Reasons to develop an easy to install All in One version of Xubuntu Hardy Heron for the Playstation 3

Sun May 4 11:56:49 CEST 2008

On 5/4/08, Stephan Arts <stephan at xfce.org> wrote:
>
> Parent-post: ^_~
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Vikram Vaka <vikram.vaka at gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, May 4, 2008 at 4:51 AM
> Subject: Reasons to develop an easy to install All in One version of
> Xubuntu Hardy Heron for the Playstation 3
> To: xfce4-dev at xfce.org
>
>
>
>
> Yellow Dog Linux and Ubuntu currently do have a decent version out for
> the PS3. But both are ridiculously slow due to the PS3's meager 256mbs
> of ram. Xubuntu is light years ahead of YDL and Ubuntu in how fast it
> runs on the PS3 inspite of the ram limitations. I have known many
> people who installed YDL or Ubuntu on the PS3 as their first exposure
> to linux only to be turned off by how slowly it ran.
>
> But Xubuntu despite being by and far the fastest distro one can
> install on the PS3, doesn't recognize any of the PS3's components when
> you install it initially.
>
> It is possible to get the PS3's WiFi card, Blu Ray drive, Soundcard
> and audio, Bluetooth, Six Axis, popular Bluetooth Keyboards and Mice,
> memory cards, xvid and divx codecs working on Xubuntu. It's possible
> to get rid of the black bars that show up on the current Xbuntu PS3
> version when viewed on any hdtv. And it's possible to maximize the
> 256mbs of ram on the PS3 by disabling all the services running by
> default on the PS3 that aren't absolutely necessary.
>
> The link below shows exactly how to do much of that…
>
> http://psubuntu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=904
>
> But this process is extremely complex for people who have very little
> experience with linux. It's a pain even for people such as myself to
> have to do all of that to get Xubuntu on the PS3 with it's WiFi
> internet working out of the box.
>
> Furthermore new people trying linux on the PS3 will be extremely
> frustrated when they can't get the operating system running at 1080i
> (far superior to 720p in my personal experience) on their hdtv because
> they didn't know to do the following when installing Xubuntu…
>
> http://psubuntu.com/installation-instructions/setup/
>
> If you listed these commands when you first launch the install cd
> recommending 1080i and 1080p at 60hz for  US TVs and 1080i and 1080p
> at 50hz for Australian TVs. You would save a whole ton of people a lot
> of headaches.
>
> So please put together a PS3 version of Xbuntu that lets you select
> the resolution of your monitor when you install it and that has PS3's
> WiFi card, Blu Ray drive, Soundcard, Bluetooth, Six Axis, divx and
> xvid codecs and popular Bluetooth Keyboards and Mice working out of
> the box.
>
> Why force 20 million people to each have to go through all these steps
> to get their PS3's WiFi card and other components working when you
> could make a version that comes with the appropriate drivers already.
>
> The standard hardware of all PS3s makes this extremely easy to
> implement and the cell possessor its something to powerful to run
> linux on it. When people find out that they can easily through a no
> hassile install turn their PS3 into one of the fastest and cheapest
> computers on the market, many PS3 owners will try out linux on it and
> be exposed to Xubuntu for the very first time.
>
> If your PS3 build came prepackaged with drivers for PS3's components
> like YDL does, you could easily become the definitive linux to install
> on a PS3. You could reach 20 million homes immediately, and many more
> to come. You would be doing a massive favor to both PS3 owners
> everywhere (by having an all in one PS3 linux distro that's not
> incredibly slow like YDL is) and to the linux community at large (by
> exposing many more people to a version linux that's lightning fast and
> smooth as butter).
>
> To put this all together, here is a list of features such an all in
> one PS3 version of Xubuntu needs to have…
>
> Menu asking for the highest resolution your tv can support,
>
> Built In Drivers For WiFi,
>
> Drivers for Bluetooth and SixAxis,
>
> Drivers for the Bluray Drive,
>
> Drivers for popular Bluetooth Keyboards & Mice,
>
> Drivers for PS3's memory card reader,
>
> Drivers for PS3's audio and general TV Speakers,
>
> Xvid & DivX Codecs and a media player,
>
> Launcher on the desktop that Reboots into PS3 Menu by executing the
> command boot-game-os
>
> A Fix To Get Rid of Black Bars Displayed On HDTVs – When you install
> Xubuntu, you see blackbars all around,
>
> Don't have any services running in the background by default that
> aren't absolutely necessary as the PS3 only has 256 mbs of ram
>
> Someway To Let You Rename The Title of Every Single Program On The
> Menu & if possible perhaps even Create New Folders in the Menu & Sort
> Programs Into Different Folders In the same way that windows lets you
> completely customize and reorganize the program names on the start
