Linux Solutions

Welcome to the tutorial guide. The guide will provide you with advise and guidance on how to install Fedora 5 Linux on a Playstation 3. Users can run Linux on the console in order to gain access to a general computing environment.

Let’s follow the steps as required for installing Fedora 5 Linux on a Playstation 3 console.

- It is a good idea to be aware of the installation materials that will be required for this installation process. These are: -Fedora 5 DVD, the PS3 add-on CD,
-a USB flashdrive needed in order to initialise the installation.

Beginning with the Fedora 5 DVD, a user can download the disc information from the website or another source. It is important to note that the total file-size will be roughly 3.5GB, so if you know the speed of your connection, you should have a fairly good sense of how long this might take.
- After the download is complete, you can now unpack the data, and burn the unpacked files in ISO mode to a blank DVD using your favorite burning software.
- Now, input the newly burned DVD aside and repeat the process as mentioned above in order to create the PS3 add-on CD. Please note that the ISO files for the CD can be downloaded and the size is less than 50MB.
- Now with these two discs set aside, you can attach the USB flashdrive to the computer and create a folder on the flashdrive named PS3.
- Inside of this PS3 folder, please create another folder entitled otheros.
- Now by placing your PS3 add-ons CD back into the ROM drive, please open or search the disc and locate the kboot folder. You will be able to find a file otheros.bld which is right inside the kboot
- You can take otheros.bld and copy it into the otheros folder that you created on your USB flashdrive.
- You need to download the Other OS Installer.
- Now you can place the downloaded otheros.self file into the otheros folder on the flashdrive. You should now have both otheros.bld and otheros.self located inside of the otheros folder, which itself is located within the PS3 folder.

- Now, the next step is to prepare the Playstation.
Please note that this will delete all information from the hard drive, including game saves, so if there is anything on the hard drive that you value, it would be advisable at this point that you back it up to a flashdrive or memory card of your choice. Game saves can be copied by going to Game –> Saved Data Utility on the XMB and hitting the ‘x’ button, followed by the triangle button on individual save data to transfer.

- After you have completed the backing up of the information, now you can use the XMB menu to navigate to Settings –> System Settings –> Format Utility. It is a good idea to run the format utility, and following the prompts, set up an ‘other OS’ partition on the drive.
- Having prepared the hard drive for the installation of an additional operating system, now you can plug in the USB flashdrive you prepared for the installation.
- On the XMB, please go to Settings –> System Settings –> Install Other OS

Now, the console should automatically detect the necessary files on the flashdrive, all you have to do is to follow the prompts given in order to install the bootloader onto the hard drive.

After this, you can go to Settings –> System Settings –> Default System and change it from PS3 to Other OS. When you next start the system, it will boot into a Linux environment.

Reboot the system.
Once faced with the initial kboot command prompt, enter this text via a connected USB or USB/RF keyboard: install-fc sda
It will ask you to insert the Fedora 5 DVD, which you should do at this point. Hit ‘y’ on the keyboard and ‘enter’ to begin the installation process. It will ask if a minimal or full installation is prefered - make your choice (no reason not to go full) and get ready to wait.
For a short while it may appear that your Playstation is frozen, but don’t panic, it isn’t; after several minutes you will see visual signs that the installation is in progress. You would also be well advised to have something to occupy yourself with during the duration, because this step takes several hours to complete.
Speaking of frozen, however, here is some good advice to keep in mind. If at any point when using the Playstation you feel you have a legitimate freeze, you can hold your finger over the power ‘button’ for five seconds in order to initiate a manual shutdown. This is far preferable to actually flipping the switch on the back of the unit or disconnecting the power cord, something that on this system you should know will lead to nothing but headaches. And this method will get the job done. Even more obscure/handy is the fact that should you ever feel yourself stuck in Linux-land, you may power down the unit and power it back on while keeping your finger on the power ‘button’ for an additional five seconds. When powered on in this method, the PS3 will always default to the XMB menu.
Going back to our Linux installation, once the requisite several hours have gone by, you will notice that the DVD automatically ejects from the PS3s slot-drive. You will be asked to insert the PS3 add-on CD. Do that and hit ‘yes.’ Similarly to the DVD, once finished the CD will eject on its own.
You will be asked to enter a password for the root login; we hit ‘enter’ twice to skip past this.
The installation is now complete - type in ‘reboot’ and hit enter.

