros already, but it comes at a severe hindrance: the Hypervisor chip. This little culprit ensures that the Linux distros will never be able to access the RSX GPU core by NVIDIA, and it's made many Penguin-heads mad. Oh yes, us too.

Because of the huge hardware dead-end, Linux graphics capabilities are dead-awful even at the bearable performance points. Ubuntu, Yellow Dog, Fedora Cores (5 and 6) and Gentoo have all been unable to run Linux gamers' favorite games on Linux, which also includes WinE games and open-source titles.

So it comes to no suprise that Linux users have set up an online petition asking Sony to open up access to the RSX GPU core, or else. Will Sony even care? That depends. After a huge financial fallout from the PlayStation 3's lackluster beginnings, the giant may not be opening a window for open-source programmers to creating 3D games for the PlayStation 3 - unless they pay for the licenses.

Many geeks, however, disagreed that open-source games could undermine the "mountains of wonga" that the electronics giant can earn from the next-gen console - at least not yet. One Linux geek said, "Do they think people will code Gears of War 2 at home?" All they want to do is turn the PlayStation 3 to an experimental living room Linux PC...and play Pong.

So in an effort to fuel this petition and to sound the rally cry for the PlayStation 3 geeks out there, we're posting this up for the world to hear and for Sony to see. Whether they listen or not is really up to them. Hop on over to the petition site over via the "Read" link below.

The number of Linux distros for the PS3 keeps increasing steadily. After already having heavyweights such as Fedora Core and Gentoo gracing their presence on the PS3, we now have Debian being released for it.

And make no mistake, while many of you might have never heard of Debian, it holds as much, if not more respect than the distros already out. And in case you didn't know, Debian could be called the father of Ubuntu since Ubuntu was originally started as a fork of Debian. The major advantage of Debian is its stability which is already proven by it being one of the top operating systems in a server environment.

Anyways, what's great is that this OS is released with a livecd environment, which means that everyone who is scared of Linux can give it a try, without being afraid of it modifying your system. As a live CD, all you need to do is install the kboot bootloader and select OtherOS as your default OS. After that, just burn the Debian CD as an image on a CD-R and insert it in your PS3 when it boots up. Once Debian starts, you can enter a number of parameters to customise your boot environment.

• live - Boot Debian Live
• yuv480i - Boot Debian Live in 480i video mode
• yuv480p - Boot Debian Live in 480p video mode
• yuv720p - Boot Debian Live in 720p video mode
• yuv1080i - Boot Debian Live in 1080i video mode
• yuv1080p - Boot Debian Live in 1080p video mode
• yuv576i - Boot Debian Live in 576i video mode
• yuv576p - Boot Debian Live in 576p video mode
• WXGA - Boot Debian Live in WXGA video mode
• SXGA - Boot Debian Live in SXGA video mode
• WUXGA - Boot Debian Live in WXUGA video mode
• install - Boot Debian-Installer in normal mode
• expert - Boot Debian-Installer in expert mode
• rescue - Boot Debian-Installer in rescue mode

You can install it by typing 'install' at the boot screen. Or you can check out Debian as a live cd by typing 'live'. The live cd environment which will boot up has a minimal GNOME desktop along with a bunch of utilities including the Firefox browser. The login details for the live cd are as follows:

Username - casper
Password - live

Remember that these details are for the live cd only. If you decide to install Debian on your PS3, you will get a chance to set the user details yourself. The otheros.bld which you must use for the kboot installer should be downloaded from the link below. So make sure to extract that file using a utility like WinRAR and using it with otheros.self.

Tutorial: [Partitioning and readying your PS3 for Linux]
Link: [Debian Live CD + Installer ISO]
Link: [PS3 Cell Addon CD (For otheros.bld)]
Link: [QJ.NET PS3 Linux forums]
View: [Debian on Wikipedia / Debian on DistroWatch]

This one comes from the Blog of Buffis. He has a PS3 running Yellow Dog Linux and Pygame. Py-huh? Wikipedia: Pygame is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language. In short: game writing stuff. Buffis wanna see if Pygame will compile and work on YDL-PS3.

Answer: it worked. "Compiling all of the dependencies and the pygame made it possible for me to run stuff at decent speed. Its not exactly fast, but absolutely fast enough to develop graphical user interfaces and small games." He also notes that Pygame is limited to using one SPE, "but it works" (Picture to the right comes from Buffis.com). As for instructions...

If people want me to I can write a guide for compiling pygame for PS3, but it’s pretty much the same as compiling it for any other platform… Simply install all dependencies for SDL, then SDL and SDL_mixer, SDL_image and so on and top it all of with pygame.