> menu,
>
> Some Included Application That Lets You Reskin The OS To Customize How
> It Looks if and only if a quality application that lets you do that
> exists.
>
>
>
>
>   ------------What does the linux community have to gain by doing
> this?---------------
>
>   There are already over 20 million PS3 owners, and many more to come.
> I estimate that there are more PlayStation 3 machines in people's
> home's than PPC and intel macs combined. By taking full advantage of
> this, Ubuntu could theoretically grow to a larger market share than
> mac OSX, which would put it on the proverbial radar in a very serious
> way.
>
>   As of now both the Ubuntu PS3 port and the Xubuntu ports are
> struggling. I would love it if you guys reassess the value of this
> port and really throw your might behind creating one ultimate hardy
> heron release. Not only that, but I think Xuibuntu should use the
> opportunity to implement a few features that could make it the best
> gaming OS on earth, such as qjoypad integration and a gaming-mode
> wherein all processes not related to the task at hand are hibernated
> to swap while a game or, say, fullscreen blender, runs.
>
>   Windows is why people are running from the PC for their gaming. Let
> them run to linux. Let them not be disappointed. ...Let them wonder
> why they even bother with windows.
>
>   In addition, Sony has done something great by letting us use the PS3
> to run linux's own code. Let them be envied for it.
>
>   What can linux's devs lose by developing Xubuntu for the PS3? Maybe
> countless people around the world using Xubuntu on the most powerful
> computer out there? If Xubuntu isn't there for the PS3, everyone will
> turn to YellowDog and Ubuntu, which are only slightly more functional,
> and incredibly slow due to the ram limitations. There are very few
> people who retain hope for PS3 version of Xubuntu.
>
> I'm not just saying this is an opportunity. I'm saying this is a good
> opportunity, and a relatively exclusive opportunity. To miss it would
> be terrible. Not that we will. Those of us with PS3's are making do
> with what we have... but the lack of real support really will have
> slowed us down in taking advantage of the situation.
>
>
> Furthermore, you guys are  our best hope of negotiating the unlocking
> of the RSX. If that happens, linux will be in direct competition with
> the PS3's gaming OS. If you guys care to compete, and we make
> something better, well, what would that say about gaming on linux?
> People have PS3's. Did anyone think they just might want to try
> tremulous, apricot, warsow, urbanterror, nexuiz, openarena, and so on
> and so forth on them? How else is that going to happen? PS3 owners are
> humans too. And they're a lot more likely to try linux on their PS3
> than their PC, I would think.
>
>
> EVERY SINGLE guy I know who owns a PS3 told me that he wants to use
> his PS3 as a surfing/office/entertainment machine and has heard that
> there are ways to put another OS on it and that they want to get rid
> of a PC in their living room because it's too loud and too big and
> they need it for news and surfing and stuff like that, but would like
> to just have only a PS3 they already own with possibilities of a
> simple living-room-pc. I think that a simple installation of Xubuntu
> on a PS3 would give a great market share for Xubuntu and PS3-Users
> would love to have an linux os that is not slowed to a crawl by the
> PS3's meager 256 mbs of ram.

OK, that sounds like a message for xubuntu-devel :P

https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel

Though I predict that it's not going to happen. Xubuntu is already lacking
manpower. The PS3 is very much an edge use case. Right, 20 million people
might use a PS3, but consider how many people are using a PC and how many
actually run a Linux distribution, let alone Xubuntu.

If you like, you could see if you can create your own PS3 version of
Xubuntu, but Xubuntu is a volunteer project with a shortage in manpower.

Then again, I should probably save this reply for the xubuntu-devel
mailinglist, so please post it there ^_~ (yeah, I just used a Japanese
smiley!)

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Cody A.W. Somerville
> <cody-somerville at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > Where can I find the parent post?
> >
> > It should be noted that Xubuntu can already run on the PS3.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 3:52 AM, Stephan Arts <stephan at xfce.org> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 4:51 AM, Vikram Vaka <vikram.vaka at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > <snip>
> > >
> > > Ok, great.
> > >
> > > When I take a look at your feature-list, none of them are Xfce
> related.
> > > So, here comes my question:
> > >
> > > 'What does all this have to do with xfce?!'
> > >
> > > -
> > > Stephan
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Vincent
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