Hello,
I am thinking about installing windows or linux on my ps3. Maybe this questions has been asked a couple of times. I just want to post to get a response for my questions. My questions are:
Which one does everyone perfer?
What's the difference btw ubontu, fedora, yellowdog?
Which is more stable?
Where can I dl an os so I can burn the image and install?
How long is the process?
Whats the pro and cons?
Well, having had Ubuntu on my laptop for a few weeks now, here's a first impression:
1.) Linux. Windows can't actually be installed; it can only be emulated through Linux. And from what I remember, the emulation is pretty slow.
2.) I believe Yellow Dog is a Linux OS designed specifically for the PS3, whereas Ubuntu and Fedora are both just general OSes... someone with more experience might be able to explain it better.
3.) What do you mean by "stable"? If you mean which one "has less chance of freaking out the PS3 and zapping its blu-ray drive to nonfunction," then... I'm not sure. They're all pretty "stable"; I think the biggest question is which one suits you best. I would try out all three first before you decide to install any one OS. If that's possible on the PS3, of course.
4.) They're all free. You can Google each and you'll find them pretty easily. You might want to consider searching them through BitTorrent, though; the download speeds are much, much faster.
5.) I wouldn't be able to tell you. Installing it on a PC is fairly straight-forward and takes maybe... half an hour to an hour. And that's being generous. (The update process takes much, much longer.)
6.) On one hand, you can do almost anything you can on a PC. On the other, there are sometimes issues with booting between the XMB (PS3 OS) and Linux, as well as removing the Linux partition.
If you already have a PC,there is no reason you would need to put Linux on your PS3.
If you dont then you should try Ubuntu,ive been using it on my laptop for a few weeks now,as my main operating system,its quite user friendly,though as KajNrig suggests YDL is better suited to the PS3 as its built around the cell processor.
Though if you have a computer,dont even bother putting Linux on your PS3.
Definitely Yellow Dog 6.1 it's the only Sony approved and most supported Linux out for the PS3. Now don't get me wrong, Ubuntu and others will work fine and might even be slightly easier to use but YDL 6.1 is THE one to have if you want the most stable, most supported official version.
Additionally within any version you choose you will have the ability to use quite a few emulators ;) but to answer your question in numerical order
1) I already explained that above
2) I already explained that above
3) I already explained that above
4) Read this first then choose either
ok i was wondering about putting linux on my ps3 just a few questions..... it says i have to format the hard disc, will this erase my save data? and can u boot back and forth between OSes?
It will delete EVERYTHING if you do not back up your information first. You have 2 options
1) Use an external USB hard drive that is of substantial size (equal to your PS3's HD just in case). To then use the PS3's built in function to backup up EVERYTHING from gamesaves to settings to even installed games & actual game data (if I remember correctly)
OR
2) Use a USB thumb drive or memory stick/card to just backup your gamesave data (not game install data)
Once you have that figured out as to which way you will be going then you can format the PS3 properly to then copy back over the stuff you backed-up and then proceed to install Linux.
Then when you have Linux installed you can switch between either the PS3 OS (XMB) or the OtherOS (Linux)
much better with a real *nix setup for the os really.. ext2 or 3 with the fat32 for the sony os
again.. I have seen them running YDL and an old p3-450 with 512 ram running just about any linux will well and truly outstrip it... only if you don't have a pc.. and a dumpster pc will be better than a ps3 in that respect.
I INSTALLED WINDOWS AND I CAN'T BACK UP The partition is for windows files but the PS3 OS Does not recognize these files and the system has to recognize all files on system to Backup the 10 GB partition is un-recognized by PS3 so if u install OTHER OS u Will not be able TO BACKUP.