On a subsequent blog post Buffis made another happy discovery. Acting on a tip from a SomethingAwful member, he found that Pygame is also very easy to install on Fedora Core 5 - easier than YDL, even. "Installing pygame there is apparently as simple as writing “yum install pygame” as root."

Fedora or YDL... that's still two for two for PS3 Linux.

I'm sure all of you have been having fun with Linux on your PS3. A few of you might be happy with Fedora Core 5/6, the others have probably moved on to Yellow Dog Linux. Now while they're not bad in any sense, they do have problems which are associated with any RPM based distro- dependency hell. I'm sure that any of you who've tried to install any applications would have faced the problem of missing dependencies sometime. And it's all too common to have a few packages totally missing from the repository which means that you have to search for their respective RPMs on the net, download them and install them separately. While functional, this can get a little frustrating over time.

My friend Jake just bought a PS3, and he wanted to install Linux on it. Since he didn't know much about Linux, it was my responsibility to help him with it. His requirements - Install a distribution which is easy to maintain and run. He wanted to make the full use of his Linux install, so he needed a distro which wouldn't hold him back with frustrating problems. Among his biggest needs was an office suite, a good web browser, and above all, a no-hassle media player which would allow him to play all his videos on the big screen.

One look at the current situation of Linux on the PS3, I knew it wasn't going to be Fedora Core or Yellow Dog since they seemed to have lots of problems when it came to media players. The only solution was using a distro which had a better package management system, and did its work without bothering you, the end user. And what luck! The folks over at Gentoo.org had just released a Live CD plus a few more things for the PS3. Having used Gentoo extensively, I knew that this would be the solution to my problems. Here's a few personal thoughts about Gentoo:

Why Gentoo?

1. Theoretically, faster than any other distro.
2. Modular distro, so you have full control over the installation.
3. It teaches you more about Linux.
4. You can update it whenever you want, don't have to wait for the latest version of the distro like Fedora Core 5/6, Yellow Dog Linux 5
5. Huge community of people, and the best documentation among all Linux distros, so you'll never have unsolved problems.

Criticisms of Gentoo:

1. Long installation process
2. Takes long to install applications since they have to be compiled from source
3. Difficult for anyone new to Linux since they get overwhelmed with all the stuff given to them.

Why Gentoo for PS3?

1. Best distro when compared with Fedora Core 5/6 or Yellow Dog Linux because of no RPM/dependency/repository hell
2. Easy to install ANY application - emerge . It will download source of all dependencies, install and setup everything.
3. Will get the latest updates first, and you will be able to download and install it without any problems.
4. It won't take time to install applications since hundreds of binaries already available through Portage Overlays. Thus, you will get applications compiled specially for the PS3, not just a regular PPC computer. The advantages of this will be big once GCC is optimised for the Cell processor.
5. You can ask for help while installation through irc, or ask someone to install it for you remotely!

As you can see, the above reasons cover up 2/3 criticisms of Gentoo. Therefore, it's not difficult to see that Gentoo is the best distro for the PS3. Don't get me wrong, Gentoo is an overwhelmer for any newbie to Linux, but since I'm very comfortable with it, I decided to set it up on his PS3. What followed was a nice command-line installation procedure and lots of fun configuring and setting up the system. Jake, who had already got a great head-start to his Linux journey, was having fun checking around the system, installing applications manually, and in general, doing whatever he had intended to do.

Now while the Gentoo guys had already published instructions for the installation, we went ahead and changed a few steps since we thought that they could be made easier. After all, not everyone loves vim :). Anyways, here's the link to the Gentoo install instructions. Have fun installing and checking out Gentoo on your PS3. At this point though, let me warn you- The installation isn't for those who've never spent time at the Linux command line. While the instructions can be understood and followed by everyone, we'd prefer it if total newbies stayed away from it for a little while, until we sort out the wiki and add lots more Gentoo-specific content. You can also ask for help in our forums where me and other Gentoo users will be eager to help you out.

View: [Gentoo Install Instructions]
View: [QJ.NET's PS3 Wiki]
View: [QJ.NET's PS3 Linux forums]

Remember that contest where you stood to win a PS3 if you managed to hack it? The tricked-out one with a 160GB HDD and pre-installed Linux (Fedora core 5 PPC + PS3 add-on), an HDMI cable, and a free copy of Resistance: Fall of Man?

Well, the deadline's come and gone and nobody proved to be l337 enough. So, what happens to the PS3 that was at stake? It seems the guy running the contest has decided to just give the mean Sony machine to his kid Kaede. He's also offering a shell user account on the PS3 for one more month to those who can afford to get one for US$ 20.