Upon rebooting, you will enter the system configuration utility; after you finish with the configuration utility you will be faced with the following login prompt:
localhost login:
You will be faced with this prompt every time you boot into Fedora, and your login name is simply root, followed by your password if you chose to create one.
Next you will see a command prompt:
[root@localhost ~] #
This will be the prompt you most often deal with inside of Fedora, and for the light PS3 user, only a couple of commands need be memorized. These include:
reboot - reboots the system
halt - turns the PS3 off
startx - takes you into the graphical GNOME interface for Fedora 5
boot-game-os - takes you back into the main Playstation 3 OS (you will need to change the boot order under system settings after doing this to boot back into Linux next time you wish to do so)
Before entering ’startx’ and heading to the graphical user interface though, if you are on an HDTV you may wish to change the resolution from the default 576×384. This cannot be done from within the GUI, so now is the time to experiment with it. From the command prompt enter:
ps3videomode -v 3 -f
The number ‘3′ above corresponds to a 720p resolution, so you will want to enter a different number in that spot to achieve a different resolution. The resolutions are associated as follows:
1:480i 2:480p 3:720p 4:1080i and 5:1080p for NTSC territories
6:576i 7:576p 8:720p 9:1080i and 10:1080p for PAL territories
(NOTE: If your HDTV suffers from overscan, thus cropping off the edges of the screen as our older test set does, leave the -f off of your command, which stands for ‘full screen’ mode. For example, our best resolution is achieved by typing only: ps3videomode -v 4)
Now that you’ve set the resolution that works best for you, enter startx into the command prompt and hit enter.

Hopefully you now find yourself within an environment that even for a lifelong Windows user, should seem very familiar. In addition, if you performed the full installation you will have OpenOffice, Firefox, several simple games, and a number of additional productivity apps already installed on the system.

You are not connected to the Internet yet, however, and thus we will end the installation guide by addressing this, while at the same time teaching you how to access a command prompt window inside of the graphical user interface.
Navigating the bar on the top of the screen, go to Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal.
This will open up what is known as a terminal window, and from here you will be able to enter the commands necessary to initialize the network on your Fedora install. From this terminal window you will also be able to boot into the game OS, shut down the system, or reboot exactly as described previously.

When the command prompt pops up then please enter the following exactly as written:
su -c ‘/sbin/chkconfig –level 345 NetworkManager on’ (remember that Linux is case-sensitive) - hit enter
su -c ‘/sbin/chkconfig –level 345 NetworkManagerDispatcher on’ - hit enter
su -c ‘/sbin/service NetworkManager start ; /sbin/service NetworkManagerDispatcher start’ - hit enter
Reboot the system by typing ‘reboot,’ ignore the kboot prompt (or hit enter), login at the login prompt by entering ‘root,’ set your resolution at the command prompt, and enter startx to get back into the GUI.

Congratulations! You now have a fully-functioning Linux distro on your Playstation 3. Take some time to familiarise yourself with the system - for anything you want to accomplish, a little bit of research on the Internet will show you the way. Remember that for any applications you download into Fedora, you will want to download the PowerPC-friendly versions of those apps.
As time goes on we will compile a list of prime application download candidates for Linux on the PS3, as well as creating additional guides in order to familiarize yourself with the OS.
Fedora Core 5 is not the only Linux distro that will work on Playstation 3 either; any distribution adapted to the PowerPC architecture can be made to run. Fedora 5 is simply the easiest/most straightforward at this point, and is the distro most closely related to the Linux used internally at IBM on Cell-based equipment.

If you have followed the advise and guidance as mentioned in this tutorial guide, you will have successfully installed Fedora 5 Linux on a Playstation 3.