If you want to check out what some of the hopefuls tried to make it through the PS3's defenses, just to go to the ACBM forums. Those interested in the attack logs can also e-mail the guy who ran the whole contest. The link to the ACBM forums plus info on how to contact the guy who ran the contest can be found in the "via" link.

Whoever said that you can't have the best of both worlds obviously hasn't met diabolix. And by diabolix we don't mean some obscure video game character or some charismatic person heading a cult. He's just your plain smart coder who has managed to hack the PS3 Linux into recognizing the Xbox360 controller right on your PS3s.

Yep, you got that right. diabolix was able to compile an Xbox360 controller driver for Fedora Core 5, which means that if you're running Linux on your PS3, you can now use the 360 controller with it!

diabolix says that this has been tested with Snes9x and Doom under FC5-PPC. Here's the usage instructions:

• Copy this installer to your PS3’s HDD linux partition and connect your controller via USB.
• Run “install-xbox360-driver.sh” initially from the terminal
• Enter your root password (if you aren’t root already), and there ya have it, a functioning Xbox360 controller on your PS3!

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for PS3 games as it only works on Linux. But hey, if you're all for diversity then by all means, download the driver below.

Download: [PS3 Linux Xbox360 Controller Driver]

All those who've just got a PS3 for Christmas and are thinking of installing Fedora Core, stop! Terrasoft has released the free version of Yellow Dog Linux. While you might be wondering that Fedora Core is much more popular, I'd advise you to go with Yellow Dog Linux because it is based on Fedora Core itself. Secondly, and much more importantly, it is very much optimised for the PS3, since it's specially made for it.

So now that you know about it, how would you go about installing it on your PS3? If you're new, you can just skip over to the download and further instructions section. For all the newbies who've just learned of this, I'll give you some info which will lay down the basics for you.

To install a second operating system on your PS3, you will need the following:

• A PLAYSTATION 3 with a Hard Disk (20GB is fine).
• USB Keyboard, USB Mouse.
• A USB Storage Device.
• An ISO of the desired Linux distro.
• Sony PS3 Other OS Installer.
• OtherOS.bld file for the respective distro.
  
• Blank optical media + burner.
• Other things which will be specific to every distro.

Once you have these things ready, the next step is to format your PS3's internal hard disk and install Sony's OtherOS bootloader. Thankfully, TerraSoft also provided a nicely written install guide for everyone. I'd advise you to follow it. In case any of you run into problems, you can check out our PS3 Linux forums for help where other like-minded members will be happy to help you out.

Now for the download links to the required stuff:
Sony PS3 Other OS Installer
otheros.bld for Yellow Dog Linux ( here / here )
Yellow Dog Linux 5 ISO image ( here / here ) (3.3GB ISO!)
Install guide for Yellow Dog Linux ( here / here )

Now that you have the required stuff, the first thing you should do is go through the install guide a couple of times. In case you don't understand any step, make sure to ask in the forums for clarification. If you're not lucky enough to have a Hi-def TV yet, we do have a guide to install Yellow Dog Linux on SDTVs.

Bear in mind that our wiki is still in its infancy and as such, won't be complete. We'd love it if you might want to fill it up with how-tos, instructions, or anything else you have in mind. We will be officially launching it sometime in the near future, so if you'd wait until then, no worries. Also, thanks to mussadek from our forums for the heads-up!

View: [How-to: Yellow Dog Linux on SDTV (Thanks to sincebydarren from our forums!)]
View: [PS3 Linux forums]
Download: [Otheros.bld for Yellow Dog Linux]

Digg This? Click Here!

In an age of Cells and multi-cores, of 1080p graphics and motion-sensitivity, it's too easy to be blinded into forgetting what it's all about really. Being sucked into the gameplay until you and it are one and there is nothing else (Oh, that is so Zen). Of course, increased processing power and innovation in controls were the means to that end, but as it is in so many affairs of the world, the means obscured the end until the means was all that's left.

That's why it's nice to see a game that doesn't have all that, but still manages to do what games are supposed to do. In this case, it's DEFCON: Everybody Dies from UK-based Introversion Studios, self-proclaimed "last of the bedroom developers". It's a very simple game that could run on a Pentium III - TWO PC GENS AGO - but manages to deliver a gripping multiplayer experience like no other. Why? Thanks to some good gameplay design, and what turned out to be excellent inspiration, this practically emulates - if not simulates - nuclear strategy and warfare.

It's a lot more horrifying than you think when you're the practitioner of the craft. The premise is simple, but the strategic implications are huge. Up to six players, each with a fixed arsenal of bombers, fighters, ships, and most of all, nuclear weapons. On missiles, subs, and bombers. Your objective: use these assets to take out the enemy nukes - and his population. Before he uses his to take out yours. Classic nuclear strategy.

Nobody dies if you read on at the full article.